runboyrun & In Old Age

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Good Neighbor Program Directions Accessibility Calendar

By Mfoniso Udofia
Directed by Loretta Greco and Awoye Timpo

2019/20 Season

September 4, 2019—October 13, 2019

runboyrun & In Old Age ran approximately three and a half hours, including one intermisison.

Generous production support provided by Thérèse Esperdy & Robert Neborak and Kate & Steve Howe. This project is supported in part by the National Endowment for the Arts.

Read Synopsis

After captivating audiences and critics in 2017, NYTW Usual Suspect Mfoniso Udofia returns with another pairing from her powerful nine-part saga, The Ufot Cycle.

Set in the family’s present-day Worcester home and 1968 Nigeria, runboyrun and IN OLD AGE pose questions about how to move forward when the past inhabits your very foundation. In runboyrun, Disciple and Abasiama Ufot have been living the same day over and over again for decades until the dam breaks and time rushes forward while also reeling backwards. They must uncover years of memories and cross great distances to find each other and unearth the roots of their marriage. IN OLD AGE follows Abasiama far into the future as she learns the true nature of love just as life takes a new turn.

Loretta Greco and Awoye Timpo direct these two plays presented together as one evening of theatre.

These two new chapters build on the 2017 productions of Sojourners and Her Portmanteau, celebrating the tenacious matriarch of a Nigerian family.

VIDEOS

  • Azell Abernathy

    RON CANADA’s acting career spans 41 years in Theatre, Film and Television. Broadway: Network; Off-Broadway: Headstrong (Ensemble Studio Theatre) and Zooman and the Sign (Signature Theatre/Audelco Award Nomination). Other performances include Othello (National Shakespeare Theater, Washington, D.C.) opposite Patrick Stewart, The Boys Next Door (Dramalogue Award), The Whipping Man (George Street Playhouse), Macbeth (Inkululeko), Miss Julie and Love Suicide at Schofield Barracks (The Odyssey Theater), The Task and Private Battle (The Mark Taper Forum), Mr. Rickey Calls a Meeting (Old Globe), Fences (The GeVa Theater). Ron recently directed Spin Off (The Riverside Theatre, NY), The Invested (The 4th Street Theatre, NY), Lights Up On The Fade Out (Lillian Theater, LA). Feature films include: The Discovery, Crown Heights, The Empty Man, Ted 2, Wedding Crashers, Cinderella Man, National Treasure, The Human Stain, United States of Leland, The Hunted, Lone Star, An American President, Just Like Heaven, Adventures in Babysitting. Notable Television performances include: “Star Trek” (The Next Generation, Deep Space Nine and Voyager), “Weeds,” “Boston Legal,” “The West Wing,” “The Shield,” “NYPD Blue,” “Frasier.” More recently: “Jack Ryan” (Amazon), “Seven Seconds” (Netflix), “Designated Survivor” (ABC), “The Good Fight” (CBS All Access), “The Strain” (FX), “The Affair” (Showtime), “Madam Secretary” (CBS).

  • Abasiama Ufot

    PATRICE JOHNSON CHEVANNESis an award-winning actress, writer and director, whose Broadway acting credits include Racing Demonand, The Crucible, (starring Liam Neeson and Laura Linney). Off-Broadway her credits include: Mies Julie, Good Grief, The Homecoming Queen, Henry V, Tamburlaine and Pericles. Regional: Steel Hammer, Othello (as Desdemona, opposite Sir Patrick Stewart). Patrice is so very proud to be part of Season 2 of “POSE” (FX) playing Candy’s mom in the iconic episode 4. Patrice is also thrilled to be part of the Netflix TV Series “Chambers” starring Uma Thurman and Tony Goldwyn and also to be part of the second season of “Shrill,” a new comedic series starring SNL’s Aidy Bryant, now streaming on Hulu. Patrice considers herself Jamaican/American. She began writing because she wanted to tell stories about her experience as an immigrant growing up in America. Patrice formed a production company with her siblings, God and all o wee Productions, Jamaican patois for “God and all of us”. With the support of her brothers and sisters she has written, directed and produced, three award winning independent feature films: Kings County, NY’s Dirty Laundry and Hill and Gully.

