PHILADELPHIA – Azuka Theatre’s 10th Anniversary Season continues with a staged reading of their inaugural production, Le Rue des Faux. An adaptation of James Baldwin’s landmark novel Giovanni’s Room, Le Rue des Faux was written and directed by Azuka founder Raelle Myrick-Hodges. The reading, the second part of Azuka’s Spotlight Series, will be Tuesday March 9 at 7:00 p.m. at the Latvian Society, 531 N. 7th Street. Admission is free.

Set in Paris in 1962, La Rue des Faux follows David, a young American, who denies his love for the handsome Giovanni and finds himself grappling with the consequences of that decision. Myrick-Hodges adapted the play in 1999 and Azuka originally staged it in the basement of the William Way Community Center.

Discussing the novel and her adaptation, Myrick-Hodges said, “James Baldwin wrote Giovanni's Room in 1955. Initially, the book wasn't published in the United States because it's about 'two men and their erotic affair.' To me, the novel was not about sex. After multiple readings, the book still was not about sex. This adaptation follows suit with that idea. What this play is about is telling the truth - not simply to others, but to oneself."

Myrick-Hodges will return to Azuka for the one-night only reading of her work. She currently lives in San Francisco and is now the Artistic Director of BRAVA Theater. She is the second Artistic Director in BRAVA’s 22 year history.

The reading features original cast members Kevin Glaccum and Tyler Melchior with Brian Cowden, Mike Dees, Allison Heishman, Janice Rowland, Amanda Schoonover and Dito van Reigersberg.

Raelle Myrick-Hodges is a Co-Founder of Azuka Theatre. For Azuka, she wrote and directed La Rue des Faux and Trouble with Bohemia. She directed Metamorphosis and Polaroid Stories. In 2006, she was nominated for a Barrymore in the category of Outstanding New Play for An Artist’s Workshop, which tells the story of Friedl Dicker-Brandeis, an artist incarcerated in a labor camp during the Second World War. While at Azuka Theatre, Myrick-Hodges was a recipient of a NEA/TCG Career Development Award for Directing. Her career subsequent to Azuka has enabled her to work with such nationally recognized artists as Meryl Streep, Jeffrey Wright, Harold Perrineau, Liev Schreiber, Doug Hughes, George C. Wolfe, Suzanne Lori-Parks and Charlayne Woodard, among others. Aside from participating in the creation of Azuka Theatre, she has also worked at Seattle Repertory Theater, Pig Iron Theatre Company, Mark Taper Forum, American Conservatory Theater, Philadelphia Theatre Company, McCarter Theater, Arden Theatre Company, Magic Theater, Aurora Theater, AlterTheater, Mark Taper Forum, Playmakers Repertory, MudBone Theatre Collective, Goethe Institute (Cologne, DE), and Questors Theater (Ealing London).