Waiting for Giovanni
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When:
| August 19-September 18
Previews: August 19-21, 24-26; Opens: August 27
Performances Wednesday-Saturday at 8pm, Sunday at 2pm
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Where:
| New Conservatory Theatre Center, 25 Van Ness Ave
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The year is 1956. A young black writer from the stoops of Harlem has become a literary success. He has a social circle that praises him, a profession that he loves, and an eager line of lovers. While writing his second novel however, he encounters hostility not only from his editor, who happens to be white, but from his community of activists and writers. Based on a split second of indecision in the life of author James Baldwin, Waiting for Giovanni explores a writer's dilemma about publishing a controversial book that will have a profound impact on his life, the lives of his friends, his family, and on the Civil Rights Movement. Waiting for Giovanni looks at what it really means to be an artist and activist, and how we live that out in our everyday lives.
Jewelle Gomez is a writer and activist. She is the recipient of a literature fellowship from the National endowment for the Arts, two California Art Commission Fellowships, and an Individual Artist Commission from the San Francisco Arts Commission. She is the author of the double Lambda Award-winning novel The Gilda Stories, which celebrates its 20th year in print in 2011 with readings at the Museum of the African Diaspora and at the Queer Arts Festival. Her fiction, essays, criticism, and poetry have appeared in numerous periodicals, including The San Francisco Chronicle, The New York Times, The Village Voice, Ms. Magazine, ESSENCE Magazine, The Advocate, Callaloo, and Black Scholar. In addition, she was on the founding Board of the Gay and Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation (GLAAD).
Actor, director, and educator Harry Waters, Jr. originated the role of Belize in the San Francisco production of Angels in America and has since been featured in numerous films and television shows. Waters has worked as an actor on and off Broadway as well as in regional theaters around the country including the Mark Taper Forum and Berkeley Repertory Theatre.
The mission of the New Conservatory Theatre Center is to champion innovative, high quality productions and educational theatre experiences for youth, artists, and the queer and allied communities to effect personal and societal growth, enlightenment and change.