Photograph by Caitlin Abrams
Lou and Sara Bellamy
The 45th season of Penumbra Theatre ushers in four new stage productions and a discussion series, furthering the Black-owned theater company’s mission of racial healing and joy through art.
The season begins with Langston Hughes’s Black Nativity, premiering on December 2–24. The show is directed by Lou Bellamy, with musical direction by Sanford Moore with the Kingdom Life Choir and Friends, and choreography by Leslie Parker. Black Nativity retells the Christmas story with gospel-sung carols and new actors.
From March 10–27, Thurgood, the one-man show written by George Stevens Jr. that takes the audience through the life of Thurgood Marshall will be on view. Penumbra’s Lester Purry will play the supreme court justice.
In spring, Penumbra will host the world premiere for Harrison David Rivers’ Weathering, a tale of “loss, community, and deliverance from grief,” from April 28–May 22.
The performance season concludes with the Ashe Lab Festival from June 16–26. The festival brings together a slew of talent from Penumbra’s artists in residency with work by Erin Sharkey, Queen Drea Reynolds, and Orlando Hunter and Ricarrdo Valentine of Brother(hood) Dance.
Along with their stage performances Penumbra will conduct a “Let’s Talk” series throughout the season. The discussion series seeks to confront topics of social justice, equity, and how these contemporary issues translate into the arts.
Tickets go on sale October 18 at 10 a.m. penumbratheatre.org
