Breath & Imagination: The Story of Roland Hayes

Penguin Rep Theatre, the Stony Point-based nonprofit professional theatre, kicks off its summer season with BREATH & IMAGINATION: THE STORY OF ROLAND HAYES, a musical play by Daniel Beaty about trailblazing African-American vocalist Roland Hayes, starting Friday, July 8, artistic director Joe Brancato announced today.

Before Paul Robeson and Marian Anderson, there was Roland Hayes. Born the son of a slave, Roland turned adversity into opportunity, and, at his peak in the 1920s, was the highest paid singer in the world.

“BREATH & IMAGINATION is joyous and inspirational,” says Mr. Brancato, “and soars with spirituals and operatic arias as it traces Hayes’ journey from a plantation in Georgia to performing for royalty in Europe.”

Under the direction of Geovonday Jones, who most recently staged THE HIGH CAPTAIN at The Tank and Brooklyn College’s new play festival, the cast includes Rosalind Brown (as Angel Mo’), Jesse Means (as Roland Hayes), and Ben Rauch (as The Man).

Ms. Brown, a winner of the Vivian Robinson AUDELCO Award for Lead Actress, originated roles in FOOTLOOSE and ONE MO’ TIME on Broadway.

Mr. Means, a recent resident of Stony Point, appeared on Broadway in SHOW BOAT and in the national tours of CAROUSEL and FIVE GUYS NAMED MOE.

Mr. Rauch’s acting credits include BIG BANG THEORY (TV) and JERSEY BOYS (film). He is also a singer/songwriter and his last single THE EMOJI SONG won an American Songwriting Award, a USA Songwriting Competition Award for Best Comedy Song, The Hollywood Songwriting Competition and four Global Music Awards for Best Male Vocalist, Best Lyrics/Songwriter, Best Song, and Best Music Video.

The creative team for BREATH & IMAGINATION includes scenic designer Jon DeGaetano, costume designer Antonio Consuegra (assistant costume designer, FUNNY GIRL on Broadway),

lighting designer Todd Wren, sound designer Max Silverman, and properties designer Buffy Cardoza.

BREATH & IMAGINATION will be presented through July 24. Performances are scheduled Thursdays at 7 p.m., Fridays at 7:30 p.m. Saturdays (2 shows) at 4 p.m. and 8 p.m., and Sundays at 2 p.m.

There is a specially discounted matinee scheduled at 2 p.m. on Friday, July 8. A post-performance discussion among artistic director Joe Brancato, the actors and the audience will follow the performance on Friday, July 15.

Before the 4 p.m. show on Saturday, July 16, there will be a complimentary tasting catered by Big Daddy’s Home Plate BBQ of West Haverstraw.

Tickets to BREATH & IMAGINATION are priced at $39 (including facility fee and service charge). Discounts are available for groups of 10 or more and young people (30 and under). 

Performances take place at Penguin’s intimate, 108-seat theatre, located at 7 Crickettown Road. “The converted barn, circa 1880, has never been more inviting” (The New York Times). Says Mr. Horn, “it’s theatre so close you can feel it, with comfy upholstered seats and no seat more than 30 feet from the stage.” The theatre is air conditioned, handicapped accessible, equipped with assistive listening devices, and has plenty of free parking.

During its closure due to COVID-19, Penguin made physical modifications to its venue to make the theatergoing experience safer and more comfortable. Air filtration was upgraded, air circulation modified to ensure increased exchange of inside and outside air, and high-intensity UVC light installed inside the ductwork to remove airborne and surface contaminants. To order tickets or for further information, visit Penguin Rep’s website at www.penguinrep.org or call 845-786-2873.

BREATH & IMAGINATION

July 8 – July 24

by DANIEL BEATY

Directed by GEOVONDAY JONES

Starring ROSALIND BROWN, JESSE MEANS, BEN RAUCH

Before Paul Robeson and Marian Anderson, there was trailblazing African-American vocalist Roland Hayes. Born the son of a slave, Roland turned adversity into opportunity, and, at his peak in the 1920s, was the highest paid singer in the world. This inspirational musical play soars

with spirituals and operatic arias as it traces Hayes’ journey from a plantation in Georgia to performing for royalty in Europe.

ABOUT PENGUIN REP THEATRE

Joe Brancato was a high school English and drama teacher in 1977 when he peered into an abandoned 1880’s hay barn in Stony Point, New York, and envisioned the space repurposed into a theatre.

More than 40 years later, Penguin Rep – the theatre Brancato started with Francine Newman-McCarthy and runs with executive director Andrew M. Horn -- has grown from a summer theatre to become one of the Hudson Valley’s most influential nonprofit cultural institutions, reaching tens of thousands of theatergoers each year at its home, in New York City and beyond – with its work moving to Off Broadway and to stages across the country and around the world.

Penguin has presented more than 150 productions – over 100 directed by Brancato himself -- for more than 400,000 people from the lower Hudson Valley and beyond. And Mr. Brancato has brought together accomplished professional actors – David Canary, Michael Cullen, Tim De Kay, Ann Dowd, Gregg Edelman, Michael Esper, Barbara Feldon, Tovah Feldshuh, Beth Fowler, Deborah Hedwall, Celeste Holm, Richard Kline, Andrew McCarthy, Lizbeth Mackay, Michele Pawk, and Karen Ziemba, among others – to star in new and noteworthy plays by such playwrights as Lee Blessing, Ronald Harwood, Allan Knee, Arthur Laurents, Warren Leight, Jon Marans, William Mastrosimone, Lainie Robertson, James Sherman and Elizabeth Swados.

As The Journal News wrote: “Somebody forgot to tell artistic director Joe Brancato that he’s crazy to use a little barn plunked down in the Rockland County suburbs to experiment with unusual and challenging plays… I hope everybody keeps forgetting to tell him. The region is more the richer for it.”

“Guided by the skilled hand of Penguin’s artistic director, Joe Brancato, the splendid performers get first-rate support, as always at Penguin, by an excellent design team” (The New York Times).

“Penguin Rep is a place where theatergoers can experience magic time after time” (Lohud.com).

Ann Dowd, Emmy and Critics’ Choice Award winner for THE HANDMAID’S TALE, who has starred in four productions at Penguin: “I’ve loved every experience I’ve had there, every wonderful play, every wonderful role, in that beautiful theatre in the country.”

Sarah Jessica Parker: “Joe Brancato dreamed it … and now Penguin Rep celebrates 40 plus seasons of incomparable productions of new works. Penguin has a gorgeous pastoral setting in the Hudson Valley only 50 minutes from Manhattan.”

As it launches its forty-fourth season, Penguin Rep Theatre, dubbed “the gutsiest little theatre” by The New York Times, continues to present a cultural experience that is unique in the region: professional productions of new plays at affordable prices.

Penguin Rep Theatre’s 2022 season is sponsored by Orange and Rockland Utilities.

The season is also made possible by the New York State Council on the Arts (NYSCA) with the support of Governor Kathy Hochul and the New York State Legislature, and with funds from ReStart the Arts, a regrant program of ArtsWestchester with support from the Office of the Governor, the Legislature and NYSCA.

Penguin Rep is a proud recipient of a Shuttered Venue Operators Grant (SVOG) administered by the Small Business Administration.

Penguin Rep gratefully acknowledges the additional support of the Bernard & Anne Spitzer Charitable Trust, Cory & Bob Donnalley Charitable Foundation, County of Rockland, GMGPR, Jacques & Margot W. Kohn Foundation, Kathryn I. Matthews Charitable Fund, Rockland County Tourism, The Shubert Foundation, and Town of Stony Point.