Ta-Nehisi Coates’ bold 2015 book exploring race in America is set to make its debut on the Apollo Theater stage.
On Wednesday, the Harlem theater announced Coates’ award-winning Between the World and Me will be adapted into a multimedia performance for the Apollo’s 2017-2018 season. Directed by Apollo Executive Producer Kamilah Forbes with music commissioned by jazz musician Jason Moran, the performance event will present “excerpted selections, read monologue-style by notable guest artists, interspersed with music and visual projection design,” according to a press release.
In an effort to recreate her personal experience of reading the No. 1 New York Times’ best-seller, Forbes told NYT that she wants the special performance to expand on the book’s “solitary experience.”
“The second I put the book down, I wanted to call everyone who had read the book, and who would stay up with me at 3 a.m.,” she said. “The hope is that we’re taking that solitary experience of reading the book and expanding that to a collective experience.”
Forbes added that Coates will provide “creative guidance” and may possibly appear in the production, which is set to debut in April 2018.
Tickets for the Apollo’s 2017–18 season go on sale May 19. For more info, head to the Apollo Theater’s website.
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