CHERRY LANE THEATRE AUGUST - OCTOBER | 2019 CHECK IN AND SPREAD THE WORD! @RedBullTheater @RedBullTheater /RedBullTheater Join our mailing list at #AmericanMoor #AmericanMoor RedBullTheater.com Dear Friends, Welcome to American Moor, actor and playwright Keith Hamilton Cobb’s provocative look at race, Shakespeare, the character of Othello, life as a black actor in the American theatre, and more. American Moor is a vital addition to Red Bull Theater’s ongoing work: offering great plays in conversation with the classics. This conversation truly happens with you here in the audience. We hope you find new insights in Keith’s play and enjoy great, healthy debates and dicussions following the experience. At Red Bull, we believe in the limitless capacity of classical theater to illuminate the events of our times. The unique work we do comes to life with the imagination and support of patrons like you. Please visit RedBullTheater.com to learn more about all of our programs. We’re thrilled to share American Moor with you. Thank you for joining us. Jesse Berger Founder and Artistic Director OUR WORK IS MADE POSSIBLE, IN PART, BY SUPPORT FROM CHERRYUNDER THE DIRECTION OF ANGELINALANE FIORDELLISI THEATRE RED BULL THEATER JESSE BERGER | FOUNDER AND ARTISTIC DIRECTOR JIM BREDESON | MANAGING DIRECTOR IN ASSOCIATION WITH EVANGELINE MORPHOS ELIZABETH IRELAND MCCANN | TOM SHEA | FREDERICK M. ZOLLO MADE POSSIBLE IN PART BY MARY MOSS GREENEBAUM AND SENOVVA PRESENTS AMERICAN MOOR A PLAY BY KEITH HAMILTON COBB STARRING KEITH HAMILTON COBB AND JOSH TYSON SCENIC DESIGN COSTUME DESIGN LIGHTING DESIGN WILSON CHIN DEDE AYITE ALAN C. EDWARDS PRODUCTION STAGE SOUND DESIGN GENERAL MANAGER MANAGER CHRISTIAN FREDERICKSON SHERRI KOTIMSKY CALEB SPIVEY PRODUCTION PRODUCTION PRODUCTION MANAGER PRESS REPRESENTATIVE ADVERTISING & MARKETING GARY LEVINSON DKC/O&M DR ADVERTISING DIRECTED BY KIM WEILD THE PRODUCTION IS MADE POSSIBLE BY A GENEROUS GRANT FROM THE FIORDELLISI WILLIAMS FAMILY FOUNDATION. THIS PRODUCTION RECEIVED SUBSTANTIAL DEVELOPMENTAL SUPPORT FROM ARTS EMERSON | BOSTON, MA. THIS PRODUCTION IS MADE POSSIBLE BY THE GENEROUS SUPPORT OF THE HOWARD AND MARCIA OWENS CHARITABLE TRUST. THIS PRODUCTION IS SUPPORTED, IN PART, BY PUBLIC FUNDS FROM THE NEW YORK CITY DEPARTMENT OF CULTURAL AFFAIRS IN PARTNERSHIP WITH THE CITY COUNCIL; THE NEW YORK STATE COUNCIL ON THE ARTS, WITH THE SUPPORT OF GOVERNOR ANDREW M. CUOMO AND THE NEW YORK STATE LEGISLATURE; AND THE NATIONAL ENDOWMENT FOR THE ARTS. ADDITIONAL MAJOR FUNDING HAS BEEN GENEROUSLY PROVIDED BY AIG, THE AMERICAN THEATRE WING, AXE-HOUGHTON FOUNDATION, THE JAMES AND JUDITH K. DIMON FOUNDATION, FUND FOR THE CITY OF NEW YORK, HOWARD GILMAN FOUNDATION, THE MARTA HEFLIN FOUNDATION, THE KAM FOUNDATION, HARRIS LIRTZMAN, NOAH MILLMAN AND CAROLYN SCHIFF, BETTY AND MICHAEL RAUCH, PETER N. RIGBY, THE SHUBERT FOUNDATION, THE MICHAEL TUCH FOUNDATION, AND STEVEN AND JOAN YOUNG. AMERICAN MOOR is not a production of Cherry Lane Alternative. Cherry Lane Alternative is a not-for-profit corporation. Revenue derived from the rental of the theatre is used to further the work of the Cherry Lane Alternative. OPENING NIGHT: SUNDAY, SEPTEMBER 8, 2019 SPEAK OF ME AS I AM; NOTHING EXTENUATE, NOR SET DOWN AUGHT IN MALICE... WILLIAM SHAKESPEARE OTHELLO THEY ARE STRANGERS TO OUR CHARACTER, IGNORANT OF OUR CAPACITY, OBLIVIOUS TO OUR HISTORY AND PROGRESS, AND ARE MISINFORMED AS TO THE PRINCIPLES AND IDEAS THAT CONTROL AND GUIDE US, AS PEOPLE. FREDERICK DOUGLASS TO THE NATIONAL COLORED CONVENTION, ROCHESTER, NY, JULY, 1853 BUT YOU ARE A BLACK BOY, AND YOU MUST BE RESPONSIBLE FOR YOUR BODY IN A WAY THAT OTHER BOYS CANNOT KNOW. INDEED, YOU MUST BE RESPONSIBLE FOR THE WORST ACTIONS OF OTHER BLACK BODIES, WHICH, SOMEHOW, WILL ALWAYS BE ASSIGNED TO YOU. TA–NEHISI COATES BETWEEN THE WORLD AND ME THE CAST An Actor ..................................................................................... KEITH HAMILTON COBB A Director ............................................................................................................ JOSH TYSON Assistant Stage Manager .............................................................R. CHRISTOPHER MAXWELL AMERICAN MOOR will be performed with no intermisson Running time is approximately 90 minutes. KEITH HAMILTON COBB JOSH TYSON The Actors and Stage Managers employed in this production are members of Actors’ Equity Association, the Union of Professional Actors and Stage Managers in the United States. Select Sunday matinee performances will be POST followed by a post-performance discussion with PERFORMANCE Keith Hamiltion Cobb and special guests. Guest panelists include Carl Cofield, Miles Parks DISCUSSIONS Grier, Kim F. Hall, Erika Lin, and more. These discussions are free and open to the