New York Theatre Workshop has found the director for its upcoming production of The Half-God of Rainfall by Hay Festival Medal for Poetry winner Inua Ellams (Barber Shop Chronicles). Dates for the production are to be announced.
Obie winner Taibi Magar, co-artistic director of Philadelphia Theatre Company, will direct the work which follows Demi, a half Nigerian-mortal, half Greek-god whose emotions can be read in the weather. But when he takes a shot on a basketball court for the first time, the deities of the land wake up. Dates, casting, and creative team will be announced at a later date.
Ellams creates a new myth, interweaving poetry into the story which spans continents and millennia—including voyages to a small village in Nigeria, a NBA arena in the United States, and the mythic halls of Mount Olympus. And it is there that the mothers, daughters, and goddesses stand up.
Magar's most recent credits are Help at The Shed and Twilight: Los Angeles, 1992 at Signature Theatre. She also directed Is God Is at Soho Rep.
