| National Black Theatre & Kip Republic Present the North American Debut of Kings Come Home | |
| Last Edit: Official_Press_Release 03:46 pm EST 02/19/25 | |
| Posted by: Official_Press_Release 03:44 pm EST 02/19/25 | |
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| NATIONAL BLACK THEATRE AND KIP REPUBLIC, IN ASSOCIATION WITH THE APOLLO & NEW YORK THEATRE WORKSHOP PRESENT THE NORTH AMERICAN DEBUT OF KINGS COME HOME New York, NY (February 19, 2025) — After a successful sold-out Netherlands run, KINGS…come home, the latest work from co-directors Ira Kip and Winston "Winnie" Bergwijn, will make its North American debut March 5 - March 16, 2025. As part of National Black Theatre's 2024-2025 theatrical season, KINGS…come home will be the first offering of the new year, leaning heavily into NBT's seasonal theme of the pilgrimage, a journey back home. KINGS…come home is co-produced by National Black Theatre and KIP Republic, in association with The Apollo and New York Theatre Workshop. All performances will take place at The Apollo Stages at The Victoria Theater in Harlem, NY. All tickets will be just $40 (plus fees) with Community Night(s) held on March 5th and March 12th. KINGS…come home tells the story of a family in search of a new home. After leaving their original home, they embark on a journey to find prosperity, opportunity, and safety. They discover a house in the middle of a field, move in, and create their utopia—until the walls begin to shift, and the house gradually falls apart. As their journey continues, we witness the enduring effects of their constant displacement and how it reshapes their reality. The cast includes the original company from the sold-out Netherlands run: Saron Tesfahuney, Revé Terborg, Rubiën Vyent, Ayesha Jordan, Melvin Aroma, Daniel Pando, and Giovanni Pisas. KINGS…come home delves into the echoes of migration, born from a myriad of social and economic trials. It traces the deep-seated ties between migration and the enduring shadows of our colonial past. Whether spurred by climate change, the fires of war, or the weight of institutional racism, it is the unseen barriers that guide both their departure as well as their arrival. The play raises a crucial question: "How does the sustained experience of displacement and uprooting shape the search for a true home for both individuals and families?" SHOW SCHEDULE March 5, 2025 - 7:30pm | Pay what you can ($5-$40) March 6, 2025 - 7:30pm March 7, 2025 - 7:30pm | Black Theatre Night March 8, 2025 - 7:30pm | Opening night March 9, 2025 - 7:30pm | Post Show Afterwords March 13, 2025 - 7:30pm March 14, 2025 - 7:30pm | Post Show Afterwords March 15, 2025 - 2pm | Pay what you can ($5-$40) + Post Show Afterwords March 15, 2025 - 7:30pm March 16, 2025 - 2pm | Closing night To keep up with National Black Theatre, visit their website at https://nationalblacktheatre.org/ ### ABOUT IRA KIP Ira Kip is a global storyteller, theater director, writer, and educator. Born and raised in Amsterdam with Caribbean roots, she studied at the Theater School of Amsterdam and earned her MFA in Directing in New York from the New School for Drama in 2009. In 2010, Ira co-founded the Art & Educational project Art Rules with her twin sister Ayra. Ira's work often explores her Caribbean heritage and community dynamics, with notable plays like She'Baltimore (2011), Shrew Her (2016), and Riot or Revolution (2017). In 2018, together with her sisters Ayra Kip, launched KIP Republic, a creative agency. Ira's latest play, KINGS…come home, will premiere in the Netherlands in 2024 and in New York in 2025. She also teaches at various arts universities and contributes to several cultural publications. ABOUT WINSON "WINNE" BERGWIJN Winston ‘Winne" Bergwijn started rapping in English, initially under the name Static, until his friends encouraged him to rap in Dutch. With his group D.C.O., he performed at various locations in Rotterdam. In 2005, Winne suddenly became known to a wider audience when his track "Top 3 MC", produced by Kapitein Mo, was released on the internet. A few months later, the track "Pomp Die Shit!" was released on the compilation album What's da Flavor?!, which left its mark on the Dutch hip hop scene. In 2006, he was signed by the label TopNotch. In 2007, he released his debut EP Onoverwinnelijk, which included the tracks "Top 3 MC", "Pomp die Shit!" and "Begrijp me niet verkeerd". He has won the State Award in 2008 for the best music video of that year. In 2009, he followed up with his debut studio album Winne Zonder Strijd. The album contained the live and internet hits "W.I.N.N.E.", "Alles Wat Ik Wil" featuring GMB and "Lotgenoot". The same year he released the compilation mixtape So So Lobi, in collaboration with Patta. In 2011, he was seen with Henny Vrienten of Doe Maar in an episode of Ali B op volle toeren. ABOUT NATIONAL BLACK THEATRE National Black Theatre (NBT) is a Tony Award-winning and Emmy Award-nominated institution founded in 1968 by the late visionary artist Dr. Barbara Ann Teer. The nation's first revenue- generating Black arts complex, NBT is the longest-running Black theatre in New York City, one of the oldest theatres founded and consistently operated by a woman of color in the nation, and has been included in the permanent collection of the National Museum of African American History and Culture in Washington, D.C. NBT's core mission is to produce transformational theatre that helps to shift the inaccuracies around African