Black Theatre Troupe Of Upstate NY Presents HOODOO LOVE By Katori Hall

Black Theatre Troupe of Upstate NY has announced its upcoming and final production of the 2022-2023 season “Hoodoo Love” to the Lauren and Harold Iselin Performing Arts Studio at Capital Repertory Theatre at 251 N. Pearl Street, Albany.

“Hoodoo Love” is a tale of love, magic, jealousy and secrets. Toulou escapes from the Mississippi cotton fields in the 1930s to pursue her dream of singing the blues in Memphis. When she meets a rambling blues man, the notorious Ace of Spades, her dreams are realized in a way she could never have imagined. Written in vivid language that captures the blues, “Hoodoo Love” is a major debut.

Performances are June 1-11, 2023, 7:30 p.m. Thursday through Saturday and 4 p.m. on Sunday. Tickets are available through the Box Office at Proctors, in person or via phone at (518) 346-6204 Monday-Saturday 10 a.m.-6 p.m or online at capitalrep.org.

Black Theatre Troupe of Upstate NY (BTTUNY) was originally founded under the name Soul Rebel Performance Troupe in 2009 by veteran actor Jean-Remy Monnay. Monnay was born and raised in Haiti, later moving to NYC at the age of 18. In 1997, he moved upstate and began to get involved in the Capital Region theatre scene. He soon discovered that there were very few BIPOC artists working in the area, and very limited opportunities for those artists to find work. The creation of Soul Rebel Performance Troupe was in response to this lack of access; it provided a home for artists of color, LGBTQIA+ actors and other overlooked and underrepresented identities. The company was granted 501(c)(3) status in 2011, as it further committed to its mission and began to grow its performance season and outreach programs into a more vibrant array of activities. Over the years, the company's focus became more clearly about supporting BIPOC, and predominantly Black, artists and narratives, and in 2018 the company's name was changed to Black Theatre Troupe of Upstate New York to better align with this intention. In June 2021, BTTUNY became the resident community company at Capital Repertory Theatre.