From the author of A RAISIN IN THE SUN
Center Stage presents Lorraine Hansberry's LES BLANCS
January 2 - February 1, 1998

    BALTIMORE - Rehearsals are now underway for the third production of the 1997-98 Center Stage Mainstage Season, Lorraine Hansberry's LES BLANCS. The personal and political epic, directed by Marion McClinton and made possible by a $100,000 grant from the National Endowment for the Arts, will begin preview performances in The Pearlstone Theater on Friday, January 2nd; officially open on Wednesday, January 7th; and run through Sunday, February lst. Tickets, priced at $10 - $40, are now on sale at the Center Stage Box Office at 700 North Calvert Street in Mount Vernon. To order by telephone using a credit card, call 410/332-0033. Toll-free outside the Baltimore Metropolitan area, call ProTix at 800/955-5566.

    LES BLANCS is the story of Tshembe Matoseh, whose comfortable life in London with his British wife and newborn son is interrupted by an urgent message from his dying father. Returning home to Zatembe (a fictional African nation), he finds his father dead and his people entrenched in an increasingly violent revolt against their colonial rulers. As the rebellion rips into his own family, Tshembe is confronted with the painful question: what is worth sacrificing your life for?

    LES BLANCS was not produced during Lorraine Hansberry's own life, which was cut short by cancer on January 12, 1965, during the Broadway run of her second play, THE SIGN IN SIDNEY BRUSTEIN'S WINDOW. She was 34. Her first play, A RAISIN IN THE SUN, had made her the youngest American and the first Black playwright to win the New York Drama Critics Circle Award for Best Play. It has become an American classic, frequently produced on stage and adapted as both a movie (1961) and the musical RAISIN (1973). TO BE YOUNG, GIFTED AND BLACK, a collection of her writing compiled after her death by her husband, Robert Nemiroff, was turned into an Off-Broadway drama in 1969 and has been recorded, filmed, and published in expanded book form.

    At the time of her death, Hansberry had worked for more than a year on LES BLANCS, which she considered her most important work. Much of the final script was completed by Nemiroff based on conversations the two had shared about her vision for the play. LES BLANCS finally premiered on Broadway in November 1970, with James Earl Jones playing Tshembe Matoseh. In the Center Stage production, Hansberry's protagonist is being played by Jonathan Earl Peck, who last year played the Prince of Verona in Irene Lewis's production of ROMEO AND JULIET. His New York theater credits include Joyce Carol Oates' BLACK for the Women's Project, A MIDSUMMER NIGHT'S DREAM with The Acting Company, and playing Thurgood Marshall in THE COLOR OF JUSTICE at TheatreWorks/USA. He also appeared in the recent films Someone Else's America and The Devil's Own.

    Rex Robbins, whose extensive Broadway career includes THE SISTERS ROSENSWEIG, the Angela Lansbury revival of GYPSY, and AN ALMOST PERFECT PERSON with Colleen Dewhurst, is playing Dr. Willy DeKoven, chief surgeon at a medical mission in Zatembe. His colleague, Dr. Matta Gotterling, is played by Marissa Chibas, who appeared on Broadway in BRIGHTON BEACH MEMOIRS and ABE LINCOLN IN ILLINOIS.

    The African Dancer who wordlessly punctuates Tshembe's struggle will be played by Maria Broom, a veteran of local stage and screen who has performed and taught dance throughout the United States, as well as in Ghana and Uganda. Tshembe's older brother Abioseh is played by James Austin Williams, a co-founder of the Penumbra Theatre Company and a long-time member of the acting company at the Guthrie Theater.

    The cast also includes Jay Patterson as an American journalist covering the evolving political situation; Myra Carter as a missionary whose sympathies lie with the Africans; Anthony Chisholm as one of the revolt's first martyrs; Stephen Mendillo as a local official trying to protect the land he regards as his home; Duane Boutte as Tshembe's younger brother Eric, and Alec Scott and Christopher Walsh alternating as a very young warrior.

    LES BLANCS is directed by Center Stage Associate Artist Marion McClinton, who also directed the theater's current production of SPLASH HATCH ON THE E GOING DOWN. His play POLICE BOYS premiered under his direction at Center Stage, where he since has directed August Wilson's SEVEN GUITARS and TWO TRAINS RUNNING, as well as Douglas Turner Ward's DAY OF ABSENCE and the world premiere of Keith Glover's THUNDER KNOCKING ON THE DOOR.

    The African landscape for LES BLANCS was designed by Center Stage newcomer David Gallo, currently represented on Broadway by JACKIE: AN AMERICAN LIFE. The Costume Designer is David Burdick, who previously designed the clothes for the Center Stage productions of PRIVATE LIVES and HANNAH SENESH and is the theater's Resident Costumer. Lighting design for the play is by James F. Ingalls, a frequent Center Stage collaborator whose previous projects include THE TAMING OF THE SHREW, HAPPY END, GHOSTS, and POLICE BOYS.

    The Sound Designer is David Budries, head of the Sound department at the Yale School of Drama, whose Center Stage productions include GALILEO, THE LOVER, and OTHELLO. Ken Roberson is the Choreographer; he assisted George C. Wolfe on JELLY'S LAST JAM, received an Emmy nomination for John Leguizamo's The House of Buggin', and choreographed Center Stage's SPUNK and PRIVATE LIVES.

    David Leong, one of only ten recognized Fight Masters in the U.S., is the Fight Coordinator for LES BLANCS. The Speech Consultant is Denise Woods from the Juilliard School, who also served in that capacity for Center Stage's production of SEVEN GUITARS. Charlotte Stoudt is the Production Dramaturg.

    LES BLANCS will be performed in The Pearlstone Theater Tuesdays through Fridays at 8 P.m.; Saturdays at 8 P.M.; and Sundays at 2 P.m. and 7:30 P.m. There will be three Saturday matinees, at 2 P.m. January 10th, January 24th, and January 31st; and a Wednesday matinee at 1 P.M. January 21st. The Tuesday, January 27th, performance will be interpreted in American Sign Language by Flying Hands.

    Theater for a New Generation matinees for school groups, complete with study guides and postperformance discussions, are scheduled for 10:30 A.M. on January 14th and 16ih. Tickets for the popular student matinee series are just $10 each and are available from Group Sales Coordinator Mary Frembgen at 410/685-3200, ext. 750. Availability is limited.

    Tickets for all performances of LES BLANCS are now on sale in person at the Center Stage Box Office or by calling 410/332-0033 or 800/955-5566. Tickets range from $1 0 to $40, and subscribers save $4 each on additional tickets. Groups of 20 or more can save up to $6 per ticket by calling Mary Frembgen at 410/685-3200, ext. 750. Student Rush, Senior Citizen, and Half-Price Day of Performance discount tickets are often available; inquire at the Box Office for details.

    LES BLANCS is the third production in Center Stage's 1997-98 Mainstage season. Still to come are the Gilbert & Sullivan classic H.M.S. PINAFORE; the ghost play THE WOMAN IN BLACK, adapted by Stephen Mallatratt from the book by Susan Hill; and Baltimore native Paula Vogel's Off-Broadway hit HOW I LEARNED TO DRIVE. Pro-rated subscriptions start at as little as $39 and are available by calling 410/332-0033.