BIOS
ROME NEAL
(Monk/Co-Director/Co-Producer/Light
Designer)
Rome Neal is the Artistic Director of the
Nuyorican Poets Café
theatre program. Mr. Neal received an Obie Grant with Café founder Miguel
Algarin for excellence
in theatre. Over the years he has received five Audelco
Awards for his direction of Pepe Carril’s "SHANGO de IMA" and Samuel
Harp’s "Don't Explain." Mr. Neal also received two AUDELCOS for his
acting: one for Lead Actor in Gabrielle N. Lane's "SIGNS," and one
for Solo Performance in his critically acclaimed "MONK," by Laurence
Holder.
His fifth AUDELCO Award was a technical award for his light design of
"SHANGO de IMA."
Mr. Neal received a Triumph Award for his acting in Alex Mc Donald's "Prism"
and a
Monarch Merit Award for his outstanding contributions in New York Theatre.
His
directorial credits includes his adaptation of William Shakespeare's "Julius
Caesar Set in Africa," Sekou Sundiata's "The Circle Unbroken is a Hard Bop,"
Amiri
Baraka's "Meeting Lillie," David D. Wright's "Oshun," "SHANGO de IMA,"
"Prism," Ishmael
Reed's "The C Above C Above High C" and Amiri Baraka's "Primitive World: An
Anti-
Nuclear Jazz Musical," all performed at the Nuyorican Poets Cafe and
National
Black Theatre Festival in Winston Salem North Carolina.
Rome directed Wesley Brown's "Life During Wartime" at the Cafe and The
National Black Arts
Festival in Atlanta Georgia. His production of Alex McDonald's "Prism" was
performed at the Ex-Ponto Festival in Slovenia, Eastern Europe.
He received critical acclaim for "Mother Hubbard," "Savage
Wilds," "The Preacher" and "The Rapper," and "Getsemane Park: A
Gospera," all by Ishmael Reed at the Nuyorican Poets Cafe. He also
staged a season of plays by Amiri Baraka which included "Primitive
World: An Anti-Nuclear Jazz Musical," "The Election Machine
Warehouse," "General Hags Skeezag and Jackpot Melting (A
Commercial)."
At Theatre For The New City in New York Rome directed two Laurence Holder
plays: "Red Channels" and "Ruby & Pearl," which started a collaboration
for their Holder/Neal production of "Monk" that premiered at the Nuyorican
Poets Cafe.
His acting credits include Dan Owen's "Forever My Darlin’," directed by
Daune Jones and later by John Amos, and Judi Ann Mason's "A Star Ain't
Nothin But a Hole In Heaven," directed by Mikel Pickney.
Rome’s film acting credits include Michael Almereyda’s "Hamlet," Spike Lee’s
"Summer of
Sam" and Leon Ichaso’s "Pinero." This year at the National Black Theatre
Festival, Mr. Neal will receive the coverted Lloyd Richards Director’s
Award.
LAURENCE HOLDER
(Playwright/Co-Director/ Co-Producer) Laurence
Holder is an American Playwright, Poet,
Creator
PROFESSIONAL PRODUCTIONS:
"MONK," a one character study of the life and times of the enigmatic pianist
Thelonious Monk; winner AUDELCO Award for Best Solo Performance, produced by
Laurence Holder and Rome Neal. Appeared Artists
Collective, Hartford. Appeared Crossroads Tony Award Winning
Regional Theatre, New Brunswick, New Jersey
1995: "M: The Mandela Saga," a three character play dealing with the life
and times of Nelson and Winnie Mandela; awarded two AUDELCO Awards for Best
Actress and Best Writer, produced by Crystal Field of The Theatre For The
New City.
1994: "Red Channels," a seven character play dealing with the impact of
McCarthyism and the Red Scare on Richard Nixon, Joseph McCarthy, W.E.B.
DuBois and Paul Robeson; nominated for six AUDELCO Awards, produced by
Crystal Field of The Theatre For The New City, and a second time
by Fred Newman and Castillo Theatre.
