You’ve been summoned.
The Billie will continue to celebrate the power of Black storytelling with the bi-annual "Black Narrative" theater series.
Fine! I’ll say it. I see y’all are gonna make me say it! Twelve Black women get summoned for jury duty and we ALL make it through – that don’t seem suspicious to you?” - JUROR 12
Suspicious, indeed. In TWELVE ANGRY BLACK WOMEN, a new experimental & speculative play by Andrea Ambam, the fate of a peculiar and unprecedented case in American history rests in the hands of an all-Black, all-Femme jury.
Set within a USA stamped as a backsliding democracy, TWELVE ANGRY BLACK WOMEN is a theatrical truthtelling experience where satire, ritual, and reenactment collide to stress-test American democracy and contemplate the consequences this country would face if Black women voted not with our resilience, but our righteous rage.
This staged reading is directed and choreographed by Obie Award-winner nicHi douglas, with music composition by Obie Award-winner S T A R R busby.
Members of the Jury (cast) include: Kimberly Marable (Hadestown, Chicago), Cassandra Freeman (Bel-Air; Love, Brooklyn), Alfie Fuller (The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel; Deli Boys), Tina Fabrique ((pray); Reading Rainbow), Nile Assata Harris (The Savior, the sick, & the Golden One), N'yomi Allure Stewart (Prince F*ggot; Cats: The Jellicle Ball), Gail Bean (Snowfall; Table 17), DeWanda Wise (She’s Gotta Have It; Love, Brooklyn), Kai Heath (Immediate Family; On Sugarland), Adrianna Mitchell (Fat Ham; Crutch), Bisserat Tseggai (Jaja’s African Hair Braiding; Succession), and Janelle McDermoth (The Fires; Caught Stealing).
African American Policy Forum (AAPF), led by Dr. Kimberlé Crenshaw, will join the evening as a community partner, spotlighting their work in defending democracy and fighting against censorship.
This reading is presented in partnership with The Billie Holiday Theatre, Hi-ARTS, and Level Forward.
Tickes: $25.00
Get your tickets today…
Key Art designed by Cristian Mera (@fluffycrust)
Andrea Ambam is an award-winning storyteller and truthteller whose roots sprout from Cameroon. Pulsating at the intersection of art and social change as a playwright, performance artist, and creative producer – Andrea has developed her unruly imagination and multi-hyphenated practice through residencies with New York Theatre Workshop, PEN America, Hi-ARTS, Anna Deavere Smith, Broadway Advocacy Coalition, The Playwrights Realm, Brooklyn Arts Exchange, Signature Theatre, EmergeNYC; collaborations with JACK, Working Theater, Classical Theatre of Harlem, NYU Verbatim Performance Lab, The Apollo, National Black Theatre, NYU Prison Education Program, Harlem9, and more. Andrea has been pulsating at the intersection of storytelling and social change for over a decade, beginning as a competitive public speaker where she was awarded 10 national championships including "Top Speaker in the Nation'' three times, and went on to debate conservative pundits on live TV.
Her plays include: Date of Release (Working Theater and Broadway Advocacy Coalition’s Stage Left Festival), Twelve Angry Black Women (Fault Line Theatre’s Irons in The Fire Finalist), Fragile State (Theatre 503 International Playwriting Award Longlist, O’Neill National Playwrights Conference Semifinalist, Rattlestick Van Lier Fellowship Semifinalist), R(estoration) I(n) P(rogress) (NYU Educational Theatre/Provincetown Playhouse 2023, ANPF Semifinalist 2021), Rehearsing Justice: A One-Woman Show (Presentations with BAX 2022 & BAC 2021), and Angelina Weld Grimke (Classical Theatre of Harlem/Playbill, Broadway Podcast Network).
Currently, Andrea is the Director of Programming at Level Forward – a public-benefit entertainment studio – where she hosts the Anthem Award-winning audience engagement platform More To Talk About (previously seen at Sundance Film Festival, Tribeca Film Festival, SXSW, and monthly in NYC at Soho House). Andrea lives in Brooklyn where the rent is too damn high, and holds a Master’s degree in Art & Public Policy from New York University’s Tisch School of the Arts. www.andreaambam.com
Image credit: Lexi Webster Photography