BAM presents Brooklyn Literary Mash-Up on Monday December 10

Readings spliced with music, images, and movement celebrate 150 years of Brooklyn literary voices

Full lineup to be announced Dec 3—visit BAM.org for updates

th BAM’s 150 anniversary celebration continues through Dec 2012

American Express is the BAM 30th Next Wave Festival sponsor

Chase is the inaugural sponsor of the BAM Fisher

Brooklyn Literary Mash-Up Curated and Directed by Nelson George Produced by Alix Lambert, Annabella Sciorra, and Danny Simmons Brooklyn International Theater Company

BAM Fisher Fishman Space (321 Ashland Place) Dec 10 at 7:30pm Tickets: $20

Brooklyn, NY/November 12, 2012—On Monday, December 10 BAM hosts Brooklyn Literary Mash-Up, an evening celebrating the multifarious literary voices of Brooklyn over the past 150 years. Mixing excerpts from classic Brooklyn authors like Walt Whitman to contemporary voices like Colson Whitehead, members of the Brooklyn International Theater Company use music, projected images, and movement to reflect the voices of Brooklyn’s literary past and present.

Curated and directed by Nelson George and produced by Alix Lambert, Annabella Sciorra, and Danny Simmons, the evening is an homage—using a collection of words, music, and images—to Kings County. Founders of the Brooklyn International Theater Company, Nelson George, Alix Lambert, Annabella Sciorra, and Danny Simmons have collaborated with a unique cast to present 150 years of Brooklyn literary voices. Lambert will be joined on stage by playwright and recording artist Carl Hancock Rux, Actress and blogger Cassandra Freeman, actor, writer and director Roger Guenveur Smith, Danish- American-Israeli model and actor Max Rhyser, and Brooklyn native and BET reporter Samson Styles, among others. Literary readings include selections from The Book Signing by Pete Hamill, Walt Whitman’s Crossing Brooklyn Ferry, Rich Man, Poor Man: A History of Fort Greene by Carl Hancock Rux, When All This Was Bay Ridge by Tim McLoughlin, as well as excerpts from the writings of Phillip Lopate, Nelson George, Stacy Wakefield, and others. Blending the sounds of hip- hop, dancehall, rock, and jazz, DJ and performer Belinda Becker spins the score to Brooklyn Literary Mash-Up.

Director and curator Nelson George is an author, filmmaker, television producer, and critic. His critically acclaimed directorial debut and HBO movie Life Support, starring Queen Latifah, looked at the effects of HIV on a troubled black family in his native Brooklyn. He produced the feature documentary Good Hair, hosted by , which won an award at the Sundance Film Festival. As a screenwriter George co-wrote the feature films Strictly Business and CB4. He served as host of Soul Cities, a VH1 Soul travel show. Throughout the 80s and 90s George was a columnist for Billboard magazine and the The Village Voice newspaper, eventually writing a series of award-winning black music histories. He won a Grammy for the liner notes for James Brown’s Star Time. His web series Left Unsaid debuted at the American Black Film Festival in Miami in July 2009. That same year Viking published his memoir, City Kid. His last novel, The Plot Against Hip Hop, was published by Brooklyn based Akashic Books in 2011. This year he's directed the feature documentaries, Brooklyn Boheme for Showtime, and The Announcement for ESPN, and the short documentary All Hail the Beat for Cinelan's Focus Forward series.

Alix Lambert is an artist, author and filmmaker. Her feature length documentary The Mark of Cain was nominated for an Independent Spirit Award. Her film Bayou Blue (directed and produced with David McMahon) had its world premiere in November. Lambert is the author of four books: Mastering the Melon, The Silencing, Russian Prison Tattoos, and Crime. She wrote and directed the play Crime, USA, which has been staged at Joe’s Pub in New York, and at the Cairns Festival in Australia. Lambert is an associate artist with the Obie award-winning theater group The Civilians and is currently in post-production on a feature length documentary Mentor (about teen suicide and bullying at Mentor High in Mentor, OH).

Annabella Sciorra is proud of her latest venture—co-founding the Brooklyn International Theater Company alongside Nelson George, Alix Lambert, and Danny Simmons. Her theater credits include The Motherf**ker with the Hat, Roar (The New Group), Shyster (Naked Angels), and Cries and Shouts (Nuyorican Poets Café, Reinoldo Povod), among others. She garnered an Emmy nomination for her role as Gloria Trillo on and has appeared on Law and Order: Criminal Intent, and The Madam's Family (CBS). She has been working in film since 1989, appearing in True Love (Sundance Grand Jury Prize), , The Hand That Rocks the Cradle, and What Dreams May Come. She recently filmed the feature The Maid’s Room and is a recurring guest star on . Annabella was born and raised in Brooklyn where she still resides with her family.

Danny Simmons is an abstract-expressionist painter. He is the older brother of media executive Russell Simmons and rapper Joseph Simmons ("Reverend Run" of Run DMC), and is the founder and president of the Rush Arts Gallery. Along with brother, Russell, he established Def Poetry Jam, which enjoyed long-running success on HBO and Broadway, winning Peabody and Tony awards. Simmons is also the founder and vice-president of the Rush Philanthropic Arts Foundation, a non-profit organization dedicated to arts education and providing access to emerging artists of color. He is the author of five books including Three Days as the Crow Flies, a fictional account of the 80's New York art scene, I Dreamed My People Were Calling But I Couldn't Find My Way Home, and Deep in Your Best Reflection: Poems in 160 Characters. Simmons sits on the boards of numerous cultural and civic institutions.

For press information on Brooklyn Literary Mash-Up please contact Monica Ortiz Rossi, [email protected], 718.636.4129 x8

Credits Leadership support for Brooklyn Literary Mash-Up provided by Steve Tisch, Laurie Tisch, and Lizzie and Jonathan Tisch, in memory of their father, Preston Robert Tisch.

General Information BAM Howard Gilman Opera House, BAM Rose Cinemas, and BAMcafé are located in the Peter Jay Sharp building at 30 Lafayette Avenue (between St Felix Street and Ashland Place) in the Fort Greene neighborhood of Brooklyn. BAM Harvey Theater is located two blocks from the main building at 651 Fulton Street (between Ashland and Rockwell Places). Both locations house Greenlight Bookstore at BAM kiosks. BAM Fisher, located at 321 Ashland Place, is the newest addition to the BAM campus and houses the Judith and Alan Fishman Space and Rita K. Hillman Studio. BAM Rose Cinemas is Brooklyn’s only movie house dedicated to first-run independent and foreign film and repertory programming. BAMcafé, operated by Great Performances, is open for dining prior to BAM Howard Gilman Opera House evening performances. BAMcafé also features an eclectic mix of spoken word and live music for BAMcafé Live on Friday and Saturday nights with a special BAMcafé Live menu available starting at 6pm.

Subway: 2, 3, 4, 5, Q, B to Atlantic Avenue - Barclays Center (2, 3, 4, 5 to Nevins St for Harvey Theater) D, N, R to Pacific Street; G to Fulton Street; C to Lafayette Avenue Train: Long Island Railroad to Atlantic Terminal - Barclays Center Bus: B25, B26, B41, B45, B52, B63, B67 all stop within three blocks of BAM Car: Commercial parking lots are located adjacent to BAM

For ticket and BAMbus information, call BAM Ticket Services at 718.636.4100, or visit BAM.org.

## ## ##