Theater For The New City Presents ELECTRIC'S WEST SIDE STORY

While West Side Story returns to Broadway, Theater for the New City is presenting seven-time Emmy Award winner William Electric Black's one-man show inspired by the famous musical.

Theater for the New City Executive Director Crystal Field is debuting "Electric's West Side Story," the well-known playwright, director and performer's take on the famous play, its place in history, role today and issues it presents.

An entertaining, innovative and immersive tour de force, Electric's production presents his view of the classic show and story in which audience members can become part of the performance.

"I am telling the story in my own Electric way, using bits of Romeo and Juliet while channeling the characters of Tony, Riff, Maria, Bernardo, Lt. Schrank, Officer Krupke, Doc and a few others," Electric said. "I use the show to talk about racial prejudice - hatred - and today's racial divide."

Electric's version comes as West Side Story plays on Broadway and Steven Spielberg prepares a movie based on the play set to be released this summer.

"Electric's West Side Story" runs four shows only April 30, May 1-2 at 8 p.m. and Sun. May 3 at 3 p.m. at Theater for the New City, 155 First Ave., between 9th and 10th Sts. Tickets are $18 and $15 for seniors/students, $12 for groups of 10 or more.

Inspired by John Leguizamo's one man shows, Electric becomes an array of characters from West Side Story, mixing improvisation with scripted text and audience participation. "Riff reminds us that the story is about him and the Jets when things get too zany, and they do," Electric said. "I get the audience involved."

This one man show with audience immersed in the production will have you wondering whether you know how to truly snap, part of some of the musical's most famous scenes. Electric also has you literally look at yourself in a small mirror that he provides in his "West Side Story shoebox kit" in a show that also examines the online definition of a rumble.

Audience members may be asked to catch a tennis ball or two in a playground scene or rattle a fiesta shaker during a rooftop scene.

"When the audience comes in, I have shoe boxes," he said. "Everybody gets a shaker, a rose, a ball for the playground scene. I developed a show with different things the audience can use as their West Side Story tool kit."

While "Electric's West Side Story" seeks to present a view of this classic play in today's world, "West Side Story" itself has its roots in a classic play

The famous musical with book by Arthur Laurents, music by Leonard Bernstein and lyrics by Stephen Sondheim was inspired by William Shakespeare's "Romeo and Juliet."Laurents' first draft was actually called East Side Story, which transformed into the story of a clash of two gangs as characters collided, catching lovers in the middle of a web of violence.

"West Side Story" is set on New York City's Upper West Side in the mid 1950s, while Electric presents his one-man show in the East Village, seeking to anchor it in today's world.

William Electric Black, the stage name for Ian Ellis James, is a multi-talented writer, producer and performer who won seven Emmy Awards and numerous other awards and acknowledgements.

His educational entertainment writing for TV includes Sesame Street to Nickelodeon, Scholastic Productions, Warner Cable, Topstone Productions and Lancit Media Entertainment.

He is a member of the faculty of the Goldberg Department of Dramatic Writing at New York University's' Tisch School of the Arts and has taught at elementary and high schools while working in the arts.

A creative force in theater, Electric has written more than 30 plays which have been produced over 25 years in New York City, Boston, Chicago and Los Angeles. A staple of New York City theater, his work has often been presented at Theater for the New York City and La MaMa

His Gunplays Series, five plays a bout gun violence, was a five-year project with one play per year produced at Theater for the New City, involving more than 50 actors, talkbacks and what can be done to tackle "this dire situation" across the nation.

"Gun violence really bothers me. It is a plague destroying the lives of inner city Black people every day," he has said. "We need to do something about it. I am tired of the candles and cards left at sites where people have been shot."

His work -- which mixes social consciousness with strong scripts, story and character -- includes musicals such as "Betty & The Belrays" recently performed at Theater for the New City.,

Electric's play "The Whites" depicts white characters facing problems that have long plagued the Black community, such as mass incarceration, segregation, red lining and more.

Electric also has-re-imagined Shakespeare's classic works as edgy musicals with "The Hamlet project" and "Romeo and Juliet: Tribal RockMusical" at LaMaMa. He also directed "The Lonely Solider Monologues" about female soldiers in Iraq based on the book, The Lonely Soldier by Columbia University Journalism Professor Helen Benedict.

"Electric's West Side Story," April 30, May 1-2 at 8 p.m. and Sun. May 3 at 3 p.m. Theater for the New City, 155 First Ave., between 9th and 10th Sts. Tickets are $18 and $15 for seniors/students, $12 for groups of 10 or more. Running time 70 minutes www.theaterforthenewcity.net, 212-254-1109.