2019–20 Season
EXPERIENCE: CELEBRATION!
The last 25 years has brought about great technology; smartphones, great medical advancements; stem cell research, and of course, great theatrical art as seen in the plays produced by the beloved and award winning African-American Shakespeare Company. This year, we celebrate 25 years of pushing the envelope, stretching our imaginations, making bold choices, richly imagining and colorfully presenting stories featuring people of color at center stage.
EXPERIENCE: PASSION as the African-American Shakespeare Company begins its 25th anniversary season with Shakespeare’s OTHELLO helmed by Bay Area veteran director Carl Jordan, with our very own artistic director L. Peter Callender in the title role; a surprising first in a long career depicting Shakespeare on stage. This modern dress production of Shakespeare’s psychological tragedy telling a story of love, defiance, revenge, and betrayal will be gracing the stage at Marine’s Memorial Theater in San Francisco.
EXPERIENCE: TRADITION with our AASC family’s annual enchanting production of CINDERELLA at the majestic Herbst Theater in San Francisco. Over the years, AASC audiences have made this special show their Christmas destination. This season, there will be more magic and surprises to bring big smiles, and to inspire and lift the spirits of Princes and Princesses young and old! Come one! Come all!
EXPERIENCE: RECLAMATION “All Rise!”. The court is session with THE TRIAL OF ONE SHORT-SIGHTED WOMAN VS. MAMMY LOUISE & SAFREETA MAE by Karani Marcia Leslie Johnson, a satirical comedy, winner of six New York Audelco (Audience Development Committee) Awards in 1999 and directed by our own founder and executive director, Sherri Young. Watch the reclamation of power, imagery, and identity as one black woman indicts the stereotypical and harmful portrayals of black womanhood in film and television.
EXPERIENCE: LAUGHTER Travel back in time to the resplendent 1930’s with Noel Cowards’ PRIVATE LIVES as opulently directed by the fabulous Clay David. A luxe conceptualization of this comedy of manners where elegance meets ferocity; Josephine Baker and Langston Hughs could walk in at any moment. The 2000 winner of two Olivier Awards in London comes to the Marines’ Memorial Theater stage in San Francisco, featuring our own Leontyne Mbele-Mbong and our company’s artistic director L. Peter Callender as Amanda and Elyot.
Join us for this season’s celebration of 25 triumphant years with African-American Shakespeare Company and look forward with us to another even more glorious 25 years to come.
Cheers!
L. Peter Callender
Artistic Director
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Othello, The Trial, and Private Lives single tickets are handled by BrownPaperTickets 800.838.3006
Customer service available 24/7
Cinderella single and group tickets are handled by City Box Office 415.392.4400
Weekdays: 9:30am–5:00pm
Saturdays: 12:00pm–4:00pm
We love groups. Not only do they assist in filling our house, but the amount of manpower it takes to get one person in a group provides 10 times the amount of traffic. Therefore, we provide special discount for groups with a minimum of 10 people!
Productions
William Shakespeare’s Othello
Directed by Carl Jordan
October 12–27, 2019 at the Marines’ Memorial Theatre
This classic Shakespeare tale of race is set in a contemporary time in Washington, D.C. and Syria. Othello, an outsider who grew up in Africa’s military gang with a strong muslim background; marries a young white Christian woman. How do these two opposing cultures and roles fit with customs, traditions, and families?
African-American Shakespeare Company’s Cinderella
Directed by Sherri Young
December 20–22, 2019 at the Herbst Theatre
AThis beloved annual holiday treat—which has sold out each of the past 4 years—is a timeless tale, brought to whimsical, magical life in an uplifting re-telling of the classic fairytale, featuring all of the pageantry, hilarity, and charm of the original, but with a decidedly soulful twist.
Karani Marcia Leslie Johnson’s The Trial of One Short-Sighted Black Woman vs. Mammie Louise and Safreeta Mae
Directed by Sherri Young
February 15-March 1, 2020 at the Taube Atrium Theater
This satirical play by Karani Marcia Leslie Johnson is set up as a mock trial of black female identity—specifically the jovial, asexual and servile “mammy,” along with the hyper-sexualized Jezebel-like “Safreeta Mae” stereotypes, which the main character charges, are actually based on television, advertising and the movies, not reality. And it is these stereotypes that have impeded her success in making it up the entertainment industry’s corporate ladder. Interestingly, the playwright herself was an editor and staff writer for CBS, NBC and Fox, with credits that also include The Cosby Show and Parenthood.
Noël Coward’s Private Lives
Directed by Clay David
April 11–26, 2020 at the Marines’ Memorial Theatre
This deliciously stylish comedy is set against the cultivated backdrop of 1929s Paris Black Célébré, the zeitgeist of Black art, jazz, philosophy and literary sophistication.
Elyot Chase and Amanda Prynne-cosmopolitan lovers separated, remarried to others, are unwillingly reunited, honeymooning with their new spouses in the same hotel. The separated lovers, moneyed and metropolitan in their disregard for conventional propriety, find their new spouses lacking in chic finesse, stultifying in provincialism.
