Date: February 3 (view any day or time)
Cost: $4.99
This classic play by Academy Award nominee, Lonne Elder III, gives us the portrait of a Harlem family that dreams of a better life, but pursues it in tragic ways. First produced by the Negro Ensemble Company in 1969, the critically acclaimed Ceremonies in Dark Old Men opened the door for a new generation of African American playwrights, including August Wilson and Lynn Nottage.
Recorded before a live audience at the Skirball Cultural Center, Los Angeles in January of 2009.
More about the Playwright, Lonne Elder III
Lonne Elder III was an American actor, playwright, and screenwriter. He was one of the first African Americans to be nominated for an Academy Award for Writing, for Sounder, his film adaptation of the novel by William H. Armstrong. Other screenplays include Runaway, Bustin' Loose, and Melinda. He was well-known for promoting the cause of feminism for African-American women—his screenplay, A Woman Called Moses, is an example of this.
As a Broadway actor, Elder starred as Bobo in A Raisin in the Sun (Ethel Barrymore Theatre) but soon found his skills in playwriting.
His first and most well-known play, Ceremonies in Dark Old Men, was a Drama Desk Award winner for Most Promising Playwright (St. Mark's Playhouse). Elder adapted this work for a screenplay and the film was influential in depicting the realities of African-American survival in New York City. Other Off-Broadway theatre works include Splendid Mummer (American Place Theatre).
