FRIED CHICKEN AND LATKES Begins Off-Broadway, 7/21

Edmund Gaynes in association with Daryl Sledge/Mother's Boy LLC will present the Off-Broadway premiere of Rain Pryor's one-woman show, Fried Chicken and Latkes, beginning an open-ended engagement on Saturday July 21st at the Actors Temple Theater (339 West 47th Street, between 8th and 9th Avenues). The show runs 70 minutes.

Rain Pryor is an acclaimed director, actor, stand-up comedian, educator, dynamic speaker, mother, and Artistic Director of the Strand Theater in Baltimore. Pryor is a headlining stand-up in her own right; she fills her own shoes where stand-up is concerned and is not trying to be her iconic father Richard Pryor. She has been featured regularly in Baltimore with good friend Mickey Cucchiella. Pryor and Cucchiella are developing many projects together. The Baltimore Sun chose Rain as one of 3 area comics to watch.

Fried Chicken and Latkes is Pryor's award winning solo show based on her life. It is an irreverent and poignant look at racism in the late 60's early 70's. Rain completely wrote and created her show including adding some of her own original music and lyrics to the production. Rain was a Los Angeles Times "Critics Choice" and her singing voice and sense of timing were hailed as rare gifts. Fried Chicken and Latkes played to sold out crowds and standing ovations every night at the 375-seat Canon Theatre in Beverly Hills, CA, and repeated that success at the Culture Project in New York, Chicago, Ohio, Virginia, Texas, and Scotland. Growing up Black and Jewish gives Rain a unique perspective on race, religion and spirituality. She shares her views and has lead panel discussions on diversity in education and in the entertainment industry at Princeton University, The Jewish Federation of Los Angeles, Chicago and Baltimore.

Pryor made her television debut in 1989 as a series regular, T.J., on the hit ABC series "Head of the Class," a character adopted from Pryor's own monologues at the request of ABC producers during her second audition. Pryor starred for several years opposite Sherilyn Fenn and Lynn Redgrave, as Jackie, the lipstick lesbian drug addict on the Showtime series "Rude Awakening," and has additionally guest starred on network television series such as "The Division" and "Chicago Hope." She has appeared numerous times on Johnny Carson and Jay Leno, as well as "The Late Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson," and Travis Smiley. Rain's stage credits include playing the title role of Billie Holiday in the UK tour of The Billie Holiday Story and the title role of Ella Fitzgerald in the UK premiere of Ella, Meet Marilyn, teamed up with award-winning UK soap actress Sally Lyndsay. She's performed in the Los Angeles production of Eve Ensler's Vagina Monologues, with Nora Dunn of "Saturday Night Live" fame and Charlene Tilton; Cookin' With Gas with the Groundlings improvisation troupe, The Exonerated with Aidan Quinn, and The Who's Tommy at the La Jolla Playhouse.

The playing schedule for Rain Pryor's Fried Chicken and Latkes is Monday evenings at 7PM, Saturday matinees at 2:30 PM, and Sunday matinees at 4:30 PM. Tickets from $39.50 are available at Telecharge.com or by calling 212/239-6200.

More Articles by This Author...