written by Mildred Inez Lewis World Premiere #69 MUST CLOSE SUNDAY!
directed by Elizabeth Carter
Produced in: 2022
a new comedy from the Central Works Writers Workshop
inspired by George C. Wolfe’s The Colored Museum
Very limited availability on 11/20
In 1986, George C. Wolfe’s play The Colored Museum premiered. The play imagined a series of 11 scenes, or “exhibits” in a metaphoric “museum,” where each of these exhibits addressed a range of different themes and aspects of the African American experience.
Now we’re premiering a new play by Mildred Inez Lewis called The Museum Annex*, an homage to Mr. Wolfe’s play, adding something of a “new wing” onto the original museum celebrating African American women.
A wildly imaginative whirlwind tour: “Welcome to the Museum!”
*Formerly titled The Women’s Annex
Watch the trailer!
ALL THURSDAYS & PREVIEWS ARE PAY-WHAT-YOU-CAN
DAY OF PERFORMANCE DISCOUNTS
All remaining seats are available on a sliding scale at noon on the day of the show:
$40-$15 (Fri-Sun)
We reserve seats only for subscribers, it is general seating for all other ticket holders.
Njeri: Brenda Miles
Margo: Juanita Harris
Lala: Julia Jackson
Angie: Brittany Nicole Sims
Bree: Ije Success
Stage Management: Natalia Rivera Ramos
Costume design: Tammy Berlin
Light design: Stephanie Anne Johnson
Projection Design: Alexa Burrell
Sound design: Gregory Scharpen
Mildred Inez Lewis (playwright) writes and directs for theater, film and the digital space. A Dramatists Guild member, she belongs to the Antaeus, Company of Angels, EST-Los Angeles and PlayGround-LA writing groups.Upcoming Productions include Ghosts Of Blackness with Harlem9/Lucille Lortel/National Black Theatre; $10 And A Tambourine with Antaeus; The Museum Annex, inspired by The Colored Museum with Central Works (Berkeley, CA); We Dreamed Ourselves, Dragon Egg Productions (Oakland, CA); and Down Home, Valdez Theatre Conference (Valdez, AK). Upcoming Publications: The Gift And /kom’plisit/ with Broadway Play Publishing. Roost First, Then Fly in Applause Books’ 2020 10-Minute play collection. Recent Productions: Aithiopes Imagined with Antaeus. We Jump Broom and Acknowledge with PlayGround-LA.. Awards: 2021 L.B. Williams award, New Circle Theater. 2018-9 PLAY
Elizabeth Carter (director) is an actor and director based in the San Francisco Bay Area. A graduate of Mills College she was the 2022 Inaugural SDFC Lloyd Richards New Futures Director in Residence at the Oregon Shakespeare Festival. In 2021 Ms. Carter directed Stoop Story for the Aurora Theatre (rehearsed and intended for the stage, but because of Covid restrictions, was ultimately offered online). and the virtual production of Feel the Spirit for Shotgun Players and Colt Coeur. Her professional directing debut came in 2017 with Bondage by Star Finch, first produced at Alter Theatre and remounted at ACT’s Costume Shop the following year. Other theaters for which she has directed include TheatreFirst, ACT MFA program, African American Shakespeare, the California Shakespeare Theatre’s Summer Conservatory as well as assistant directing credits for the Berkeley Rep and the Oregon Shakespeare Festival. As an award winning Bay Area actor, Ms. Carter’s theater credits include Aurora Theatre, Cal Shakes, Marin Theatre, Lorraine Hansberry, TheatreWorks, Shotgun Players and The Ground Floor at Berkeley Rep.
The tour guides of The Museum Annex, the the first interactive museum
dedicated to the African American women’s experience:
(l to r) Julia Jackson, Ije Success, Juanita Harris,
Brittany Nicole Sims & Brenda Miles.
Central Works presents world premiere #69: The Museum Annex by Mildred Inez Lewis, Oct 15 – Nov 13 at Berkeley City Club, 2315 Durant Avenue, Berkeley.
Photo by Robbie Sweeny
The Civil Rights Exhibit:
The members of the Dexter Avenue Baptist Church,
(l to r) Brenda Miles, Brittany Nicole Sims, would rather
have dinner with Reverend Doctor Martin King than be
foot-soldiers for the movement.
Central Works presents world premiere #69: The Museum Annex by Mildred Inez Lewis, Oct 15 – Nov 13 at Berkeley City Club, 2315 Durant Avenue, Berkeley.
Photo by Robbie Sweeny
The Pietá, or The Coming of Karen Exhibit:
Lala (Julia Jackson) consoles a desolate Bree (Ije Success),
who fears she has just lost her best friend to racism.
Central Works presents world premiere #69: The Museum Annex by Mildred Inez Lewis, Oct 15 – Nov 13 at Berkeley City Club, 2315 Durant Avenue, Berkeley.
Photo by Robbie Sweeny
Escape to Space:
NASA astronout, Angie (Brittany Nicole Sims) has made it
from the South Side to the edge of the galaxy.
More photos HERE
Photo by Robbie Sweeny
5 STARS! “The Museum Annex may be one of the funniest, and saddest, history lessons you will ever encounter.” –TheatreStorm
“The Museum Annex is a clever, agile, satirical series of short pieces elucidating different Black women’s experiences” –Berkeleyside
“a comic, kaleidoscopic romp through the history of Black women’s achievements in the face of racism” –Theatrius
SF Chronicle Datebook fall preview by Lily Janiak
Listen to an extended interview with the playwright and Wanda Sabir (start at 1:03)
Download the program here
Listen to the CW Script Club
Resident playwrights Cristina García & Patricia Milton discuss the script & and production!
Click here to download the script.
Click here to hear other CW Script Club episodes.
FAQs from the playwright (click to view)
More Photos
Click images to enlarge
The Promise of Reconstruction Exhibit:
After being refused her 40 acres and a mule, a former slave (Brittany Nicole Sims) accepts
a small gift from the reconstruction worker (Brenda Miles) in the Freedman’s Bueau Office.
Brittany Nicole Sims
The Selling of Soul Exhibit:
Lala (Julia Jackson) gets ready to present
her exclusive selections in the Fashion Fair/Ebony travelling show.
The Social Justice Scramble Exhibit:
Two veteran social justice workers (Juanita Harris &
Julia Jackson) both scramble for a bench where they
can lay their heads after a long day of marching.
Watch the 1991 TV production of The Colored Museum
