Pass Over at Echo Theater Company

LOS ANGELES - July 3, 2019 - PRLog -- Moses and Kitch stand around on the corner — talking smack, passing the time, and hoping that today a miracle will come. The Echo Theater Company presents the California premiere of Pass Over, the 2019 Lucille Lortel award-winning play by Antoinette Nwandu that mashes up Waiting for Godot with the Exodus saga — a rare piece of politically charged theater by a bold new American voice. Deena Selenow directs for a July 13 opening at Atwater Village Theatre. Pay-what-you-want previews begin July 10, and performances continue through Aug. 19.

Emotional and lyrical, Pass Over crafts everyday profanities into poetic and humorous riffs, exposing the unquestionable human spirit of young black men who dream about a promised land they've yet to find. Pop culture, historical and religious references collide to create a hilarious and disturbing meditation on manhood, race and the cycle of violence that prevents too many from realizing their full potential.

"The play is a metaphor for the idea of being stuck, of being chained to a place — the characters in this play, in the hood; the Israelites, in Egypt; slaves, on a plantation," suggests Selenow. "It's about the centuries of history we carry and hold within us, that make us who we are, and that weights the playing field. Slavery was abolished. But we carry the impact with us in a deep way."

According to Nwandu, "This play asks us collectively to consider the value of the lives of young black men who are not special. They are not entertainers, or athletes, or secret math geniuses. To entertain the possibility that we need to live in a society that does not ask these young men to prove their worth. This is part of the conversation we are having about who we are as a nation."

The world premiere of Pass Over at Chicago's Steppenwolf Theatre Company in 2017 sparked a national conversation within the theater community about bias. In his New York Times "Critic's' Pick" review of the 2018 Lincoln Center production, co-chief theater critic Jesse Green called Pass Over "searing... daring dramaturgy." The Wrap found it to be "scarily funny," and the Hollywood Reporter called Pass Over "a powerfully imaginative drama that will shake up audiences, instantly tagging the playwright as a significant new voice." The play was published in its entirety in the Sept. 2018 issue of American Theatre magazine.

Currently under commission from  the Echo Theater Company for a second play, Nwandu's work has been supported by the MacDowell Colony, Sundance Theater Lab, Cherry Lane Mentor Project (mentor: Katori Hall), Kennedy Center, P73, PlayPenn, Space on Ryder Farm, Southern Rep, The Flea, Naked Angels, Fire This Time and Movement Theater Company. She is an alum of the Ars Nova Play Group, the Naked Angels Issues PlayLab, and the Dramatists Guild Fellowship. Honors include the Whiting Award, Paula Vogel Playwriting Award, Lorraine Hansberry Playwriting Award, Negro Ensemble Company's Douglas Turner Ward Prize and a Literary Fellowship at the Eugene O'Neill Playwrights Conference. Antoinette's plays have been included on the 2016 and 2017 Kilroys lists, and she has been named a Ruby Prize finalist, PONY Fellowship finalist, Page73 Fellowship finalist, NBT's I Am Soul Fellowship finalist and is two-time Princess Grace Award semi-finalist.  Antoinette graduated magna cum laude from Harvard College with a bachelor's degree in English and holds a Master's of Science degree in Cultural Politics from the University of Edinburgh and an MFA in Dramatic Writing from NYU Tisch School of the Arts.

Pass Over opens on Saturday, July 13, with performances continuing on Fridays and Saturdays at 8 p.m.; Sundays at 4 p.m.; and Mondays at 8 p.m. through Aug. 19. Three preview performances are set for Wednesday, July 10; Thursday, July 11; and Friday, July 12, each at 8 p.m. Tickets are $34 on Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays; Monday night performances are $20 in advance, and Pay-What-You-Want at the door (subject to availability). Atwater Village Theatre is located at 3269 Casitas Ave in Los Angeles, CA 90039. On-site parking is free. For reservations and information, call (310) 307-3753 or go to www.EchoTheaterCompany.com.