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GRACE, the Musical
NEWorks Productions is proud to produce this award-winning new American musical.
Music & lyrics by Nolan Williams, Jr.
Book by Nolan Williams, Jr. & Nikkole Salter
Directed & choreographed by Robert Barry Fleming
"...a mouth-watering dish... served with super-charged music"
-David Friscic, BroadwayWorld
Take one family. Add a dash a hope, a sprinkle of spice, and a heaping handful of love, and you’ve got a recipe for pure theatrical joy.
Packed with an eclectic mix of styles including jazz, R&B, rousing up-tempos and raise-the-roof ballads, GRACE is a musical feast inspired by the little-told history of African American culinary tradition and the challenges faced by Black-owned businesses.
The musical captures a day in the life of the Mintons, a Philadelphia family who gather to mourn the loss of their matriarch while facing the uncertain future of their family restaurant in a changing neighborhood.
Photo credit: André Chung
GRACE, THE MUSICAL WInS 11 BROADWAY WORLD D.C. AWARDs!
The votes are in and GRACE is clearly the people's choice! Special thanks to the 20,000+ patrons who flocked to Ford's Theatre in Washington, D.C. last spring for the world premiere of this show and the many fans and industry insiders who have now named it Best Musical and Best New Musical!
stirring the waters across america
Conceived by Nolan Williams, Jr.
Directed by Eric Ruffin
Choreographed by Kiana Ebone'
"Electrifying. Awakening. ...Exquisitely bold and utterly holy."
-David Siegel, D.C. Metro Theatre Arts
STIRRING THE WATERS ACROSS AMERICA is our 90-minute multimedia concert production highlighting key events of the Civil Rights Movement from 1954 to 1968, making vital connections between then and now.
- National tour launched at Vanderbilt University's Langford Auditorium, Nashville, TN, February 2020
- Workshopped at The Kennedy Center REACH, October 27, 2019
Photo credit: Quentin Cox
devine hamer gray
Composed & Written by Nolan Williams, Jr.
DEVINE HAMER GRAY: A New American Musical (in development) tells the story of how three heroic American women, Annie Devine, Fannie Lou Hamer, and Victoria Jackson Gray, ran for congress in 1964 and nearly defeated the Mississippi congressional delegation. Their courage—and that of their daring Mississippi Freedom Democratic Party—is an untold, important narrative of the Civil Rights Movement.
On Wednesday, September 25, 2019, NEWorks partnered with the March On Washington Film Festival to co-present a musical reading of this project at George Washington University's Jack Morton Auditorium. The presentation was headlined by award-winning actress of stage and screen, Ebony Jo-Ann, and attended by: Jacqueline Hamer-Flakes, Pastor Cecil Gray, Julie Henderson, Reuben Adams, Nettsanett Gray, Barbara Devine Reed, Tiffany Wilson, William Ryan, Mary Carroll (Mac) Ryan, and Elizabeth Ryan, family members of Annie Devine, Fannie Lou Hamer, Victoria Jackson Gray and William Fitts Ryan.
- Workshopped at the March On Washington Film Festival, September 25, 2019
Go, Tell It!
Conceived & Directed by Nolan Williams, Jr.
Starring Grammy-award-winning singer BeBe Winans, the late gospel recording artist Lecresia Campbell, and the NEWorks Voices of Inspiration—along with an amazing cast of storytellers, dancers, and musicians—GO, TELL IT! was a family holiday show produced in partnership with the D.C. Commission on the Arts and Humanities and in association with the Smithsonian National Museum of African American History and Culture.
- Presented at the Historic Lincoln Theatre, Washington, D.C., December 19, 2014
NOLAN WILLIAMS JR.'S CHRISTMAS GIFT, THe musical
Book, Music & Lyrics by Nolan Williams, Jr.
Directed by Eric Ruffin
Choreographed by Torens Johnson
CHRISTMAS GIFT, the Musical traces a precocious 13-year-old girl's journey towards self awareness and identity. Along the way, she encounters mystical griots who challenge and inspire her. This family-friendly holiday musical charms and delights.
- Presented at The Clarice, Kay Theatre, University of Maryland-College Park
- Fri, Dec. 13, 2013 - 8:00PM
- Sat, Dec. 14, 2013 - 3:00PM
- Sat, Dec. 14, 2013 - 8:00PM
CHRISTMAS GIFT!
Conceived & Directed by Nolan Williams, Jr.
Co-directed by Raquis Petree
Choreographed by Torens Johnson & Jakari Sherman
"The premiere was, as they say, 'all that.' ...I strongly recommend this...!"
-D.C. Metro Theatre Arts
"Soul-stirring"
-Metro Weekly
"Christmas Gift!... Gets Rave Reviews"
-Washington Informer
CHRISTMAS GIFT! features new and time-honored Christmas music — from African-American spirituals and gospel to jazz and R&B — woven together with selected readings from African-American poets like Langston Hughes, Zora Neale Hurston and Paul Laurence Dunbar. Inspired by the groundbreaking publication, Christmas Gif’: An Anthology of Christmas Poems, Songs, and Stories, written by and about African-Americans, this is an inspiring holiday production for the entire family featuring musical performances by R&B legend Shirley Murdock, singer/songwriter John Stoddart and the NEWorks Voices of Inspiration.
- Presented at The Clarice, Kay Theatre, University of Maryland-College Park
- Fri., Dec. 14, 2012 - 8:00PM
- Sat., Dec. 15, 2012 - 8:00PM