- April 26, 2024
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Ormond Beach poet and author Joe Cavanaugh's play, "Keepers of the Dream," will premiere in Daytona Beach in February in celebration of Black History Month.
The show — directed by Deborah McShane, author and director of “Ladies Talking Liberty” — explores the works of Langston Hughes and John Steinbeck in a fictional account, based on real events, of their potential friendship creating historical fiction in theater, according to a press release.
The show will also feature pianist Becki Sanford, who will perform jazz classics and improvisations underscoring Hughes' poems. National champion performance poet and actor Dove Dupree, winner of the 2023 Blackberry Peach National Poetry Slam Championship and many other contests, will portray Hughes. Actor, director and producer Chris Patterson will play John Steinbeck.
“You are invited to share and enjoy ideas, music and poetry with these two great American writers and two unique eras of American history and culture,” Cavanaugh said in the press release. “The experience will leave you singing, smiling, thinking, and even dreaming about America today."
The Daytona Writers Guild will present six performances of “Keepers of the Dream” from Feb. 9-18.
A special preview will take place for Volusia County students and the community at the New Smyrna Beach High School Theater on Friday, Feb. 9. The show will officially premiere at the Museum of Arts and Sciences in Daytona Beach, on Saturday, Feb. 10. A matinee will follow at MOAS on Sunday, Feb. 11.
The following weekend, Feb. 16-18, three performances will be presented in the Stetson Room of the Carleton Union Building at Stetson University in DeLand. The play is scheduled in conjunction with the Thin Man Watts Jazz Festival, which is also taking place that weekend. The evening shows begin at 7:30, and the Sunday matinees begin at 2:30.
General admission tickets are $25; preferred seating is $30; seniors, students, teachers, first responders, military (including veterans), and former Peace Corps Volunteers are $15; Stetson students, faculty and staff are free.
