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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE, PLEASE

New York, NY (01/27/2011) – Producers Jed Bernstein and Adam Zotovich announced today that Driving Miss Daisy’s series of post-performance talk-backs celebrating Black History Month will begin Wednesday, February 2, immediately following the show’s 8:00 PM performance with a discussion of the timeless nature of the show’s issues and themes.

The discussion will include President of the National Urban League and former New Orleans mayor Marc Morial and David J. Dent, Professor of Journalism and Social and Cultural Analysis at New York University, and will be moderated by former COURT TV Anchor and CNN Correspondent Adaora Udoji. As previously announced, this series will continue throughout the month, with talk-backs following all Wednesday evening performances.

The current smash hit revival of Driving Miss Daisy is now playing at the Golden Theatre, where it opened to rave reviews on October 25, 2010 and was recently extended through Saturday, April 9, 2011.

Uhry’s classic play is a timeless, searing, funny, and ultimately hopeful meditation on race relations in America, told through the complex relationship between two of popular culture’s most enduring characters. When Daisy Werthan (Redgrave), a widowed, 72-year-old Jewish woman living in midcentury Atlanta, is deemed too old to drive, her son, Boolie (Gaines), hires Hoke Coleburn (Jones), an African American man, to serve as her chauffeur. What begins as a troubled and hostile pairing, soon blossoms into a profound, life-altering friendship that transcends all the societal boundaries placed between them. From its landmark Off-Broadway production in 1987 to the remarkable success of the Oscar-winning film version (4 Academy Awards, including Best Picture), Driving Miss Daisy has become one of the most beloved American stories of the late twentieth century.

The creative team of Driving Miss Daisy includes John Lee Beatty (Scenic Design), Jane Greenwood (Costume Design), Peter Kaczorowski (Lighting Design), Wendall K. Harrington (Projection Design), Christopher Cronin (Sound Design) and Mark Bennett (Music).

Driving Miss Daisy is produced on Broadway by Jed Bernstein, Adam Zotovich, Elizabeth Ireland McCann, Roger Berlind, Beth Kloiber, Albert Nocciolino, Jon Platt, StylesFour Productions, Ruth Hendel/Shawn Emamjomeh, Larry Hirschhorn/Spring Sirkin, Carl Moellenberg/Wendy Federman, Daryl Roth/Jane Bergére, in association with Michael Filerman.

Driving Miss Daisy plays Tuesday at 7:00 p.m., Wednesday – Saturday at 8:00 p.m., with matinees on Wednesday and Saturday at 2:00 p.m. Tickets ($66.50 – $131.50) are on sale via Telecharge.com and at the box office of the Golden Theatre. Student tickets (one ticket per ID, subject to availability) are available for day-of purchase at the box office for $26.50.

Biographies

Adaora Udoji is an award-winning journalist and on-air personality. Most recently, she was the co-host of the popular public radio morning drive show “The Takeaway”, a newly launched multi-media production partnership between WNYC, Public Radio International, The New York Times and The BBC and WGBH-Boston. Udoji's ability to rapidly distill complex relationships and issues — skills honed over 12 years of work as a war correspondent at ABC News, a correspondent at CNN and later an anchor at CourtTV. Raised in the United States and Nigeria, Udoji catapulted into the world of network news as producer of Cynthia McFadden's acclaimed coverage of the O.J. Simpson trial. Udoji has since covered some of the most critical international and domestic stories of the past dozen years as an on-air correspondent, delivering award-winning coverage of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan for ABC News, the last four presidential elections and the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, and more. Udoji was among those who contributed to CNN receiving the Peabody Award for their heralded coverage of Hurricane Katrina, and a DuPont-Columbia University Award for their coverage of the Tsunami Disaster in South Asia. Udoji has written for CNN.com and Essence.com, and is a regular interview subject for outlets including Wall Street Journal, New York Times, New York Daily News, New Your Magazine, Fast Track Magazine, Uptown Magazine, Essence Magazine, University of Michigan Alumni Magazine and Africana.com. Udoji and her husband, NBC News correspondent Ron Allen, live in New York City with their daughter and their two Norwich Terriers.

Marc Morial. As President of the National Urban League since 2003. Marc H. Morial has been the primary catalyst for an era of change — a transformation for the nearly 100 year old civil rights organization. His energetic and skilled leadership has expanded the League’s work around an Empowerment agenda, which is redefining civil rights in the 21st century with a renewed emphasis on closing the economic gaps between Whites and Blacks as well as rich and poor Americans. Under his stewardship the League has had record fundraising success towards a 250MM, five year fundraising goal and he has secured the BBB nonprofit certification, which has established the NUL as a leading national nonprofit. A graduate of the prestigious University of Pennsylvania with a degree in Economics and African American Studies, he also holds a law degree from the Georgetown University Law Center in Washington, D.C., as well as honorary degrees from Xavier University, Wilberforce University, and the University of South Carolina Upstate. Morial was elected Mayor of New Orleans in 1994, serving two terms as popular chief executive with a broad multi-racial coalition who led New Orleans’ 1990’s renaissance, and left office with a 70% approval rating. Morial, a history, arts, music and sports enthusiast, has an adult daughter, and is married to broadcast journalist Michelle Miller. Together they have two young children.

David J. Dent is author of In Search of Black America, a New York Times Book Review Notable Book of 2000. He is also author of the forthcoming American Extremes, to be published by St Martin's Press. He has lectured on the “invisible black majority” at universities across the country. He was a 2004 media fellow of the Open Society Institute of the Soros Foundation and his articles have appeared in several publications, including The New York Times Magazine, Book Review and Education Life sections, GQ, Psychology Today, Savoy, Inc., Fortune Small Business, Details, Playboy, Essence and The Washington Post. He is an Associate Professor of Journalism at New York University and has also taught in the Africana Studies Program. He has twice received the university's Golden Dozen Award for Excellence in Teaching and Service and has served as an advisor and workshop leader for the university's Faculty Resource Network, which has established relationships between NYU and many historically black colleges. He is a graduate of Morehouse College and Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism.

The full talk-back schedule is as follows:

Wednesday, February 2
Moderator: Adaora Udoji, Former COURT TV Anchor and CNN Correspondent
Guest: Marc Morial, National Urban League President and former New Orleans mayor
Guest: David J. Dent, New York University Professor

Wednesday, February 9
Moderator: Michelle Miller, CBS News Correspondent
Guest: Martha Hodes, New York University Professor
Guest: Deputy Mayor Dennis Walcott

Wednesday, February 16
Moderator: Jed Bernstein, Producer of Driving Miss Daisy
Guest: Harold Ford, Jr., former U.S. Congressman and frequent “Morning Joe contributor.
Guest: Jennifer Morgan, New York University Professor

Wednesday, February 23
Moderator: Jed Bernstein, Producer of Driving Miss Daisy
Guest: Kathryn Stockett, Best-selling author of The Help
Guest: Jonathan Schorsch, Columbia University Professor

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