Jacquay Waller
Québec invades the North East, the United States looses New York City and suddenly Broadway is nothing but Offenbach revivals (in French).
Could the American Theatre survive and if it did, what city would be our next great theatre mecca?
There's a great argument to be made for Atlanta and one reason for that is folks like Jacquay Waller - so I asked Jacquay what he's up to down there, and this is what he has to say:
Hmmmm....What am I up to down here?
Well.... Alot!
We kicked off our national tour for Black Man-O-logues last year and we're preparing to get back on the road. I am also touring with another piece I've written entitled Tears of A Rose. It just may be coming to theatre or a church, near you! In fact, it opens in Atlanta May 5th and runs through the 12th. I release at least one new piece a year and this year, 2012, I'm on course to release 3 new pieces. That's right! 3 World Premieres! I haven't even begun to talk about the film projects. I'm currently preparing to film the webisodes for Black Man-O-logues. We're really excited about this move. In June, I will be premiering my latest piece entitled Traffik. This piece explores the issues surrounding human trafficking in our country and abroad. The other two pieces that will be release later this year deal with gun violence and race relations. You know I can't produce something that doesn't have substance and doesn't conjure some sort of thought or emotion. The saga continues! But the one BIG thing I really wanted to share with you is the news about our festival. We're launching the "Atlanta New Works Theatre Festival" this Fall in Atlanta. We're so geeked! This festival will premiere some of the best kept secrets in the world. The criteria for submission are that the writer, director, producer, or leading actor, must be a person of color and the piece must address some social issue. The piece doesn't have to solely deal with the issue, but it must be socially engaged with an issue in our society. This festival will occur over the course of 3 days - October 19-21. It should be an awesome experience!
Why Atlanta?
Why Not Atlanta? Of course the theatre scene in Atlanta is very segmented and "clickish". In my opinion it is also a segregated market. You would think that there would be alot more theatre here, particularly Black Theatre, with the number of affluent black people here in Atlanta, but that's sadly not the case. I happened to go to
graduate School here in Atlanta and I've been here ever since. I love this city. There's always something to see and do; which means there is always something to trigger my creative "juices". It's a good time to be here right now with the number of film companies coming in and setting up shop. There are alot of people moving here from L.A. and NYC. It is definitely a place where you have an opportunity to establish yourself and your brand before the market becomes too saturated. At DreamCatcher, we continue to press the envelope in theatre and film and we look forward to the future as we continue to add our flare to the growing Atlanta Theatre Scene.
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