Backstage Pass with Lia Chang

Lia Chang: Achieving the American Dream, Professional Charmer André De Shields Sees Theater is a Way To Life

It’s frigid outside on this Sunday afternoon in January, but the temperature in the sixth floor rehearsal room of The Abingdon Theatre Arts Complex in New York is rising. The source of the heat is André De Shields, barefoot and clad in red sweatpants, who is rehearsing the choreography for one of the five characters he embodies in his solo work-in-progress, Mine Eyes Have Seen The Glory: From Douglass to Deliverance Created and performed by De Shields, under the direction of Alfred Preisser, Mine Eyes has a limited run from Thursday, February 4 through Sunday, February 14 at the June Havoc Theatre, 312 W. 36 St. in New York. Mine Eyes is part of the 25th anniversary season of The Working Theater, whose mission is to produce theater with working class themes for working class people at affordable prices.