The Culture Project and Allan Buchman in association with NileRodgers' We Are Family Foundation present the world premiere of "White Chocolate"

New York, NY -- Noted New Yorker magazine illustrator William Hamilton's new satirical play WHITE CHOCOLATE will begin performances at the Century Center for the Performing Arts (111 East 15 Street) on Tuesday, September 21, 2004 with an Opening Night on Wednesday, October 6, 2004 . Directed by David Schweizer , WHITE CHOCOLATE is produced by The Culture Project and Allan Buchman , i n association with Nile Rogers' We are Family Foundation . The show stars Reg E. Cathey, Nora Dunn, Erik Laray Harvey, Paul H. Juhn, Samantha Soule and Lynn Whitfield .

The Creative Team for WHITE CHOCOLATE includes James Noone ( Set Design ), David Weiner ( Lighting Design) and David Zinn ( Costume Design ).

WHITE CHOCOLATE is a satire that takes a humorous look into the lives of two society patrons (one Jewish, the other a blue-blood) who are shocked one morning to find that their skin color has changed overnight. Through the course of the day, Brandon Beale struggles to seal the deal on his new position as Director of the Metropolitan Museum of Art while his daughter returns home to announce her surprise engagement to an Asian man they've never met. WHITE CHOCOLATE will play the following performance schedule at the Century Center for the Performing Arts ( 111 East 15 Street) : Tuesday through Saturday at 8 PM; Matinees are on Wednesday, Saturday & Sunday at 3 PM. Tickets are $55 - $60 and are available at the box office or by calling Telecharge at 212-239-6200 ( www.telecharge.com ).

BIOS

REG E. CATHEY ( Brendan Beale ) B'way: The Green Bird. Off-B'way: Talk (Obie Award), Taming of the Shrew, Hamlet, Macbeth, Crowbar, Bad Penny . Regional: Henry IV, Winter's Tale , Art . Film: S.W.A.T., A Cold Day in August , Pooty Tang , American Psycho , Seven , Ill Gotten Gains , Tank Girl , Clear and Present Danger , The Mask , Airheads , What About Bob , Born on the Fourth of July , The Machinist. TV: “Everyday People” for HBO, “The Jury,” “Oz,” “Boycott,” “The Corner,” “ER,” “Star Trek,” “The Next Generation,” “And the Band Played On,” “Fool's Fire,” “Hamlet,” “A Doctor's Story,” “Square One TV.”

JULIE HALSTON (Vivian Beale Somerset) Well-known to theatre audiences, she recently starred on Broadway in Twentieth Century for which she received an Outer Critics Circle Nomination. Other Broadway credits include Gypsy, The Man Who Came to Dinner and The Women. Off–Broadway credits include The Butter and Egg Man at The Atlantic Theatre Co., The Vagina Monologues (New York and Boston) and The Most Fabulous Story Ever Told. She is a founding member of Charles Busch's legendary theatre company Theatre-in-Limbo and received a Drama Desk nomination for her performance in Mr. Busch's play Red Scare on Sunset . She co-starred with Mr. Busch in many of his plays including Vampire Lesbians of Sodom, The Lady in Question and You Should Be So Lucky. Ms. Halston's one woman show Julie Halston's Lifetime of Comedy, which was developed from her wildly successful club act, ran Off Broadway for six months and received an Outer Critics Circle Nomination for Best Comedy. CBS developed a pilot for Ms. Halston based on the show. She has been awarded four MAC awards for her stand-up comedy performances. In addition to theatre, she has had featured roles in a number of films including Joe Gould's Secret, Small Time Crooks, The Juror, Addams Family Values, Celebrity and Dottie Gets Spanked. Television viewers may recognize her as Bitsy Von Muffling on “Sex and The City” and radio listeners may recognize her voice from her many radio spots. Ms. Halston has written extensively about contemporary living for a large number of publications including Harper's Bazaar, Women's Day and Notorious.

ERIK LARAY HARVEY ( Ashley Brown ). New York theatre credits include: The Exonerated (The Culture Project), Where's My Money (MTC), Streetcar Named Desire (NYTW), Othello (Shakespeare in the Park), Unrequited Love and Fear Itself (NY Shakespeare Festival). Regional credits include: My Children...My Africa (Yale Rep. Theatre), 7 Guitars ( Alliance Theatre Co.), The Piano Lesson (San Jose Rep), Ooh Blah Dee (Sundance Theatre Lab), Home (NJ PAC), A Few Good Men (Syracuse Stage Co.), Spunk (Fulton Opera House). Film & TV: “Everyday People” (HBO), Marci X , Rounders , Caveman's Valentine and Twister and the soon to be released Proud and Max and Grace , “The Clubhouse,” “The Jury,” “NYPD Blue,” “Law and Order” “Law and Order SVU,” “Third Watch,” “Now and Again,” “Queen Supreme” and “Another World.” Erik would like to thank the support of Mark, Charles, Tim (Bauman, Redanty and Shaul) and their supportive staff.

