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A well-made period play in the tradition of Lynn Nottage’s heroine-led stories with the sweeping scope of August Wilson’s epics; Good Bread Alley is a story about how families are made and the power of love. Afro Cuban and Gullah music, dance & myth create an epic landscape that explores the most fundamental truths about a mother’s love and the struggle to become better than what was promised. Inspired by my Great Grandmother Celia’s life in a raucous Miami neighborhood named Good Bread Alley, the play takes place days before the1926 Great Hurricane. In the days when Miami was little more than a swamp with shanty houses, Celia owned property, ran several businesses, buried three husbands and was on the verge of learning life’s most important lessons. She was a trailblazer, an autodidact and the town’s rainmaker building an oasis in the Jim Crow South. |
April Yvette Thompson & Ron Simons
of SimonSays Entertainment raised $100k in 30 days to workshop Good Bread Alley and the Kickstarter video provides an intimate portrait of Good Bread Alley Musical Score
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Creative Team
Playwright Bio - April Yvette Thompson is a Tony-winning producer, writer, actor and coach working across media. April’s acting credits include the feature film The Teacher (dir. Jeremy Engle) opposite Hunter Parrish (Weeds) and Clarke Peters (The Wire) filming in NYC now. Recently April guest starred on "Gotham" (FOX) and "Blue Bloods" (CBS). April starred in the smash Broadway hit, Clybourne Park, (Pulitzer & Tony for Best Play); as well as the revival of The Exonerated (dir. Bob Balaban) with Stockard Channing, Delroy Lindo & Roger Waters. Her off-broadway credits include Medea, King Lear, Macbeth, Antigone, Light Raise the Roof and many others. April’s Film/TV credits include The Exonerated, Accidental Husband, Blue Caprice, Backwards, Babylon Fields, “Law & Order” & “Third Watch, etc.” As SimonSays Entertainment Director of Development, April produces award-winning indie films. Her Sundance films have been in theatres nationwide and are currently available On Demand, NETFLIX & Amazon: Blue Caprice (starring Isaiah Washington), Mother of George (starring Danai Gurira), Gun Hill Road starring (Esai Morales & Judy Reyes). Blue Caprice was nominated for an Independent Spirit award for best first feature and . opened the prestigious New Directors/New Films festival at MoMA. Mother of George was named “best motion picture of the year” by Indiewire and won Best Cinematography at Sundance. In the broadway producing world, April was on the Tony-winning producing team of the longest-running Broadway production of Porgy & Bess (Tony for Best Musical Revival) starring Audra MacDonald (Best Actress Tony). As a playwright, April is developing her second play in The Miami Trilogy, Good Bread Alley, with support from NYSF, NYTW, Arsht. Her first play, Liberty City (co-written with Jessica Blank) was an off Broadway hit at New York Theatre Workshop (creators of Rent, Once the Musical) and was nominated for Drama Desk, Outer Critics, Lortel & AUDELCO awards Liberty City has toured the United States and has it's Chicago premier in June 2015.Playwright, April Yvette Thompson is developing her second play in The Miami Trilogy, Good Bread Alley, with support from New York Theatre Workshop, New York Stage & Film, Harlem Stage, 651 Arts & The Arsht Center for the Performing Arts. Education: Vassar College, B.A. , Rutgers University, M.F.A. |
Dance Samples
Please direct all Licensing & Speaking Engagement inquiries to: Sebastian Hoskins Hoskins/Dieuvil P.C. 646.801.7089 [email protected] |
The World of Good Bread Alley