  • Boy

    KARL GREEN has appeared Off-Broadway in both Socrates and Eve’s Song at the Public Theater. Regional credits include RevolutionUn-AmericanAnne & Emmett, Veni-Vidi-Vici, and Hero Worship (Signature Theatre, D.C.). International credits include Sacred Sky and Sacred Earth in Florence, Italy. Green is a recent graduate of New York University Tisch School of the Arts, BFA with honors and a recipient of the NYU Department of Drama Outstanding Achievement Award for 2019.

  • Disciple Ufot

    CHIKÉ JOHNSON is happy to be making his NYTW debut. He most recently appeared as Sterling Johnson in Two Trains Running in a co-production between Cincinnati Playhouse and the Milwaukee Rep. Other recent productions: Brucie in Sweat at American Conservatory Theatre; Cyrus Smith in 20,000 Leagues Under The Sea at Lookingglass Theatre; Dr. Gibbs in Our Town at the Milwaukee Rep; Walter Lee in A Raisin in The Sun, a co-production between Indiana Rep and Syracuse Stage; American Players Theatre where he played Vershinin, Lebret and Ageus; Dr. John Prentice in Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner, another co-production between Indiana Rep and Geva Theatre. Chiké has an extensive film and television background. Some of his film credits include: Captive State, The Surface, Ass Backwards and Friends with Benefits. Some of his television credits include but not limited to: “Empire,” “Suits,” “Chicago P.D.,” “Chicago Justice” and “Orange is the New Black.”

  • Sister

    ADRIANNA MITCHELL is thrilled to be making her Off-Broadway debut in Mfonsio’s runboyrun at NYTW! She is an actor-director-writer originally from Atlanta, GA. Recent Theater: Noises Off (Two River Theater), Romeo and JulietTaming of the Shrew (Chautauqua Theater Company), HamletA Christmas Carol (A.C.T.), Measure for Measure (Actor’s Shakespeare Project). TV: “Little America” (Apple TV+), “Lincoln” (NBC). Film: Sympathy, Clean Woman. Adrianna recently directed and co-created The Crooked Room, a play about a black queer woman’s journey towards healing and taking ownership of her body and identity; it premiered in the National Queer Arts Festival 2019 (San Francisco Bay Area Theater Co). She also co-authored A Subtlety: The Sugar Play, a magical satire exploring the impact of sugar on Black history and bodies. Adrianna is an alumna of American Conservatory Theater, Chautauqua Theater Company, British American Drama Academy, and a Phi Beta Kappa graduate of Spelman College. To God be the glory! @adriannamitchell

  • Benjamin

    ADESOLA OSAKALUMI is thrilled to be making his NYTW debut! He was an Original Broadway Cast member, in the Tony Award winning musical FELA! and starred in the title role on the National and International Tours. Additional Theater credits include the revival of Equus on Broadway, Syncing Ink (The Flea Theater), Skeleton Crew (Atlantic Theater), In Your Arms (Old Globe Theater) & Goddess (Powerhouse Theater)

    Television: “Ice” (Direct TV). Film: Isn’t It Romantic, IBRAHIM, Sex & The City 2, Across The Universe, Enchanted, Idlewild, The Accidental Husband.

    Adesola served as Movement Director for The Public Theater’s Othello (dir. Ruben Santiago–Hudson), Cullad Wattah (dir. Candis Jones), and Movement Consultant for The Vineyard Theater’s Good Grief (dir. Awoye Timpo). He is also a Bessie Award recipient & Drama Desk Award Choreography Nominee for Jam 0n The Groove (Minetta Lane Theater), a Curator of E-Moves (Harlem Stages) and BAAD Mentor.

    Adesola is an Afro–Caribbean NY native, Sundance Theater Lab Alumni and Co-Founder of Cultural Consultations Inc. He believes in the transformative & healing power of Arts, Culture and Faith. Special thanks to my Ancestors, Mother & Father, Africa 1 Dance Theater & Egbe Omo Nago, Jill & Okanjobi. Ase ooo!

     

  • Mother

    NYTW debut. Broadway: The Crucible. Off-Broadway: Lockdown (Rattlestick), School Girls (MCC Theater), Henry V (The Public), The Homecoming Queen (Atlantic Theater Company), Mother Courage and Her Children (Classic Stage Company). Regional: Imogen Says Nothing (Yale Repertory Theatre). Film & TV: “Chicago Fire,” “Blue Bloods,” “The Good Fight,” “The Defenders,” “Daredevil,” Black PantherThe Mess He Made. Education: Yale School of Drama MFA, BADA.