PAUL H. JUHN ( Winston Lee ) Recent credits include: wAve by playwright Sung Rno with the Ma-Yi Theater Company, Sides: The Fear is Real with Mr. Miyagi's Theatre Company, Destination America at Second Stage, League of Nations at Mixed Blood Theatre, Mother Courage at the Guthrie Theater, The Importance of Being Ernest at La Jolla Playhouse. TV: “Law & Order - Criminal Intent,” “As the World Turns.” MFA in Acting from UCSD. Founding member of Mr. Miyagi's Theatre Company and the Mellow Yellow Theatre Company.

SAMANTHA SOULE ( Louise Beale ). Broadway: Dinner at Eight (LCT), Off-Broadway: Mayhem (Summer Play Festival at Theatre Row), Valhalla (NYTW), Silvernitrate (Jugternaut), Brothers and Sisters (Manhattan Theater Source), Daisy Mayme (The Pearl Theatre), Detour Days (Rising Phoenix Rep.) Regional: DA (Cape Playhouse), As Reaper in Summer Grain , After Dark , Millicent Scowlworthy (Eugene O'Neill Theater Center), TV and Film: “Guiding Light,” “Contest Searchlight” (Comedy Central), “The Callback” (Rising Phoenix Productions).

LYNN WHITFIELD ( Deborah Beale ) Theatre: national touring companies of The Great MacDaddy Musical and For Colored Girls Who Have Considered Suicide When the Rainbow is Enuf . Film: Head of State , The Thin Line Between Love and Hate , Gone Fishin' , Eve's Bayou , Dr. Detroit , Silverado , The Slugger's Wife among others. TV: “The Cheetah Girls,” “ Redemption: The Stan Tookie Williams Story,” “Lost in Oz,” “A Girl Thing,” “Love Songs,” "The Wedding," the title role in "The Josephine Baker Story" (HBO - Emmy Award), "State of Emergency," "Thicker than Blood," "Taking the Heat," "Stompin' at the Savoy," "The Women of Brewster Place," "The Cosby Mysteries," "Heartbeat," "Equal Justice," "Hill Street Blues" among others. The recipient of an NAACP Image Award, Ms. Whitfield lives in Manhattan with her daughter Grace.

WILLLIAM HAMILTON ( Playwright ). Plays include Save Grand Central (Los Gatos Rep, Los Gatos, CA; Phoenix Theater, NYC, Samuel French), Plymouth Rock (Los Gatos Rep, Los Gatos, CA, Northlight Theater, Evanston, IL), Happy Landings (ACT, San Francisco, CA), Interior Decoration (The Old Globe Theater, San Diego, CA). Has been a cartoonist for The New Yorker magazin e since 1965 and he has also done cartoons for the New York Observer , Chronicle Features Syndicate , Newsweek , Money and Town and Country among others. His cartoon collections include Antisocial Register , Terribly Nice People , Husbands Wives and Live Togethers , Voodoo Economics . He wrote the novels The Love of Rich Women , The Charlatan and The Lap of Luxury . He contributes essays to such publications as The New York Times Sunday Magazine , The New York Times Sophisticated Traveler , The New Yorker , Quest , G.Q. , Gourmet , Buzz , Harpers and The Atlantic Monthly . Awards include, Claude Moore Fuess Award, Robbie Award for Best new play, 1998.

DAVID SCHWEIZER ( Director ) has been directing new theater, opera and performance work both nationally and internationally for thirty years. He emerged from Yale Drama School to make his New York debut for Joseph Papp at Lincoln Center with a controversial Troilus and Cressida . Subsequent New York highlights include Charles Mee's Investigation of the War in El Salvador (New York Theatre Workshop), Marlane Meyer's Kingfish (Public), Greg Mehrten's It's A Man's World (Mabou Mines), Lisa Loomer's The Waiting Room (Vineyard) and more recently, Rinde Eckert's OBIE-award winning And God Created Great Whales (The Foundry Theater, The Culture Project, many touring engagements) and Mr. Mee's Wintertime (Second Stage). He has generated new multi-disciplinary work with his own company, Modern Artists, based in Los Angeles, including their award-winning Plato's Symposium last seen at the ICM in London. Some noted opera work- his debut at Houston Grand Opera with Mozart's Abduction From The Seraglio , Thomas Ades' Powder Her Face (Long Beach Opera) and this summer's revival of Sir Richard Rodney Bennett's The Mines Of Sulphur at Glimmerglass. Among the many solo and performance pieces he has directed by such artists as Sandra Tsing Loh, Marga Gomez and John Fleck, in Nora Dunn's critically acclaimed, Small Prey

HE CULTURE PROJECT@ 45 BLEECKER ( Producer ) is a non-profit arts organization that serves directors, playwrights, performing artists, and designers in the creation of theater relevant to our times. The Culture Project has repeatedly had a major impact on the visibility of and recognition achieved by various artists and their respective projects. With an emphasis upon theater that may illuminate social issues, artists aiming to enlighten and provoke are given special encouragement. By seeking the fellowship of artists with compelling and original voices The Culture Project has established an artistic ideal that has been referred to as "the best living confluence of politics and culture of our time." Recent Culture Project productions include Guantanamo: Honor Bound to Defend Freedom , Sarah Jones's bridge & tunnel and The Exonerated .