New York City is getting another shot in the arm this summer with Free Shakespeare in the Park’s happy Merry Wives, playwright Jocelyn Bioh’s embraceable adaptation of the Bard’s The Merry Wives of Windsor starring Watchmen‘s Jacob Ming-Trent as that great, rotund creation Falstaff.
Briefly delayed by injury and Covid, Merry Wives opens tonight as a most welcome – and, with vaccines required, as safe as can be – escape from the woes of the world. With an update to a contemporary South Harlem peopled with a splendid assemblage of West African immigrant characters, Merry Wives enhances the classic farce with up-to-the-minute references, the occasional brief snippet of R&b crooning, and a same-sex romance that seems completely at home in the setting.
If the intermission-less production, directed by Saheem Ali, doesn’t quite reach the joyous heights of Kwame Kwei-Armah and Shaina Taub similarly updated Twelfth Night,...
Briefly delayed by injury and Covid, Merry Wives opens tonight as a most welcome – and, with vaccines required, as safe as can be – escape from the woes of the world. With an update to a contemporary South Harlem peopled with a splendid assemblage of West African immigrant characters, Merry Wives enhances the classic farce with up-to-the-minute references, the occasional brief snippet of R&b crooning, and a same-sex romance that seems completely at home in the setting.
If the intermission-less production, directed by Saheem Ali, doesn’t quite reach the joyous heights of Kwame Kwei-Armah and Shaina Taub similarly updated Twelfth Night,...
- 8/10/2021
- by Greg Evans
- Deadline Film + TV
Update, July 23 New York’s Public Theater has canceled tonight’s Free Shakespeare in the Park performance of Merry Wives, the third consecutive cancellation of the show after a member of the production tested positive for Covid-19 earlier this week.
In a series of Tweets today, the Public wrote, “On Wednesday, we learned that a member of the Merry Wives production tested positive for Covid, and in accordance with our existing protocols in the case of a positive result, we cancelled our July 21 and 22 performances.To support the artistic and logistical efforts required to restart performances, we are cancelling our performance on Friday, July 23.”
Today’s announcement also noted that the theater company will “continue adhering to the rigorous testing and daily health and safety protocols needed to support a safe and joyful experience for all at Free Shakespeare in the Park.”
Information on future performances will be shared soon,...
In a series of Tweets today, the Public wrote, “On Wednesday, we learned that a member of the Merry Wives production tested positive for Covid, and in accordance with our existing protocols in the case of a positive result, we cancelled our July 21 and 22 performances.To support the artistic and logistical efforts required to restart performances, we are cancelling our performance on Friday, July 23.”
Today’s announcement also noted that the theater company will “continue adhering to the rigorous testing and daily health and safety protocols needed to support a safe and joyful experience for all at Free Shakespeare in the Park.”
Information on future performances will be shared soon,...
- 7/23/2021
- by Greg Evans
- Deadline Film + TV
The Public Theater’s Free Shakespeare in the Park production of Merry Wives has postponed its opening night by nearly two weeks due to an onstage injury sustained by its leading man Jacob Ming-Trent.
Jocelyn Bioh’s comedy adaptation of Merry Wives of Windsor, currently in previews at Central Park’s Delacorte Theater, was to have opened Tuesday, July 27, with press previews originally scheduled for this week. The Public Theater announced today that the official opening has been bumped to Monday, August 9.
Neither the nature nor the extent of the injury was disclosed. A Public Theater spokesperson told Deadline that the actor is recuperating and will return to the show when he is able. No additional details were released.
According to the theater, Ming-Trent, who plays Falstaff in the production, “unfortunately sustained an injury during a recent performance and to support his full recovery, we must postpone our upcoming press performances and official press opening.
Jocelyn Bioh’s comedy adaptation of Merry Wives of Windsor, currently in previews at Central Park’s Delacorte Theater, was to have opened Tuesday, July 27, with press previews originally scheduled for this week. The Public Theater announced today that the official opening has been bumped to Monday, August 9.
Neither the nature nor the extent of the injury was disclosed. A Public Theater spokesperson told Deadline that the actor is recuperating and will return to the show when he is able. No additional details were released.
According to the theater, Ming-Trent, who plays Falstaff in the production, “unfortunately sustained an injury during a recent performance and to support his full recovery, we must postpone our upcoming press performances and official press opening.
- 7/19/2021
- by Greg Evans
- Deadline Film + TV
New York’s Free Shakespeare in the Park production this summer of Merry Wives, a comedy adaptation by Jocelyn Bioh of the Bard’s Merry Wives of Windsor, will feature an all-Black cast including Jacob Ming-Trent (HBO’s Watchmen), Gbenga Akinnagbe (Broadway’s To Kill A Mockingbird), Shola Adewusi (CBS’ Bob Hearts Abishola) and Susan Kelechi Watson (NBC’s This Is Us).
