Writer Lemon Andersen
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ToasT a play by Lemon Andersen directed by Elise Thoron DESCRIPTION In 1971, an inmate had to choose between going home after twenty-seven years of imprisonment or joining the uprising in Attica. ToasT is a new play by Lemon Andersen that celebrates the poetic history of Black narratives called "Toasts". The play takes fictional characters from this oral tradition and puts them in a non-fictional setting (Attica Prison) . The most famous hero from the toast tradition "Willie Green", also known as "Dolomite", has been locked up for the past twenty-seven years in Attica's D-block for multiple counts of murder. He shares the prison with other folklore heroes like Jesse James, Hobo Ben, Stackolee, and Hard Rock. They kill the hard prison time spending their days sharing war stories, playing cards, and drinking hooch. The brutal conditions these inmates are living in pushes the young hotheaded Hard Rock to lead a revolution. He spends his time trying to convince his fellow inmates to join him in an uprising even if it means sacrificing their lives. Behind Hard Rock's preaching about grievances lies the real story of Dolomite secretly being given an unexpected early release date. Having to tell his fellow inmates about his release is defeating his soul. Every time Dolomite has a chance to tell the inmates, his moment to reveal the truth is interrupted by daily prison culture, Hard Rock's rants, and signifying toasts. As temperature rises and an uprising approaches, Hard Rock is taken by the guards, what will Dolomite do? BACKGROUND "Toast" is an art form of reciting poetry based on characters and situations derived from the Black experience, mostly told and performed in the prisons, bars, and pool halls of America. The play honors this poetic form and brings its heroes to life on the stage. It places the folklore characters of the Toast world in an actual moment in American history—the Attica uprising in 1971. The play includes pieces that were adapted from poems of the late great Etheridge Knight. Many of the narratives found in Bruce Jackson's book "Get Your Ass in the Water and Swim Like Me" have helped to shape the characters. The concept is to use this rich oral tradition to bring stories that are seldom found in current American theater to the stage. DEVELOPMENT ToasT was developed, in part, at the 2011 Sundance Institute Playwrights Retreat at Ucross Foundation, the 2012 Sundance Institute Theatre Lab at the Sundance Resort, and a workshop in partnership with the Baryshnikov Center, with continuing Post-Lab Support through its initiative with the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation. ToasT is a commission of The Public Theater and supported by the MAP Fund, a program of Creative Capital supported by the Doris Duke Charitable Foundation and the Rockefeller Foundation. In 2013 it was presented as a reading as part of the Under the Radar Festival. writer Lemon Andersen is a performance artist, writer, and Tony Award-winning poet. In 2012 the Sundance Institute commissioned the development of ToasT his new play to be staged at the Public Theater in New York City. For a decade, Lemon has performed at iconic venues including Harlem's Apollo Theater, San Francisco's Theatre On The Square, Charleston's Spoleto Festival, the Chicago Theatre, New York State's Spiegeltent, and Hollywood's Kodak and Montalban Theatre. Spike Lee produced Lemon's coming-of-age autobiographical memoir County of Kings at the Public Theater. Since its 2009 debut County of Kings has been performed on stages throughout the United States, as well as in Europe, South Pacific, and South Africa. Lemon published the play's script and was awarded the Grand Prize at the 2010 New York Book Festival. He was one of the poets on Russell Simmons Presents Def Poetry Jam on Broadway, winner of a Tony Award in 2003. He also appeared in the HBO show for six seasons. He was a member of Universes, a theater ensemble, with whom he wrote and performed in The Ride at P.S. 122, and Slanguage, directed by Jo Bonney and produced by the New York Theater Workshop. As an actor he has trained at the Public Theater's Shakespeare Lab and his work has received support from the Ford Foundation. On the big screen, Lemon appeared opposite Denzel Washington in Spike Lee's Inside Man and in The Soloist with Robert Downey Jr. and Jamie Foxx. Lemon a documentary film portrait of his life and career path, Executive Producers include Russell Simmons and Stan Lathan. As a guest instructor at the Stella Adler Studio Lemon developed the first spoken-word intensive to be offered at an actors' conservatory. He has performed and led workshops at a number of college campuses such as University of