Rare revival of “Wedding Band: A Love/Hate Story in Black and White”

NORTH HOLLYWOOD, Calif. - Sept. 22, 2014 - PRLog -- As the Great War rages in Europe, two individuals wage their own battle against injustice in America, risking their lives for the right to marry. Winding up the 2014 Antaeus season of modern classics, Gregg T. Daniel directs a fully partner-cast revival of Wedding Band: A Love/Hate Story in Black and White by Alice Childress.

Set in 1918 on South Carolina’s Gullah Coast, Wedding Band is the profoundly poignant and affecting story of Julia and Herman, two people in love who yearn to be together as husband and wife, but are held apart by society's mores and laws prohibiting interracial marriage.

When Wedding Bandwas written in 1962, the subject matter was so controversial, and the language so frank, that no theater in New York was willing to produce it. It finally received itspremiere in 1966 at the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor starring Ruby Dee, followed by a production in 1971 at the Virginian Theatre in Chicago. It wasn’t until 1972 that Wedding Band made it to New York, directed by Joseph Papp and the playwright for the New York Shakespeare Festival. The NYSF production was subsequently broadcast by ABC in 1973 — but eight ABC-TV affiliates refused to carry it.

Utterly unflinching and filled with stark realism, Wedding Band continues to shock as well as resonate in 2014.

“This play is uniquely American and eerily timely, as we continue to legislate who people have and don’t have the right to love and marry,” notes Daniel. “It spotlights injustice, but, more importantly, it’s about resistance and endurance. How do people live under unjust laws? What does it do to them?”

Performances of Wedding Band: A Love/Hate Story in Black and White take place Oct. 18 through Dec. 7 on Thursdays and Fridays at 8 pm; Saturdays at 2 p.m. and 8 p.m.; and Sundays at 2 p.m. (no matinee performance on Saturday, Oct. 18). Talk back Thursdays begin on Oct. 23: stay after the performance and discuss the play with the cast. There will be eight previews, Oct. 9 through Oct. 17: Thursdays, Fridays, Saturday, Tuesday and Wednesday, all at 8 p.m., and Sunday at 2 p.m. Tickets are $30 on Thursdays and Fridays and $34 on Saturdays and Sundays. Previews are $15. There will be three “Pay-What-You-Can Fridays” on Oct. 24, Oct. 31 and Nov.7. The Antaeus Company is located at 5112 Lankershim Blvd in North Hollywood, CA 91601. Parking is available for $7 in the lot at 5125 Lankershim Blvd. (west side of the street), just south of Magnolia.The theater is air-conditioned and wheelchair accessible. For reservations and information, call 818-506-1983 or go to www.antaeus.org.