Till the Break of Dawn is the Hip-Hop theatre pioneer's first new work to be presented to New York audiences since 1998. Hoch will direct the production that centers on "Gibran, an internet Hip-Hop activist, [who] leads a group of his New York friends on a trip to Havana to attend a festival. They've always been radical at home, but in Cuba, radical means something else. So does Hip-Hop, and so do they," according to press notes.
The cast for Till the Break of Dawn will feature Bambadjan Bamba, Dominic Colon, Patty Dukes, Matthew-Lee Erlbach, Gwendolen Hardwick, Jimmie James, Jaymes Jorsling, Maribel Lizardo, Flaco Navaja, Johnny Sanchez and Luis Vega.
The creative team includes Andromache Chalfant (set design), Garin Marschall (lighting design), Valerie Marcus Ramshur(costume design) and Jill DuBoff (sound design).
Performances begin Sept. 4 at the Abrons Arts Center, located at 466 Grand Street in Manhattan. The eight-week limited engagement officially opens Sept. 13. Tickets are available by calling (212) 352-3101 or by visiting www.cultureproject.org.
* Hoch is the founder of the Hip-Hop Theater Festival, now in its seventh year, which continues annually nationwide and has seen his Obie-winning Jails, Hospitals & Hip-Hop adapted for film.
In addition to his stage work, Hoch's HBO special "Some People" earned him a Cable Ace Award. Hoch has also appeared in the films "Bamboozled," "Subway Stories," "Thin Red Line," "Blackhawk Down," "American Splendor," "War of The Worlds" and the upcoming "Lucky You" and "We Own The Night." Hoch is currently writing a full length Hip-Hop musical entitled A Word Is Born.
