UNDERGROUND RAILROAD MAKES A STOP IN LA.

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
May 24, 2011
Contact: Amy Ellenberger
[email protected]
213-926-0348

New Perspectives Theatre Company proudly presents
Steal Away: The Living History of Harriet Tubman
BY RICK BALIAN
at the Hollywood Fringe Festival
Saturday/Sunday, June 18, 19, 25, 26, 2011

(LOS ANGELES, CA) New Perspectives Theatre Company (NPTC) makes its Hollywood debut with the acclaimed production for family audiences of “Steal Away: The Living History of Harriet Tubman” at the 2nd Annual Hollywood Fringe Festival. Performances are Saturdays at 10:00 a.m. and Sundays at 2:00 p.m., June 18–26, 2011, at Theatre of NOTE, 1517 N. Cahuenga Blvd., Los Angeles, CA 90028.

“A fascinating and poignant production from the New Perspectives Theatre Company’s World Voices Program.”
Laurel Graeber, The New York Times

Combining puppets and actors, Steal Away is part of NPTC’s World Voices program, which offers fables and folktales from different cultures for young audiences and their families. After the play, children get to meet Harriet, learn two spirituals that were actually used as coded messages for slaves escaping to freedom, and sing along with Harriet. The performance concludes with an introduction to the puppets, puppeteers, and actors, who join the audience and interact directly with the kids.

Special Guest June 25 and 26: Judith Bryant, Harriet Tubman’s great-great grandniece.
Judith Bryant lives in Auburn, NY, Harriet’s adopted hometown, and her mother was at Harriet’s funeral in 1913. This is a wonderful opportunity to connect the past with the present, and truly represents the living history of Harriet Tubman. Judy has been researching and archiving her family’s history for several years. She has been a valuable resource in the writing of the play.

Award-winning writer Rick Balian tells the story of one of America’s greatest heroines—from her youth as a slave to her service on the Underground Railroad and her continuing efforts to help others in need throughout her lifetime. A native of Auburn, New York (where Harriet lived until her death), Balian’s research for the play included interviews with Harriet’s descendents and the curator of the Harriet Tubman home

“In the best of all worlds, children would spend every Saturday seeing productions like this one.” The Off-Off Broadway Review

Steal Away has been performed for thousands of New York City children as well as for school and family audiences in Connecticut, New Jersey, and Pennsylvania. Performances have been brought directly to schools and other notable locations, such as The National Black Theatre, The Theatre at Riverside Church, and a very special performance in a Quaker meetinghouse at Friends Seminary, which had been an actual stop on the Underground Railroad. NPTC received a special citation in 2010 from then NYS Governor Paterson, honoring the play and its impact on children and families.

Tickets are available by phone: 323-455-4585, online at HollywoodFringe.org, and at the Theatre of NOTE’s box office the day of the performance. Tickets are $12 per adult, $10 per child age 10 or under. Discounts are available for families of three or more. The play is suitable for kids ages 6–11.

RICK BALIAN is an award-winning playwright whose plays for adults, young adults, and children are performed all over the country. He has written five plays for the renowned youth theater Merry-Go-Round Playhouse. One of those plays, an interactive piece that takes kids through a year in the life of the ancient Haudenosaunee (Iroquois), has toured the northeast for 10 years. He has had a long and fruitful relationship with New Perspectives Theatre Company, helping to establish their World Voices program and writing five plays for it, including Steal Away. Rick grew up in Auburn, New York, Harriet’s adopted hometown in the north, and has met many of Harriet’s relatives. Their spirit and pride in their heritage influenced the writing of the play. His play The Brannock Device, a satire about an American air strike on Libya (!), is published by Samuel French and won the 12th Annual Off-Off Broadway Short Play Festival. Mr. Balian was the recipient of a residency at the Millay Colony for the Arts and was an Artist-in-Residence at Elmira College. He currently lives in Studio City and Tehachapi.

NEW PERSPECTIVES THEATRE COMPANY is an award-winning, multi-racial company performing in the communities throughout New York City and the Tri-State area. The Company’s mission is to develop and produce new plays and playwrights, especially women and people of color, to present classic plays in a style that addresses contemporary issues, and to extend the benefits of theatre to young people and communities in need. Our aim is not to exclude, but to cast a wider net. Now in its 19th season, notable productions have included Richard III, starring Austin Pendleton; Exhibit #9 by Tracy Wilson (1999 Audelco Award); Jihad by Ann Chamberlain (1996 OOBR Award for Best Production); The Taming of the Shrew (2002 OOBR Award for Best Production), Admissions by Tony Velella (10 Best Plays of 1995, Backstage); and the New York Premieres of Vaclav Havel’s The Increased Difficulty of Concentration, The Shaneequa Chronicles, written and performed by 2001 OBIE Award-winner Stephanie Berry (co-produced with Blackberry Productions); Visit by world-renowned Argentinean playwright Ricardo Monti, and Lemon Meringue Façade by Ted Lange. Innovative productions of Hamlet, Macbeth, Othello, Romeo & Juliet, The Two Gentlemen of Verona, A Midsummer Night’s Dream, and Julius Caesar have also been presented to general and school audiences since 1995.

PERFORMANCE INFORMATION:

Where: Theatre of NOTE, 1517 N. Cahuenga Blvd., Los Angeles, CA 90028

Dates: June 18, 19, 25, 26, 2011

Times: Saturdays at 10:00 a.m.; Sundays at 2:00 p.m.

Tickets: Adults $12; children under 10, $10

Reservations: Phone: 323-455-4585. Online: HollywoodFringe.org. Tickets are also available at the theatre’s box office the day of the performance.