NEW ORLEANS (press release) – The Dillard University Center for Career and Professional Development and the Department of Humanities present the second installation of Inside Studio Bleu featuring Kyle Banks ‘00 that will showcase the talents of Jalen Harris and E. Clayton Cornelious, cast members of “Ain’t Too Proud – The Life and Times of the Temptations” opening at the Saenger Theatre on March 2.
Inside Studio Bleu featuring Kyle Banks ‘00 is a collaboration between the Dillard University Center for Career and Professional Development (DUCCPD) and the Humanities Department in the Office of Academic Affairs to reinforce the core curriculum for students studying music, theatre, mass communication, visual arts, and dance.
In a recent interview, Cortheal Clark, Chairperson of the School of Humanities and Associate Professor of Theatre Arts at Dillard University stated, “It is a special honor for our students that this star-studded series is coordinated by and features DU alumnus Kyle Banks, who has opened his Broadway and film ‘Rolodex’ to benefit his alma mater.”
Actors, Harris and Cornelious, will conduct workshop sessions designed for theatre and performing arts majors at Dillard University and select high school schools in the New Orleans area that have performing arts programming. Inside Studio Bleu sessions will focus on vocal training, acting, and set design that will take place at Dillard University on Thursday, February 29, at 11 a.m. in Cook Theater.
“We are excited about the timing of the second installation of Inside Studio Bleu that will allow our students who are producing and directing the Dillard University March production of The Amen Corner to gain once-in-a-lifetime insight and expert guidance from these stellar Broadway actors,” stated Clark.
Dillard University Theatre will open its 89th season with The Amen Corner by the African-American playwright James Baldwin starting March 8, at 7:30 p.m. Central Standard Time in the Samuel Dubois Cook Fine Arts and Communications Center located on the university’s campus. A play in three-acts, The Amen Corner was Baldwin’s first work for the stage following the success of his novel, Go Tell it on the Mountain. Vocally arresting, sensitive and hard hitting, this play cries out to audiences then and now to hear the voice of the African American in 1950’s Harlem. It is a voice built from the phrases and cadences of Gospel faith.The Amen Corner is a play which compels the audience to consider the private tragedies of poverty and subjugation and is the cornerstone of Baldwin’s reputation as a Civil Rights forerunner.
To purchase tickets for The Amen Corner play please call the Dillard Theatre Box Office 504-816-4857.
