Arts.Advocacy+Wellness: "Daniel Beaty's THROUGH THE NIGHT"

Daniel Beaty is back with

THROUGH THE NIGHT!

THROUGH THE NIGHT embodies the stories of six men who experience an unexpected epiphany on the same evening that changes their lives forever. This evening of theatre is a thrilling blend of humor, poetry, music and drama, full of possibility and hope.

"Six characters. Three generations. One extraordinary man.

Obie Award Winner Daniel Beaty shines

as writer and performer of a range of characters, from

hopeful, wide-eyed child to admired, elder preacher,

spinning a tale where lives collide to show how

hope, faith and love have the ability to pull anyone

THROUGH THE NIGHT

Supported by some of the country's most revered performers and respected educators, including Bill Cosby, Ruby Dee, and Henry Louis Gates Jr.

PERFORMANCE OPTIONS

ONLINE. Visit Ticketmaster.com by clicking here, select the performance date you wish to attend, and enter code DBLAST in the “Promotions and Special Offers” area.

Ticketmaster at 1-800-982-2787 and mention code DBLAST.

IN PERSON. Bring a print-out of this offer to the Union Square Theatre Box Office (100 East 17th Street, NYC).

PREVIEW PERFORMANCE SCHEDULE:

Friday, September 10 at 8 pm Saturday, September 11 at 3 pm & 8 pm

Sunday, September 12 at 7 pm Thursday, September 16 at 8 pm

Friday, September 17 at 8 pm Saturday, September 18 at 3 pm & 8 pm

Sunday, September 19 at 3 pm & 7 pm Wednesday, September 22 at 8 pm

Thursday, September 23 at 8 pm Friday, September 24 at 8 pm

Saturday, September 25 at 3 pm & 8 pm Sunday, September 26 at 7 pm

REGULAR PERFORMANCE SCHEDULE:

Beginning September 29, 2010

Wednesday - Friday at 8 pm

Saturday at 3 pm & 8 pm

Sunday at 3 pm & 7 pm

FOR GROUPS, please call 646-624-6678.

http://www.throughthenightonstage.com/

A.A+W

with Cornelius Jones Jr.

Tune in next Wednesday for more

Arts.Advocacy+Wellness with Cornelius Jones Jr.

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www.theblacktraveler.com

Black Men in America as Stressed-Out Strivers

“Through the Night”: Daniel Beaty in this solo show at Riverside Theater.

By ANITA GATES

NYTimes.com

Photo by: Sherry Rubel

“Run, black man, run,” Daniel Beaty says fiercely. “Run to your children — hold them tight.”

It’s not surprising that Bill Cosby is a fan of Mr. Beaty’s work. It brings to life everything that Mr. Cosby has spoken out about in recent years in terms of African-Americans’ taking responsibility for their own lives. And when Mr. Beaty takes up the topic, it’s not a speech. It’s a poem.



“Through the Night,” which Mr. Beaty is performing with his signature wit, grit and piercing lyricism, is a thing of beauty. Now in a limited run at the Riverside Theater in Morningside Heights, this drama has been described as a look at what it means to be black and male in the United States today, but its deepest meanings transcend race and gender.



Mr. Beaty’s work could be compared to many solo shows in which a performer portrays multiple characters, but his method is different, at least in this play. “Through the Night” has a clear-cut, linear plot that takes shape smoothly and artfully, and builds to a real-life crisis with a jolt of magic realism.

The black men in “Through the Night” are striving, and that is taking its toll, even on 10-year-old Eric, who is determined to develop a magic formula for his herbal iced tea. His father, Mr. Rogers (whose neighborhood is Harlem), is trying desperately to make a go of his health-food store, but people, it seems, would rather clog their arteries with so-called soul food.



Mr. Rogers’s one employee, Dre, is fighting the temptation to use drugs again while he waits for his first child to be born, praying that the baby will, unlike its parents, be H.I.V.-free. Eric’s pal ’Twon has won one battle — he is graduating from high school — but is struggling for the courage to go away to college in Atlanta, to a world that is foreign to him.



’Twon’s mentor, Isaac, a music-industry executive, works long, stress-filled hours, but puts almost as much energy into hiding the reason he’s 40 and unmarried. His father, a successful minister with a congregation of 10,000, is fighting for his life. He weighs 300 pounds, is diabetic and joins Overeaters Anonymous, but still wants creamy, chocolaty HoHos in the middle of the night.



Women are not seen that often, but they are a vital, cherished part of the men’s lives: Mr. Rogers’s long-gone mother, who cleaned offices to support her children (“I never saw you dance”), for instance, and his wife, who toils at a salaried job so her husband can keep his store going. And Mr. Beaty’s gifts are such that when female characters do speak through him, his demeanor and posture change in astonishing ways. I could swear he suddenly has breasts, but maybe that’s a trick of Jacqueline Reid’s lighting design.

Read the entire article here: Black Men in America as Stressed-Out Strivers

“Through the Night” continues through May 23 at the Riverside Theater, in Riverside Church, 91 Claremont Avenue, at 120th Street, Morningside Heights; (212) 870-6784; www.theriversidetheatre.org.