The Scottsboro Boys

by John Kander, Fred Ebb & David Thompson

The Lyceum Theatre

Also:

Garrick Theatre, West End, London

Vineyard Theatre, Off-Broadway

Young Vic Theatre, London

Guthrie Theatre, Minneapolis

Ahmanson Theatre, Los Angeles

American Conservatory Theatre, San Francisco

Old Globe Theatre, San Diego

Philadelphia Theatre Company, Philadelphia

Directed and Choreographed by Susan Stroman

Costumes by Toni-Leslie James, Lighting by Ken Billington, Sound by Peter Hylenski

2010

Tony Award Nomination,

San Francisco Critic's Circle Award Nomination

Los Angeles NAACP Award Nomination

Hey! Hey! Hey!

Colman Domingo, John Cullum, Forrest McClendon & Company

Commencing in Chattanooga

James T. Lane, Derrick Cobey, Julius Thomas III, Joshua Henry, Sharon Washington, Josh Breckenridge, Kendrick Jones, Rodney Hicks, Jeremy Grumbs & Christian Dante White

Jail

Joshua Henry, Rodney Hicks, Derrick Cobey & Company

Locked in the Box

Joshua Henry & Julius Thompson III

Make Friends With the Truth

Joshua Henry & Kendrick Jones

Chain Gang

Joshua Henry & Company

Zat So

Sharon Washington, Derrick Cobey, John Cullum, Joshua Henry & Forrest McClendon

Off- Broadway, Vineyard Theater

Off-Broadway

Hey, Hey, Hey, Hey

Josh Breckenridge, Kendrick Jones, Julius Thomas III, and Company

Off-Broadway

Commencing in Chattanooga

Rodney Hicks & Company

Off-Broadway

Go Back Home

Brandon Victor Dixon, Derrick Cobey, Julius Thomas III, & Company

Off-Broadway

In The Box

Brandon Victor Dixon and Julius Thomas III

Off-Broadway

In The Box

Colman Domingo, Forrest McClendon & Company

Off-Broadway

Zat So

Derrick Cobey, John Cullum, Brandon Victor Dixon, and Forrest McClendon

Guthrie Theatre, Minneapolis 2010

Philadelphia Theatre Company, Philadelphia 2011

Old Globe, San Diego 2012

ACT, San Francisco 2012

Young Vic, London 2013

Garrick Theatre, West End, London, 2014

"Ms. Stroman offers some of her most effortlessly vibrant work since The Producers, exploiting a minimal set by Beowulf Boritt... a series of girdered prosceniums and an array of silver-painted chairs to conjure the airy freedom of train travel, the claustrophobic terrors of prison and the raucous atmosphere of the courtrooms."

~Charles Isherwood, The New York Times

"The production design maintains the musical's tight aesthetic. Beowulf Boritt's sets and Ken Billington's lighting insinuate just enough flash into the attractive severity to keep us mindful that we're watching a stage performance within a stage performance."

~Charles McNulty, Los Angeles Times

"Stroman, with set designer Beowulf Boritt, has used little scenery, choosing instead a collection of silver chairs that interlock to create everything from a train to a jail to a courtroom to a bus. The fact that the nine accused men construct each adds to the irony."

~Mark Kennedy, The Associated Press

"Minimal set by Beowulf Boritt works perfectly within the concept"

~Steven Suskin, Variety

"The always clever Beowulf Boritt doesn't have much of a budget, so he opts for a bunch of chairs and places them in intriguing positions."

~Peter Filichia, Theatermania

"The Scottsboro Boys is enhanced brilliantly through the fluency of Beowulf Boritt's spare setting of skewed prosceniums."

~Michael Sommers, NJ Newsroom

"Stroman seems to know exactly when pyrotechnics are required, she has also obtained fine work from her designers. Beowulf Borrit's setting, a series of ever-more precariously tipping prosceniums"

~David Barbour, Lighting and Sound America

"The production, guided with elegant simplicity by Stroman, unfolds with rapid fluidity on a stage that scenic designer Beowulf Boritt frames with skewed proscenium arches that echo the show's off-kilter approach to the story. The other elements of his design are a dozen chairs and a few boards, which are inventively rearranged to represent a variety of locations."

~Andy Propst, Theatermania

"The show's look is stylishly severe, with a stark, footlighted set that makes resourceful use of simple silver chairs, configured into courtrooms and cells. (Beowulf Boritt is the scenic designer.)"

~Ben Brantley, The New York Times

"The spareness is matched in the design choices. Beowulf Boritt's set is simply a bunch of chairs and a couple of planks, endlessly regrouped into different shapes to represent everything from a boxcar to a prison cell to a courtroom with brisk efficiency."

~David Rooney, Daily Variety

"With little more than ragged costumes, a handful of straight-back chairs and a few planks and curtains (the minimalist costumes and set are by Toni-Leslie James and Beowulf Boritt, respectively), Stroman fills the tiny Vineyard stage with razor-sharp vaudeville dancing."

~Jeremy Gerard, Bloomberg News

"The production, guided with elegant simplicity by director-choreographer Susan Stroman, unfolds with rapid fluidity on a stage that scenic designer Beowulf Boritt outfits with a dozen chairs and a few boards, which are inventively rearranged to represent a variety of locations."

~Andy Propst, Theatremania

"...Beowulf Boritt's dexterous set (who knew 13 chairs could be so versatile and effective?)"

~Aaron Mettey, The Philly Post

"The set designer, Beowulf Boritt, desrves special mention for creativity. With only planks of wood and steel-backed chairs, he could arrange the items so they became the minstrel setting, jail cells, the boxcar, the courtroom and whatever else was needed"

~Bonnie Squires, Main Line Media News

"Beowulf Boritt's minimalist set (three wooden frames and a tangle of metal chairs)"

~Wendy Rosenfield, The Inquirer/Philly.com

"The set (by Beowulf Boritt) is almost unassuming in its simplicity: just a trio of receding frames arching over the stage, each progressively more askew, and beneath them a jumble of aluminum chairs piled to one side. Still, such simplicity also hints at, and soon delivers, rich complexity."

~Robet Avila, San Francisco Bay Guardian

"Cleverly and simply designed by Beowulf Boritt."

~Lyn Gardner, London Gaurdian