March 11, 2015
Tony Winners Porter & Wolfe Exhibit 'The Colored Museum'
EDGE READ TIME: 2 MIN.
Huntington Theatre Company continues its 2014-2015 Season with the landmark comedy "The Colored Museum" by two-time Tony Award winner George C. Wolfe, a stinging journey through 11 hilarious "exhibits" about African-American culture. Tony Award winner Billy Porter ("Kinky Boots") will direct the production which begins Friday, March 6 and continues through April 5, 2015 at the Avenue of the Arts / BU Theatre.
"George Wolfe's theatrical exhibits of black American life are startling and hilarious," says Huntington Artistic Director Peter DuBois. "The play was ahead of its time in 1987 and is now ripe for a major revival. I'm thrilled that the incredible Billy Porter, fresh from his Tony Award-winning performance in 'Kinky Boots' on Broadway, will direct. Bringing these two brilliant American theatre artists together is a dream." Hear more from DuBois about the production at huntingtontheatre.org/peter-colored-museum.
Many critics describe George C. Wolfe's work as the precursor to "In Living Color." From an airline attendant inviting you aboard the Celebrity Slaveship to a young woman's natural and relaxed wigs bickering over who she should wear when she breaks up with her boyfriend - "The Colored Museum" will electrify, discomfort, and delight audiences of all colors, skewering stereotypes and redefining what it means to be black in contemporary America.
"'The Colored Museum' came into my life at a very formative time," says director Billy Porter, who considers Wolfe a longtime mentor and advocate. "I was a teenager longing for more than just one type of 'Black' representation in the creative storytelling landscape. George Wolfe's unique and irreverent voice of inclusion ignited the fire of possibility inside of me and set me on a creative journey that included stretching myself beyond what, up until then, I thought was possible for a little black gay boy from the ghetto. I am forever grateful."
The New York Times calls "The Colored Museum" "a wild evening of black black humor. George C. Wolfe takes no prisoners."
"The Colored Museum" is supported by Huntington Season Sponsors Carol G. Deane and J. David Wimberly and Production Co-Sponsors Betsy and David Epstein and Linda and Bill McQuillan.
"The Colored Museum" runs March 6 through April 5 at the Avenue of the Arts / BU Theatre, 264 Huntington Avenue, Boston. For more information including tickets call 617-266-0800 or visit huntingtontheatre.org.
