Barber Shop Chronicles
Fuel/National Theatre/Leeds Playhouse
By Inua Ellams
Directed by Bijan Sheibani
BAM DEBUT
Lagos. Johannesburg. Accra. Kampala. Harare. London.
Six radically different cities, all united by a familiar place where you can get more than just a good trim. Barber Shop Chronicles conjures the sacred space where discussion ranges from politics to family to soccer to Tupac.
Nigerian-British playwright Inua Ellams weaves a rich tapestry of unfiltered stories about father-son relationships and black masculinity, set to an Afrobeat score. This runaway international sensation is “a joyous piece of theatre” (The Independent).
Come early and join the cast onstage with music, mingling, and dancing. The party continues after the show with a photo booth and pop-up photo exhibition, plus DJs curated by OkayAfrica and Okayplayer on Friday and Saturday evenings!
Design by Rae Smith
Lighting design by Jack Knowles
Movement direction by Aline David
Casting direction by Louis Hammond CDG
Sound design by Gareth Fry
Casting direction by Louis Hammond CDG
Presented with support from the British Council
Co-commissioned by Fuel and the National Theatre.
Development funded by Arts Council England with the support of Fuel, National Theatre Studio, Leeds Playhouse, The Binks Trust, British Council ZA, Oran Morand A Play, a Pie and a Pint.
Thursday, December 5 performance features Open Captioning by c2. For more information and access to specific seating locations, contact BAM ticket services at info@BAM.org or 718.636.4100.
Saturday, December 7 at 2pm performance features ASL interpretation. Learn more at HandsOn.org.
Leadership support for theater at BAM provided by The Fan Fox & Leslie R. Samuels Foundation, Inc.; The SHS Foundation; and The Shubert Foundation, Inc.
Mix and mingle with fellow BAM members over drinks.
BAM partners with the Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture for a conversation about the convening power of the barber shop and beauty salons in Harlem and Black communities.
With humor and pathos, UK-based artist Selina Thompson offers 1,000 thought-starters on race and identity and posts them on the wall for audience members to reflect on and respond to.
Kyle Marshall, the Bessie Award-winning choreographer and member of Trisha Brown Dance Company, celebrates variations of blackness in Colored, alongside the world premiere of a new work.
This charismatic staging brings to life Édouard Louis’ internationally acclaimed autobiographical novel The End of Eddy, a resonant coming-of-age story that reflects on youth, sexuality, power, and freedom.
With no stage and no performers, this hands-on communal experience is an intimate shared adventure through the particularities and nuances of our tactile sense.