by Sarah Hall
FEATURING
Stephanie Berry, Cory Gibson, Brandon Gill, Marquis Johnson, Dimitri Moïse, Vasthy Mompoint, and Dawn L. Troupe
10 Performances Only
September 12-16
At Joe’s Pub
Harley & Co. is proud to announce principal casting for As Much As I Can, a unique and powerful piece of activist, experiential theatre by Sarah Hall and directed by James Andrew Walsh. As Much As I Can will play 10 performances at Joe’s Pub (425 Lafayette Street) from September 12-16 (two shows nightly at 7:00 and 9:30 PM). Produced by Harley & Co., and supported by ViiV Healthcare, the production is designed by Harley & Co. Additional casting is to be announced.
The principal cast of As Much As I Can will feature Stephanie Berry (Gloria: A Life), Brandon Gill (Holler If Ya Hear Me), Cory Gibson (Tell it to the Judge), Dimitri Moïse (The Book of Mormon), Marquis Johnson (ART’s Burn All Night), Vasthy Mompoint (The Prom) and Dawn L Troupe (Moby Dick). The show will also feature Jason C. Brown, Christian O. Jiménez, Joel Hurt Jones, Jasmine Rush, PJ Johnnie and James Watson.
Cory Gibson, PJ Johnnie and James Watson are all original cast members who have been part of the project for three years.
As Much As I Can was
created in collaboration with hundreds of gay and bisexual Black men
from Jackson MS and Baltimore MD who shared their personal stories.
Designed to mobilize communities to respond to the terrible fact that
Black men have, and continue to be, disproportionally infected and
affected by HIV, the show’s original staging was fully immersive;
audience members moved from room to room with the actors. At Joe’s Pub
it will be staged to reflect the production’s intent to blur the lines
between theatricality and reality. Playwright Sarah Hall said, “The show
is designed so that you forget it is a fiction. We want you to feel so
much a part of it that it becomes impossible to separate yourself in the
way we do when we observe narratives. That could only work if it was a
broadly resonant story and if we gave each audience member a role to
play.” As Much As I Can was previously presented in Harlem, Baltimore, Jackson MS, San Diego and Raleigh NC.
Following
a day in the life of a group of friends, the play introduces the
audience to a tight-knit community where the church is ever present,
family is complicated, and history is hard to escape. It asks viewers to
consider the power of belonging, the challenges of intimacy, and the
repercussive effects of systematic prejudice.
Mark King of Thebody.com, a website devoted to HIV/AIDS, said, “We
may never come this close again to inhabiting the lives of a community
often reduced to statistics and test results. The Black gay men of As Much As I Can are
living and loving and leaning on each other. Their triumph and their
pain are so close you can touch them, and you actually might.”
As Much As I Can is
the recipient of a Cannes Lion Award, Shorty Award, two Telly Awards, a
Patient's Congress Award, and a D&AD Award. It has also been shown
to be an effective public health intervention in shifting people’s
perception of HIV/AIDS.
STEPHANIE BERRY (Shawna) was last seen in Gloria: A Life
at the Daryl Roth Theatre and in Ensemble Studio Theatre’s Marathon
Production. She is a Helen Hayes Award Nominee for Best Lead Actress for
her role in Gem of the Ocean at the Round House and she is Lucille Lortel and Outer Critics Awards Nominee for Best Featured Actress for her role in Suga In Our Wounds at Manhattan Theatre Club. She appears in the new HBO movie OG and in the upcoming movie, Before You Know It. She appears in the movies: Delivery Man, Invasion, No Reservations and Finding Forrester. Recent television credits include “Luke Cage,” “The Last OG,” “Bull” and “Blue Bloods.” Recent theater credits include: Skeleton Crew at Baltimore Center Stage, Bluest Eye at the Guthrie Theatre and Seven Guitars
at Yale Repertory Theatre. Stephanie Berry is the recipient of an OBIE
Award for “best performance” and an AUDELCO Award for “solo performance”
in her one-woman show, THE SHANEEQUA CHRONICLES: The Making of a Black Woman.
She is a recipient of the TCG/Fox Foundation Resident Actor Fellowship
as a “Distinguished Artist.” She is a founding member of Blackberry
Production, a documentary theater company in Harlem. The company is
currently developing a piece on gentrification in Harlem.
JASON C. BROWN (Peter Arnett) recently finished a run as Dionysus in the Classical Theatre of Harlem’s production of The Bacchae
which will be reprised at Lincoln Center this fall, directed by Carl
Cofield. He will appear as Prince Escalus in Romeo and Juliet at NJ
Shakes (dir. Ian Belknap). He has appeared in the films Don’t Think Twice (Mike Birbiglia) and The Hungry Ghosts
w/Aunjenue Ellis (Michael Imperioli). TV credits include “The Good
Wife” and “Cherri Red” (pilot: Carlos Azucena). Off-Broadway: The Tempest at St Ann’s (dir. Phyllis Lloyd), The Misanthrope at NYTW (dir. Ivo Van Hove), Duchess of Malfi (w/Patrick Page) at Red Bull, Six Degrees of Separation (Queens Theatre In The Park), Rosa Parks (Richard Rodgers award) at Playwrights Horizons (dir. Daniella Topol) and more. Regional: Metamorphoses (Pioneer Theater), The Provoked Wife (ART), Much Ado About Nothing and Richard III (Nat’l Shakes Co.)
The show plays at Joe’s Pub (425 Lafayette Street) on the following schedule:
· Thu Sep 12 at 7:00 and 9:30 PM
· Fri Sep 13 at 7:00 and 9:30 PM
· Sat Sep 14 at 7:00 and 9:30 PM
· Sun Sep 15 at 7:00 and 9:30 PM
· Mon Sep 16 at 7:00 and 9:30 PM
