Jo Bonney (A Soldier's Play, Fat Pig) directs the large-scale, new take on Seven Against Thebes which opens Feb. 12 for a run slated through March 12.
The cast of The Seven features Uzo Aduba, Shawtane Monroe Bowen, Jamyl Dobson, Amber Efe, Edwin Lee Gibson, Benton Greene, Manuel Herrera, Flaco Navaja, Tom Nelis, Postell Pringle, Pearl Sun and Charles Turner.
The world premiere The Seven is billed as "a hip-hop adaptation of Aeschylus' Seven Against Thebes, which follows the struggles of Eteocles and Polynices, the two sons of the cursed King Oedipus, as they fight for the throne of Thebes." Power wrote and composed the tale — entirely in rhyming verse — which interweaves "such musical styles as calypso, doo-wop, R&B, funk and blues."
Bill T. Jones provides choreography for the work directed and developed by Jo Bonney. The writer previously collaborated with NYTW on Flow. and the director staged Slanguage at the downtown Manhattan venue.
Power recently won the 2005 Joyce Award, a 2005 NYFA Fellowship, a 2004 Jury Award for Best Theatre Performance at the HBO US Comedy Arts Festival, and a 2004 Drama Desk nomination for Best Solo Performance. He has also performed on "Last Call with Carson Daly" and "Russell Simmons Presents Def Poetry." OBIE Award-winning director Bonney recently staged Charles Fuller's A Soldier's Play for Second Stage Theatre. Her other directing credits include Lisa Loomer's Living Out, Neil LaBute's Fat Pig, Lanford Wilson's Fifth of July, Jose Rivera's References to Salvador Dali Make Me Hot, Eric Bogosian's Humpty Dumpty, suburbia, Funhouse, Pounding Nails in the Floor with My Forehead, Wake Up and Smell the Coffee and Sex, Drugs, Rock & Roll among many others.
The design team for The Seven includes Richard Hoover (scenic), Emilio Sosa (costumes), David Weiner (lighting) and Darron L West (sound). Music production is by Justin Ellington, with additional composition by Ellington and Will Hammond. Music direction is handled by Daryl Waters and Judith Schoenfeld serves as the production stage manager.
Tickets to The Seven at NYTW, 79 East Fourth St. (between Bowery and Second Ave.), can be purchased at the box office or by calling (212) 239-6200. For more information, visit www.nytw.org.