public and begin at 4:45 PM on the following Sundays: September 1, 15, 22 and 29. Visit REDBULLTHEATER.COM for more information. FROM THE DIRECTOR “COMMUNE WITH ME IN CONTEMPLATION OF THE MAGNITUDE OF MOMENT BEFORE US.” –Keith Hamilton Cobb Now, more than ever, in reaction to political upheavals, rampant divisiveness, xenophobia, and the push for new immigration policies, much is being written and argued about the absent role of empathy in our contemporary society. Researching the word, one discovers that the formal concept of empathy is but 100 years young. A translation of the German word “einfühling” meaning “feeling-in”, the word empathy has its roots in the Latin “em” meaning to “lean in” and “pathos” meaning to “feel”. Its original definition not only meant a “means to feel another person’s emotion…” but also to “enliven an object, or to project one’s imagined feelings onto the world.” One defining value of theatre is its power to induce empathy in the viewer. Since the Ancient Greeks, to this moment, today in this very theater, people have been gathering, sitting side by side, sharing time and space, while collectively listening to stories. It is a widely held belief that the deeper an audience can relate to the plights of others, mentally and emotionally place itself in another person’s shoes, the more potential there is for understanding just how much of our human experience is commonly shared. From this exposure, empathy, profound insight, and respect grow, contributing to the cultivation of compassion. Constructive values are reinforced and can eventually become accepted, even appreciated reciprocally beneficial norms. To respond with empathy is no small task. It requires vulnerability, mental exertion, honesty, and a generosity of spirit; empathy asks us to engage ethically, morally and respectfully with the “other”. It forces us up against ourselves and can be quite painful as it cracks us open in order to better see. American Moor asks us to do the great work of empathy, to put fears aside, to lean in, to talk with rather than to each other, to listen respectfully, to see – really see an other – it acknowledges that although we may not look exactly like one another nor react like one another we nonetheless are much more similar than different and in the very act of acknowledging our shared humanity, we can begin to take the actions necessary that lead to a better society for us all. KIM WEILD | DIRECTOR AMERICAN MOOR has been developed with the creative support of the following: Brent Buell, Producer, Director, President at Doing Life Productions, L.L.C. Paul Kwame Johnson, Founding Artistic Director of Youth Theatre Interactions, Yonkers, NY Dr. Frank Madden, Professor of English, Westchester Community College Phoenix Theatre Ensemble, NYC, Craig Smith and Elise Stone, co-Artistic Directors Craig Wallace, Actor/Director Craig Alan Edwards, Actor/Playwright Kim F. Hall, Professor of Africana Studies, Lucyle Hook Professor of English, Barnard College, NYC Dr. Michael Witmore, Director, and Peggy O’Brien, Director of Education, Folger Shakespeare Library, Washington, DC Ayanna Thompson, Professor of English, Director Arizona Center for Medieval & Renaissance Studies at Arizona State University SenovvA, Inc. and Arianna Knapp, Executive Vice President Gary Sloan, Actor, Professor of MFA Acting, Catholic University of America Luna Stage Theatre Company, West Orange, NJ Cheryl Katz, Dramaturg Pamela Daniels, President at The Brickerati Group Kevin E. Taylor, Pastor, Unity Fellowship Church NewArk OWI (Bureau of Theatre), Boston, MA Anacostia Playhouse, Washington, DC, and Adele Robey, Executive Director PRODUCTION STAFF Production Advertising and Marketing .....................................................................DR ADVERTISING Scott Lupi, Doug Murphy, Brenna Kilpatrick, and Madison Kaminski Production Press Representative ..................................................................................................DKC/O&M Rick Miramontez, Kendall Edwards, Michael Jorgensen Advisors ................................................................................. OSH GHANIMAH, NOAH HAROUCHE Master Electrician .......................................................................................REBECCA MCCOY-FISCHER Lighting Programmer ........................................................................................................JAMES KOLDITZ Production Photographer .................................................................................................CAROL ROSEGG Company Representative ....................................................................................TIMOTHY THOMPSON Special thanks to the TDF Costume Collection. Much appreciation to the Lucille Lortel