This weekend, Danielle Tucker Productions and Onyx Keesha present The Colored Museum, George C. Wolfe's amazing and painfully funny comedy, which satirizes pretentious aspects of African American theatrical culture, at the same time skewering racist assumptions about black culture.
Directed by Plainfield's own Danielle Tucker,* whose fine-tuned directorial skills are on display once again, the show will be presented at the First Unitarian Society of Plainfield's Parish Hall Theater (located at 724 Park Avenue in Plainfield) on Friday, September 21 and Saturday, September 22 at 8:00 pm, and on Sunday, September 23 at 5:00 pm.
Tickets for the performance are only $18. To order, call (908) 912-4396 or click on the link: The Colored Museum - Tickets
The Colored Museum originally premiered back in 1986 at the Crossroads Theatre in New Brunswick before moving to Joe Papp's legendary Public Theater on Lafayette Avenue in New York City. Wolfe's play takes no prisoners, as he gleefully wounds the sacred cows of African American theater history, such as Lorraine Hansberry's A Raisin in the Sun, with "The-Last-Mama-on-the-Couch Play."
I am looking forward to seeing this piece again, and I am glad that it's being staged right here in Plainfield. Danielle Tucker is part of a re-energized performing arts wave that is hitting Plainfield, and she is joined in this production by her frequent collaborator Onyx Keesha of M.Power Arts.
*Director Danielle Tucker most recently directed the sold-out performances of Annie, Jr., The Vagina Monologues, and August Wilson's Fences.
This Wednesday, September 19, at 12:00 noon, the City of Plainfield, in partnership with Plainfield Avenue Urban Renewal, invites you to the Grand Opening and Ribbon-Cutting ceremony for the Second Street Youth Center (SSYC) at its new location, 200 Plainfield Avenue (at S 2nd St.). SSYC will be celebrating its 50th anniversary in the new space, which features a new Early Childhood Educational Center and an Agricultural and Food Education Center.
I am really looking forward to this event, hosted by the SSYC Foundation, Inc., which will commemorate the center's longstanding commitment to Plainfield's young people as well as to the larger Plainfield community. A couple of years ago, I facilitated an 8-week college prep writing workshop for teens at the old location as part of SSYC's Youth Leadership Academy. I am looking forward to volunteering in the new location, as it was incredibly rewarding to be working with teen leaders on the cusp of adulthood.
The SSYC continues to focus on the needs of the Plainfield community. As noted on its website, SSYC Foundation, Inc.:
The Second Street Youth Center Foundation, Inc. (SSYC) is a multipurpose non-profit organization seeking to bring about better community relations by providing educational, vocational, cultural and recreational activities for youth and adults in this community.
Through these activities the Foundation strives to provide opportunities for self expression, the building of self-worth and an overall environment that fosters creative learning and enables people to reach their full potential. SSYC has become a recognized viable community service agency in the City of Plainfield. Each year multitudes of residents pass through this Agency as recipients of many types of services.
This weekend, Danielle Tucker Productions and Onyx Keesha present The Colored Museum, George C. Wolfe's amazing and painfully funny comedy, which satirizes pretentious aspects of African American theatrical culture, at the same time skewering racist assumptions about black culture. 
