John Ewing III & Soul Choice Theatre presents

THE GUEST AT CENTRAL PARK WEST
Written by LEVY LEE SIMON

Performed by

PORTIA, JEROME PRESTON BATES, MICHAEL VINCENT CARRERA, TRACY NEWIRTH
KEITH RANDOLPH SMITH, HANNAH WHITLEY, DAVID GARELIK and TYAELA NIEVES

Directed by THOMAS COTE
Casting Director: SUJOTTA PACE, CSA
Public Relations: KATIE ROSIN /KAMPFIRE FILMS PR

The Gural Theatre
502 West 53rd Street (at 10th Avenue)
Levy Lee Simon’s THE GUEST AT CENTRAL PARK WEST is part of this year’s Next Step Theatre Festival (www.NextStepTheatreFest.com). And after seeing a staged reading of this dynamic play, one can only hope that the next step for this masterpiece is Broadway and beyond. Set in 2018 a black professor and his wife are celebrating the Pulitzer Prize award received for his book on non-violence. Joining in the celebration are long-time friends who happen to be white. As to be expected between professorial types, theories and philosophies are tossed about until a mysterious guest joins the party. Then the raw and often unpleasant truth is interjected, and reality becomes a game changer.

Simon challenges the “ideas” that we accept, as well as the source from which they come. Jails should be inhabited mostly by dark-skinned people, slavery was a natural evolution, younger generations should be free from the burden of the past, there is no place for violence in today’s society, America should lead the world and tell others how to live, and a myriad of other beliefs that we fail to question. And wouldn’t it be nice to say that we have resolved these contradictions seven years later? Nice but unfortunately not possible. The actors breathe life into diverse and complex characters, and Director Thomas Cote keeps the pace brisk, making THE GUEST AT CENTRAL PARK WEST one of the most powerful pieces I have ever seen.

- Laurie Lawson -