The Wooster Group's Emperor Jones Extends To Apr.26 | Playbill

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News The Wooster Group's Emperor Jones Extends To Apr.26 The Wooster Group's production of O'Neill's The Emperor Jones has again extended its run, this time through Apr. 26 (past the previously announced close of Apr. 12).
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Kate Valk, Willem Dafoe in Emperor Jones Photo by Photo by Mary Gearhart

The Wooster Group's production of O'Neill's The Emperor Jones has again extended its run, this time through Apr. 26 (past the previously announced close of Apr. 12). The Wooster Group has been working on Jones intermittently for the past three years, initially presenting it with its other O'Neill production, The Hairy Ape. The Hairy Ape was brought to Off Broadway's Selwyn Theatre in the spring of 1997. House/Lights, Wooster's production of Gertrude Stein's Doctor Faustus Lights the Lights, made its New York debut in February.

The Emperor Jones is about an African-American who sets himself up as the ruler of a West Indian island. The part of Brutus Jones was played by Charles S. Gilpin when the play had its premiere in 1920 at the famed Provincetown Players Theatre in NY's Greenwich Village; a few seasons later Paul Robeson was to make the role his own.

The Wooster Group consists of Jim Clayburgh, Willem Dafoe, Spalding Gray, Elizabeth LeCompte, Peyton Smith and Kate Valk. The Group has received numerous awards, including National Endowment for the Arts, State Arts Council, and New York City Department of Cultural Affairs grants. In 1991, the Group was awarded an Obie, recognizing 15 years of sustained excellence. That same year, director Elizabeth LeCompte received an NEA Distinguished Artists Fellowship for Lifetime Achievement in American Theatre. In 1995, LeCompte received the MacArthur "genius" grant for her work with The Wooster Group.

Besides his work for Wooster, Dafoe has appeared in many films including Platoon, The Last Temptation of Christ, Body of Evidence and Speed 2.

The Emperor Jones is performed Wed.-Sat. at 8 PM through April 12 at the Performing Garage, 33 Wooster St. in SoHo. For tickets, call (212) 966-3651.

-- By Sean McGrath

 
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