Norm Lewis to Star in Ceremonies in Dark Old Men Off-Broadway

The Peccadillo Theater Company, the Negro Ensemble Company, and Eric Falkenstein will present Lonnie Elder III’s Ceremonies in Dark Old Men, starring Tony, Emmy, and SAG Award nominee Norm Lewis (The Gershwin’s Porgy & Bess, The Phantom of the Opera).

Directed by Clinton Turner Davis (New Federal Theatre’s Joe Turner’s Come and Gone), the production is the first in New York City in nearly 40 years. The play will run April 11-May 18, with an opening night on April 18, at Theatre at St. Clements.

Ceremonies in Dark Old Men, a finalist for the 1969 Pulitzer Prize for Drama, takes place in New York in the 1950s. Russell Parker, a ne’er-do-well barber and the widowed father of three adult children, spends his days reminiscing about his life in vaudeville as an old-style song and dance man. His two sons, Theo and Bobby, are a pair of petty criminals looking for a “score” in the form of ill-conceived and dangerous bootlegging and numbers schemes while his daughter, Adele, is the only gainfully employed member of the family. When Adele’s long-simmering resentments boil over and the boys’ criminal enterprise falls apart, tragic consequences ensue for the whole family.

In addition to Lewis, the cast features Jeremiah Packer, Calvin M. Thompson, and Bryce Michael Wood.

The production features scenic design by Harry Feiner, costume design by Isabel Rubio, and lighting design by Jimmy Lawlor.