PRODUCTION HISTORY
2023
*THEATRE IN THE X 10th ANNIVERSARY SEASON*
Theatre in the X presents
"Zooman and the Sign"
by Charles Fuller
directed by Ozzie Jones
August 17 & 18 | 7pm
August 19 & 20 | 5pm
Malcolm X Park (5100 Pine St, Philadelphia, PA 19143)
Set in Philadelphia in 1979, Zooman senselessly terrorizes his community. When he kills a 12-year-old Black girl on the street, all witnesses refuse to talk. Bereaved and infuriated, the dead girl's father posts a sign accusing the entire community of cowardice in the face of escalating violence.
CAST:
LaNeshe Miller-White
Walter DeShields
Bryce Zenon
T.C Storm Caldwell
Jeffery Scott
Leon Alexander
Richard Bradford
Monet Debose
Tasha Holmes
2022 Productions
(click the title of the show for more info)
2021 Productions
PASS OVER
BY ANTOINETTE NWANDU
Directed by Ozzie Jones
co-production between Theatre Exile and Theatre in the X
June 10 - 27, 2021
Hawthorne Park - 12th and Catherine Streets
Pass Over tells the story of two Black men, Moses and Kitch – friends hanging out on a city street corner, sharing dreams of an escapee from their circumstances. When a stranger wanders onto their corner with his own agenda, he derails their plans of finding their promised land.
The West Philly Meeting
by Dwayne Alistair Thomas
directed by Katrina Shobe
August 15th, 22nd, and 29th, 2021 | 5pm
Two years in the making, Theatre in the X presents our community created piece - The West Philly Meeting. As the characters and the audience come together with open minds, they find that they have the solution to heal what ails them.
2020 Productions
TWISTED TALES
Thursday, October 29 | 6pm | Facebook Live
Grab a mug of hot cider and settle in for an evening of short Twisted Tales from Black and African folklore just in time for Halloween weekend. Some sweet, some spooky, these stories of ghosts and ghouls will be presented by your favorite Theatre in the X company members. Watch replay here.
Virtual Juneteenth Program
June 18 - June 21, 2020
Virtual/digital Juneteenth event in partnership with Iron Age Theatre. Beginning Thursday June 18 through June 21, three new videos premiered each day on our social media pages and website, considering issues of living free under threat after emancipation. They could also be accessed via QR code on plaques around the region. These pieces create context for what we are seeing in our nation/world today through poetry and historical speeches performed by our company members and friends. Watch videos here.
Virtual Play Reading
Viv is for Vengeance by Lindsey Hope Pearlman
Thursday, April 16, 2020 | 7pm
A comedic adaptation of Euripides’ Medea, recast with the characters from The Fresh Prince of Bel Air. Viv Is For Vengeance is the (unauthorized) story of what really happened when Aunt Viv was replaced by another mother. Watch replay here.
CAST:
Geoffrey - Akeem Davis
Aunt Viv - Beverly Gunn
Carlton - Keith Illidge
Ashley - Amajae Hardy Jones
Hilary - Taysha Canales
Uncle Phil - Brian Anthony Wilson
Jazz - Adul Sesay
Stage directions - Carlo Campbell
Chorus - Carlo Campbell, LaNeshe Miller-White, Niya Colbert, Richard Bradford, Walter DeShields
Staged Reading of In Splendid Error by William B. Branch | Directed by Eric Carter
In partnership with Philadelphia Artists Collective
Part of Philly Theatre Week
Monday, February 10, 2020 at 7PM
The Proscenium at the Drake | 302 S. Hicks Street, Philadelphia, PA
A historical drama that examines the friendship between the statesman Frederick Douglass and noted abolitionist John Brown, as Brown contemplates his now infamous raid on Harpers Ferry. An intimate portrait of men at the crossroads of history, this play delves into the small decisions that sometimes change the world.
