Press & Media Page
Scroll or Click: VIDEOS • RADIO • ARTICLES/FEATURES
(below) Pictures and audience responses from PT's tour through the Netherlands as part of the "World Music Theatre Festival."
PT @ the World Music Theatre Festival
(below) PT performs a 15-minute "Live Commercial" with excerpts from their musical plays at IMAN's Communiy Cafe in Chicago on April 25, 2008.
PT @ IMAN's Community Cafe (Chicago)
(below) PT's performance of "The Freedom Song" Live @ the "Prince Among Slaves" Documentary premiere in D.C. on December 1, 2007.
PT's Music on MySpace.com
Listen to some of the memorable music from PT repertoire and sign up to our "friends" list.
NYC's Radio Tahrir:
PT performs live and is interviewed on the February 20, 2007 airing. (Follow link & scroll down)
NYC's WBAI-99.5 FM:
"Perspective" with Louis Reyes Rivera. PT performs live and is interviewed.
San Francisco's KPFA 94.1 FM:
"Hard Knock Radio" interviews Cristal Chanelle Truscott and PT.
Tampa's WMNF 88.5 FM:
"The Women's Show" interviews PT.
Selected Articles & Headlines
(Click to view full-text pdfs or visit links. More from 2009 coming soon!)
"Creative Minds" - PT Cover Story
"Progress Theatre skillfully weaves a vivid tapestry of music, drama, humor, social commentary and emotion with astounding performances that command rapt attention...Respecting each other's artistry, this creative duo has a collaboration that results in standing ovations and a vibrant touring ensemble with a distinctive voice." ~Azizah Magazine
Profile: Progress Theatre
In a special issue, "Performing Islam/Muslim Realities," Ecumenica features a reflective piece by Artistic Director, Cristal Chanelle Truscott, on the journey of PT to becoming a multi-faith, activist ensemble. ~Ecumenica
Progress Theatre on "Wij blijven hier!"
(Trans: "We Are Staying Here!")
PT's multi-faith make-up and ability to spark cross-cultural dialogue through theatre is profiled on a popular website in the Netherlands in response to PT's tour with the World Music Theatre Festival. [article in Dutch]
~Wij blijven hier
NYU/Tisch Headliners: Progress Theatre
The quaterly magazine of New York University's Tisch School of the Arts (www.tisch.nyu.edu) features Progress Theatre's NYU grads along with other prominent arts alumni. ~Tisch News Spotlight
Progress Theatre: Voices of a New Generation
“With their original musical plays, PT is at the forefront of the next generation of Black theatre and succeeding in bridging the generation gap, building consistent audiences of supporters across the country. . . Seeing PT now, you'd think they planned it all from the start. But, the birth of PT actually began with much simpler aspirations: ditching college.” ~Black Masks Magazine
Against Type: Playwright Embraces Stereotypes to Subvert Them
“Truscott grabs at clichés of black womanhood, deconstructs them …and by the end of this high-energy presentation, gets them to march to their own drummer.” ~Baltimore CityPaper
Review: PEACHES
"The performance and writing here are astonishingly vivid."
~New York Show Business Weekly
Tackling issues of race and identity, poets' voices speak loud and clear at the Living Word Festival
"More likely, the next wave of aesthetics in words looks like New York's Progress Theatre...They shouted and hummed their remixed spirituals between poetic monologues and at the end of their 20-minute set, the audience exhaled in a roaring standing ovation." ~San Francisco Chronicle
Making Progress
Baltimore's premiere urban entertainment and lifestyle magazine profiles PT Baltimore native, Dana Bowles & Progress Theatre.
~The Flywire Magazine
Progress Theatre Performs at the Apollo
"The writing in PEACHES...is imaginatively subtle yet hard-hitting and unapologetic. Playwright Cristal is the next Lorraine Hansberry. Songwriter Maiesha strikes cords to move your soul, and their voices beautifully fill them with the emotion of 'striving.' Dana and Aaron join them on stage and are fearlessly bold actors." ~The Muslim Journal
PEACHES...The Angry Black Woman
"Never a dull moment...a variety of emotions, ranging from laughter to tear shed; talent, from singing to dancing...The play is one that will make its audience go back for more. It is a chance to get inside the mind of the black female and the messages conveyed in the play are ones that many youth of today, don't often hear but definitely need to."
~THE SPOKESMAN, Morgan State University
'MEMBUH - Progressive University Blog Review
"For those of you who haven't yet discovered Progress Theatre, I urge you to seek them out. Cristal Truscott tells amazing stories and Maiesha McQueen has a gift with music. ['MEMBUH] was amazing. " ~Progressive U
Social Activism In Motion
"PEACHES brings a new stage of activism ..."
~THE ORACLE, University of South Florida
Switching Between Emotions: PEACHES
"[PROGRESS THEATRE] switches between emotions -- revealing how one can walk and fall at the same time."~New WORLD Theater, UMASS
651 ARTS Presents PEACHES extracted from Nina Simone's '4 Women'
"PEACHES illuminates a series of poignant, yet humorous characters..." ~Caribbean Life
A New Stage of Activism
"[PT], sharing its Baltimore debut with area artists each night of their engagement, is impressively dedicated to using art as activism and connecting with the communities in which they perform." ~Baltimore Sun
Missouri City Native Writes and Brings Back Play from New York
"Cristal Chanelle Truscott Day celebrated in Missouri City on July 9th, goes down in the record books as a tribute to one of the City's native daughters, who has reached a milestone in her career." ~Fort Bend Southwest Sun
Fringe Events offer fresh, new talent in PROGRESS THEATRE
~National Black Theatre Festival
