Black Is Beautiful, But It Ain’t Always Pretty

By Kareem M. Lucas
December 13 - 15, 2018

​DATES:
Thursday, December 13 at 8 pm
Friday, December 14 at 8 pm
Saturday, December 15 at 8 pm

In this solo show, Kareem M. Lucas reanimates the memory of a never-ending NYC night — a wild roller coaster ride through alcohol, drugs, sex, joy, loss, and self-discovery. He weaves together his past and present to interrogate our desperate need for significance, in life and after death, and mythologizes the everyday experience of a common Black man in America. Directed by Zoey Martinson, Black Is Beautiful, But It Ain’t Always Pretty is an epic poem about fulfilling one’s purpose—if there is any—before time runs out. The clock is ticking.

Written & Performed by Kareem M. Lucas
Directed by Zoey Martinson
Movement by Brendan Spieth
Lighting Design by Derek Van Heel
Sound Design by Avi A. Amon

MORE INFO:
Kareem M. Lucas is a Brooklyn-born and Harlem-based actor/writer/producer/director. His solo pieces include The Maturation of an Inconvenient Negro, From Brooklyn With Love, RATED BLACK, A Boy & His Bow, and Black Is Beautiful, But It Ain’t Always Pretty. He is a co-collaborator on The Black History Museum…, as a writer/performer as apart of the HERE Arts Residency Program. He is also in residence in The Public Theater’s Devised Theater Working Group, which included showings of his solo work in the 2018 Under The Radar Festival. MFA: NYU Graduate Acting Program. For more info visit www.KareemMLucas.com or his Instagram @KareemMLucas

Zoey Martinson (Director) is a director, producer, and co-Artistic Director of Smoke & Mirrors Collaborative. Her play Olityelwe won the Overall Excellence Award for Best Play in the New York City Fringe Festival and subsequently toured in South Africa and Scotland’s Edinburgh Fringe Festival. Martinson co-created and directed Skype Duet, which won the 100 Grand award at the HAU2 Theater in Berlin, and directed the world premiere of Jeremy Kamps’ Gutting at the National Black Theater in Harlem. In 2015, she produced and directed an Arts Mission for the U.S. Consul General to South Africa’s informal settlements, creating original work with adults and children in Durban, Johannesburg, and Soweto. Martinson holds an MFA from NYU. She is currently a 2016/17 Directing Fellow at Manhattan Theater Club, 2016/17 Dramatist Guild Playwriting Fellow, and formerly a 2013/14 Artistic Mentor Fellowship at Lincoln Center.