Americans' cultural identity by telling authentic stories of Black lives. As an alternative learning environment, NBT uses theatre arts as a means to educate, enrich, entertain, empower and inform the national conscience around current social issues impacting our communities. Under the leadership of Sade Lythcott, CEO, and Jonathan McCrory, Executive Artistic Director, NBT helps re-shape a more inclusive American theatre field by providing an artistically rigorous and culturally sensitive space for artists of color to experiment, develop and present new work. Visit nationalblacktheatre.org or follow NBT on Facebook (@NationalBlackTheatre) and Instagram (@NatBlackTheatre). ABOUT THE APOLLO STAGES AT THE VICTORIA Just down the street on 125th from The Apollo's Historic Theater is the Apollo Stages at the Victoria. The new 25,000-square-foot facility, designed by KGA (Kostow Greenwood Architects), includes two theaters, a central lobby and main floor exhibition gallery space that serve as convening points for patrons, and administrative offices for Apollo staff, visiting artists, and artistic collaborators. The theaters and offices inhabit the third and fourth floors of the revitalized mixed-use Victoria Theater building, which also includes retail spaces and a hotel. The new 199- and 99-seat studio theaters, the latter named after former Apollo President Jonelle Procope who stepped down in 2023 after leading the organization for two decades, are designed for theatrical productions, live music performances, film screenings, special events, and recordings. Both theaters are flat-floor venues with acoustically isolated slabs and resilient sprung dance floors—as well as dressing rooms and chorus rooms. Notably, The Apollo has introduced across both theaters a custom-built, retractable seating system to allow for multiple configurations, making it adaptable to the needs of performers and collaborators. The use of these spaces will also be opened up to the community, offering subsidized use for cultural partners and artists seeking resources to develop their craft. ABOUT THE APOLLO The legendary Apollo—the performing arts center and soul of American culture—plays a vital role in cultivating emerging artists and launching legends. Since its founding, The Apollo has served as a center of innovation and a creative catalyst for Harlem, the city of New York, and the world. In 2024, The Apollo opened The Apollo Stages at the Victoria Theater and began renovations on its Historic Theater, marking the first ever expansion and renovation of The Apollo in its nearly 90-year history. For more information about The Apollo, visit www.ApolloTheater.org. With music at its core, The Apollo's programming extends to dance, theater, spoken word, and more. This includes the world premiere of the theatrical adaptation of Ta-Nehisi Coates's Between the World and Me and the New York premiere of the opera We Shall Not Be Moved; special programs such as the blockbuster concert Bruno Mars Live at the Apollo; 100: The Apollo Celebrates Ella; and the annual Africa Now! Festival. The non-profit Apollo is a performing arts presenter, commissioner, and collaborator that also produces festivals, large-scale dance and musical works organized around a set of core initiatives that celebrate and extend The Apollo's legacy through a contemporary lens, including the Women of the World (WOW) Festival as well as other multidisciplinary collaborations with partner organizations. Since introducing the first Amateur Night contests in 1934, The Apollo has served as a testing ground for new artists working across a variety of art forms and has ushered in the emergence of many new musical genres—including jazz, swing, bebop, R&B, gospel, blues, soul, and hip-hop. Among the countless legendary performers who launched their careers at The Apollo are Ella Fitzgerald, Sarah Vaughan, Billie Holiday, James Brown, Stevie Wonder, Gladys Knight, Luther Vandross, H.E.R. D'Angelo, Lauryn Hill, Jazmine Sullivan, Machine Gun Kelly, and Miri Ben Ari; and The Apollo's forward-looking artistic vision continues to build on this legacy. For more information about The Apollo, visit www.ApolloTheater.org. ABOUT NEW YORK THEATRE WORKSHOP NEW YORK THEATRE WORKSHOP empowers visionary artists and brings their work to adventurous audiences through productions, workshops and education and community engagement programs. We've produced more than 190 projects from artists whose work has shaped our very idea of what theatre can be, including Jonathan Larson's Rent; Tony Kushner's Homebody/Kabul; Doug Wright's Quills; Claudia Shear's Dirty Blonde; Rick Elice's Peter and the Starcatcher; Glen Hansard, Markéta Irglová and Enda Walsh's Once; David Bowie and Enda Walsh's Lazarus; and Stephen Sondheim and George Furth's Merrily We Roll Along, directed by Maria Friedman. Enabling our artists to push boundaries generates work like Nathan Alan Davis's Nat Turner in Jerusalem; Anaïs Mitchell's Hadestown; Mfoniso Udofia's Ufot Family Cycle; Heidi Schreck's What the Constitution Means to Me; Jeremy O. Harris's Slave Play; Martyna Majok's Sanctuary City; Aleshea Harris's On Sugarland; Kristina Wong's Kristina Wong, Sweatshop Overlord; and Moisés Kaufman and Amanda Gronich's Here There Are Blueberries. NYTW productions have received a Pulitzer Prize, 29 Tony Awards, 2 Grammy Awards and numerous Obie, Drama Desk and Lucille Lortel Awards. Learn more at NYTW.org. |
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