1992 – 1993 – 1994 – 2002: "MONKnBUD," a three character study of the famous
Bud Powell and Thelonious Monk relationship. Nominated for Ensemble
Performance of the Year. Appeared at Edinburgh Fringe Festival; New
York Fringe Festival and won Best Ensemble Acting Award; North Carolina
Black Repertory Theatre and The National Black Theatre Festival twice;
appeared at the 14th Cairo International Festival for Experimental Theatre
in Cairo, Egypt, 2002.
1989 – 1990 - 1998 - 1999: "Zora Neale Hurston," a literary biography,
produced Off-Broadway at American Place Theatre, Wyn Handman,
Producer/Director. AUDELCO Award winners for Best Actress, Best Director,
and Best Production of the Year.
1981: "Zora," a one character biography of the famous novelist/folklorist;
won Best Actress AUDELCO Award for Phylicia Allen; "When the Chickens Came
Home to Roost," a two character play about Malcolm X and his charismatic
mentor/father Elijah Muhammad, won Best Actor AUDELCO Award for Denzel
Washington, Best Playwright tie, Best Director, Best Set, Best Production,
Woodie King, Jr. Producer.
1978: "JUBA," a dance musical about the 19th century dancer who came to fame
in New York City’s Five Points in the 1840s. Ellen Stewart, La Mama Ceta,
Producer. Author nominated for AUDELCO Award for Musical Creator.
AWARDS HONORS GRANTS
- Screenplay Finalist in Writers’ Guild of America Competition
- New York Foundation Grant for Performance of "Bird of Paradise" with
Ornette Coleman
- Otto Award for Body of Work in Political Theatre
- Two AUDELCO Awards for Writing: "When the Chickens Came Home to
Roost" and "M: The Mandela Saga"
- Garland Anderson Award for Writing from The National Black Theatre
Festival
- Arts International Grant for Performance of "MONKnBUD" in Cairo,
Egypt
LaurenceHolder.com
William James Edwards
Lee, III
(Composer/Arranger)
Born to Mrs. Alberta G. Lee, and Mr. Arnold W.
Lee, on July 23, 1928 in Snow Hill, Alabama and is one of seven
children.
Named after his grandfather, William James Edwards, founder Guilder of Snow
Hill normal and industrial Institute who was a graduate of Tuskegee in 1893.
His descendants, from Mike and Phoebe, were great leaders and musicians and
Bill Lee pursued music from an early age self taught by his mother and
father.
After finishing high school at Snow Hill, he went to Morehouse College in
Atlanta, GA. from 1947-1951. There he studied with
the great musician, Mr. Willis Laurence James and all the musicians in
Atlanta who were inspired by Charlie Parker.
After graduation from Morehouse, Bill Lee went to Chicago and played bass
violin with all the great musicians there – including Chris Anderson, Johnny
Griffin, John Gilmore, Gene Ammons and many more, known and unknown.
His move to New York in 1959 was helped by meeting and working with the
great folk musicians, Josh White and Odetta. This introduction also helped
with his musical and theater writings.
Being in New York for the last 50 years gave him the opportunity to be in
the presence of the greatest performers on the planet and a chance to write
the eleven folk – jazz operas and movie scores for his son Spike Lee.
He has five children by his first wife Jackie (DECEASED) – Spike, Chris,
David, Joie and Cinque and one son, Arnold VI, by his second wife, Susan.
Bill Lee recorded with Billy Wallace, Frank Strozier, Chris Anderson, Johnny
Griffin, and wrote for Max Roach, Richard Davis, Ted Dunbar, Booker Little,
Muriel Winston, Clifford Jordon, Donald Harrison, and others.
Bill Lee also appeared with, Billie Holiday, Sarah Vaughn, Dinah
Washington, Carmen Mc Rae, Betty Carter, Dizzy Gillespie, Clifford Brown,
Art Blakey, Duke Ellington, Billy Strayhorn, and all the hundreds of great
Musicians.
Bill Lee is also the founder of the New York Bass, Violin Choir.
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