 Purchase, NY - The always innovative and compelling Classical Theatre of Harlem takes William Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet to modern-day Harlem in a new production at The Performing Arts Center Purchase College on Friday, Feb. 22nd and Saturday, Feb. 23rd at 8 p.m.
The Friday performance will be preceded by a free prelude lecture at 7 p.m. Members of the company will speak with the audience after each performance.
In the classic style of the Classical Theatre of Harlem, Romeo and Juliet is set to Afro-Caribbean rhythms, with soul, R&B and rap music throughout. The production retains Shakespeare’s beloved text, adding a hip hop sensibility to a setting that reflects today’s youth culture and racial tensions. Actors are costumed in a fantastic mélange of urban chic and West Indian Carnival.
Founded in 1999, the Classical Theatre of Harlem is a not-for-profit professional theatre company known for creating and nurturing a new, young, and culturally diverse audience for the classics. According to New York Magazine, the company “takes nontraditional casting to a new level, putting on… remarkably powerful work." NYTheatre.com adds, “The Classical Theater of Harlem has become one of the most consistently intelligent and dramatically compelling companies in New York City.”
The performance is part of Purchase College’s year-long, cross-campus initiative to explore the rich cultural heritage of Africa and the African Diaspora.
For more information, and to buy tickets, contact The Performing Arts Center ticket office (914-251-6200) or log onto The Center’s website at http://www.artscenter.org.
Tickets are $40 and $30.
The Center's 30th season is made possible, in part, by the Basic Program Support Grant of the Westchester Arts Council with funds from Westchester County Government.
Purchase College is located 28 miles northeast of New York City at the Connecticut border. The college, part of the State University of New York, is a major institution of public higher education encompassing the liberal arts and sciences, professional training in the performing and visual arts, continuing education, The Neuberger Museum of Art, and The Performing Arts Center.
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