PLAYS, POEMS, AND MUSIC BY
RICARDO
PITTS-WILEY
Ricardo Pitts-Wiley is an actor, playwright, composer and director. He began his professional career at Trinity Repertory in Providence, RI in 1974. At Trinity he appeared in productions of Brother to Dragons, Gem of the Ocean, Radio Golf, A Christmas Carol, Tom Jones, Jumpers, The Little Foxes, Another Part of the Forest, Uncle Tom's Cabin, The Good Times are Killing Me, Boesman and Lena, King Lear, MacBeth, Jonestown Express, Ma Rainey's Black Bottom, Fences, The Piano Lesson, Master Harold and the Boys and The Cider House Rules.
He Co-Founded Mixed Magic Theatre with his wife Bernadet V. Pitts-Wiley in 2000. At Mixed Magic Theatre Ricardo has appeared in productions of Fences, King Lear, Roses Money, Othello, The Diner and Mr. Stone, Letter From Birmingham City Jail, Fate Comes Knocking and Reflections: Growing Up a Black Man in America, He has also directed more than 20 productions for the company. Ricardo is a 2017 Pell Award recipient.
He is the author and lyricist for the musicals Celebrations: An African Odyssey, Trains and Dreams, A Kwanzaa Song, Sara's Jukebox, Night's People, Man, Woman, Chaos and The Well of Woman.
As a playwright he has written the Civil Rights dramas, Fate Comes Knocking and Reflections: Growing Up a Black Man in America, as well as page-to-stage adaptations of Moby Dick, Frankenstein, Don Quixote, The Red Tent and two short stories by Zora Neale Hurston -Sweat and Gilded Six-Bits. Some of the universities he has taught theatre at include MIT, University of Rhode Island, University of Southern California, Rhode Island College, University of Dartmouth, Hofstra University, Long Island University and Eastern Michigan University, Ricardo has also appeared in a number of films and televisions series including About Fate, Housesitter, Detroit, The Mouse, Spencer for Hire, Respite Road, Agent Toby Barks, Spenser Confidential, SMILF. The Test, Maverick Square, A Case of Deadly Force, Julia, The Act of Reading and Against The Law.
BIO
THE SPIRIT WARRIOR'S DREAM
Music by Ricardo Pitts-Wiley and Robert Schleeter
Lyrics by Ricardo Pitts-Wiley
Book by Ricardo Pitts-Wiley and Joseph Coulson
An American Musical
In the future, the country known as America after years of social upheaval must be rebuilt. Out of the chaos, two leaders emerge. One who believes that the American dream was a failed idea whose time has passed. The other believing that the dream of America is a yet-to-be fulfilled promise. The play features a 36-song score that includes rock, hip hop, gospel, and pop songs.
To access scripts and scores, contact Ricardo Pitts-Wiley at ricardopittswileyworks@gmail.com
THE TRIAL OF FREDERICK DOUGLASS
Frederick Douglass, John Brown, and Abraham Lincoln have been summoned from their graves. Douglass has been nominated for a special honor. He must appear before Congress to be vetted. John Brown chairs the committee. Douglass has invited Abraham Lincoln to serve as his council during the hearings. The three men meet backstage at a television studio that will air the proceedings. The television show's host is a young woman named Ophelia.
With Shakespeare's Hamlet as a backdrop, Douglass takes on the role of the passionate and fiery Player King, while Brown is a decisive warrior, Fortinbras while Lincoln is a brooding Hamlet.
As Ophelia struggles to prepare for the show, she's also dealing with father/brother/boyfriend issues. In the dressing room, the three iconic figures from American history put each other on trial for what they did and did not do during their lifetimes.
To access scripts, contact Ricardo Pitts-Wiley at ricardopittswileyworks@gmail.com
MOBY DICK: THEN AND NOW
Original Stage Adaptation of the Herman Melville Novel by Ricardo Pitts-Wiley
Moby Dick: Then and Now tells a traditional story of the crew of the Pequod, and its captain, Ahab's vengeful quest for the white whale that took off his leg. This story is told concurrently with that of a modern crew, and their captain. A young woman named Alba, who is determined to hunt down and destroy the drug lord who murdered her little brother. The young crew travels into the heart of the city in a subway car, while Ahab's ill-fated journey takes him and his crew into the heart of the seas.
To access scripts and scores, contact Ricardo Pitts-Wiley at ricardopittswileyworks@gmail.com
Updated by Ricardo Pitts-Wiley and Rudy Cabrera
NIGHT VOICES
A Musical Celebration of the Power of the Night
Sibo, an ancient African, who came to the New World across the middle passage, has created a gathering place for people who cannot express their feelings during the day, to come and sing the night's songs. They sing, they dance, and speak in poetic phrases that compels the sun to rise anew. But Sibo has a secret that drives him to summon people each night to his gathering place at the Corner of Midnight and the Edge of Time. Night Voices features a 16-song score.
To access scripts and scores, contact Ricardo Pitts-Wiley at ricardopittswileyworks@gmail.com
Poetry and Lyrics by Ricardo Pitts-Wiley
Music by Ricardo Pitts-Wiley and Robert Schleeter
WAITING FOR BESSIE SMITH
by Ricardo Pitts-Wiley
In Providence, Rhode Island, in June of 1933, the world-famous opera singer, Sissieretta Jones, better known as Black Patti, has died, leaving the cities Black community to mourn. A man named Chatty, whose childhood friend was the Empress of the Blues, Bessie Smith, has opened a speakeasy. Even after six months, Chatty recognizes that the Black citizens of Providence are still mourning the loss of their shining star. He contacts his old friend to come to the city to help sing the peoples' blues away. Bessie Smith agrees to come. But on the night she is due, a massive snowstorm slows her train. A desperate Chatty calls upon a prominent preacher's daughter to entertain the crowd until Smith gets there. What follows is an evening of music memories and community self-healing.
