September 7 2005

A series of panel discussions with leading theatre professionals of diverse backgrounds.

2005-2006: "Conversations" Panel Discussion

Moderated by Rajendra Ramoon Maharaj

Artist-in-Residence, Amas Musical Theatre

The Players Theatre
115 MacDougal Street
New York, New York 10012

(between 3rd Street and Bleecker Street, at Minetta Lane)

Sunday, October 9 at 4pm
“Geoffrey Holder--A Life in the Theatre”

Sunday, October 16 at 4pm
“Writing Musicals--A Dialogue Between Generations”

Sunday, October 23 at 4pm
“Leading Men of Color”

Tickets: $10.00 ($5.00/students)

Amas Musical Theatre (Donna Trinkoff, Producing Artistic Director) will sponsor a program of live panel discussions featuring leading theatre practitioners of diverse backgrounds. They will explore the challenges and satisfactions of sustaining a career in the theatre. Conversations will be moderated by the founder of the multi-year series, Rajendra Ramoon Maharaj, in his capacity as Amas Artist-in-Residence. The program begins with Award-winning director/designer/ choreographer/painter Geoffrey Holder on Sunday, October 9 at 4pm. Holder, a noted raconteur, will share perspectives on the highlights of his considerable career.

The following Sunday, October 16, is dedicated to musical lyricists and composers, including Masi Asare (The Judge’s Wife), Myla Churchill (A Band of Angels), Gary William Friedman (The Me Nobody Knows), Edward Gallardo (Magpie), and Micki Grant (Don’t Bother Me, I Can’t Cope). “Writing Musicals, a Dialogue Between Generations,” examines the processes involved in developing new American musicals and how these have evolved over the years.

The final Sunday afternoon, October 23, “Leading Men of Color” features Rob Barnes (Jesus Christ, Superstar), Tony Chiroldes (The Capeman), Eric Anthony (Hairspray), Ron Ruffin (Civil War), and Jerome Lucas Harmann (Swing!).

“We’re thrilled to sponsor this program for our growing audience”, says Amas Producing Artistic Director Donna Trinkoff. “These wonderful artists epitomize the Amas mission. They have brought people of so many backgrounds together through their talent and perseverence and I know that many theatre-goers and theatre professionals alike will want to spend some quality time with them as they share their insights. I know I do”. “It is especially important”, adds Moderator Rajendra Ramoon Maharaj, “at a time when the obstacles to the development of new work by minority artists seems greater than ever, that we hear from those who have succeeded and continue to succeed. These artists are our heroes”.

All Conversations events will be held at the historic Players Theatre, 115 MacDougal Street, in Greenwich Village. Tickets are $10 adults, $5 students. For ticket information and reservations call Amas Musical Theatre at 212-563-2565.

About Amas Musical Theatre

Amas Musical Theatre has been a pioneer in diversity and multi-ethnic casting in the performing arts since it was founded in 1968 by legendary actress and visionary Rosetta LeNoire. Amas (“you love” in Latin) is devoted to the creation, development and professional production of new American musicals and to the training and encouragement of inner city young people of diverse backgrounds.

For 37 years, Amas has engraved its unique trademark in the world of musical theatre, producing groundbreaking work embracing different cultural perspectives while reaching out to underserved audiences. Amas attracts actors and artists of distinction and reputation, while offering opportunities for new talent to learn and develop.

Actors’ Equity Association acknowledges Rosetta and Amas’ contribution to the American theatre by bestowing an award in her honor. Producers and theatre companies who exemplify LeNoire’s commitment to multicultural production and casting in the theatre are annually given the treasured Rosetta LeNoire Award. In 1999 for her work at Amas, she was awarded the coveted National Medal of Arts by President Clinton.

In recent years, under the leadership of Producing Artistic Director Donna Trinkoff, Amas has emerged as one of America’s foremost incubators of new American musicals. Since 1998, Amas has produced an unbroken string of acclaimed Amas Mainstage shows that have moved to expanded touring, regional and commercial productions after their Amas appearances,Rollin’ on the T.O.B.A, Reunion: A Civil War Musical, 4 Guys Named Jose … and Una Mujer Named Maria, Langston Hughes’s Little Ham, Zanna, Don’t!, Latin Heat, From My Hometown, and Lone Star Love.

For more information about Amas Musical Theatre visit www.amasmusical.org.

About Geoffrey Holder

Born in Port-of-Spain, Trinidad, Geoffrey Holder was one of four children in a middle-class family. He attended Queens Royal College, a secondary school in Port-of-Spain, and received lessons in painting and dancing from his older brother Boscoe.

When Holder was seven, he debuted with his brother's dance troupe, the Holder Dance Company. When Boscoe moved to London a decade later, Geoffrey Holder took over direction of the company. In 1952, Agnes de Mille saw the group perform on the island of St. Thomas, U.S. Virgin Islands, and invited Holder to audition for impresario Sol Hurok in New York City. Already an accomplished painter, Holder sold 20 of his paintings to pay for passage for the company to New York City in 1954. When Hurok decided not to sponsor a tour for the company, Holder taught classes at the Katherine Dunham School to support himself. His impressive height (6'6") and formal attire at a dance recital attracted the attention of producer Arnold Saint Subber who arranged for him to play Samedi, a Haitian conjurer, in Harold Arlen's 1954 Broadway musical "House of Flowers". During the run, Holder met fellow dancer Carmen DeLavallade, and the two married in 1955. During 1955 and 1956 Holder was a principal dancer with the Metropolitan Opera Ballet in New York. He also appeared with his troupe, Geoffrey Holder and Company, through 1960. The multi-talented Holder continued to paint throughout this time, and in 1957 he was awarded a Guggenheim Fellowship in painting.

