Black Rabbit Theatre Company’s
Inaugural Production
10.14.22
The Event
(video credit: Robert Rodriquez)
What a night
The official kickoff of Black Rabbit Theatre Company was a huge success, and we couldn’t be more grateful for all of the help and support from everyone involved.
Theatre is alive and well!
It's showtime! Nothing like that pre-show excitement.
Thank you to The Lyric Hyperion for their beautiful space.
Two of our co-founders, Jordan Becker and Andrea Ramos, in their roles as the welcome party!
Our first audience.
Shout out to Vincent Laddaga for helping us in the lighting booth!
The cast in their element.
(from left) Evan Lewis Smith as Flip, Jessica Rosilyn as Taylor, and Freddy Ramsey Jr. as Kent.
Thank you to our very first cast; you're all phenomenal.
The Players
Freddy Ramsey Jr.
KENT
Jessica Rosilyn
TAYLOR
Evan Lewis Smith
FLIP
Jordan Hull
CHERYL
Nina Hosseinzadeh
KIMBER
Shon Oku
JOE LEVAY
Arman Marzvaan
READER
The Play
What begins as a relaxing summer weekend on Martha’s Vineyard escalates when the LeVay brothers bring their new girlfriends home to meet their affluent and imposing parents.
But Mom's not there, and Dad's acting weird. As the newcomers find themselves under familial scrutiny, long-hidden family tensions bubble to the surface and by the end of the weekend, almost everyone at the Vineyard finds themselves under a microscope as they grapple with arguments about class, race, and cultural expectations.
Written by Lydia R. Diamond, Stick Fly played on Broadway from late 2011 to early 2012, directed by Kenny Leon and with incidental music by Alicia Keys. The original cast included Rosie Benton (Kimber), Dulé Hill (Spoon "Kent" LeVay), Mekhi Phifer (Flip "Harold" LeVay), Condola Rashād (Cheryl), Ruben Santiago-Hudson (Joe LeVay), and Tracie Thoms (Taylor).
The Playwright
Lydia R. Diamond is an award-winning playwright whose works include The Gift Horse (2002 premier at Goodman Theatre);Toni Stone; Smart People; Stick Fly (Broadway run at Cort Theatre); Voyeurs de Venus; Harriet Jacobs; The Bluest Eye; The Inside and Stage Black. Her work has been performed at companies including American Conservatory Theatre Company, The Huntington Theatre, Congo Square, Steppenwolf Theatre Co., The Alliance Theatre, Arena Stage, Company One, Writers Theatre, McCarter Theatre Center, New Victory at the Duke (off-Broadway), The Guthrie Theater, Roundabout Theatre Co. (off-Broadway), Kansas City Repertory Theatre, Milwaukee Repertory Theater, Second Stage Theater (off-Broadway), Hartford Stage, Long Wharf Theatre, True Colors, MPAACT, Arden Theatre Co., Encores at City Center (New York), Intiman Theatre and PlayMakers Repertory Company.
Diamond has been a W. E. B. DuBois Institute Non-Resident Fellow at Harvard, a Sundance Playwright Lab Creative Advisor, a Radcliffe Institute Fellow, a Sally B. Goodman Fellow and a National Endowment for the Arts/TCG playwright in residence. Awards include Horton Foote Playwriting Award, Joseph Jefferson Award, IRNE Award Nomination, Elliot Norton Award Nomination, Audelco Nomination, Kilroy’s List, Susan Smith Blackburn Prize Finalist, LA Critics Circle Award and National Art’s Club Kesselring Prize for Playwriting.
She was a consulting producer and writer for Showtime’s fourth season of The Affair and nominated for a Writer’s Guild Award for Best Drama Episode. She has also written for NBC, HBO, HBOMAX and Hulu. Diamond has an Honorary MFA from A.C.T., and an Honorary Doctorate from Pine Manor College. She sits on the Dramatists Guild Legal Defense Fund Board and The Dramatist Guild Diversity, Equity, Inclusion and Access Committee. Diamond is an associate professor of Playwriting at University of Illinois at Chicago.
(photo courtesy A.C.T. and Lydia R. Diamond)