Arts & Entertainment
L.I. Playwright Cindi Sansone-Braff’s Play “The Menu” Produced in NYC
The World Premiere of "The Menu," was a hit with the audience at the Kingdom Theatre on West 54st in Manhattan on Friday November 2nd, 2023.
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Long Island playwright Cindi Sansone-Braff who hails from East Patchogue attended the staged World Premiere of her play , “The Menu,” at the Kingdom Theatre on 54st in NYC on Friday November 3.
She said, “I didn’t know what to expect, but it was spectacular. C.Kelly Wright and her actors brought my words to life, with action and terrific movement.”
Kingdom Theatre’s mission is to empower, encourage, and uplift people through the visual and performing arts. This venture, was the Playwrights Weekend Celebration, successfully ran Friday, November 3rd through Sunday, November 5th.
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Kingdom Theatre’s Artistic Director is the celebrated, Nickolas III.
Friday night's festivities kick offed with a Happy Hour Networking event from 6 –7 p.m. Later in the program "The Menu," written by Cindi Sansone-Braff and directed by C.Kelly Wright was staged. The show provided the audience with laughs and sighs. It received rousing applause.
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In this ten-minute play, Chris receives an Evite to a Come-As-You-Are Party at The Final Exit Bar and Grill. When Chris is handed a menu, the whole event takes on a tragic twist. Based on a dream the playwright had, the idea of “selecting your way of death,” does not seem to be a comical topic. Yet with brilliant writing and great acting, Director C.Kelly Wright takes Sansone-Braff play to another level where there is comedy and levity while rattling through this serious topic as if it were a menu at a diner.
The two actors in “The Menu,” received a rousing amount of applause. The part of “Chris,” was portrayed by Taifa “ Harmony” Bartz, who was born into a special musical family in Harlem, N.Y. She is the daughter of two time Grammy winner, Gary Bartz. She has been singing, acting and dancing since she was 2 years old. This triple threat followed her passion by studying music, theatre and dance in college. She now leads her own jazz/funk/neo-soul band and has starred in and directed many stage, film and TV productions.
Meanwhile the role of Pat was played by actor, “Nubia,” who is an actor, a poet and a classical hiphop artist from Bronx New York...She writes her own songs and poetry and has an album THE UPTOWN QUEEN available for sale on all digital distribution platforms...she aspires to be a Grammy winning songwriter and a Oscar winning actress.
Playwright Cindi Sansone-Braff was ecstatic about the participation of Director C. Kelly Wright , who is a New York City native actor, singer, dancer whose greatest love is found developing new works. Wright has given voice to development of Broadway shows: from the Tony-award winning musical “Memphis” to Katori Hall’s “The Mountaintop,” a favorite play of Sansone-Braff.