PRESS RELEASE

Brooklyn A~demy of Music 3:> Lafayette Avenue Brooklyn, N .Y 11 217 (2 12) 636 41 23 FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE December 1, 1983 Contact: Ellen Lampert Owen Levy

THE GOSPEL AT COLONUS IN A SPECIAL HOLIDAY ENGAGEMENT AT BAM, DECEMBER 15-31

The critically acclaimed production of THE GOSPEL AT COLONUS, which opened to rave reviews and played to capacity audiences during a limited engagement in BAM's NEXT WAVE Festival in November, will return to the Brooklyn Academy of Music for a special two-week holiday engagement, December 15-31, 1983. A musical theater work which blends American gospel music with Greek tragedy, THE GOSPEL AT COLONUS features leading gospel singers, and is produced by the Brooklyn Academy of Music in association with Liza Lorwin and the Walker Art Center.

THE GOSPEL AT COLONUS is based on an adaptation of ' in the version by Robert Fitzgerald, and has been conceived, adapted, and directed by with music composed, arranged and directed by Bob Telson. Transplanted to contemporary times, this story of Oedipus' redemption blends the American music of the black Pentecostal church service with the staged choral ode, presenting the essence of Greek tragedy as a passionate, ecstatic religious experience.

THE GOSPEL AT COLONUS will feature , Isabell Monk, Carl Lumbly, Robert Earl Jones, Kevin Davis, plus Clarence Fountain and The Five Blind Boys of Alabama, the J.D. Steele Singers, J.J. Farley and the Original Soul Stirrers, and the Brooklyn Institutional Radio Choir. Musicians include Carl Adams, Nelson Bogart, Sam Butler, Leroy Clouden, Curtis Fowlkes, John Hagen, Luico Hopper, Butch Heyward, and Bob Telson.

This production incorporates passages from both Sophocles' OEDIPUS REX and ANTIGONE in versions by Dudley Fitts and Robert Fitzgerald, which are published as THE OEDIPUS CYCLE OF SOPHOCLES, A Harvest/HBJ Book, Harcourt Brace Javonovich, Inc.

(over) Set design is by Alison Yerxa, with costumes by Alison Yerxa and Ghretta Hynd, sound design by Otts Nunderloh, lighting by Julie Archer and Alison Yerxa, and special effects designed by Esquire Jauchem and Gregory Meeh.

Lee Breuer, a founding director of Mabou Mines Theater Company, has worked as a director, adaptor, and author. His adaptation and direction of NABOU ~IINES PERFORt1 SM1UEL BECKETT received three Obie Awards; THE SHAGGY DOG ANI~~TION (Part III of the ANIMATIONS trilogy) received an Obie for Best Play in 1978. His production of A PRELUDE TO DEATH IN VENICE was awarded Obies for both direction and script in 1980.

Bob Telson studied composition with , and received a B.A. in Nusic from . His collaborations with Lee Breuer include compositions for the video tapes LIES and THE B. BEAVER ANIMATION, music for A PRELUDE TO DEATH IN VENICE, and the score for SISTER SUZIE CINEMA.

THE GOSPEL AT COLONUS was originally developed as a work-in­ progress under the auspices of Re.Cher.Chez Studios.

The NEXT WAVE Production and Touring Fund is supported by the National Endowment for the Arts, the National Endowment for the Humanities, the Rockefeller Foundation, the Howard Gilman Foundation, the Ford Foundation, AT&T, Warner Communications Inc., the New York Council for the Humanities, Willi Wear Ltd., the Dayton-Hudson Foundation for B. Dalton Bookseller, Dayton's and Target Stores, the CIGNA Corporation, and the BAM NEXT WAVE Producers Council. Additional funds for the NEXT WAVE Festival are provided by the New York State Council on the Arts, the Emma A. Sheafer Charitable Trust, the Mary Flagler Cary Caritable Trust, the Tortuga Foundation, the New York Community Trust, Manufacturers Hanover Trust Company, Meet the Composer, Inc., Philip Morris Incorporated, and the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs. WNYC-FM 94 is the official radio station of the NEXT WAVE Festival.