Featuring: Eric Carter, Richard Bradford, Niya Colbert, Mark Christie, Ross Beschler, Josh Kirwin, Carlo Campbell, Bob Weick, Laila White, David Pica, Walter DeShields and LaNeshe Miller-White.
2019 Productions
Staged Reading of American Nigga Zoo by Misty Sol
November 10th | 7:30pm
Atiya Ola’s Spirit First Foods
310 S 48th St, Philadelphia, PA 19143
The piece examines the history of human zoos and the fine line between captivity and spectacle that is walked by today’s entertainers. What is it like to break out of the performance of Blackness that is projected by the gaze of white supremacy?
The Beast of Nubia by Jonathan Bethea
August 4th, 11th, and 18th
Malcolm X Park
In the deserts of ancient Nubia there is a magical kingdom guarded by a monstrous beast. When a merchant wrongs the beast his eldest daughter agrees to sacrifice herself in his place. What follows is a grand adventure filled with romance and excitement, as two very different people learn to cope with one another.
"Egoli" by Matsemela Manaka
March 20 - April 7
Co-produced with EgoPo Classic Theater
Latvian Society Theater - 531 North 7th Street
Featuring Co-Artistic Directors Carlo Campbell and Walter DeShields, Egoli is a look into the world
of miners in South Africa, depicting lives that are often overlooked, as they struggle with racial
inequality, poverty, and systemic incarceration. Manaka was a pivotal player in the grassroots black theatre movement that grew out of the 1976 Soweto uprisings protesting the government’s political repression and extreme state censorship. Published in 1980, the play was banned by the South African government in 1981.
The Colored Museum
Directed by Walter Deshields
February 16 and 17
The African American Museum of Philadelphia
THE COLORED MUSEUM has electrified, discomforted, and delighted audiences of all colors, redefining our ideas of what it means to be black in contemporary America. Set in a fictional museum where iconic African-American figures are kept for public consumption, its eleven "exhibits" undermine black stereotypes old and new and return to the facts of what being black means
2018 Productions
The Wiz
Directed by Cheyenne Barboza
August 12, 19 and 26
Malcolm X Park
This is The Wiz like you've never seen it before! An homage to Hip Hop and Black cinema of the late 80s/early 90s, our iconic characters will journey through an Oz remixed with all the nuance and cultural swag of the Black experience in America.
Staged Reading: The First Deep Breath by Lee Edward Colston II
June 1
part of June-A-Palooza at Interact Theatre
Pastor Albert Jones and his family are planning a special church service to honor their late daughter Diane on the sixth anniversary of her passing. But when Abdul-Malik, the eldest son he blames for her death returns home form prison, the entire Jones family is forced to confront a hornet's nest of long buried family secrets. Old skeletons claw their way to the dinner table picking at the scraps of Mother Bethel Baptist's First family. With each member of the Jones clan desperately fighting to stay afloat, sometimes a family that stays together drowns together.
Featuring: Lee Kenneth Richardson, Ardencie Hall-Karambe, Tiffany Bacon, Brennie Tellu, Stan Dixon, Abdul Sesay, Dax Richardson, Kirk Duncan, and Ashley Adams,
AYOMA! by Morriah Aleese Young
Friday, April 27th at 7pm
Directed by Christina May
What's the ultimate revenge you can get on a catcaller?.... After continuous instances of street harassment, four friends come together to reclaim their power. Ayoma creates a world where street harassers become the animals they are, and women are witchy warriors slaying those who seek to prey on them.
"On August 23rd, on my way home from work I found myself being cat-called while waiting for my trolley. When my trolley finally came, I boarded, sat down, pulled out my cell phone, and began writing a new play. A week later I had completed the first draft of Ayoma!"
