Half Puerto Rican. Half Norwegian. Two-time felon. One helluva story.
Culture Project and Spike Lee Present COUNTYOF KINGS at The Public Theater.
County of Kings is written and performed by Brooklyn-born urban poet and Def Poetry Jam alum Lemon Andersen. The show is set during the most influential cultural movement of our time -- the birth of hip-hop; taking the audience back to the days of B-boys, Lee jeans, shell-toe Adidas, Boogie Down Productions, and bamboo earrings.
Featured as part of The Public Theater's Under the Radar Festival, Lemon Andersen's County of Kings gives a tough, yet poignant autobiographical account of a good kid growing up in an unforgiving environment. Lemon, whose parents met at a methadone clinic and passed away from AIDS, served two prison sentences before he was 21 and won a Tony before he turned 30. His on-stage memoir touches on young love, the birth of hip hop, slinging crack, ballet, stealing car parts, prison, and poetry as he takes the audience on an astonishing and surprising one-man journey toward self-discovery. Weaving hard-edged drama with urban poetry, the Brooklyn born and bred performer tells his coming-of-age story with profound honesty, compassion and humor. A true story of finding passion in the arts and finding one's way, Lemon paints a vivid portrait of his own life and the lives of countless other Brooklynites during the 1980s and 1990s.
County of Kings runs through November 8th. All tickets during previews (running until 10/11) are specially priced at $25. For all other performances (not including opening night), a limited number of tickets will be sold for $25 online, by phone, and at the box office with the special discount code "KINGS1". This offer is subject to availability.
"The South BX changed the way we handled our Turf wars
Pulling off our leather vests, combat boots chained Harley Davidson wallets
In the exchange for the profile Adidas tracksuits,
Playboy shoes and suede pumas
scuffed from block party battles
Every outlaw gang flip-mode their name into a dance syndicate
The gangs of the seventies turned into the dancers of the
Eighties called B-Boys
F.M.D. : Floor Master Dancing, Filthy Mad Dogs
A.S.D. : All Star Dancing, All Savage Demons
New York City Breakers,
Rock Steady Crews,
All the big posses on Broadway
Under the umbrella of a Zulu nation
being fly and hip to this thing called hop.
Hip Hop is the hype, belee dat."
-Lemon Andersen
DON'T MISS the opportunity to see County of Kings at this low price before the word gets out!
Three Ways To Purchase Tickets:
1. Call (212) 967-7555
2. Visit www.countyofkingstheplay.com
3. Visit the box office at The Public Theater, 425 Lafayette St. Sunday and Monday: 1-6 PM, Tuesday thru Saturday: 1-7:30 PM
