5712/30/2019
The Ensemble Theatre drives into the new year with the regional premiere drama The Green Book, Inspired by Victor Green’s “The Negro Motorist Green Book” written by Calvin Alexander Ramsey and directed by Shirley Jo Finney.
Ramsey is an award-winning children’s picture book author, photographer, and painter. The Green Book is Ramsey’s first work as a playwright highlighting the difficulties African Americans faced while traveling in the Jim Crow era. His research in developing this play recaptures personal narratives elderly African Americans recalling their emotions and fear of peril while traveling in the South.
The story takes place during a weekend when the Davis’ are celebrating the arrival of Dr. W. E. B. DuBois for a lecture. The appearance of a white visitor, who turns out to be a Jewish Holocaust survivor, sets off a chain of events that shows that racism and anti-Semitism cannot be ignored. This play integrates historical context of The Negro Motorist Green Book as it investigates the impact of Civil Rights on contemporary American issues.
Featured cast members include: Timothy Eric (DAN DAVIS); Rachel Hemphill Dickson (BARBARA DAVIS); Christian Simon (NEENA MOLLY DAVIS); Kendrick 'Kay B' Brown (CPT. GEORGE SMITH); Brianna Odo-Boms (JACQUELINE SMITH); Jarred Tettey (KEITH CHENAULT); and John Stevens (JACOB LEVINSKY)
Previews dates are Saturday, January 18, 2020: 8:00 p.m.
Sunday, January 19, 2020: 3:00 p.m.
Wednesday, January 22, 2020: 7:30 p.m.
Show Run dates: January 23 – February 23, 2020
Thursdays: 7:30 p.m.
Fridays: 8:00 p.m.
Saturdays: 2:00 p.m. and 8:00 p.m.
Sundays: 3:00 p.m.
*Opening Night and Media Reception Thursday, January 23, 2020
The Ensemble Theatre
3535 Main St, Houston, TX 77002
713-520-0055
Ticket Prices: $26- $57
Special Pricing: Group Rates and Weekday Matinees for Schools Available
The Ensemble Theatre's 2019-2020 Season is sponsored in part by grants from the City of Houston through the Houston Arts Alliance, Texas Commission on the Arts, and the National Endowment for the Arts. United Airlines is the official airline sponsor for The Ensemble Theatre. The Green Book is generously supported in part by ExxonMobil and the Anti-Defamation League.
The Ensemble Theatre was founded in 1976 by the late George Hawkins to preserve African American artistic expression and to enlighten, entertain, and enrich a diverse community. Forty-two years later, the theatre has evolved from a touring company operating from the trunk of Mr. Hawkins’ car to being one of Houston’s finest historical cultural institutions.
The Ensemble is one of a few professional theatres in the region dedicated to the production of works portraying the African American experience. The oldest and largest professional African American theatre in the Southwest, it holds the distinction of being one of the nation’s largest African American theatres owning and operating its facility and producing in-house. Late Board President Emerita Audrey Lawson led the capital campaign for The Ensemble’s $4.5 million building renovations that concluded in 1997. The Ensemble Theatre has fulfilled and surpassed the vision of its founder and continues to expand and create innovative programs to bring African American theatre to a myriad of audiences.