Tuesday, October 18, 2011

Local actors will be featured in a November 5 staged reading at the University of North Carolina Wilmington of the world premiere stage adaptation of Ralph Ellison's American masterpiece Invisible Man. The staged reading is part of an unprecedented two-year "new works" development residency sponsored by the UNCW Office of Cultural Arts and supported by the Ellison estate.

Adapted by Oscar-nominated writer and filmmaker Oren Jacoby and directed by acclaimed New York stage director Christopher McElroen, the new play will receive its world premiere at Chicago's Court Theater in January 2012. It will then tour nationally and internationally, with a performance in Wilmington during the 2012/13 season.

In advance of the premiere, the creative team, led by Jacoby and McElroen, will work in residence at UNCW to complete the new script and finalize the production details. While in town, they will conduct workshops with local actors, visit English, film and theatre classes at UNCW and participate in a varied schedule of free events surrounding the enduring legacy of Ralph Ellison and his transformative novel about the African-American experience.

"This residency is an extraordinary opportunity for our campus and community to work closely with renowned artists and to join cultural institutions around the country in developing a new work of international significance," stated Courtney Reilly, assistant director of cultural arts. "The November 5 staged reading will give Wilmington audiences a chance to preview the work before its world premiere in Chicago."

Director Christopher McElroen handpicked local actors at a September casting call and will work with them throughout the residency to prepare for the staged reading on November 5. The local cast includes: Ron Dortch, Barbara Weetman, Daren Beatty, Maxwell Paige, Gil Johnson, Quinten Johnson, Tranell Waterman and Beverly Judge.

###

Invisible Man Residency
Schedule of Residency Events

Presented by the UNCW Office of Cultural Arts, in partnership with Randall Library, Upperman African American Cultural Center, Africana Studies and the departments of English, Film Studies and Theatre.

All events are free and open to the public. For more information, visit www.uncw.edu/arts

Moviemakers and Scholars Series:
Oren Jacoby, filmmaker/playwright
Tuesday, Nov. 1, 2011 / Lumina Theater (1 – 3:45 p.m.)
UNCW Department of Film Studies presents the Moviemakers and Scholars Series, featuring Oscar-nominated filmmaker, playwright and UNCW Artist in Residence Oren Jacoby. Jacoby speaks about his work in film and theater over the past two decades and his project with director Christopher McElroen to produce the world premiere stage adaptation of Ralph Ellison's Invisible Man. Jacoby has been recognized by the American Film Institute and Britain's Royal Television Society. His 2005 film Sister Rose's Passion was nominated for an Academy Award.

Buckner Lecture Series:
Arnold Rampersad, biographer/critic
Wednesday, Nov. 2, 2011 / Lumina Theater (4 – 5 p.m.)
The UNCW Department of English, Upperman African American Cultural Center and Africana Studies present the Buckner Lecture Series, featuring acclaimed biographer and critic Arnold Rampersad. Rampersad speaks about his recent book Ralph Ellison, a biography about the author of the classic American novel Invisible Man. Rampersad received a National Book Award for the biography and has penned numerous celebrated biographies and memoirs, including The Art and Imagination of W.E.B. DuBois; The Life of Langston Hughes (2 vols.); Days of Grace: A Memoir, co-authored with the late Arthur Ashe; and Jackie Robinson: A Biography. He is the recipient of a MacArthur Foundation fellowship ('91-'96) and a 2010 National Humanities Medal. Rampersad is currently professor of English and the Sara Hart Kimball Professor in the Humanities at Stanford University.

Invisible Man Randall Library Series:
Ellison's Invisible Man & Dostoyevsky's Notes from the Underground
Thursday, Nov. 3, 2011 / Randall Library - Sherman Hayes Gallery
(2 - 3:15 p.m.)
UNCW's Department of English and Randall Library present a reading and presentation by Associate Professor of English Paula Kamenish and students from the Department of English. The program explores the connections between Ralph Ellison's Invisible Man and Fyodor Dostoyevsky's Notes from the Underground.

Invisible Man Randall Library Series: Book Club
Friday, Nov. 4, 2011 / Randall Library - Helen Hagen Room
(noon - 1:30 p.m.)
Join UNCW library staff, faculty and the creators of the World Premiere Stage Adaptation of Invisible Man for a brown bag lunch discussion of Ellison's novel. Explore the themes that have made this novel endure and hear about the creative process of adapting one of America's literary masterpieces for the stage.

Invisible Man: World Premiere Stage Adaptation
Staged Reading
Saturday, Nov. 5, 2011 / Cultural Arts Building - Beckwith Recital Hall (7 p.m.)
In advance of the 2012 world premiere in Chicago, director Christopher McElroen and writer Oren Jacoby present a staged reading of their new work Invisible Man featuring local actors.

Media contact:
Courtney Reilly, Office of Cultural Arts, 910.962.2082 or reillyce@uncw.edu