The Off-Broadway Billie Holiday Theatre Announces Major Highlight Of The Billie's 2019-2020 Season With New Windows Festival

BROOKLYN, N.Y., Sept. 6, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- The Billie Holiday Theatre Artistic and Executive Director Dr. Indira Etwaroo announced the theatre's inaugural New Windows Festival, a major highlight of The Billie's 2019-2020 season.  Forged in the sociocultural kiln of the Civil Rights and Black Arts Movements, this newly renovated historic landmark theater – theater home to the largest community of African Americans in the nation: Central Brooklyn – has been home to world-class storytelling for 47 years.

"This is a season that celebrates the triumph of the human spirit, which remains at the core of the African American experience during this 400^th commemorative year of the beginning of slavery in America. We enter this season with a profound knowledge that the African American story is the very foundation of the American story," stated Dr. Etwaroo. "We strive to stretch beyond our own historic curatorial boundaries, presenting artists of non-African descent to inspire dialogues around race."

New Windows Festival goes beyond differences to explore the intersectionality and complexity of identity and to spotlight voices and perspectives that have not historically been presented at The Billie with bold and daring storytelling that centralizes themes of race, social justice ,and equity. 

NEW WINDOWS FESTIVAL:
October -  November 2019

IDENTITY AND DESIGN: A GLOBAL PARADIGM: AN EVENING WITH JAHNKOY
Born and raised in Siberia, Russia, JAHNKOY is a New York based visual artist who will be joined in conversation by Hollis King.  JAHNKOY's work draws upon found materials and ready-made clothing to illustrate her ideas around consumerism, racial and cultural inequality, crafts and the political and economic restraints that surround it. 

VISUAL ARTS | LUBA LUKOVA DESIGNING JUSTICE EXHIBIT 
Opening Reception: Mon, Nov 4 at 6PM 
An artist and designer, Luba Lukova creates images that transcend language, cultures, and politics. Her thought-provoking posters address essential themes of humanity and injustice worldwide. 

THEATER | REPARATIONS - World Premiere
By James Sheldon; Directed by Michele Shay
Previews - Oct 25 - Nov 5; Opening Night - Wed, Nov 6 and runs through Sun, Nov 24, 2019 
World premiere of Reparations by playwright James Sheldon and directed by Tony Award-nominated Michele Shay. Reparations tells the story of a recently widowed white book editor who invites a younger black writer to her apartment, only to find that a night of tenderness and passion turns into a complex and unforeseen morning-after when he threatens to reveal a dark secret. Will the young writer succeed in claiming his reparations for a life of racial injustice? 

The cast features Lisa Arrindell, Kamal Bolden, and Alexandra Neil

Tickets available ONLINE - TheBillieHoliday.org; IN PERSON - The Billie Holiday Theater Box Office at Restoration Plaza, 1368 Fulton Street from Wed - Fri, 4 - 7pm; Sat 1 - 4pm; and BY PHONE - (718) 636-0918.

ABOUT THE BILLIE HOLIDAY THEATRE

The AUDELCO and Obie Award-winning Billie Holiday Theatre is devoted to the discovery of world-class storytelling with a focus on stories for, by, and about people of African descent. The Billie presents, promotes and sustains art that reflects the definitive issues of our time in and through all of its forms of expression.  The Billie Holiday Theatre has been a significant platform for many Black theater artists, including Samuel L. Jackson, Ruby Dee, Omari Hardwick, Debbie Allen, Wendell Pierce, John Amos, Sonia Sanchez and more.

SOURCE The Billie Holiday Theatre