- Morriah Young
2017 Productions
January 20
Painted Bride Art Center
Running Numbers (staged reading)
by Cheyenne Barboza
Directed by: Christina May
Featuring: Brett Gray, Nastassja Baset, Carlo Campbell, Walter DeShields, LaQuanda McCoullum, Niya Colbert, LaNeshe L. White, Angelica Jackson-Thomas, Kyle A. Jackson and Dwayne Alistair Thomas
March 24
CEC Community Education Center
Boy (staged reading)
by Kyle Jackson
Directed by: Nastassja Baset
Featuring: Gregory Holmes, Miranda Thompson. Lenny Daniels, Nazeer Harper, Anthony Cooper, Lena Lewis, Carlo Campbell, Niya Colbert
May 19
North Philly Peace Park
Seasons (staged reading)
by Biko Eisen-Martin
Directed by: Carlo Campbell
Featuring: Richard Bradford, Cortnee Love, Ron Lee Jones, Nancie Marie, Lenny Daniels, Will Lewis, Alicia Dominique, Brandon Drummond, Meryl Lynn Brown, Bob Murphy, Mitchell Bloom, Willa Jaffe, and April Davis
August 6, 13, and 20
Malcolm X Park
Running Numbers
by Cheyenne Barboza
Directed by: Christina May
Featuring: Abdul Sesay, Jarrett McCreary, Khadijah Davis, Iman Aaliyah, Aurica Hurst, Angelica Jackson-Thomas, Carlo Campbell, Walter DeShields, Niya Colbert, Brandon A. Drummond and Dwayne Alistair Thomas.
September 15 & 16 (Fringe Festival)
The Bank
Running Numbers
by Cheyenne Barboza
Directed by: Christina May
Featuring: Abdul Sesay, Jarrett McCreary, Cortnee Love, Aurica Diane, Angelica Jackson-Thomas, Kyle A. Jackson, Niya Colbert, Donald Smith Jr., and Brandon A. Drummond.
December 8
Moore College of Art & Design
Art of Survival, Agents of Escape
Devised and performed by: LaNeshe Miller-White, Carlo Campbell, Niya Colbert, Lena Lewis, and Andre White.
Directed by: Christina May
Facilitator: Li Sumpter
2023
*THEATRE IN THE X 10th ANNIVERSARY SEASON*
Theatre in the X presents
"Zooman and the Sign"
by Charles Fuller
directed by Ozzie Jones
August 17 & 18 | 7pm
August 19 & 20 | 5pm
Malcolm X Park (5100 Pine St, Philadelphia, PA 19143)
Set in Philadelphia in 1979, Zooman senselessly terrorizes his community. When he kills a 12-year-old Black girl on the street, all witnesses refuse to talk. Bereaved and infuriated, the dead girl's father posts a sign accusing the entire community of cowardice in the face of escalating violence.
CAST:
LaNeshe Miller-White
Walter DeShields
Bryce Zenon
T.C Storm Caldwell
Jeffery Scott
Leon Alexander
Richard Bradford
Monet Debose
Tasha Holmes
2022 Productions
(click the title of the show for more info)
2021 Productions
PASS OVER
BY ANTOINETTE NWANDU
Directed by Ozzie Jones
co-production between Theatre Exile and Theatre in the X
June 10 - 27, 2021
Hawthorne Park - 12th and Catherine Streets
Pass Over tells the story of two Black men, Moses and Kitch – friends hanging out on a city street corner, sharing dreams of an escapee from their circumstances. When a stranger wanders onto their corner with his own agenda, he derails their plans of finding their promised land.
The West Philly Meeting
by Dwayne Alistair Thomas
directed by Katrina Shobe
August 15th, 22nd, and 29th, 2021 | 5pm
Two years in the making, Theatre in the X presents our community created piece - The West Philly Meeting. As the characters and the audience come together with open minds, they find that they have the solution to heal what ails them.
2020 Productions
TWISTED TALES
Thursday, October 29 | 6pm | Facebook Live
Grab a mug of hot cider and settle in for an evening of short Twisted Tales from Black and African folklore just in time for Halloween weekend. Some sweet, some spooky, these stories of ghosts and ghouls will be presented by your favorite Theatre in the X company members. Watch replay here.
