FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Media Contact
Ami Tian, Marketing Coordinator
marketing@freeholdtheatre.org
(206) 323-7499 x102 Freehold’s Engaged Theatre Program presents Emboldened and Unsung Jazz Heroes
SEATTLE, WA - Freehold’s Engaged Theatre program, in association with Theatre Off Jackson,
presents an immersive music and theatre experience commissioned by Freehold and produced in
partnership with the Central District Forum for Arts & Ideas and The Mahogany Project.
Emboldened /Unsung Jazz Heroes investigates the need to seek – both individually and
collectively – an identity and a durable sense of self, and inquires into how necessity leads to the
birth of inspiration. Juxtaposing stories from Seattle’s historic jazz scene with the forgotten legacy
of Buddy Bolden, the project examines the extraordinary internal worlds of these under-noticed
souls and their struggle to break out of imposed limits – creatively and destructively.
A two-part experience featuring an interactive site-specific installation as well as an original
play, Emboldened / Unsung Jazz Heroes will combine video, performance and music for a night
of storytelling that will invite the public to encounter theatre – and each other – in a new interface.
The event features an original play, Emboldened: The Rise and Fall of King Bolden the First, by
Reginald André Jackson (winner of the 2010 AATE Distinguished Playwriting Award) about the
life of Buddy Bolden, accompanied by an original score composed by D’Vonne Lewis (of
Industrial Revelation, winner of the 2014 Stranger Genius Award in Music). The play will be
prefaced by the live installation Unsung Heroes of Seattle Jazz, a contextual historic gallery
showcasing the stories of Seattle’s vibrant yet underdocumented jazz scene.
At the heart of Freehold’s Engaged Theatre program is the recognition of the power of theatre to
bring about a communion between audience and performer. In the tradition of the annual
Engaged Theatre tour, Emboldened will tour to under-served communities and non-traditional
sites, including Monroe Correctional Complex and the Washington Corrections Center for
Women.
Director Robin Lynn Smith, on her vision for the piece:
I hope to make a piece of theatre that can bring together people from seemingly
disparate parts of our larger community to inquire together about the resilience of
the human spirit through a theatrical event about jazz and history… Looking
through something true and alive about Buddy Bolden, this inspired and
conflicted artist, can serve as a touchstone for encountering our unknown history
of jazz and those who have not been regarded enough in the evolution of this
region and this country.
Emboldened Playwright Reginald André Jackson, on his seventeen-year-long fascination with
Buddy Bolden:
I first fell upon [Buddy Bolden] while reading the book Hear Me Talkin’ To Ya.
The accounts of him, by these early jazz pioneers, were so startlingly different—
vivid and visceral, and frequently spiraling into mythology, with the facts of his life
often more outrageous than his legend. Hearing his story through these disparate
voices seemed somehow so right to me that I created a character with a
desperate need to seek out who he was.
Emboldened and Unsung Jazz Heroes
Freehold’s Engaged Theatre in association with Theatre Off Jackson
In partnership with The Mahogany Project and the Central District Forum for Arts & Ideas
July 23, 24, 25 at 7:00pm; July 26 at 5:00pm
July 31, August 1, 3 at 7:00pm; August 2 at 5:00pm
Theatre Off Jackson, 409 7th Ave S, Seattle WA 98104
Emboldened: The Rise and Fall of King Bolden the First
Written by Reginald André Jackson
Original Score by D’Vonne Lewis
Directed by Robin Lynn Smith
Scenic design by Catherine Cornell
Lighting design by Kent Cubbage
Costume design by Melinda Hare
Movement Director: Jessica Jobaris
Cast: Earl Alexander, Treavor Boykin, Tracy Hughes, Reginald André Jackson, Aishé Keita,
Felicia Loud, Richard Sloniker, Kevin Warren
Musicians: D’Vonne Lewis , Ahamefule Oluo, Geoff Cooke
Unsung Heroes of Seattle Jazz: A Live Installation
Produced in partnership with The Mahogany Project and the Central District Forum for Arts &
Ideas
Writers: Daemond Arrindell, Sandra Boas-DuPree, Linda Holden Givens
Dramaturge: Victoria McNaughton
Filmmaker: John Helde
Company: Jonté Ausler, Isaiah Barnett, Sandra Boas-DuPree, Andrew Lee Creech, Lauren
DuPree, Rick DuPree, Linda Holden Givens, Jacob Henthorn, James Kelly, Lake Lewis, Felicia
Loud, Merri Ann Osborne, Kevin Warren, Taylor Westerlund, Sharon Nyree Williams, Connor Zaft
Tickets are pay-what-you-can and can be reserved via this link: http://emboldened.bpt.me
Please note: the Unsung Jazz Heroes installation will not run on Sundays.
LINKS:
www.freeholdtheatre.org
www.theatreoffjackson.org
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