BPF will open its Season 45 performance schedule with a staged reading of 43 Deep Green Lane by playwright Peter Levy. 43 Deep Green Lane revolves around the struggle of the first Black family to live in Levittown, Pennsylvania in the summer of 1957.
In August, 1957, as Lorraine Hansberry put her finishing touches on A Raisin in the Sun and the nation fixated on the school desegregation crisis in Little Rock, Arkansas, the Myers family braved mobs and death threats for daring to become the first Black homeowners in Levittown, PA, the largest and most famous suburb in the nation. 43 Deep Green Lane dramatizes this crucial yet little-known episode in the struggle for racial equality, which reminds us that even in the darkest of times, the light of hope and courage can never be extinguished.
Directed by Melissa Fortson, it will be read by a wonderful and diverse cast of local actors, including Temple Lloyd-Roberts and Brodus Nesbitt, as Daisy and Bill Myers, respectively and Archie Kramer and Tom Hartzell, as Bea and Lew Wechsler, two of their strongest supporters.
The cast includes:
The performance will be hosted at The Club Car Baltimore, 12 West North Avenue, Baltimore 21201on Saturday, February 14 at 11 a.m.
A discussion will follow the reading and all audience members are invited to participate.
As always, BPF staged reading performances are free and we encourage everyone to attend and bring a friend to view the first of twelve staged readings that will take place during the BPF’s Season 45.
Supported by Mayor Brandon Scott and the City of Baltimore, Baltimore Office of Promotion and the Arts, Creative Baltimore Fund.
Daisy Myers faces the mob from her new home, from Look magazine collection, Library of Congress