Your Blues Ain't Sweet Like Mine
We will launch the Two River Rising Series by revisiting our 2015 world premiere production Your Blues Ain’t Sweet Like Mine, in an updated script by Tony-Award winner, Ruben Santiago-Hudson. A relationship is developing between Zeke, a self-described “walking outburst” and Judith, “a seeker of knowledge” with a hidden past. In this explosive and hopeful examination of America’s racial divides, they discover the true meaning of history, sacrifice and legacy. During the show’s initial run audiences were inspired to explore and discuss their own experiences of race relations on a personal, local and national level. The demand led to us adding post-play discussions following every performance. The reading will feature original cast members Brandon J. Dirden, Andrew Hovelson, Merritt Janson, and Roslyn Ruff with Glynn Turman coming on to play the role of Zebedee.
For this first reading, we will also stream the reading on YouTube from Mon, July 27 at 10AM EDT – Thurs, July 30 at 7:00PM EDT. Streaming is free and donations of any amount from viewers will be greatly appreciated.
Benefiting Partner Organization: The Ruben Santiago-Hudson Fine Arts Learning Center is a non-profit affiliate of the Global Concepts Charter School lifting up the lives of neighborhood children in Ruben’s hometown of Lackawanna, NY.
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PHOTOS
Production Photos
Meet the Artists
Brandon J. Dirden
BRANDON J. DIRDEN (CAESAR WILKS) recently appeared on Broadway starring in the Tony Award winning production of Take Me Out and Skeleton Crew for which he received a Drama Desk nomination. He also appeared on Broadway as Martin Luther King, Jr. in the Tony Award-winning production of All the Way, with Bryan Cranston, as ‘Booster’; the Tony Award winning revival of August Wilson’s Jitney; Clybourne Park; Enron; and Prelude to a Kiss. Off-Broadway, he has appeared in The Piano Lesson, for which he won Obie, Theatre World and AUDELCO awards; The First Breeze of Summer and Day of Absence at Signature Theatre; Detroit ’67 at the Public Theater and Classical Theatre of Harlem; Peter and the Starcatcher at New York Theatre Workshop; and as ‘Brutus’ in TFANA’s production of Julius Caesar. On screen he has appeared in “The Good Wife”, “For Life”, “Evil”, “The Big C”, “Public Morals”, “Manifest”, “The Get Down”, “The Accidental Wolf”, “Blue Bloods“, “The Quad”, the FX miniseries “Mrs. America” and four seasons of FX’s “The Americans” as Agent Dennis Aderholt. He has directed numerous plays by Dominique Morisseau and August Wilson and recently Wine in the Wilderness by Alice Childress for Two River Theater. Brandon is an Associate Arts Professor on the faculty of Tisch Grad Acting at NYU; a frequent volunteer at the 52nd Street Project; and a proud member of both Actor’s Equity Association and Fair Wage On Stage.
Andrew Hovelson
Andrew Hovelson
Merritt Janson
Merritt Janson Off-Broadway: The Public (Richard II w/WNYC, A Midsummer Night’s Dream), Theatre for a New Audience (Julius Caesar, Measure for Measure, Tamburlaine the Great, Notes From Underground), Red Bull Theater (Coriolanus), 59E59, Transport Group, Abingdon Theater. Regional: American Repertory Theater, Yale Repertory Theatre, La Jolla Playhouse, Shakespeare Theater DC, Two River Theater, Denver Center, Westport Playhouse, Shakespeare & Company, Wilma Theater, Theatre de la Jeune Lune. TV includes “Billions,” “Elementary,” “Madam Secretary,” “Quantico.” Training: MFA, American Repertory Theater at Harvard University.
Roslyn Ruff
Roslyn Ruff
