This engagement is made possible in part through the Mid Atlantic Tours program of Mid Atlantic Arts with support from the National Endowment for the Arts.
Actress and playwright Debra Ann Byrd will perform the one-person play “Becoming Othello: A Black Girl’s Journey,” Thursday, May 8 at Piedmont Arts.
The play is a gripping and realistic tour de force that chronicles Byrd’s journey from a single mother in Harlem to an award-winning classical actor tackling the gender-flipped role of Othello. Interspersed with multimedia elements and verses from Shakespeare’s original play, she bares her soul in this vulnerable and resonant story of perseverance, discovery and unconditional love.
Byrd is the founding artistic director of the Harlem Shakespeare Festival and artistic director at Southwest Shakespeare Company. For her portrayal of Othello, she won an outstanding achievement award from AUDELCO and a best lead actress award from Broadway World Phoenix. She has served as writer-in-residence at the Shakespeare Birthplace Trust, artist-in-residence at the Folger Institute and the Southwest Shakespeare Company and as a community scholar at Columbia University. "Becoming Othello" was written by Byrd and directed by Shakespeare & Company founder Tina Packer.
A reception will be held at 6:30 p.m. The performance will begin at 7 p.m. The run time for this performance is 1 hour and 45 minutes with no intermission.
Tickets are $20 for general admission and $10 for students in grades K-12.
Content warning: This show is based on Byrd’s real-life experiences and includes content that may be distressing. Contact Executive Director Heidi Pinkston at hpinkston@piedmontarts.org for content-related questions.
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