The Public Theater announced the complete casting today, along with new dates for the staging in Central Park’s Delacorte Theater: Performances will begin Tuesday, July 6 (instead of the previously announced July 5) and run through Saturday, September 18 (an extension of three weeks from the previously announced engagement). The official opening night is Tuesday, July 27.
The extension is designed to compensate for current social distancing procedures that will require limited audience capacity of 428 at the 1,800-seat Delacorte. The audience capacity could be expanded if state requirements for small- and medium-sized venues change before July.
The Public Theater announced the complete casting today, along with new dates for the staging in Central Park’s Delacorte Theater: Performances will begin Tuesday, July 6 (instead of the previously announced July 5) and run through Saturday, September 18 (an extension of three weeks from the previously announced engagement). The official opening night is Tuesday, July 27.
The extension is designed to compensate for current social distancing procedures that will require limited audience capacity of 428 at the 1,800-seat Delacorte. The audience capacity could be expanded if state requirements for small- and medium-sized venues change before July.
- 6/3/2021
- by Greg Evans
- Deadline Film + TV
At the start of “The Inheritance” — an experimental film about the formation of a Black collective, set in the early ’90s — Julian (Eric Lockley) rummages through a wooden crate of books he found in the West Philadelphia row house his grandmother left him. In it is a trove of poetic and political thought circa the late ’60s and beyond: There’s Malcolm X and Alice Walker, James Baldwin and Toni Morrison, as well as Charles Mingus and a stack of Ebony magazines.
In the next scene, Julian’s friend, maybe girlfriend, Gwen (Nozipho Mclean) helps him tug and shove the crate across the floor of the near empty abode. He asks her to move in. She reminds him that the last time they saw each other was at least a month ago. They’d gone to see Andrei Tarkovsky’s “The Sacrifice”;” he cried and grew quiet. No wonder they...
In the next scene, Julian’s friend, maybe girlfriend, Gwen (Nozipho Mclean) helps him tug and shove the crate across the floor of the near empty abode. He asks her to move in. She reminds him that the last time they saw each other was at least a month ago. They’d gone to see Andrei Tarkovsky’s “The Sacrifice”;” he cried and grew quiet. No wonder they...
- 3/11/2021
- by Lisa Kennedy
- Variety Film + TV
New York-based outfit Grasshopper Film has acquired North American rights to Ephraim Asili’s debut feature, “The Inheritance,” following its premiere at Toronto and screening at the New York Film Festival.
Grasshopper Film is planning to have “The Inheritance” open on March 12 in New York at Film at Lincoln Center, as well as in other cities.
The ensemble film takes place almost entirely in a West Philadelphia house, where a community of young people come together to form a collective of Black artists and activists. Shot in 16 mm, the movie interweaves a scripted drama with a documentary recollection of the Philadelphia liberation group Move, which was the victim of a notorious police bombing in 1985.
A Pennsylvania-born filmmaker, Asili has been exploring different facets of the African diaspora for nearly a decade and “The Inheritance” is based on his own experiences in a Black liberationist group.
The film references legacies of the Black Arts Movement,...
Grasshopper Film is planning to have “The Inheritance” open on March 12 in New York at Film at Lincoln Center, as well as in other cities.
The ensemble film takes place almost entirely in a West Philadelphia house, where a community of young people come together to form a collective of Black artists and activists. Shot in 16 mm, the movie interweaves a scripted drama with a documentary recollection of the Philadelphia liberation group Move, which was the victim of a notorious police bombing in 1985.
A Pennsylvania-born filmmaker, Asili has been exploring different facets of the African diaspora for nearly a decade and “The Inheritance” is based on his own experiences in a Black liberationist group.
The film references legacies of the Black Arts Movement,...
- 12/16/2020
- by Elsa Keslassy
- Variety Film + TV
Last night, October 28, The Public Theater officially opens Father Comes Home From The Wars Parts 1, 2 amp 3.The complete cast features Sterling K. Brown Hero Louis Cancelmi Smith Peter Jay Fernandez Oldest Old Man Jeremie Harris Homer Russell G. Jones Leader, Runaway Jenny Jules Penny Ken Marks Colonel Jacob Ming-Trent Fourth, Odyssey Dog Tonye Patano Third Runaway and Julian Rozzell Jr. Second Runaway. BroadwayWorld brings you photos from opening night below...
- 10/29/2014
- by Jennifer Broski
- BroadwayWorld.com
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