Mfoniso Udofia / Playwright

MFONISO UDOFIA, a first-generation Nigerian-American storyteller and educator, attended Wellesley College, obtained her MFA from the American Conservatory Theater [ACT] and, while at ACT, co-pioneered The Nia Project, which provided artistic outlets for youth residing in Bayview/Huntspoint. Productions of her plays Sojourners, runboyrun, Her Portmanteau and In Old Age have been seen at the American Conservatory Theater, New York Theatre Workshop, The Playwrights Realm, Magic Theater, National Black Theatre, Strand Theater Company, and Boston Court. She’s the recipient of the 2017 Helen Merrill Playwright Award, the 2017-18 McKnight National Residency and Commission at The Playwrights’ Center and is a member of New Dramatists. Mfoniso’s currently commissioned by Oregon Shakespeare Festival [OSF], Hartford Stage, Denver Center, ACT, and South Coast Repertory. Her plays have been developed by Manhattan Theatre Club, ACT, McCarter Theatre, OSF, New Dramatists, PCS’s JAW Festival, Berkeley Rep’s Ground Floor, The OCC, Hedgebrook, Sundance Theatre Lab, Space on Ryder Farm, Page 73, New Black Fest, Rising Circle and more. She’s also worked as a television writer on Netflix’s “13 Reasons Why” and Apple’s “Little America.” Follow her at @mfudofia or visit mfonisoudofia.com

Loretta Greco / Director, runboyrun

LORETTA GRECO is in her eleventh season as Magic Theatre’s Artistic Director, where she has proudly developed and premiered Taylor Mac’s Hir; Luis Alfaro’s Oedipus El Rey and Bruja; Mfoniso Udofia’s runboyrun and In Old Age; Sharr White’s Annapurna; Lloyd Suh’s American Hwangap and Jesus in India; and Octavio Solis’s Se Llama Cristina. Directing credits at Magic include Luis Alfaro’s Oedipus el Rey, Sharr White’s The Other Place, and the revival of Sam Shepard’s Fool for Love. New York directing premieres include Tracey Scott Wilson’s The Story, Ruben Santiago Hudson’s Lackawanna Blues, and Nilo Cruz’s Two Sisters and a Piano at NYSF/The Public; Toni Press Coffman’s Touch; Emily Mann’s Meshugah at Naked Angels; and Nilo Cruz’s A Park in Our House at NYTW. Regional directing credits include Life is a Dream at CalShakes; Speed-the-Plow, Blackbird, and Sweat at ACT; Romeo and Juliet and Stop Kiss at OSF; and numerous productions in regional theatres across the country. She directed the national tour of Emily Mann’s Having Our Say. Greco has developed work with writers at Sundance, The O’Neill, New Dramatists, and The Public. Prior to her Magic post, she served as Producing Artistic Director of WP Theater and produced the work of Lisa D’Amour, Katie Pearl, Diane Paulus, Karen Hartman, Lynn Nottage, Tanya Barfield, and Rinne Groff. As Associate Director/Resident Producer at the McCarter, Ms. Greco launched their Second Stage-On-Stage Festival of New Work. Ms. Greco received her MFA from Catholic University, and honors include the Sundance Fellowship, Princess Grace Award, and the 2018 SDC Fichandler Award.

Awoye Timpo / Director, In Old Age

Off-Broadway: Good Grief (Vineyard Theatre), The Revolving Cycles Truly and Steadily Roll’d (Playwrights Realm), The Homecoming Queen (Atlantic Theater). Regional: Everybody Black (Actors Theatre of Louisville), Paradise Blue at the Long Wharf Theatre. Other: Carnaval (National Black Theater); Sister Son/ji (Billie Holiday Theatre); The Vanished (Site-Specific); Skeleton Crew (Chester Theater Company), Ndebele Funeral (59E59, Edinburgh Festival/Summerhall, South African tour). Producer: CLASSIX, a series exploring classic plays by Black playwrights.

Andrew Boyce / Scenic Design

Karen Perry / Costume Design

Oona Curley / Lighting Design

David Van Tieghem / Composer / Sound Design

Jerome Butler / Dialect Coach

Katherine Kovner / Dramaturg

Caroline Englander / Stage Manager

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