The Downtown Urban Theater Festival Returns for it’s Sixth Season at the Cherry Lane Theatre
The Downtown Urban Theater Festival (DUTF) is back for a much-anticipated sixth season at the legendary Cherry Lane Theatre in Greenwich Village through 29. This year’s festival features 12 cutting-edge productions from a vibrant, diverse collection of new and emerging playwrights on topics ranging from songstress Billie Holiday to the 1985 fire on Osage Avenue in Philadelphia and the death of a gay Mormon to women soldiers in Iraq.
All performances will be held at the Cherry Lane Theatre located at 38 Commerce Street in Greenwich Village, Manhattan. Showtime for all performances are 7PM. Tickets are $18 and can be purchased at Telecharge online at www.telecharge.com or by calling (212) 239-6200.
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Friday, June 27 - DOUBLE FEATURE Cherry Lane Theatre, 7PM
“Manchild Machismo” by A. B. Lugo
Manchild Machismo explores Tito’s search for masculinity and what it means to be Latino through unlikely sources-the men in his family. Lugo is an actor, playwright, poet and director whose theatre credits include Hamlet, Auto-Destruct and Does a Tiger Wear a Necktie?
“El Building” by Jane Lippman
Bitchy, over-therapized, self-centered-pretty standard population for a gentrified apartment building-so busy bickering and whining, they don’t even notice their own impending ruin. (Yes, it’s a comedy.) Lippman, a DUTF alumna, has done films for TV as well as theatrical distribution that have garnered 25 awards, including several Emmy nominations (plus lots of fabulous reviews).
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Saturday, June 28 - Cherry Lane Theatre, 7PM
“Billie’s Blues” by Hershell Norwood
Billie’s Blues tells about a woman’s struggle against a world that is controlled by men. A young Billie Holiday suffers usury and physical abuse to survive. Undergoing transformation, she realizes the value of her own life and art. Norwood received an MFA in acting from Brandeis and his interests lie in feature playwriting and developing a Black Aesthetic Theory for theatre.