The concert will feature Tony Award winner Lillias White and Broadway performer Christiani Pitts, with New Jersey writer, producer and director Timothy Ware-Hill hosting the evening.
Combining poetry and humor with hip-hop, rap, R&B and gospel, WE ARE centers on a community of poets who use creative expression to explore history’s influence on their families and relationships. The presentation will bring together a 15-person cast and a three-piece orchestra, with additional performers to be announced.
The concert represents a step toward developing WE ARE as an independent feature film. Ware-Hill’s screenplay received first place and a fellowship from the CineStory Foundation. Material originally conceived for the project also helped inspire his Peabody Award-winning Netflix short, Cops and Robbers.
“This concert is an important step in the continued development of WE ARE as a feature film. It will allow us to hear the screenplay and music with an extraordinary cast and showcase the material as we move toward production,” Ware-Hill said.
White’s Broadway credits include Hadestown, Dreamgirls and Fela! She earned Tony, Drama Desk and Outer Critics Circle awards for her performance in The Life. Pitts’ stage credits include King Kong, A Bronx Tale and Two Strangers Carry a Cake Across New York.
Ware-Hill also has a connection to American Theater Group audiences through his performances in the company’s productions of Purlie and Our Town.
The project’s producers include Ware-Hill, Anant Das and Jonathan Unger of Unger Media. Paul Jerry Compere serves as music director and orchestrator.
American Theater Group, founded in 2012, develops and presents theatrical work while offering arts education initiatives, including programs for high school students and emerging playwrights.
Tickets and location
Tickets are $35 and will be available at unionartscenternj.com.
The DMK Black Box Theater is inside the Union Arts Center at 1980 Morris Avenue, Union, within the township’s public library building. Visit the ticket website for performance details.
