Odds and Ends: Black Theatre United Honors Paul Tazewell and Delroy Lindo, Sarah Paulson Reunites With Ella Beatty & More

Here's a quick roundup of stories you might have missed.

United We Stan!
Black Theatre United has announced the lineup of presenters, performers and co-chairs for its fourth annual gala on October 5 at the Ziegfeld Ballroom. Honored at the event will be Paramount Chair of TV Media George Cheeks with the Accountability Award, Academy Award-nominated actor Delroy Lindo with the Advocacy Award and Tony and Academy Award-winning costume designer Paul Tazewell with the Lifetime Achievement Award. Directed by Jerry Dixon with music direction by Joseph Joubert and auction by Patrick Tully, the Gala’s theme is “Work to Do.” The evening will also feature performances by Wayne Brady, Jonathan Burke, Nicholas Christopher, Darius de Haas, Sydney James Harcourt, Dava Huesca, Capathia Jenkins, Keehnon Jackson, Brian Stokes Mitchell, Vanessa Williams and Natasha Yvette Williams. Special appearances will be made by Lisa Dawn Cave, Raúl Esparza, Carin Ford, LaChanze, Norm Lewis, Michael McElroy, Wendell Pierce, Tamara Tunie and more to be announced. Co-chairs for this annual gala include Mathew Knowles and Gena Avery Knowles, Les Coney, Julio Peterson and Priscilla Sims Brown. Honorary co-chairs include Steven Reineke, Karine Jean-Pierre, Qween Jean, Mister Fitzgerald, Michael Oloyede, Ezra Ezzard, Kara Young, Josh Groban and Ann James.

How Appropriate
Ella Beatty is starring as Lizzie Borden in Monster: The Lizzie Borden Story, coming to Netflix on September 17. Tony winner Sarah Paulson will team up with Beatty once again as Aileen Wuornos in the television show, reuniting the two after appearing together in Appropriate on Broadway. The latest chapter in the Monster anthology follows the repressed daughter of a wealthy New England family and her rebellious maid, who find themselves trapped in a house built on humiliation and cruelty. They escape into a fantasy of sex, power and revenge with gruesome unsolved murders that don't just shock the world—they give birth to an icon who refuses to live imprisoned in a cage, choosing instead to forge her own legend. Additional cast members include Vicky Kriep, Rebecca Hall, Charlie Hunnam, Billie Lourd, Joey Pollari and Jessica Barden.

Ghost Story
Get ready for the New York premiere of A Ghost in Your Ear, Jamie Armitage’s immersive horror show set inside an audiobook recording session gone terrifyingly wrong. Written and directed by Armitage, the show will run at Audible’s Minetta Lane Theatre from September 29 through November 15. A Ghost in Your Ear features sound design by Ben and Max Ringham, scenic and costume design by Anisha Fields and lighting design by Ben Jacobs. The play follows an actor who arrives late to a sound studio for a last-minute recording session, he is handed the script of a chilling ghost story to read. But as the engineer cues the recording and the evening wears on, the horrors slowly begin to escape the page to haunt the studio itself. With audiences wearing headphones featuring binaural sound technology, this theatrical experience places everyone directly in a haunting world of sound.

Safety First
The full cast and design team for L.B. Browne’s Safe House, directed by Benjamin Viertel is set. Performances will run at Theatre Row from September 2-13. Leading the cast are Tony winner Karen Ziemba and Marc Kudisch, alongside Anna Roman, Grace Church, Justin Lee Miller, Glenn Seven Allen and Julianna Layne. The production features set design by Forest Entsminger, lighting design by Mary Ellen Stebbins, costume design by Kyle Artone and sound design by Liam Bellman-Sharpe. Safe House is a family drama set in the days leading up to a U.S. presidential election. Convinced the second American civil war is imminent, Rock, a father secretly dying of a hereditary neurodegenerative disease, becomes consumed by the need to protect his family. In the basement of his Pennsylvania suburban home, transformed, beam by beam, into a doomsday bunker, he has built what he believes is the last safe place on earth. 

It Wallsend Me
Global reggae star Shaggy will star as Wallsend Ferryman alongside Sting in the reimagined adaptation of The Last Ship for two nights only at the West End’s Theatre Royal Drury Lane. His first performance will take place on September 22, and on the following night at the musical’s gala. The remaining cast will be announced soon. The Last Ship will run from September 22 through October 3, featuring a new book by Barney Norris, scored by Sting and directed by Leo Warner.