THE CLASSICAL THEATRE OF HARLEM
MELVIN VAN PEEBLES' AIN'T SUPPOSED TO DIE A NATURAL DEATH
Friday and Saturday, 11/2/07 and 11/3/07, 8 pm
Reynolds Industries Theater
$26 • $20 • $5*
This revival of Van Peebles’ controversial experiment superimposes poetic form onto a story of junkies and whores, staging the gutsy violence of revolutionary art. It earned a Drama Desk nomination for “Outstanding Musical Revival,” and comes to Durham as one of the most potent meditations on race in American theater today — “bracing” and “urgent,” according to Variety.
New York Times on the Classical Theatre of Harlem:
"Melvin Van Peebles' 1971 Tony-nominated musical, Ain't Supposed to Die a Natural Death, doesn't so much get performed [...] as erupt, like some sort of streetwise lava flow. This early pre-cursor to hip-hop, rap, and poetry slams is a get-down, rolling depiction of ghetto life, and we're not talking urbane bling."
Classical Theatre of Harlem on the web:
www.classicaltheatreofharlem.org
NOTE ON EVENT SCHEDULE CHANGE: Please note that this production was previously scheduled for Friday, 11/9/07 and Saturday, 11/10/07. This is also the current listing in our season brochure. However, the information listed on this page is correct.