THE DEATH OF BESSIE SMITH by Edward Albee
Director: Jonathan Solari
Dramaturg: Samantha Levitt
Cast: Jessica Afton*, Brian D. Coats*, Jamyl Dobson*, Paul Wilcox, Edwin Lee Gibson*, Keilly McQuail, James Patrick Nelson*
Design Team: Claire DeLiso, Brandon Bagwell, Laura Cunningham, Marissa Bergman
Stage Management Team: Clarissa Ligon, Jeannipher Pacheco
*These Actors appeared courtesy of Actors’ Equity Association.
Edward Albee's The Death of Bessie Smith was presented by special arrangement with Dramatists Play Service, Inc., New York.
Dramaturg: Samantha Levitt
Cast: Jessica Afton*, Brian D. Coats*, Jamyl Dobson*, Paul Wilcox, Edwin Lee Gibson*, Keilly McQuail, James Patrick Nelson*
Design Team: Claire DeLiso, Brandon Bagwell, Laura Cunningham, Marissa Bergman
Stage Management Team: Clarissa Ligon, Jeannipher Pacheco
*These Actors appeared courtesy of Actors’ Equity Association.
Edward Albee's The Death of Bessie Smith was presented by special arrangement with Dramatists Play Service, Inc., New York.
In December 2013, Interfaith Medical Center in Bed-Stuy, Brooklyn was slated to close a few weeks into the new year. The hospital, which serves a medically under-served swath of New York City, had fallen out of the headlines despite the efforts of neighborhood activists and labor allies to keep the hospital open.
We reached out to Interfaith that December and one month later, on January 9, 2014, opened our site-specific production of Edward Albee’s The Death of Bessie Smith, performed inside the hospital. With support from the I M Foundation led by Diane Porter, we were able to extend performances through March 9. Tickets were free. Approximately 1800 people saw the show, and we sold out 22 of 28 performances. Our production was the first New York revival of the play in 46 years.
We produced the show in order to highlight the threat of imminent closure that the hospital faced and to provoke a citywide conversation about health, race, and class. The play itself, set in a whites-only hospital in 1937, uses the legend of the famous blues singer’s death in order to portray a soul-crushing climate of injustice and hostility. We followed each performance by holding post-show discussions with the audience, the cast, and invited leaders in the arts, government, labor, and health. Our special guests included legendary artist and activist Harry Belafonte, U.S. Representative Hakeem Jeffriez, State Senator Velmanette Montgomery, Assembly members Annette Robinson and Walter Mosley; City Council members Robert Cornegy, Laurie Cumbo, and Steve Levin; NYSNA executive director Jill Furillo, activist Sharonnie Perry of the Interfaith Community Advisory Board, Diane Porter of the Interfaith Board of Trustees, and Reverend Shaun J. Lee of Mount Lebanon Baptist Church.
The public attention that the show generated for the hospital was phenomenal, as were the stories about our work. The Huffington Post said the play’s “story of ill will, poor communication and failed provision of medical care, extends far beyond New York City.”
We were proud to use the arts to contribute to the movement to save the hospital. Today, thanks in part to public pressure, the hospital remains open on a surer footing than it’s had in years and has emerged out of Chapter 11 bankruptcy proceedings.
We reached out to Interfaith that December and one month later, on January 9, 2014, opened our site-specific production of Edward Albee’s The Death of Bessie Smith, performed inside the hospital. With support from the I M Foundation led by Diane Porter, we were able to extend performances through March 9. Tickets were free. Approximately 1800 people saw the show, and we sold out 22 of 28 performances. Our production was the first New York revival of the play in 46 years.
We produced the show in order to highlight the threat of imminent closure that the hospital faced and to provoke a citywide conversation about health, race, and class. The play itself, set in a whites-only hospital in 1937, uses the legend of the famous blues singer’s death in order to portray a soul-crushing climate of injustice and hostility. We followed each performance by holding post-show discussions with the audience, the cast, and invited leaders in the arts, government, labor, and health. Our special guests included legendary artist and activist Harry Belafonte, U.S. Representative Hakeem Jeffriez, State Senator Velmanette Montgomery, Assembly members Annette Robinson and Walter Mosley; City Council members Robert Cornegy, Laurie Cumbo, and Steve Levin; NYSNA executive director Jill Furillo, activist Sharonnie Perry of the Interfaith Community Advisory Board, Diane Porter of the Interfaith Board of Trustees, and Reverend Shaun J. Lee of Mount Lebanon Baptist Church.
The public attention that the show generated for the hospital was phenomenal, as were the stories about our work. The Huffington Post said the play’s “story of ill will, poor communication and failed provision of medical care, extends far beyond New York City.”
We were proud to use the arts to contribute to the movement to save the hospital. Today, thanks in part to public pressure, the hospital remains open on a surer footing than it’s had in years and has emerged out of Chapter 11 bankruptcy proceedings.
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