Writer/Producer Rick Creese is excited to announce an encore performance of “Bright Swords” at the Ruby Theatre at the Complex on July 22 at 8:00 p.m. Tickets are $10.00
Starring Ryan Vincent Anderson, directed by Jeffrey Wienckowski, BRIGHTSWORDS tells the true story of the African-American actor Ira Aldridge, who in 1825 fled racial hatred in New York City and sailed for London. There, he became the first black man ever to play Othello in Great Britain. He toured widely in England, Scotland, Ireland, and Wales and became a major star of the Shakespearean stage. His presence inspired the abolition of slavery in the British Empire in 1833. Aldridge then moved on to the European continent and became an even bigger star in Germany, Hungary, Poland, Russian and elsewhere. He was seen as not only a leader of the abolitionist movement but as a representative for oppressed people all over Europe.