The show will play at the Henry Street Settlement's Abrons Arts Center/Experimental Theatre (466 Grand Street) in Manhattan.

Real Black Men is by the one-named Malik and directed by the also mono-monikered Passion. It is described as "a seamless cohesion of poetry, prose, blues, rap and rhythm, that fearlessly takes an unflinching look at being Black and male in a hostile environment."

Among the characters depicted are "a conjure man, cursed by his ex-lover; a gay man with AIDS who travels to Africa on a last journey of self-discovery; a wheelchair-bound Vietnam veteran taunted by the ghost of a Viet Cong guerrilla fighter with, 'Black man, why you fight here'; a jailhouse blues man; and a spirit of the unborn who weaves in and out of all of the men's lives."

The cast includes Arthur French, Chet Anekwe, Jerome Preston Bates, D. K. Bowser, Gerard Catus, Nyasha Hatendi, Stanley Wayne Mathis and Charles Reuben.

General admission is $15. For card orders call Ticket Central Box Office (212-279-4200).  E-mail the NFT at [email protected], or visit their web-site at www.newfederaltheatre.org.