Black Nativity Coming to Count Basie Theatre

The performance is about spreading a message of joy, hope, victory and liberation.

For one night the Count Basie Theatre on Monmouth Street in downtown Red Bank will host the Black Nativity, a retelling of the traditional nativity story through music, dance, and verse.

According to a release on the theater's website, Black Nativity is a Gospel song play based on the Gospel of St. Luke. The play uses poetry of Langston Hughes and is performed by an all-black cast of singers, actors, dancers and musicians.

The play, one of the first written by an African American to appear on Broadway – it debuted in 1961, according to the website release – is scheduled for Thursday, Dec. 30, at 7:30 p.m.

Black Nativity is directed by veteran actor and director Darrell Lawrence Willis, Sr., who is the producing artistic director of the Dunbar Repertory Theatre Company. The troupe – its home theater is the Algonquin Arts Theatre in Manasquan in the southern part of Monmouth County – endeavors to continue the appreciation of cultural diversity and celebrate African-American culture, the release read.

Tickets for the show are $24.50 and $19.50.

For more information or to purchase tickets call 732-842-9000 or visit the Count Basie Theatre website.