Performance times and prices are as follows: Monday through Thursday evenings at 8pm*, Wednesday and Saturday at 2pm, Sunday at 7pm: $20' $15' $10

Friday and Saturday evenings at 8pm, Sunday at 2pm: $25, $20, $15

*no performances December 19 and 25

For further information, call the Brooklyn Academy of Music at (212) 636-4100. BAm PRESS RELEASE

Brooklyn Academy of Music ::ll Lafayette Avenue Brooklyn, N .Y . 11217 (2 12) 636-4123 FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Contact: Ellen Lampert Susan Spier Jerri Brown

THE GOSPEL AT COLONUS WINS OBIE AS BAM PRODUCTION OPENS IN HOUSTON, TEXAS

On Monday, May 21, 1984, in New York City, THE GOSPEL AT COLONUS was awarded the 1983-84 OBIE for Best Musical, as its creators, Lee Breuer and Bob Telson, and cast were in Houston, Texas for the opening night of a two-week engagement of the Brooklyn Academy of Music Next Wave Festival Production presented by the Houston Grand Opera. Actor Morgan Freeman was also awarded an OBIE for his performance in the BAM production.

Produced by BAM for the 1983 NEXT WAVE FESTIVAL, in association with Liza Lorwin and the Walker Art Center, THE GOSPEL AT COLONUS returned to BAM for a second engagement in December 1983. The engagement in Houston, May 21-June 2, 1984, is the first of several NEXT WAVE touring productions of THE GOSPEL AT COLONUS expected to take place in the next year throughout the U.S. and Europe. The original cast of the BAM production appears in Houston, with the Southeast Inspirational Choir replacing the Brooklyn Institutional Radio Choir.

A special television hook-up between Houston and New York enabled the cast and creators of THE GOSPEL AT COLONUS to appear on screen during the New York OBIE awards presentation.

The OBIES are annual awards presented by the Village Voice, with the 1983-84 awards being the 29th OBIES, for outstanding achievement in off-Broadway theater. FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE September 28, 1984

"THE GOSPEL AT COLONOS" RELEASED ON WARNER BROS. RECORDS

ARENA STAGE ENGAGENENT NOVEMBER 23 - DECEMBER 30, 1984

The score of THE GOSPEL AT COLONUS, the critically acclaimed musical theater work by Lee Breuer and Bob Telson which premiered in the Brooklyn Academy of Music's 1983 NEXT WAVE FESTIVAL, was released by Warner Bros. Records (WB1-25182) on September 24, 1984.

Produced by Gary Katz and Donald Fagen, THE GOSPEL AT COLONUS album features the original cast of leading gospel groups: Clarence Fountain and the Five Blind Boys of Alabama, J.J. Farley and the Original Soul Stirrers, the J.D. Steele Singers, and the Brooklyn Institutional Radio Choir.

The NEXT WAVE FESTIVAL production of THE GOSPEL AT COLONUS will tour to the Arena Stage in Washington, DC this fall for a five-week engagement. Presented by Arena Stage and the Brooklyn Academy of Music in association with Liza Lorwin and the Walker Art Center, THE GOSPEL AT COLONUS previews will begin November 23, with opening night scheduled for November 28 and the concluding performance slated for December 30.

The OBIE Award winning work is based on an adaptation of Sophocles' "Oedipus at Colonus" in the version by Robert Fitzgerald, and was conceived, adapted, and directed by Lee Breuer with music composed, arranged, and directed by Bob Telson. Transplanted to contemporary times, the story of Oedipus' redemption blends the music of the black Pentecostal church service with the staged choral ode, presenting the essence of Greek tragedy as a passionate, ecstatic religious experience.

This production incorporates passages from Sophocles' "Oedipus Rex" and "Antigone" in versions by Dudley Fitts and Robert Fitzgerald, which are published as "The Oedipus Cycle of Sophocles," a Harvest/HBJ Book, Harcourt Brace Javonovich, Inc.

THE GOSPEL AT COLONUS was produced by BAM for the 1983 NEXT WAVE FESTIVAL with funds provided by the NEXT WAVE Production and Touring Fund, and returned to BAM for a second engagement in December 1983. Subsequently, the NEXT WAVE FESTIVAL production toured to Houston, Texas for a two-week engagement in May 1984 presented by the Houston Grand Opera, with the Southeast Inspirational Choir replacing the Brooklyn Institutional Radio Choir.

THE GOSPEL AT COLONUS was awarded an OBIE for Best Musical of the 1983-84 season by the Village Voice, and actor Morgan Freeman also received an OBIE for his performance in the BAM NEXT WAVE FESTIVAL production.

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