The Mixed Blood Theatre Company's January 2009 production of Carlyle Brown's Pure Confidence, directed by Tony-nominee Marion McClinton, will reopen Off-Broadway at the 59E59 Theaters in Manhattan on May 27. The all-Minnesota cast and creative team is continuing with the show, featuring Gavin Lawrence in his seventh production as Simon Cato.
Mixed Blood Theatre is thrilled to have its critically acclaimed production of Pure Confidence move from the Mini-Apple to the Big Apple. Said Artistic Director Jack Reuler, "For 33 years Mixed Blood has modeled a multiplicity of peoples coming together and being better off for having convened. Pure Confidence, with its Twin Cities playwright, director, cast, and design team, embodies that theatrical aspiration."
Set against a backdrop of fast horses, gritty racetracks, and high stakes betting, Pure Confidence is an extraordinary tale of one of the most successful athletes of his day-Simon Cato, a slave. In a rare historical drama for Mixed Blood, Pure Confidence is a funny and daring look at the complexity of race, love, and dignity. Gavin Lawrence, an actor/playwright/director with Mixed Blood since 1992, has portrayed this play's slave jockey at A ctors Theatre of Louisville, Denver Center Theatre, Cincinnati Playhouse, Alabama Shakespeare Festival, and Florida Studio Theatre before performing the role in his home town at Mixed Blood.
The Mixed Blood Theatre Company, founded 33 years ago by Artistic Director Jack Reuler, is dedicated to the spirit of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.'s dream. Mixed Blood is a professional, multi-racial theatre promoting cultural pluralism and individual equality through artistic excellence. Using theatre as a vehicle for artistry, entertainment, education, and social change, Mixed Blood addresses artificial barriers that keep people from succeeding in American society.
59E59 Theaters is a brand new, state-of-the-art theater complex in a spectacular location on 59th Street between Park and Madison Avenues in Manhattan. ??Owned and operated by the Elysabeth Kleinhans Theatrical Foundation, a not-for profit operating foundation, 59E59 Theaters has set an invigorating policy of bringing new, challenging and experimental work to a new East Side neighborhood.
Pure Confidence opens in the 196-seat Theatre A at 59E59, previewing May 22-May 26, opening May 27 at 8:00PM and running through July 3: Tuesdays at 7:00, Wednesdays-Fridays at 8:00 PM, Saturdays at 2:00 and 8:00PM, and Sundays at 2:00 and 7:00PM. Tickets can be purchased from the Box Office during Box Office hours, by phone through Ticket Central at 212-279-4200 or online at www.ticketcentral.com. (Service fees apply to phone and web purchases.)