Virtual Juneteenth Program
June 18 - June 21, 2020
Virtual/digital Juneteenth event in partnership with Iron Age Theatre. Beginning Thursday June 18 through June 21, three new videos premiered each day on our social media pages and website, considering issues of living free under threat after emancipation. They could also be accessed via QR code on plaques around the region. These pieces create context for what we are seeing in our nation/world today through poetry and historical speeches performed by our company members and friends. Watch videos here.
Virtual Play Reading
Viv is for Vengeance by Lindsey Hope Pearlman
Thursday, April 16, 2020 | 7pm
A comedic adaptation of Euripides’ Medea, recast with the characters from The Fresh Prince of Bel Air. Viv Is For Vengeance is the (unauthorized) story of what really happened when Aunt Viv was replaced by another mother. Watch replay here.
CAST:
Geoffrey - Akeem Davis
Aunt Viv - Beverly Gunn
Carlton - Keith Illidge
Ashley - Amajae Hardy Jones
Hilary - Taysha Canales
Uncle Phil - Brian Anthony Wilson
Jazz - Adul Sesay
Stage directions - Carlo Campbell
Chorus - Carlo Campbell, LaNeshe Miller-White, Niya Colbert, Richard Bradford, Walter DeShields
Staged Reading of In Splendid Error by William B. Branch | Directed by Eric Carter
In partnership with Philadelphia Artists Collective
Part of Philly Theatre Week
Monday, February 10, 2020 at 7PM
The Proscenium at the Drake | 302 S. Hicks Street, Philadelphia, PA
A historical drama that examines the friendship between the statesman Frederick Douglass and noted abolitionist John Brown, as Brown contemplates his now infamous raid on Harpers Ferry. An intimate portrait of men at the crossroads of history, this play delves into the small decisions that sometimes change the world.
Featuring: Eric Carter, Richard Bradford, Niya Colbert, Mark Christie, Ross Beschler, Josh Kirwin, Carlo Campbell, Bob Weick, Laila White, David Pica, Walter DeShields and LaNeshe Miller-White.
2019 Productions
Staged Reading of American Nigga Zoo by Misty Sol
November 10th | 7:30pm
Atiya Ola’s Spirit First Foods
310 S 48th St, Philadelphia, PA 19143
The piece examines the history of human zoos and the fine line between captivity and spectacle that is walked by today’s entertainers. What is it like to break out of the performance of Blackness that is projected by the gaze of white supremacy?
The Beast of Nubia by Jonathan Bethea
August 4th, 11th, and 18th
Malcolm X Park
In the deserts of ancient Nubia there is a magical kingdom guarded by a monstrous beast. When a merchant wrongs the beast his eldest daughter agrees to sacrifice herself in his place. What follows is a grand adventure filled with romance and excitement, as two very different people learn to cope with one another.
"Egoli" by Matsemela Manaka
March 20 - April 7
Co-produced with EgoPo Classic Theater
Latvian Society Theater - 531 North 7th Street
Featuring Co-Artistic Directors Carlo Campbell and Walter DeShields, Egoli is a look into the world
of miners in South Africa, depicting lives that are often overlooked, as they struggle with racial
inequality, poverty, and systemic incarceration. Manaka was a pivotal player in the grassroots black theatre movement that grew out of the 1976 Soweto uprisings protesting the government’s political repression and extreme state censorship. Published in 1980, the play was banned by the South African government in 1981.
The Colored Museum
Directed by Walter Deshields
February 16 and 17
The African American Museum of Philadelphia
THE COLORED MUSEUM has electrified, discomforted, and delighted audiences of all colors, redefining our ideas of what it means to be black in contemporary America. Set in a fictional museum where iconic African-American figures are kept for public consumption, its eleven "exhibits" undermine black stereotypes old and new and return to the facts of what being black means
2018 Productions
The Wiz
Directed by Cheyenne Barboza
August 12, 19 and 26
Malcolm X Park
This is The Wiz like you've never seen it before! An homage to Hip Hop and Black cinema of the late 80s/early 90s, our iconic characters will journey through an Oz remixed with all the nuance and cultural swag of the Black experience in America.
