Performances begin Off-Bway NORM LEWIS in CEREMONIES IN DARK OLD MEN

The Peccadillo Theater Company, Negro Ensemble Company Inc. and Eric Falkenstein present Lonne Elder III’s critically acclaimed masterpiece Ceremonies in Dark Old Men, starring Tony©, Emmy and SAG Award nominee Norm Lewis (The Gershwin’s Porgy & Bess, Les Misérables, TV’s “Pose,” Spike Lee’s Da 5 Bloods) and directed by the legendary Clinton Turner Davis (New Federal Theatre’s Joe Turner’s Come and Gone, The Acting Company’s The African Company Presents Richard III, Cherry Lane Theatre’s One Night, Capital Repertory Theatre’s FLY). The production – the first in New York City in nearly 40 years – will play a strictly limited 6-week engagement, beginning April 11, at Theatre at St. Clements (423 W. 46th Street, NYC). Opening night is Friday, April 18 at 7PM. For tickets and information, visit ThePeccadillo.com.

It’s New York in the 1950s. Russell Parker, a ne’er-do-well barber and the widowed father of three adult children, spends his days playing checkers and reminiscing about his life in vaudeville as a song and dance man. His two sons, Theo and Bobby, are dreamers of a different sort – a pair of petty criminals looking for a “score” in the form of ill-conceived and dangerous bootlegging and numbers schemes. Russell’s daughter, Adele, the only gainfully employed member of the family, refuses to work herself into an early grave like her mother. When Adele’s long-simmering resentments boil over and the boys’ criminal enterprise falls apart, tragic consequences ensue for the whole family.

In addition to Norm Lewis, the cast of Ceremonies in Dark Old Men features Felicia Boswell, James Foster Jr., Morgan Siobhan Green, Jeremiah Packer, Calvin M. Thompsonand Bryce Michael Wood.

– click above to watch a brief video with Denzel Washington and Lonne Elder III discussing the legacy of ‘Ceremonies in Dark Old Men.’ –
The scenic design is by Harry Feiner; costume design by Isabel Rubio; and lighting design by Jimmy Lawlor. April Ann Kline is the Production Stage Manager. Josh Iacovelli is the Production Manager.

Co-producers of Ceremonies in Dark Old Men are David S. Stone, Willette and Manny Klausner, Linda Powell, Classical Theatre Of Harlem, Annaleise Loxton, Ed Gaynes, Cherine E. Anderson, Roxedge Entertainment/Clayton Howe, Mitchell Reeve, Kevin Gallagher, Jamie Deroy, Gabby Palitz, Patricia Spalding/Sarah Ellen Stephens.

Negro Ensemble Company premiered Ceremonies in Dark Old Men in 1969, Off-Broadway at St. Mark’s Playhouse. The production moved on to an award-winning, long-running commercial production. A runner-up for the 1969 Pulitzer Prize for Drama, Ceremonies in Dark Old Men was adapted as a television movie in 1975, and was subsequently revived in two Off-Broadway productions, as well as regional productions around the country. Now regarded as an American Theater classic, productions have featured the talents of Denzel Washington, Billy Dee Williams, Keith David and Laurence Fishburne.

LISTINGS INFORMATION: Ceremonies in Dark Old Men will play a six-week engagement, April 11 – May 18, at Theatre at St. Clements, 423 W. 46th Street, NYC). Opening night is Friday, April 18 at 7PM. Performances are Thursday, Friday and Saturday at 7PM, with matinees Sunday at 3PM. (There will be an added 2PM matinee on Saturday, April 12.) Tickets are $39 – $89. Premium seating and discounts (with valid ID) for students and seniors are available. For tickets and information visit ThePeccadillo.com
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About the Artists

Emmy, Tony, and SAG Award nominee, NORM LEWIS (Russell Parker) was recently seen onstage starring in the national tour of the Tony Award-winning production of A Soldier’s Play and in Andrew Lloyd Webber’s West End Concert of Love Never Dies. He starred in Spike Lee’s critically acclaimed, “Da 5 Bloods,” and in the groundbreaking FX series, Pose. Additionally, Mr. Lewis can be seen starring opposite Hilary Swank in the feature “The Good Mother,” Amazon Prime’s newest series, Swarm, and Hulu’s, Up Here. He was also seen as ‘Caiaphas’ in the award-winning NBC television special, “Jesus Christ Superstar Live in Concert!,” alongside John Legend, Sara Bareilles, and Alice Cooper.

