Turpentine Jake wins 2009 NAACP Theatre Award!
Rae'ven Larrymore-Kelly takes home "Best Lead Actress in a Local Production" honors for Turpentine Jake at 2009 NAACP Theatre Awards held Monday, August 31 at the Director's Guild of America. Turpentine Jake, the first production staged by The Kohl Players, Los Angeles-based Theater Company, received two nominations at the 2009 NAACP Awards. Lauren Bernard also received a nod for Best Costume Design in a Local Production.

Lauren Bernard, Best Costume Design Nominee; Derek Shaun, "Tush" in Turpentine Jake, Rae'ven Larrymore-Kelly, Best Lead Actress Winner; Linda Bannister, Co-Author and Producer; James E. Hurd, Jr., lead actor "Jake," Co-Author and Co-Director.
Theatre Press & Awards
Awards
- Turpentine Jake
- Receives two 2009 NAACP Theatre Awards Nominations, awards ceremony August 31, 2009, Directors Guild of America, Hollywood, CA
- Lauren Bernard nominated for Turpentine Jake in "Best Costumes - Local" Category and RaéVen Larrymore Kelly nominated for Turpentine Jake in "Best Female Lead - Local" Category, 19th Annual NAACP Theater Awards 2009
- Selected for National Black Theatre Festival Reading Series, Winston-Salem, NC, 2007.
- Cul de Sac
- Friday Night Footlights, Dramatists Guild West staged reading at the Academy for New Musical Theatre, North Hollywood, 2007
- One Sunday in Mississippi
- Selected for GreenwayReads Reading Series at the Greenway Court Theatre, Los Angeles, 2003.
- Selected for National Black Theatre Festival Reading Series, Winston-Salem, NC, 2003.
Press
- Turpentine Jake
- English Professor's Play Nominated for Theater Awards by Mason D. Stockstill
- 'Turpentine Jake,' 'Taste-Off' will close Agrirama exhibit by Angie Thompson
- Play Brings to Legacy to New Generation by Kenna Joseph
- "A Way Out of No Way" Race Matters by Michael Datcher
- "believe and be ready" --- the journeys of "turpentine jake" take flight at lmu's del rey theatre by Richard Kearns from aids-write.org
- LA Weekly Review of "Turpentine Jake"
- "Professor Linda Bannister Writes New Play about Turpentine Workers" by Fred Puza
- "Rae'Ven Larrymore Kelly to Star in Kohl Players World Premiere"
- "Turpentine Industry Equals Indebted Slavery" by Kim Webster, The Long Beach Times Newspaper, 2006
- "Filmmaker James E. Hurd, Jr. Presents "Turpentine Jake" and "Poet of the Swingin’ Blade," Westsidestory Newspaper, 2006
- "People You Should Know: James E. Hurd, Jr." by Buddy Sampson, Los Angeles Scoop, 2006
- Filmmaker James E. Hurd, Jr. Completes Two Projects Based on the Turpentine Industry from redOrbit.com
Photos:
- Top Left: James E. Hurd, Jr. and Linda Bannister (Playwrights, Turpentine Jake) at NAACP Theater Awards Nominees Press Conference July 21, 2009
- Top Right: Ron Hasson, President of Beverly Hills/Hollywood NAACP and James E. Hurd, Jr. at NAACP Theater Awards Nominees Press Conference, July 21, 2009
- Bottom Left: (L to R) James E. Hurd, Jr., RaéVen Larrymore Kelly, Garland Thompson, Jr. and (seated) Phyllis Larrymore Kelly at National Black Theatre Festival, 2007.
James E. Hurd, Jr., and RaéVen Larrymore Kelly also starred in Turpentine Jake at the Del Rey Theatre, Los Angeles, August 1–24, 2008 - Bottom Right: Thad Rasuli Ballew (Vietnam Vet.) and James E. Hurd, Jr.
Hurd portrays "Rasuli" in On the Front Line: Three Generations of Soldiers' Voices.
Bannister and Hurd co-authored "A Gentleman by an Act of Congress" in Soldiers' Voices.
