Black History Month Play at Stamford Theatre Works

Stamford Theatre Works will continue its 20th anniversary season in the barn theatre at 200 Strawberry Hill Avenue, Stamford, with the mystery/drama "Bee-Luther-Hatchee" by Thomas Gibbons, STW's Annual Black History Month Celebration, playing January 30 - February 17.  STW is Stamford's resident professional theatre.

An ambitious, young African-American editor publishes an award-winning memoir called "Bee-Luter-Hatchee," a moving account of an elderly black woman's life on-the-run in the segregated Deep South.  After emerging as a best-seller, the autobiography's explosive back-story is revealed, catching the editor and newly acclaimed, reclusive author in a firestorm of controversy.

The hyphenated title, "Bee-Luther-Hatchee," is taken from African-American folklore meaning the place one ends up by not getting off a train's last stop, or "the next stop after hell." In the play, the editor finds herself in her own "bee-luther-hatchee," as she faces questions of race, literary license, honesty, celebrity and money.

Director is Patricia R. Floyd, who has directed previous STW productions including "A Lesson Before Dying," which won two Connecticut Critics Circle Awards. Cast members are M. Drue Williams as Libby; Melanie Nicholls-King as Shelita; Patrick McNulty as Sean; Sydney Stone as Anna/Sister Margaret; and Simon Feil as Robert/Interviewer.

STW's 2007-2008 season will continue with "The Shape of Things" by Neil Labute, March 12 - March 30, a drama directed by Doug Moser. When hip art student Evelyn meets dorky museum guard Adam, she devises a provocative subject for her graduate thesis raising questions about seduction, morality and love.

"An Infinite Ache" by David Schulner, April 23 - May 11, is a comedy/drama directed by Steve Karp. Hope and Charles, a pair of lonely twenty-somethings, are about to end a supremely uninteresting first date when the myriad possibilities of their futures together come rushing to meet them.

STW will present a musical to be announced, June 11 - June 29.

Stamford Theatre Works, now in its 20th season, has received grants from the National Endowment for the Arts and numerous awards from the Connecticut Critics Circle for outstanding work. STW annually stages four original productions of contemporary plays chosen with sensitivity to issues of social relevance, and a spring musical. In addition, STW's season includes a School for the Performing Arts and the Purple Cow Children's Theatre.

Performances are Tuesdays through Saturdays at 8 p.m.; matinees Saturdays at 4 p.m. and Sundays at 2 p.m.; first Sunday and first Tuesday at 7 p.m. A "Conversation Club" follows the first Sunday matinee when the directors and actors participate in a Q&A with the audience. "Art vs. Life," following the first Tuesday, 7 p.m. show, offers a post-performance panel discussion with the directors.  Tickets $25 to $43.  Stamford Theatre Works, 200 Strawberry Hill Ave. (on the campus of Sacred Heart Academy), Stamford.  www.stamfordtheatreworks.org   Box Office: (203) 359-4414.