Staged Reading: The First Deep Breath by Lee Edward Colston II
June 1
part of June-A-Palooza at Interact Theatre
Pastor Albert Jones and his family are planning a special church service to honor their late daughter Diane on the sixth anniversary of her passing. But when Abdul-Malik, the eldest son he blames for her death returns home form prison, the entire Jones family is forced to confront a hornet's nest of long buried family secrets. Old skeletons claw their way to the dinner table picking at the scraps of Mother Bethel Baptist's First family. With each member of the Jones clan desperately fighting to stay afloat, sometimes a family that stays together drowns together.
Featuring: Lee Kenneth Richardson, Ardencie Hall-Karambe, Tiffany Bacon, Brennie Tellu, Stan Dixon, Abdul Sesay, Dax Richardson, Kirk Duncan, and Ashley Adams,
AYOMA! by Morriah Aleese Young
Friday, April 27th at 7pm
Directed by Christina May
What's the ultimate revenge you can get on a catcaller?.... After continuous instances of street harassment, four friends come together to reclaim their power. Ayoma creates a world where street harassers become the animals they are, and women are witchy warriors slaying those who seek to prey on them.
"On August 23rd, on my way home from work I found myself being cat-called while waiting for my trolley. When my trolley finally came, I boarded, sat down, pulled out my cell phone, and began writing a new play. A week later I had completed the first draft of Ayoma!"
- Morriah Young
2017 Productions
January 20
Painted Bride Art Center
Running Numbers (staged reading)
by Cheyenne Barboza
Directed by: Christina May
Featuring: Brett Gray, Nastassja Baset, Carlo Campbell, Walter DeShields, LaQuanda McCoullum, Niya Colbert, LaNeshe L. White, Angelica Jackson-Thomas, Kyle A. Jackson and Dwayne Alistair Thomas
March 24
CEC Community Education Center
Boy (staged reading)
by Kyle Jackson
Directed by: Nastassja Baset
Featuring: Gregory Holmes, Miranda Thompson. Lenny Daniels, Nazeer Harper, Anthony Cooper, Lena Lewis, Carlo Campbell, Niya Colbert
May 19
North Philly Peace Park
Seasons (staged reading)
by Biko Eisen-Martin
Directed by: Carlo Campbell
Featuring: Richard Bradford, Cortnee Love, Ron Lee Jones, Nancie Marie, Lenny Daniels, Will Lewis, Alicia Dominique, Brandon Drummond, Meryl Lynn Brown, Bob Murphy, Mitchell Bloom, Willa Jaffe, and April Davis
August 6, 13, and 20
Malcolm X Park
Running Numbers
by Cheyenne Barboza
Directed by: Christina May
Featuring: Abdul Sesay, Jarrett McCreary, Khadijah Davis, Iman Aaliyah, Aurica Hurst, Angelica Jackson-Thomas, Carlo Campbell, Walter DeShields, Niya Colbert, Brandon A. Drummond and Dwayne Alistair Thomas.
September 15 & 16 (Fringe Festival)
The Bank
Running Numbers
by Cheyenne Barboza
Directed by: Christina May
Featuring: Abdul Sesay, Jarrett McCreary, Cortnee Love, Aurica Diane, Angelica Jackson-Thomas, Kyle A. Jackson, Niya Colbert, Donald Smith Jr., and Brandon A. Drummond.
December 8
Moore College of Art & Design
Art of Survival, Agents of Escape
Devised and performed by: LaNeshe Miller-White, Carlo Campbell, Niya Colbert, Lena Lewis, and Andre White.
Directed by: Christina May
Facilitator: Li Sumpter