Piano in the Dark

“Piano in the Dark” premiered as part of The Group Rep’s production of UNHIDDEN FIGURES, a virtual play festival of new short plays celebrating African-American women from all walks of life in honor of Black History Month and Women’s History Month.

Admission to this presentation is FREE, but — as always — donations are gratefully accepted to support our year-round programming and our new streaming platform. Scroll down to view.



SKU: 2021-Unhidden-Figures-Piano Category:

Description




Download the Digital Playbill

As part of Group Rep’s virtual festival, UNHIDDEN FIGURES, we proudly highlight “Piano in the Dark” now available on our website:

Piano in the Dark written by Doug Haverty, directed by Marie Broderick, performed by Landon Beatty and Kimberly Green.

1988. As the release date for her highly anticipated new album approaches, singer-songwriter Brenda Russell questions the hype surrounding it. A junior exec at her label helps her avert a crisis of confidence.

From the author, Doug Haverty:

I worked at three different record companies and, for some reason, a lot of artists seemed to relate to me and I am generally a good listener, so many of them poured their hearts out to me. The ever-evolving recording industry is an odd world, an artist strives and hopes and prays to get signed by a label. And when they do, they automatically think success is in the bag … but it’s not a guarantee. The thing that continually stymied us was when a really wonderful album by a remarkable artist with rave reviews failed to ignite. We would become very engaged and passionate about getting a particular artist’s music out to the world, only to have the world shrug. Brenda had that happen several times and was skeptical when GET HERE (which featured “Piano in the Dark”) was about to be released and fortunately for all of us, it was a huge hit. I have always loved Brenda Russell’s music and when the UNHIDDEN FIGURES project emerged, I immediately thought of Brenda. Lots of people around the world know many of her songs, and some people know she co-wrote the score to the Broadway musical THE COLOR PURPLE, but not enough people know her name. She should be a household name. But there have been no scandals or trials or sensationalism surrounding Brenda. She’s just a truly nice person, a mother and modest, humble, talented, gracious Grammy & Tony nominee.

Doug Haverty Bio:

Doug has had his award-winning plays and musicals produced worldwide. Could I Have This Dance? was named “Best New Play” by American Theatre Critics Association. His works have been presented at Cherry Lane, Charlotte Rep., Laguna Playhouse, Phoenix Theatre, Florida Studio, The Colony, Theatre 40, The Lyric, Group Rep, Long Island Stage, Theatre in the Square, Lobero, etc. Published plays: In My Mind’s Eye, Inside Out, Could I Have This Dance?, Flavia & The Dream Maker.