Little Island is pleased to announce the complete cast and creative team for Britton & The Sting’s “Mama”

Photo by Reza Shokri on Pexels.com

JULY 24-28

CO-DIRECTED AND CHOREOGRAPHED BY EMMY AWARD®-WINNING EBONY WILLIAMS
AND
CO-DIRECTED BY LlLLETH

Little Island is pleased to announce the complete cast and creative team for Mama, a new work created and performed by Tony Award®-winner Britton Smith and his funk liberation band Britton & The Sting. Mama begins performances on Wednesday, July 24, with the official opening set for Thursday, July 25. Performances will run on Little Island through Sunday, July 28.

Little Island’s fifth world premiere at The Amph showcases Britton Smith and Britton & The Sting in an unforgettable five performances debuting 13 new songs created specifically for Little Island, where sonic adventure embodies the transformative power of water, life, and connection.

The band’s anthem “Let’s Get Drunk and Go to Church,” has reached over 44 countries and has sold-out classic New York City venues including The Apollo, Williamsburg Musical Hall, Rockwood Music Hall, Nublu, and Joe’s Pub. The eight-person group recently opened for indie group Sammy Rae & The Friends on their nationwide CAMP: The Tour and have been featured in Vanity Fair, Vogue, Fault Magazine, the New Yorker and more.

Mama is co-directed and choreographed by Emmy Award®-winner Ebony Williams, a frequent collaborator with Beyoncé, Doja Cat, and Alicia Keys and the first African American female dancer with the renowned Cedar Lake Contemporary Ballet. Mama is also co-directed by LlLLETH, a visual artist, performance and film director, choreographer, and composer trained under Ivo Van Hove, Diane Paulus, Lila Neugebauer.

Alongside Smith, Britton & The Sting is made up of Tiffany Mann, Ines Nassara, Zwelakhe-Duma Bell le Pere, Andrew Jagannath, Malachi Mabson, and Josh Roberts. Associate choreography is by Christine Sheppard and music direction is by Jagannath. Scenic design is by Carlos Soto, costume design is by Matsy Stinson, lighting design is by Itohan Edoloyi, and sound design is by Jordana Abrenica. The production stage manager is Buffy.

Mama runs July 24-28 at Little Island’s Amph.

Little Island recently announced that an annual, four-month-long summer season of world premieres, which kicked off on June 1, will feature a total of nine newly commissioned pieces. Little Island’s new arts program moves towards the future with a commitment to a multi-year roster of original work, all commissioned by and developed at Little Island. Bookended by the premiere of choreographer Twyla Tharp’s newest work How Long Blues and a 90-minute remix of Mozart’s The Marriage of Figaro in which outré opera diva Anthony Roth Costanzo sings every leading role, the season will offer premieres of varying scales across all areas of performance – including music, dance, theater, opera, comedy, jazz, pop, and funk, all outdoors and directly sited on the Hudson River at 14th Street in New York City. The Amph, the park’s 700-seat amphitheater, will house larger scale performances at a $25 ticket price, while The Glade, the park’s 200-seat venue, will be home to more intimate works, all of which will be completely free to the public.

Tickets to Little Island’s summer season of performances are available for purchase on littleislandtickets.com, TodayTix.com, or by downloading the TodayTix app.

ABOUT LITTLE ISLAND

Little Island, the 2.4-acre park that sits along the Hudson River, opened in May 2021 and has since been enjoyed by 4.6 million visitors. In 2013, Barry Diller, in partnership with Hudson River Park Trust leadership, embarked on the unique opportunity to envision a solution for the repair and reactivation of Pier 54, which had been badly damaged by Hurricane Sandy. The park was designed as an entirely new type of public space for New York, one that would create an immersive experience of nature and art. Born from a collaboration of the UK-based Heatherwick Studio and the New York-based landscape architecture firm MNLA, led by Signe Nielsen, the park’s imaginative design offers all New Yorkers and visitors a new public space that is dynamic, captivating, and restorative.

Little Island is operated year-round by a 50-member staff co-helmed by Producing Artistic Director Zack Winokur and Executive Director Laura Clement.

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