Stand Up To Cancer (SU2C) and the Equity in the Arts and Culture Committee of the Brooklyn NAACP, in collaboration with Tony® and Grammy® Award nominee Valisia LeKae (Motown the Musical, The Book of Mormon), present a one-night virtual fundraising event “Scenes From Sweet Lorraine The Play.”

 

LeKae is the executive producer of the project, which is an adaption of Sweet Lorraine, co-wrtten by Rajendra Ramoon Maharaj and Adam Mace. Funds raised during the event will equally benefit SU2C and the Equity in the Arts and Culture Committee of the Brooklyn NAACP . The donation-based performance will be streamed on Playbill’s YouTube channel on World Pancreatic Cancer Day, Thursday, Nov. 19 beginning at 7 p.m. ET, with a limited-capacity discussion with the cast, directors and creative team to follow at 8 p.m. ET. Tickets for the post-event talkback are available via Eventbrite.

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The 45-minute production will take a unique approach by recreating scenes from the critically-acclaimed play with LeKae reprising her role as playwright Lorraine Hansberry, and Tony Award®-nominated Daniel J. Watts (Tina: The Tina Turner Musical) as writer James Baldwin. Inspired by Hansberry and Baldwin’s activism and personal cancer journeys, as well as Valisia LeKae’s own ovarian cancer diagnosis in 2013, the event will intertwine thought-provoking conversation around social justice, health equity and powerful stories from Bertha Howard, BSN, MSN, RN, co-founder of the Elvin Howard, Sr. Pancreatic Cancer Advocacy Foundation (EHSPCAF), who was a caregiver to her husband during his battle with pancreatic cancer, and pancreatic cancer survivor Cedric Robins, EHSPCAF Ambassador.

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The Scenes From Sweet Lorraine The Play production team includes Executive Producer LeKae; Co- writers, and Co-directors Maharaj and Mace; Associate Producers Abdul Tubman and Dana Iannuzzi; Director of Photography, Editor and Sound Engineer Paul Wilt; and Producing Assistant, Kevin Ferguson.