Wisconsin, Syracuse, UC Berkeley, and Harvard. In 2011 the TED organization invited Lemon to perform at their inaugural TEDYouth event, live streamed to 16 countries. A native New Yorker, Lemon proudly represents Brooklyn. DIRECTOR Elise Thoron’s plays have been produced in the United States and Europe: Green Violin, music by Frank London of the Klezmatics, (published Nine Contemporary Jewish Plays); Prozak and the Platypus, music by Jill Sobule (also album and graphic novella); Charlotte: Life? or Theater? based on paintings of the young German Jewish artist, Charlotte Salomon, music by Gary Fagin. As writer and director she created Recycling: washi tales using the work of distinguished Japanese paper artist, Kyoko Ibe, with American performer, Karen Kandel, and a company of Japanese traditional performers, commissioned/premiered at The Krannert Center for the Performing Arts; also Los Angeles County Museum (www.washitales.com). For over twenty years, Elise has created cross-cultural exchanges with Russian and American theater artists. She directed the first Sam Shepherd play in Moscow; adapted and directed The Great Gatsby in Russian at a The Pushkin Theater in Moscow, where it played for over nine years. Her translations of Russian plays have been performed and published in the USA/UK/Australia. As Associate Artistic Director at American Place Theatre, Elise developed and directed plays and solo shows, which have gone on to other venues in the United States. At American Place, she also launched Literature to Life, a highly successful theater literacy program, now nationwide, where she adapted/directed Cisneros’ The House on Mango Street, Lowrie’s The Giver, Diaz’s The Brief and Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao, and developed spoken word poet Lemon Andersen’s County of King for students, before performing at The Public, Spoleto, and venues around the world. Elise is now working again with Lemon on a new play ToasT, in development at the Public Theater/Under the Radar 2013; Sundance Theater Lab 2012. She is also writing a new opera, Hatuey, with composer Frank London based on an epic Yiddish poem by Asher Penn. cast of characters HARD ROCK Black Male, early 20's. Young blood of the cell block smartest and well read, a member of the Five-percent Nation and A.L.F (Attica Liberation Faction), talks revolutionary and gangster, always writing grievances to the Warden and Sheriff, takes no shit from nobody, it’s not a race thing with Hard Rock it’s a generation thing, his idol is Stanley Tookie. DOLOMITE Black Male, early 50's. The ultimate Bad Ass and most famous prisoner in Attica, has served twenty seven years of his sentence so far mostly for murder, gambling and pimping. The patriarch of Prison block D. JESSE JAMES- Mixed race Puerto Rican, late 20's. Jesse understands Spanish but speaks like a straight black ghetto jive talker. They call him Jesse James cause he robbed banks and he is an outlaw from the Savage Skulls Gang in The South Bronx. ANNABELLE JONES Black male, early 40's. A she-male, locked up for murder and prostitution. Plays the mother role of the prison block and Dolomite's prison woman. SHERIFF JODY White male, late 50's. Corn fed World War II vet and captain at Attica, believes the prison institution is closer to God than religion. Jody is just as institutionalized as the men locked up in his prison. GI JOE Hispanic male, late 40's. floor officer at Attica’s D block, a prideful jibaro. G.I. Joe hates Jesse James cause of his affiliation to the streets. He feels Jesse is a downright disgrace to all Puerto Rican people for acting too black HOBO BEN Black Male, early to mid-60's. Wrongfully incarcerated for crimes, but chose to stay in prison. Oldest inmate of the cell block. A very wise and witty ol' timer who concocts the greatest home made hooch in Attica. STACKOLEE Black male, early 30's. The most terrorizing prisoner in Attica. A straight-razor of a man who lives up to his reputation as a murderer. Stackolee is also one of the most legendary folklore characters in the Toast tradition. actors The actors assembled to play the roles of these folklore heroes knew from day one at the Sundance Playwrights Lab in Utah that TOAST needed the congregation of an ensemble. As we moved from Sundance to a residency at the Baryshnikov Arts Center in New York City we found more actors dedicated to the collaborative process. The following are the confirmed actors moving forward. BIOS KEITH DAVID’s (Dolomite) extraordinary range of talent is evidenced by his body of work. Recent films include The Princess and the Frog, Coraline, and Crash. Other credits include Barbershop, Agent Cody Banks, and Requiem for a Dream. Prior to that, Keith was featured in There's Something About Mary, Armageddon, and Dead Presidents.