The African Company Presents Richard Lll February 12, 2011

The UI Departmentof Theatre presents 'The African Company Presents Richard III' by Carlyle Brown, directed by Robert Ramirez. Thrumming with ire, 'The African Company Presents Richard III' encounters African Americans and whites at a crossroads in history. Fifty years before voting rights were won and 40 years before the Civil War, the African Company of New York was at once satirizing white society and eager to inject the black vernacular into its productions. When a white producer imports an English star for his rival production of 'Richard III' and manipulates the police into shuttering the African Company, the troupe rebounds with a plan to grow its audience beyond the borders of its stage. With a world premiere in 1987, this play by Carlyle Brown questions the ways in which we find empowerment, how art speaks to universal experiences, and how we value culture.