MIDTERM MAYHEM! A DOOMSDAY CABARET to Feature Excerpts From The New Musical RED SKY

This month NY Madness is proud to co-present a Midterm Mayhem! A Doomsday Cabaret, featuring excerpts from the new musical, "Red Sky". Red Sky is a parable for our times, and features, Danielle Alonzo, Jonas Barranca, Eden Eernissee, Steven Halliwell, Timothy Mullins, Chuk Obasi, and Ansi Rodriguez. The show will take place on Sunday, October 28th at 8pm at The Kraine Theater (85 East 4th Street between 2nd Avenue and Bowery). November 9th Forever is co-producing this special event. Also featuring Voting Rights activist Victor Pate from the National Action Network.

Red Sky takes place in a dream space. Part nightmare, part reality check and thoroughly "of the moment", it is a tale of the political theatre we are living in, with stories told by a little ragged crew of troubadours, coming together to bring the "Young Man in a Black Hoodie", who has lost his brother and his faith, back into his life as the leader he was destined to be.

Song, poetry and dance form the basis of stories told to engage both our Young Man and our audience in the consequences of silence and complacency in the face of oppression, and what it means to "Resist."

Written by Cheryl Paley and Chuk Obasi, both veterans in the creation of Community Based Theatre for Social Justice, with material from Joseph Reese Anderson, Fernando Manon and Jonas Barranca, music by Don Rebic, and choreography by Kimani Fowlin, Red Sky is currently in pre-production development.

To that end, all shows will be paired with post-show talk backs with social justice organizations working to flip Congress and engage the community in the political process.

Cheryl Paley: Director, Co-Writer, Lyrics, Concept, has been creating and directing Theatre for Social Change since 1990. Artistic Directorships include SPARK Family Arts Forum, Nitestar, STAR Theatre at The Director's Company and Dream Catchers, directing and curating group devised plays and presentations for a range of community based audiences all over the five boros. Pieces created for Nitestar and presented at: The United Nations, The Mayor's Office on Domestic Violence (Dramadotcom), St. Luke's Roosevelt CCC (Pandemic),The New York City Housing Authority, SAYSO in Union Square Park (Whatchalookinat?), Cathedral of St. John the Divine for World AIDS Day, Sargent Shriver Peace Institute and TEA (Under the Veil) and the CDC (The Living Quilt), as well as 3 productions of Vagina Monologues with HIV positive women and their caregivers and Under the Veil for Mind The Art Entertainment at La Mama. She currently serves as Program Director for WPArts/Blackbird, overseeing all arts based intervention for The Women's Prison Association.

Chuk Obasi (Co-Writer, Concept) is an actor, writer and director/choreographer who has written or co-written seven full-length plays, countless poems and many other literary works, including the critically acclaimed Uniform Justice (2015 NY International Fringe Festival). Recent works performed in include one-man show The Actual Dance (2018 United Solo Theatre Festival), Award-winning feature films "The Depths" and "79 parts," and short film "Imitating the Sun," currently in post production. Chuk serves as Artist-in-Residence at Intersections International, is a Company Member with The Private Theatre, Choreographer for STAR Theatre at The Director's Company, and Adjunct Professor of Musical Theatre and Dance at Drew University

Don Rebic (Composer) is a composer, musical director, conductor and pianist whose distinguished, four-decade career spans the worlds of jazz, cabaret, and classical music. With his Don Rebic Trio, Don released the 10-song jazz CD "Together", heralded by New York Times' Stephen Holden. Don is a jazz aficionado, who has played with luminaries including Jeff Hamilton, Peter Erskine, Carl Allen, Randy Brecker, Warren Vache, Mundell Lowe, Jesse Davis, Lou Marini, Vincent Herring and The Mingus Big Band, among others. Within a year of moving to New York City he was conducting the 1977 Broadway revival of Jesus Christ Superstar. Other Broadway credits include Dancin', Sweet Charity, Teaneck Tanzi and Anything Goes. He has also conducted national companies of Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat and Kiss of the Spider Woman. He has acted as musical director for countless Broadway and Cabaret names, including Betty Buckley, Christine Ebersole and Barbara Cook as well as 24 years serving as musical director for Lesley Uggams and 23 years as musical director for Karen Akers. In 1990 Don first collaborated with Cheryl Paley, composing the music for Flypaper.

Kimani Fowlin (Choreographer) is an internationally recognized dancer, choreographer and educator. Recently awarded the New York State Dance Education Association's Outstanding Dance Educator Award, Kimani is an assistant professor of dance and is the director of the Dance Department at Drew University. Work abroad includes performing and teaching in Russia as part of the Fifth International Festival of Movement and Dance on the Volga; performing in Ghana for Panafest; and choreographing and performing in Greece with funk R&B band Milo Z. Kimani is co-founder of Boom!Beep!Bob!, a children's dance class rooted in the African Diaspora. She has collaborated with Nicole De Weever, supporting her organization in St. Maarten, Art Saves Lives, author/activist Renee Watson, playwright Nina Angela Mercer and international visual artist Justin Randolph Thompson. She has also performed and/or choreographed for Ronald K. Brown, David Rousseve, Adia Whitaker, Youssouf Koumbassa, Andrea E. Woods, Souloworks, M'Zawa Danz, Umoja Dance, Harambee Dance Company and Antibalis, among others. Kimani is dedicated to creating art with a purpose and social justice is at the core of her dance making.

New York Madness takes place every last Sunday of the month at The Kraine Theater (85 East 4th Street between 2nd Avenue and Bowery). Tickets ($10) may be purchased in advance at www.horseTRADE.info. NY Madness will return to its regular schedule in January 2019. Visit the New York Madness Facebook page for discount codes!

FRIGID New York @ Horse Trade is a theater development group with a focus on new work that produces a massive quantity of stimulating downtown theater every season. FRIGID's Resident Artist Program offers a home to a select group of Independent theater artists, pooling together a great deal of talent and energy. FRIGID New York grew out of the annual FRIGID Festival, the first and only festival of its kind in New York City to offer artists 100% of their box office proceeds, and Horse Trade Theater Group, a self-sustaining theater development and management group. www.horseTRADE.info

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