Lia Chang Multimedia: Zooman and The Sign Opening Night Party

Negro Ensemble Company founder Douglas Turner Ward and Keith David (Photo by Lia Chang)

The Signature Theatre’s opening night party of Charles Fuller’s Zooman and The Sign, was a joyous affair at 44 ½ in New York on March 24, 2009. Negro Ensemble Company founder Douglas Turner Ward, playwrights Leslie Lee and Edward Albee, New Federal Theatre founder Woodie King, Leslie Uggams, Ruben Santiago-Hudson, Ebony Jo-Ann, James McDaniel, Carl Gordon, Denise Burse,

Peter Jay Fernandez, James McDaniel and Denise Burse (Photo by Lia Chang)

Kevin Mambo, Kevin T. Carroll, Keith David, Carl Gordon and Giancarlo Esposito were among those who came out for the final offering of Signature Theatre Company’s 2008-09 season celebrating the historic Negro Ensemble Company.

 The cast features Ron Canada (Emmett Tate), Amari Cheatom (Zooman), Rosalyn Coleman (Rachel Tate), Tre Davis (Russell Adams), Peter Jay Fernandez (Donald Jackson), Lynda Gravatt (Ash Boswell), Jamal Mallory-McCree (Victor Tate), Evan Parke (Reuben Tate), and Portia (Grace Georges).

Performances are at Signature Theatre Company at The Peter Norton Space, 555 West 42nd St. (btwn 10th & 11th Aves) in New York, through April 26, Tuesday at 7pm, Wednesday – Saturday at 8pm, with Saturday & Sunday matinees at 2pm. $20. Click here to purchase tickets.

The cast of Zooman: Peter Jay Fernandez, Rosalyn Coleman, Jamal Mallory-McCree, Evan Parke, Amari Cheatom, Portia, Ron Canada, W. Tre Davis and Lynda Gravatt. (Photo by Lia Chang)

Signature Theatre Company’s 2009 Annual Gala, hosted by Ruben Santiago-Hudson and Phylicia Rashad, will take place on Monday, March 30, 2009 at Espace, 635 West 42nd St. in New York.

Evan Parke, director Stephen McKinley Henderson, Rosalyn Coleman and Ron Canada (Photo by Lia Chang)

Signature is honoring Douglas Turner Ward, founding Artistic Director of the historic Negro Ensemble Company and original director of the three plays in Signature’s NEC season – Leslie Lee’s The First Breeze of Summer, Samm-Art Williams’s Home and Charles Fuller’s Zooman and The Sign. The NEC, founded over 40 years ago by Mr. Ward, Robert Hooks, and Gerald S. Krone, shaped America’s theatrical heritage and provided a home for many African-American artists

Amari Cheatom and Portia (Photo by Lia Chang)

including Angela Bassett, Laurence Fishburne, Samuel L. Jackson, Phylicia Rashad, and Denzel Washington. As a playwright, Mr. Ward is best known for his award-winning one-act plays Happy Ending and Day of Absence. Also an accomplished actor, Mr. Ward has received two Drama Desk awards and a Tony nomination for his performances. He is an inductee in the Theatre Hall of Fame.

For reservations, contact the Development Office at 212-967-1913 ext 28.

Tables: Sponsorship Table: $25,000, Benefactor Table: $12,000, Angel Table: $6,000
Tickets: $1200 Benefactor Ticket and $600 Angel Ticket

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