Daniel Beaty performing Mr. Joy

Friday, October 9, 2015 at 8:00pm
CFA Theater

$19 general public; $17 senior citizens, Wesleyan faculty/staff/alumni, non-Wesleyan students; $6 Wesleyan students

"Showcasing Beaty's signature blend of comedy, poetry, music and multi-character transformation, Mr. Joy is a hilarious and heart-warming exploration." --BroadwayWorld.com

What happened to Mr. Joy? In this tour-de-force solo show by award-winning actor, singer, writer, and composer Daniel Beaty, a Harlem community is disrupted when the Chinese immigrant's shoe repair shop, a neighborhood pillar for decades, does not open its doors. Nine customers, ranging from eleven-year-old Clarissa, a budding shoe designer, to Bessie, a "gangsta granny," reflect on the shop owner's impact in this moving exploration of one community's efforts to heal in order to dream again.

Daniel Beaty is an award-winning actor, singer, writer, and composer. His critically acclaimed plays Emergency, Through the Night, Breath & Imagination, and The Tallest Tree in the Forest have been performed at venues ranging from leading theaters and concert halls to maximum security prisons and the White House. The extended off-Broadway run of his acclaimed solo play Through The Night was produced by Daryl Roth. For that production, Mr. Beaty received 2011 Lucille Lortel, Drama Desk, Drama League, and Outer Critics Circle nominations. He also received the 2010 Audelco Award for “Outstanding Solo Performance,” and the 2010 Ovation Award for “Best Male Lead Actor.” His critically acclaimed solo play Emergence-See! ran off-Broadway to a sold-out, extended run at The Public Theater in the fall of 2006. For that production, he received the 2007 Obie Award for “Excellence in Off-Broadway Theater for Writing & Performing,” and the 2007 Audelco Award for “Solo Performance.” He is the recipient of the 2007 Scotsman Fringe First Award for the “Best New Writer” at the Edinburgh Festival, and was presented with a Lamplighter Award from the Black Leadership Forum in Washington, D.C. In the spring of 2008, Emergence-See!, now re-titled Emergency, had a sold-out seven-week engagement at the Geffen Playhouse in Los Angeles, and was awarded two 2009 N.A.A.C.P. Theater Awards, including “Best Actor.” Mr. Beaty has worked throughout the U.S., Europe, and Africa performing on programs with artists such as Ruby Dee, Ossie Davis, Jill Scott, Sonia Sanchez, M.C. Lyte, Mos Def, Tracy Chapman, Deepak Chopra, and Phylicia Rashad. He holds a B.A. with Honors in English & Music from Yale University, and an M.F.A. in Acting from the American Conservatory Theater. His ensemble play Resurrection received its world premiere production at Arena Stage in Washington, D.C. in 2008 (where he was awarded the 2008 Edgerton Foundation’s New American Play Award); followed by engagements at Hartford Stage, the Philadelphia Theatre Company, and ETA Theater in Chicago. His ensemble musical Breath & Imagination – The Story of Roland Hayes premiered as a co-production with Hartford Stage and Pittsburgh City Theater in 2013.  He also has a solo play on the life of Paul Robeson, The Tallest Tree in the Forest, directed by Moises Kaufman that premiered the same year. He is a proud member of New Dramatists and an Adjunct Professor at Columbia University. Both Emergency and Through the Night have been published by Samuel French and are available online. His first children’s book, based on his poem Knock Knock, was released by Little Brown Books in 2013. Mr. Beaty has also written a spoken word ballet Far But Close that premiered in 2012 by Dance Theater of Harlem.
 
An Outside the Box Theater Series event presented by the Theater Department and the Center for the Arts. Co-sponsored by the Center for African American Studies; Office of Academic Affairs; Office of Equity and Inclusion; and Feminist, Gender, and Sexuality Studies.

Image of Daniel Beaty by Nathan Yungerberg