Mr. Lewis returned to Broadway in the Fall of 2021, starring in Chicken and Biscuits at the Circle In The Square Theatre. He previously appeared in the Broadway revival of Once on This Island and as Sweeney Todd in the Off-Broadway production of Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street at the Barrow Street Theatre, receiving the AUDELCO Award for his performance. In May of 2014, he made history as The Phantom of the Opera’s first African American Phantom on Broadway. He has been seen on PBS in the Live From Lincoln Center productions of Showboat with Vanessa Williams, Norm Lewis: Who Am I?, New Year’s Eve: A Gershwin Celebration with Diane Reeves, as well as American Voices with Renée Fleming and the PBS Specials First You Dream – The Music of Kander & Ebb and Ella Wishes You A Swingin’ Christmas. He can be seen recurring in the VH1 series, Daytime Divas, also alongside Vanessa Williams. His additional television credits include Women of The Movement, Law & Order, Dr. Death, Mrs. America, Better Things, The Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt, Bull, Chicago Med, Gotham, The Blacklist, and Blue Bloods, as well as in his recurring role as Senator Edison Davis on the hit drama Scandal.

Mr. Lewis is a proud, founding member of Black Theatre United, an organization which stands together to help protect Black people, Black talent and Black lives of all shapes and orientations in theatre and communities across the country. He received Tony, Drama Desk, Drama League, and Outer Critics Circle award nominations for his performance as Porgy in the Broadway production of The Gershwins’ Porgy & Bess. Other Broadway credits include Sondheim on Sondheim, The Little Mermaid, Les Misérables, Chicago, Amour, The Wild Party, Side Show, Miss Saigon, and The Who’s Tommy. In London’s West End he has appeared as Javert in Les Misérables and Les Misérables: The 25th Anniversary Concert, which aired on PBS. Off-Broadway Mr. Lewis has performed in Dessa Rose (Drama Desk nomination, AUDELCO Award), Shakespeare in the Park’s The Tempest, The Two Gentlemen of Verona (Drama League nomination), Captains Courageous, and A New Brain. His regional credits include Porgy in The Gershwins’ Porgy and Bess (A.R.T.), Ragtime, Dreamgirls (with Jennifer Holliday), First You Dream, Sweeney Todd, and The Fantasticks. His additional film credits include Christmas In Tune (starring opposite Reba McEntire), Magnum Opus, Winter’s Tale, Sex and the City 2, Confidences, and Preaching to the Choir. Norm’s albums “The Norm Lewis Christmas Album” & “This is The Life” can be found on Amazon.com as well as cdbaby.com.

LONNE ELDER III (Playwright) was an American playwright whose Ceremonies in Dark Old Men (1969) is widely considered a masterpiece of the American canon. Orphaned as a boy, Elder was raised in New Jersey by an aunt and an uncle who ran an illegal lottery out of their home. As a young man, he moved to New York City, where he worked a number of odd jobs while learning the acting trade and writing poems, short stories, and, finally, plays. From 1959 to 1962 he played the role of Bobo in the classic drama A Raisin in the Sun, at the personal invitation of its author, Lorraine Hansberry. Ceremonies in Dark Old Men was presented as a dramatic reading in 1965 and then produced for the stage by Negro Ensemble Company in 1969. The play enjoyed instantaneous success, bringing Elder many prizes and being produced for television in 1975. By that time Elder had moved to Los Angeles, where he wrote scripts for television shows, for the motion picture Sounder (1972; Academy Award nominee for best screenplay), and for A Woman Called Moses (1978), a television miniseries based on the life of abolitionist Harriet Tubman.