In 1957 Holder acted in an all-black production of "Waiting for Godot". Although the show was short-lived, Holder continued to act, and in 1961 he had his first film role in the movie ALL NIGHT LONG, a modern retelling of "Othello". His career as a character actor flourished with appearances in EVERYTHING YOU'VE ALWAYS WANTED TO KNOW ABOUT SEX (1972), LIVE AND LET DIE (1973), and as Punjab in ANNIE (1982).

Holder has also been an active director. His direction of the Broadway musical "The Wiz," (1975) an all-black retelling of THE WIZARD OF OZ, earned him Tony Awards for best director and best costume design. In 1978 he directed and choreographed the lavish Broadway musical "Timbuktu!". He has choreographed pieces for many companies including the Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater, for which he choreographed "Prodigal Prince" (1967), a dance based on the life of a Haitian primitive painter. Dance Theater of Harlem has in its repertory Holder's 1957 piece "Bele," which like most of his work combines African and European elements.

Holder co-wrote (with Tom Harshman) and illustrated the book BLACK GODS, GREEN ISLANDS (1959), a collection of Caribbean folklore; and GEOFFREY HOLDER'S CARIBBEAN COOKBOOK was published in 1973. He also gained widespread recognition in the late 1970s and 1980s for his lively commercials. In 1992 Holder appeared in the film BOOMERANG with Eddie Murphy. He resides in New York, where he continues to paint, choreograph, and act.

About Rajendra Ramoon Maharaj

Rajendra Ramoon Maharaj is the recipient of ten AUDELCO nominations for Excellence in Black theater Off-Broadway. He is the recipient of four AUDELCO awards for his direction and choreography for the revivals of Damn Yankees and Jamaica. Rajendra is the recipient of the prestigious National Endowment for the Arts/Theatre Communications Group Career Development Program for Directors and the TCG New Generations Grant in partnership with the Arkansas Repertory Theatre. He is also the recipient of the Woodie King Jr. Award for Outstanding Direction of Damn Yankees. Rajendra was the Assistant Director on the Tony Award Winning Broadway revival of A Raisin in the Sun at the Royale Theatre. He has directed and choreographed at many of New York’s top theaters. His regional credits include the world premiere of A Walk Through Time at Freedom Theatre and Nightswim and Classyass, Actors Theatre of Louisville Humana Festival, Damn Yankees at St. Louis Black Rep, DreamGirls and Intimate Apparel at Arkansas Repertory Theatre, and Sanctified at Alabama Shakespeare Festival. He is an alumni of Lincoln Center Directors Lab, Society of Stage Directors and Choreographers, and an Associate Member of the Dramatists Guild of America, and member of the Negro Ensemble Co. Rajendra held residencies with Freedom Theatre, The Kennedy Center, Crossroads Theatre, Lark Play Development Center, Arkansas Repertory Theatre and Amas Musical Theatre. He is a member of the Board of Directors for ASSITEJ/USA. Rajendra has served as a panelist for the National Endowment for the Arts. Rajendra is a former director in training of the daytime Emmy Award winning directing team at ABC’s All My Children.

As a playwright he has written Mississippi Night, Diss Diss & Diss Dat, Twenty-Five, Gray and BlackfootNotes. He is the Co-Conceiver of three spoken word plays Exposures, History of the Word, and Union Square. He holds a Masters Degree in Fine Arts in Directing from CUNY Brooklyn College. This is his first year as Artist-in-Residence at Amas Musical Theatre. He is also Artistic Director of Rebel Theatre (www.rebeltheater.org)

About Donna Trinkoff

Since joining Amas Musical Theatre in fall 1994 as producing artistic director Donna has produced Lone Star Love or the Merry Wives of Windsor, Texas,, Stormy Weather: The Lena Horne Story,Zanna, Don’t!, Latin Heat, From My Hometown, Langston Hughes's Little Ham, 4 Guys Named José, Reunion, Rollin’ on the T.O.B.A., Delphi or Bust, Richard Rodgers Award-winners Barrio Babies, Bobos; and The Princess and the Black-Eyed Pea; Song by Song, the Music of Michael Valenti; Galt McDermot’s Time and the Wind; Bring in the Morning; an original musical revue, After Hours; Good God!; Working; and 26 musicals for the Amas Six O’Clock Musical Theatre Lab. Donna holds a B.A. in English and Theatre from the S.U.N.Y. Binghamton. She is a graduate of the National Theatre Institute, a theatre training program at the Eugene O’Neill Center in Waterford, CT and she received a Certificate of Merit from the Drama Studio in London. Donna is on the Board of Directors of the League for Professional Theatre Women. In 1998, she received the New York Municipal Art Society Award of Merit.