Michael Bradford's OLIVES AND BLOOD at Liminal Space 10/23 (London)

Michael Bradford's exciting new play is just 3 weeks away and we're all systems go!.. The cast and creatives met up today to get fitted up for costumes, see the set, meet our fabulous puppets and to hear the beautiful original score. Then we all settled down for a read through before getting this great new piece of work up on its feet! 

Michael Bradford

The play delves into the mystery surrounding the assassination of one of Spain's greatest playwrights Federico Garcia Lorca. (Blood Wedding, the House of Bernarda Alba) It's 1936 and the start of the Spanish Civil War and in the dead of night Lorca was taken up into the Spanish hills. No body was ever found. But somebody must know something. 

The play runs from the 23rd of October to the 10th of November at a wonderful new theatre space Brixton East which Liminal Space found last year and fell in love with. It's a beautiful converted factory just up the road from Brixton Tube station and is the perfect setting for this play. 

As supporters of Liminal Space's previous work I hope you'll be able to come along and see the show. Tickets are currently on sale and we're offering a special deal on all tickets for the Wednesday shows - All tickets are just £5! BOOK NOW 

Prav MJ

From the 23rd - 25th of October the playwright Michael Bradford will be doing a Q&A session with the play's director Prav MJ and throughout the run we are also inviting Spanish artists, dancers, actors and musicians to perform with us to make each and every night a night to remember. Check out the website for more details. 

I'll be there at rehearsals taking lots of photographs so make sure you check our website www.olivesandblood.com or come and follow us on Facebook to see the team in action and to be kept updated with all that's going on. The full cast and creative team is now live on the site so you can go and see exactly who's involved. 

Looking forward to seeing you all there, 

Kathryn Gardner 

Katalyst PR 

katalystPR@mail.com 

@ katalystPR

Black-Themed Theater Abounds in London

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LONDON — Something startling has happened to London theater of late, and most welcome it is, too. The capital is offering more plays with black themes at the moment than this city has seen in an age, and with a confidence and range that suggests the current surge might signal a sea change that is here to stay.

To continue reading, please click here.  

Thanks to Dr. Henry Miller for sending this our way. Dr. Miller is the author of the must-read book Theorizing Black Theatre. 

Keep your eyes open for the London production of Michael Bradford's OLIVES and BLOOD. 

Jaz Dorsey, 
Dramaturge

Michael Bradford's OLIVES AND BLOOD 10/23-11/10 (London)

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I'm excited to be the dramaturge on this production and excited that The African American Playwrights Exchange was a part of bringing this international collaboration into being. Playwright: Michael Bradford. Directer: Prav MJ.

Jaz Dorsey 
AAPEX Dramaturg/Founder

AAPEX Interview: Prav Menon-Johansson

Much to my delight (and surprise), AAPEX is looking forward to a London reading of Michael Bradford's stunning new play OLIVES AND BLOOD, about the assassination of Spanish poet/playwright Federico Garcia Lorca. The reading came about serendipitously but would not be taking place if it were not for the interest and commitment of a very industrious director/producer named Prav Menon-Johansson. I asked Prav to tell us something about herself and here is what she had to say.
Jaz

What role did theatre and the arts play in your childhood and upbringing?
I grew up in suburban London where the major influence for culture was the world of Bollywood movies. I was always struck with the emotional content of the films – the young woman running across the top of the mountain singing about her lost love, dancers always appearing like a Greek chorus from nowhere. The world of these movies was very colorful and without realizing it I was immersed in a very passionate ‘theatrical’ art form.

Tell us about your own evolution as an artist.
I began my artistic career as a set and costume designer. My first set design was at the ADC Theatre at the University of Cambridge, England - The House of Bernarda Alba by Lorca. I trained in design at the London Academy of Music and Dramatic Art (LAMDA) and when I was living in Boston (2006-2008), I designed After Ashley for Company One (resident company at the Boston Center for the Arts(BCA)), Sacred Hearts for Zeitgeist Stage and a number of other productions. All design work can be seen on www.pravmj.com. Living in the vibrant theatre community in Boston inspired me to train as a director at the American Repertory Theatre (ART). I directed for Way Theatre Artists The Kiss by Mark Harvey Levine in FeverFest 2007 and also participated in SLAMBoston 2007. Also I was assistant to Paul Daigneault for the Mystery of Edwin Drood for SpeakEasy Stage.

What took you to London and what have you done/are you doing there?
Since coming back to London in 2008 I have directed premieres of plays - The Choir by Errol Bray (Australian) Busted Jesus Comix by David Johnston (USA). In 2010 I founded Liminal Space Productions to focus on new contemporary writing – American Bytes and American Bytes Back, an evening of new, ten minute American plays that introduced this genre to British audiences and Lashings of Whipped Cream by Fiona Samuel (New Zealand) which was part of the Nursery Festival. All directing work can be seen on www.pravmjdirect.com.

Share with us about this reading of Olives & Blood.
I am very excited about staging Olives and Blood in London. My love for the South of Spain and Lorca deepened when I went to Spanish school for a month in Seville where the passion and pain is felt in the terrain, unlike anything in the north of Spain. I flew to Granada at the end of October 2010 to discuss the nuances of the play with Michael Bradford and after the meeting I felt it would be beneficial to have a reading of the play in London before he went back to the USA. At very short notice, Caravanserai Acting Studios have allowed us to use their space to mount this reading on December 15th 2010 at 7:30 pm and Michael Bradford will be hosting a Q & A at the reading.

Prav Menon-Johansson
Mobile: 07799 412328
Website: www.pravmjdirect.com

Michael Bradford's OLIVES AND BLOOD 3/19 (New London, CT)

AAPEX artist Michael Bradford will enjoy a reading of his new play OLIVES AND BLOOD as a part of this event. OLIVES AND BLOOD deals with the assassination of Spanish poet & playwright Federico Garcia Lorca

CULTURAL CENTER IN NEW LONDON

74 State St. New London, CT. 06320
www.expressiones.net phone: 860 501 9ART

Federico Garcia Lorca was perhaps the most important Spanish poet and dramatist of the twentieth century. Born is Spain in 1898, he was a consummate artist, virtuoso pianist, painter, poet and dramatist. He lectured frequently on the "duende" and his poetry and theatrical works are imbued with his love of Gypsy folklore and culture. At the time of his assassination by Franco's nationalists in 1936, Lorca was well known internationally. His bones have never been recovered. Today Lorca's work is the most translated and as influential as any Spanish writer.