|
2009-2010 Season Proudly Presented by:
|
|
|
Up Next: Black Pearl Sings! |
|
|
Michael Kaiser Speaks About Penumbra's Upcoming Collaboration with the Kennedy Center |
Michael Kaiser, President of the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts in Washington, D.C., speaks about bringing an original Penumbra production to the Kennedy Center stage next season! The new play that Penumbra is developing is entitled Let There Be Love by Dominic Taylor, Penumbra Associate Artistic Director. The play is a drama with music about Nat King Cole - that provides a window into not only the life of the star, but also an examination of American life in 1957. Penumbra will premiere this show here at Penumbra in May 2011 and will take the show Kennedy Center in June 2011. |
|
|
Penumbra’s Radio Golf included in the best plays of 2009! |
|
 Pittsburgh's Post-Gazette annually selects the top 10 theatre productions of the year. The list includes local and touring shows. In November, Penumbra's 2009-2010 season opener, Radio Golf, by August Wilson, directed by Lou Bellamy, travelled to Pittsburgh to participate in the "Aunt Ester Cycle" at the August Wilson Center.
Penumbra's Radio Golf was listed #2 in the "Top 10" best shows produced in 2009! Scholar and theatre critic Chris Rawson states, "The most polished of the five productions that made up the two-week Aunt Ester Cycle at the new August Wilson Center for African American Culture. This version of the final play of Wilson's 10-play Pittsburgh Cycle was gripping, tightly directed by Lou Bellamy -- better then the four other versions I've seen, and that includes Broadway. With the current struggles to redevelop the Hill, not to mention our first black president, 'Radio Golf' is even more contemporary than when Wilson wrote it just five years ago."
Click here to read more.
|
|
|
In loving memory, Penumbra honors and celebrates the life of Claude Purdy |
|
Penumbra founding Company member, Claude Purdy, passed away Monday, July 27, 2009. A talented artist and teacher, Purdy mentored many actors and directors throughout the United States. Credited with bringing August Wilson to St. Paul, Purdy directed Wilson's first professional production, Black Bart and the Sacred Hills at Penumbra Theatre in 1982. Purdy worked closely with August Wilson, Lou Bellamy and Penumbra company members, and he was pivotal in the founding years of Penumbra Theatre. His contributions to the theatre community are invaluable.
Select directing credits at Penumbra include: Deadwood Dick : A Legend of the West (1981-1982), Ain't Supposed to Die a Natural Death (1981-1982), Black Bart and the Sacred Hills (1982-1983), Don't Bother Me - I Can’t Cope (1983-1984), Ma Rainey's Black Bottom (1986-1987), Every Night the Sun Goes Down (1987-1988), Fences (1989-1990), Joe Turner’s Come and Gone (1990-1991), Don't Bother Me – I Can’t Cope (1990-1991), Fences (1996-1997), and Joe Turner's Come and Gone (2002-2003).
Click here to read additional remarks about Purdy from Education Director Sarah Bellamy and Associate Artistic Director Dominic Taylor.
|
|
|
 Penumbra is going green!
Sign up for Green Penumbra and we'll send the majority of correspondence through email instead of mail. Less paper means less waste and lower mailing costs – we'll be
able to help save the environment and use your contribution more responsibly.
Please note: Penumbra never shares, trades, or sells your email address.
As we implement this new Green Penumbra campaign, it may take a few weeks before you begin to receive emails instead of snail mail.
Click here to learn more about Green Penumbra. |
|
|
|
|
|
