JULIUS CAESAR By William Shakespeare
Performing Arts & Theater
(Buriel Clay Memorial Theater, 1st Floor)
Sat, Mar 10
-- Sun, Apr 1
Press Opening: March 10
JULIUS CAESAR is not a history play. At a time in our country when partisanship has gone from bombast to blood sport, when patriotism and violence have become commingled, and when the people are so desperate for a leader they will follow anyone who promises them security while playing on their fears, the violent political struggles of Caesar are not history, they are nightly news. Full of passion and intensity, this political thriller about life and death political struggles tells us not only about the dead leaders we see etched in stone or live on TV each night, but also about the people who put them in power in the first place.
Directed by renowned actor and playwright Michael Gene Sullivan (San Francisco Mime Troupe) and featuring a small ensemble cast, African-American Shakespeare Company’s version of JULIUS CAESAR highlights the similarities of the politicians who will say anything, and do anything, to win.
World Premiere - XTIGONE By Nambi E. Kelley
Performing Arts & Theater
(Buriel Clay Memorial Theater, 1st Floor)
Fri, Apr 20
-- Sun, May 13
Press Opening: April 20
Closing African-American Shakespeare Company’s 17th season is the World Premiere of XTIGONE, acclaimed Chicago-based actress and emerging playwright Nambi E. Kelley’s urban adaptation of Sophocles’ tragedy Antigone. XTIGONE is Kelley’s impassioned response to the untimely deaths of youths in her native Chicago as a result of gang violence, which has risen sharply in the past several years. Distressed by similar recent events in San Francisco, Oakland, and other Bay Area communities, African-American Shakespeare Company, in partnership with California State University-East Bay, brings to the stage this profoundly moving and resonant reflection of our troubled times. Directed by CSU-East Bay professor Darryl Jones, this ancient drama for our contemporary moment is a stirring depiction of the immense human cost of violence in our cities.
Click here for the Press Release.