CLINTON TURNER DAVIS (Director) has been a force in American theater for 30 years as a director, producer, dramaturg, consultant, advocate, and production and company manager. Davis has spent much of his career in both New York and regional theater and was involved with the world-famous Negro Ensemble Company for more than 16 years. In 1996, Davis directed the acclaimed revival of August Wilson’s Joe Turner’s Come and Gone at the New Federal Theatre, winner of six AUDELCO awards including Outstanding Production and Direction. His 1994 production of Carlyle Brown’s The African Company Presents Richard III (The Acting Company) also earned AUDELCO awards for Outstanding Direction and Ensemble. Davis’ other award-winning productions include Athol Fugard’s My Children! My Africa at the Dallas Theatre Center (1991), winner of a Dallas Theatre Critics Awards for Outstanding Production; Langston Hughes’ Black Nativity at the Freedom Theatre (1995), which earned Barrymore nominations for Outstanding Production, Direction and Choreography; and Fay and Michael Kanin’s Rashomon (1999) and Eric Overmyer’s On the Verge (2000) at Colorado College, both Regional Finalists at the Kennedy Center American College Theatre Festival. Davis’ numerous premieres include Harold Arlen’s Sweet ‘n’ Hot in Harlem (Stagewest, world premiere, 1991), Mustapha Matura’s Trinidad Sisters (Arena Stage, American premiere, 1992), Carter Lewis’ An Asian Jockey in Our Midst (Live Oak Theatre, world premiere, 1994), and Ifa Bayeza’s Homer G and the Rhapsodies (Lorraine Hansberry Theatre, Kennedy Center Fund for New American Plays, world premiere, 1996). He has also directed for the Oregon Shakespeare Festival and Trinity Rep and at Colorado College, The Juilliard School, Dartmouth, Brandeis and Howard University. Davis is also a co-founder and board member of the Non-Traditional Casting Project, a New York agency that advocates increased employment of ethnic, women and disabled artists in the performing arts.

THE PECCADILLO THEATER COMPANY (Producer) For over 30 years, The Peccadillo Theater Company has dedicated itself to the rediscovery of classic American comedy and drama, particularly those works, which despite their obvious literary and theatrical value, are not regularly revived. Peccadillo’s mission is to restore these buried gems to their rightful owner, the American theatergoer. Hal Prince wrote: “The Peccadillo Theater Company is an impeccable theater resource that reproduces plays as close to their original intention as anything I’ve seen.” Peccadillo has “rediscovered” such forgotten American classics as Elmer Rice’s Counsellor-At-Law (OBIE /Lucille Lortel Awards and Outer Critics Circle nomination), Clifford Odets’ Rocket to the Moon (Drama Desk nomination), the Schwartz/Fields/Abbott/Smith musical A Tree Grows in Brooklyn (Outer Critics Circle nomination) as well as such original work as Zero Hour (Drama Desk nomination) and The Talk of the Town (MAC nomination). www.thepeccadillo.com

NEGRO ENSEMBLE COMPANY, INC. (NEC) (Producer), established in 1967, presents critical and thought-provoking dramatic works generated from the African American, African, and Caribbean cultures. Co-founders, Douglas Turner Ward, Robert Hooks, and Gerald S. Krone along with a cadre of talented artists, created the company’s focus; visibility, training, and development for scores of talented artists while presenting complex themes, international viewpoints, and works that set the stage and created the audience for future artists. As NEC approaches today’s social and political parallels, rife with retractions of the very human rights at the centerpiece of the struggle of the souls of Black Folks in 1967, NEC remains committed to aesthetic and high-quality presentations. NEC’s commitment remains steadfast in ensuring that important narratives remain at the forefront of American theatre. Through their productions, NEC champions the revival of significant works that have shaped American theatre as well as offering emerging and established artists opportunities to explore the depth of storytelling. NEC has proudly presented plays by Charles Fuller, Samm-Art Williams, Pearl Cleage, original NEC plays and new works by emerging artists, often with innovative casting that reflects the diversity of our communities. Negro Ensemble Company Inc. is proud to collaborate with the historic Peccadillo Theater on the revival of Ceremonies in Dark Old Men. This partnership underscores our commitment to presenting compelling theatrical works that engage and inspire audiences.

ERIC FALKENSTEIN (Producer) has produced and co-produced approximately 70 Broadway, Off-Broadway, London and touring productions. He produced Kenny Leon’s acclaimed Our Town Broadway run this fall and is currently represented by numerous productions including this spring’s John Proctor is the Villain starring Stranger Things’ heroine Sadie Sink. His most recently wrapped film is Lear Rex with Al Pacino and screen daughters Jessica Chastain, Rachel Brosnahan, Arianna DeBose. He is the recipient of Haverford College’s First Peace Prize, the Harlem Arts Alliance honor and eight Tony© Awards. Together with surviving associates of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., he is at work on a play about the American civil rights movement – part of which debuted at Amb. Andrew Young’s birthday celebration at the Atlanta Hawks’ arena.