FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:  February 5, 2020

By Joseph Zwilling and Mercedes Anderson

THE SHEEN CENTER FOR THOUGHT & CULTURE presents a dynamic array of programming in the month of FEBRUARY, including a much anticipated screening of the film BURDENwhich premiered at the Sundance Film Festival in 2018 where it won the coveted Audience Award. It stars Garrett Hedlund, BIFA-winner Andrea Riseborough, Oscar-winner Forest Whitaker, and BAFTA-winner Tom Wilkinson. The screening will take place on February 16 at 3PM in THE SHEEN CENTER’s Loreto Theater and will be followed by a conversation with the film’s writer and director ANDREW HECKLER. BURDEN explores pathways to healing amid mounting, racially-charged tensions in a small South Carolina town. 

CBS returns to THE SHEEN CENTER with this season’s exclusive screening of a new episode of the critically-acclaimed series GOD FRIENDED ME featuring the series’ leads BRANDON MICHAEL HALL and JAVICIA LESLIE for a talkback about the series on February 10 at 7pm in the Loreto Theater. Discover why GOD FRIENDED ME has captured the imagination of American audiences with its innovative story lines about heartwarming, providential encounters on social media. 

BERNIE WILLIAMS and the Bernie Williams Collective will take to the stage on February 13 at 8pm for AN INTIMATE EVENING WITH BERNIE WILLIAMS, an evening of jazz, R&B, blues, and the tropical rhythms of his childhood in Puerto Rico. Mr. Williams will play highlights from his albums, including the Latin Grammy-nominated Moving Forward. YANKEES fans and sports lovers alike won’t want to miss WEPN radio host MICHAEL KAY interviewing the four-time World Series Champion and five-time ALL STAR about his epic journey in sports and musical success.

Blackfriars Repertory Theatre and The Storm Theatre present SISTER CALLING MY NAME, a play written by Buzz McLaughlin which is currently running in The Blackbox Theater through February 16. National Review Institute Fellow and editor at large, Kathryn Jean Lopez writes: “Life is full of crosses and heartache, the kind of failure that draws us deeper into darkness. And yet, something like Sister Calling My Name…brings us into light.” This award-winning play deals with issues of love and loss, faith and doubt, the strength of family ties, and the possibility of personal redemption. Tickets are still on sale at sheencenter.org

THE GALLERY AT THE SHEEN CENTER presents two exhibitions this month. PORTRAITS OF LIFE IN SECRET PLACES by Andrea K. Schneider which opens tomorrow Thursday, February 6 at 6pm and runs through February 10; and SERVANTS OF GOD AND PROPHETS OF JOY by Brother Mickey McGrath, OSFS opening February 12 at 5:30pm. 

PORTRAITS OF LIFE IN SECRET PLACES consists of a collection of 13 life-affirming drawings by Andrea K. Schneider that seek to capture the powerful generative force of the Creator as it is found in the countenance of a child in the womb. The exhibition is inspired, in part, by the photography of Lennart Nilsson whose photographs appeared on the 1965 cover of LIFE magazine; and Psalm 139:13-16: “For you created my inmost being; you knit me together in my mother’s womb…my frame was not hidden from you when you made me in the secret place.” The artist also expands on the theme of the Hand of God that the masters Rodin and Michelangelo explored in their own work.

SERVANTS OF GOD AND PROPHETS OF JOY is a collection of paintings by Brother Mickey McGrath OSFS reflecting his life’s work and the arc of his spiritual journey which spans twenty-eight years and was sparked in 1992 by a transformative experience inspired by Sr. Thea Bowman. The paintings in the Thea Bowman series each have the title of a spiritual, as African-American music was at the very heart of Sr. Thea’s spirit and legacy. For twenty-five years, Brother Mickey McGrath has shared these images in art and music celebrating St. Thea Bowman’s life at churches and conferences throughout the country. In 2019, Sr. Thea was declared a Servant of God, opening the path to her canonization as a saint. Dorothy Day, Nicholas Black Elk, and Augustine Tolton – all candidates for sainthood for their lives of heroic virtue – are also featured in the exhibition. 

Members of the Press interested in attending or covering any of these events are asked to kindly contact [email protected].

THE SHEEN CENTER FOR THOUGHT & CULTURE is a New York City arts center located in NoHo that presents a vibrant mix of theater, film, music, art and talk events. The cultural arts center of the Archdiocese of New York, The Sheen Center serves all New Yorkers by presenting performances and artists that reflect the true, the good, and the beautiful in a variety of artistic disciplines.  Named for the late Archbishop Fulton J. Sheen, best remembered as an inspirational author, radio host and two-time Emmy Award-winning television personality, The Sheen Center reflects his modern-day approach to contemporary topics. The Sheen Center is a state-of-the-art theater complex that includes the 270-seat off-Broadway Loreto Theater, equipped with five-camera high-definition TV and live-stream capability and a multi-track recording studio; the 80-seat off-off-Broadway Black Box Theater; four rehearsal studios; and an art gallery.

Tickets/reservations for all events at The Sheen Center for Thought & Culture (18 Bleecker Street, at the corner of Elizabeth Street) are available online at SheenCenter.org, by phone at 212-925-2812, in-person at The Sheen Center box office, or OvationTix.com.