A.R.T. and C1 To Present Digital Version of HYPE MAN: A BREAK BEAT PLAY

American Repertory Theater at Harvard University announces today that it will join Company One Theatre to present a reimagined digital version of C1's critically acclaimed, Elliot Norton Award-winning production of Hype Man: a break beat play by Idris Goodwin. The story of friendship, hip-hop, and protest will be filmed this winter by The Loop Lab.

The production will stream as part of A.R.T.'s Virtually OBERON series in Spring 2021. Tickets will go on sale in February at AmericanRepertoryTheater.org/HypeMan.

The new intimate and cinematic version of the world-premiere production directed by Shawn LaCount will be film-directed by John ADEkoje (2006 Roxbury Film Festival Award for Emerging local Filmmaker) and incorporate animation by Barrington S. Edwards.

Original cast members Kadahj Bennett, Rachel Cognata, and Michael Knowlton will reprise their roles.

Returning original creative team members include Kadahj Bennet (Music Direction), Lawrence E. Moten III (Scenic Design), Lee Schuna (Sound Design), and Cassandra Cacoq (Costume Design). Sean Pieroth (Lighting Design) joins the team. Misha Shields was choreographer and Jessie Baxter was the dramaturg for the 2018 production, respectively.

About Hype Man: a break beat play

Frontman Pinnacle and his hype man Verb have been making Hip-Hop together since they were kids. Now that they've got top-notch beatmaker Peep One in the mix, the group is finally on the verge of making it big-until the police shooting of an unarmed black teenager shakes the trio to its core, and forces them to navigate issues of friendship, race, and privilege. From break beat poet and playwright Idris Goodwin (How We Got On), this reimagined version of Hype Man filmed up close and personal asks us: who has the responsibility to speak up in the face of social injustice?

Hype Man was developed by Goodwin (How We Got On) with C1 through a series of workshops beginning in 2017. Following its January/February 2018 world premiere in Boston, the C1 production transferred to Minneapolis's Mixed Blood Theater for a run in November/December 2018. It was briefly remounted at OBERON in November 2019. This reimagined presentation of Hype Man marks the sixth collaboration between C1 and A.R.T., which also includes productions of Greater Good, Miss You Like Hell, and We're Gonna Die.

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