To access scripts and scores, contact Ricardo Pitts-Wiley at ricardopittswileyworks@gmail.com
Featuring Songs Performed by Bessie Smith
CELEBRATIONS: AN AFRICAN ODYSSEY
Music, Book, and Lyrics by Ricardo Pitts-Wiley
Jaharri, an African princess, after celebrating an annual feast of renewal in her homeland, is kidnapped and sold into slavery. She survives the Middle Passage and finds herself in a harsh new world. But even there she finds enslaved people still filled with courage and hope. Drawing upon their unbreakable spirit, Jaharri escapes and returns home.
To access scripts and scores, contact Ricardo Pitts-Wiley at ricardopittswileyworks@gmail.com
FATE COMES KNOCKING, Parts 1 & 2
A Celebration of Martin Luther King and the Foot Soldiers of the Civil Rights Movement
In part one of Fate Comes Knocking, five friends, who all grew up with Martin Luther King in Atlanta, Georgia. They gather on a porch to shell peas and reflect on their childhoods growing up with King, the murder of Emmett Till, the Montgomery Bus Boycott and other events that jumpstarted the Civil Rights Movement, as well as the publication of his Letter from Birmingham City Jail. They also discuss their own participation in the Civil Rights Movement, including joining King at the 1963 March on Washington.
In part two, the friends again have gathered to talk about events after the March on Washington and Beyond Vietnam, King's speech at the Riverside Church, in which he speaks out against the war in Vietnam.
Part one and part two not only tell the story of King, but also the stories of the foot soldiers of the Civil Rights Movement against the backdrop of history-shaping events in America and the world.
To access scripts, contact Ricardo Pitts-Wiley at ricardopittswileyworks@gmail.com
by Ricardo Pitts-Wiley
A KWANZAA SONG
Music, Book, and Lyrics by Ricardo Pitts-Wiley
Azu is a young god seeking to take his place among the Ndalaava, the spirit helpers of Africa's people. While looking into the fires that reveal the future, the Ndalaava foresee the coming of slave ships to Africa's shores and the horrors that would follow. Azu is charged with going to the New World with the stolen children of Africa to prepare them for time when they will be free again and seeking to reconnect with their heritage.
A Kwanzaa Song is a music and dance experience that acknowledges the suffering of the stolen children, while celebrating their resilience and never-ending quest for freedom.
To access scripts and scores, contact Ricardo Pitts-Wiley at ricardopittswileyworks@gmail.com
MISERY'S FIEND: FRANKENSTEIN
An Adaptation of Mary Shelley's Novel by Ricardo Pitts-Wiley
"What do we do with the monsters that we create, and what do they do with us?" This is a question Ricardo Pitts-Wiley sought to answer with this adaptation, in which Victor Frankenstein's creature is played by three actors, who portray different aspects of it's personality. As the Shelley novel does, the play explores questions of personal responsibility, how monsters are created and the evolution of evil.
To access script, contact Ricardo Pitts-Wiley at ricardopittswileyworks@gmail.com
THE WELL OF WOMAN
Poems, Stories, and Songs by Ricardo Pitts-Wiley
Over the span of 30 years, author Ricardo Pitts-Wiley had many fascinating and revealing conversations with women from all walks of life. The Well of Woman is an effort to give voice to those women and honor their lives and stories.
To access scripts and scores, contact Ricardo Pitts-Wiley at ricardopittswileyworks@gmail.com
REFLECTIONS: GROWING UP A BLACK MAN IN AMERICA
If It Was Easy, Everyone Would Do It
Using storytelling, poetry, and music, a group of Black men come together to share their experiences of growing up in America. From the rules of engagement with the police to the rules of dominance on the basketball court and their relationships with each other and the women in their lives. The men seek to validate and celebrate their living experiences.
To access scripts and scores, contact Ricardo Pitts-Wiley at ricardopittswileyworks@gmail.com
MAN, WOMAN, CHAOS
A Cabaret Show
Beginning with Adam and Eve, whenever men and women were together, there was chaos, as well as love, and hope. This 22-song musical explores various relationships and conflicts as the battle of the sexes rages through the ages.
To access scripts and scores, contact Ricardo Pitts-Wiley at ricardopittswileyworks@gmail.com
Poetry and Lyrics by Ricardo Pitts-Wiley
Music by Ricardo Pitts-Wiley and Robert Schleeter
OTHER WORKS BY RICARDO PITTS-WILEY
Sara's Jukebox
A distraught woman's music spirits encourage her to review her life in order to help her through an emotional crisis.
Book and Lyrics by Ricardo Pitts-Wiley
Music by Ricardo Pitts-Wiley and Robert Schleeter
35 Miles from Detroit
Following a nuclear disaster, a Black man, while being pursued by an unknown figure, returns home to the small town he grew up in to leave a message for the future about his and time.
Book and Songs by Ricardo Pitts-Wiley
Selected Poems by Ricardo Pitts-Wiley
This collection of poetry, spanning more than 50 years, captures the author's sense of Blackness, history, and his relationship with the spiritual and natural worlds.
Book and Songs by Ricardo Pitts-Wiley