The Colored Museum is a provocative and seriously funny tour of eleven “exhibits”—toxic narratives about Black American experiences. From confrontational to aspirational, morbid to triumphant, Wolfe’s satiric sketches target America’s most pernicious stereotypes of Black culture, looking to retire outdated exhibits and make room for the future. This innovative environmental production immerses the audience in George Wolfe’s 1986 classic about the grief, madness, and hope of Black life. This production will be a one-of-kind collaboration between two members of the Studio Theatre Cabinet: Director Psalmayene 24 (Pass Over, Good Bones) and designer Natsu Onoda Power (Vietgone, Astro Boy).
The Colored Museum is generously underwritten by Susan & Dixon Butler with additional support from Craig Pascal.
Five-time Tony Award winner George C. Wolfe has established himself as one of America’s most influential cultural voices. Wolfe most recently directed the feature film adaptation of August Wilson’s play Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom, starring Viola Davis and Chadwick Boseman. He first gained acclaim in 1986 for penning the off Broadway production of The Colored Museum. Other work as a writer includes his adaptation of Spunk, three short stories from Zora Neale Hurston. His work as a Broadway director includes Jelly’s Last Jam; Angels In America: Millennium Approaches and Perestroika; Bring In ‘da Noise, Bring in ‘da Funk; Elaine Stritch at Liberty; Twilight; The Tempest; Golden Child; Top Dog/Underdog; The Normal Heart; Lucky Guy, starring Tom Hanks; and The Iceman Cometh, starring Denzel Washington. Wolfe made his feature film debut directing HBO’s Lackawanna Blues, followed by Nights in Rodanthe starring Richard Gere and Diane Lane, and the HBO film The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks, starring Oprah Winfrey and Rose Byrne.
(As of April 2023)
Psalmayene 24 is an award-winning director, playwright, and actor. Directing credits include Good Bones, Flow and Pass Over at Studio Theatre, Necessary Sacrifices: A Radio Play at Ford’s Theatre, Native Son at Mosaic Theater Company, Word Becomes Flesh at Theater Alliance, Cinderella: The Remix at Imagination Stage, and Not Enuf Lifetimes at The Welders. Playwriting credits include Dear Mapel and Les Deux Noirs: Notes on Notes of a Native Son at Mosaic Theater Company, The Frederick Douglass Project co-written with Deirdre Kinahan at Solas Nua, and Zomo the Rabbit: A Hip-Hop Creation Myth at Imagination Stage. His solo play, Free Jujube Brown! is published in the anthology Plays from the Boom Box Galaxy: Theater from the Hip Hop Generation. Acting credits include Ruined at Arena Stage, Free Jujube Brown! at The African Continuum Theatre Company, and HBO’s The Wire. He is the writer/director of the short film The Freewheelin’ Insurgents. Psalm is the host of Psalm’s Salons at Studio, an interview-based cultural series that celebrates theatre and community through a Black lens. He is the recipient of a Helen Hayes Award for Outstanding Direction of a Play and has received the Imagination Award from Imagination Stage. His work has received grants from the Doris Duke Charitable Foundation and the Walt Disney Corporation. Psalm is currently the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation Playwright in Residence at Mosaic Theater Company. He is a member of the Stage Directors and Choreographers Society, Dramatists Guild, and Actors’ Equity Association. On social media at @psalmayene24 (Instagram).
(As of September 2023)
Invading White Institutions: The Prolific Work of George C. Wolfe