Next Monday August 27th, 2012 will complete the first full year of the Metro Nashville Parks Theatre Department's New Play Reading Series at The Z. Alexander Looby Theatre, which I have had the honor to curate, thanks to my colleague Carolyn German, who is the Artistic Director of the Metro Theatre Department.
Over the past year we have showcased 9 properties with a dual focus, that being:
Plays by members of The African American Playwrights Exchange (AAPEX) and new works by Nashville songwriters.
The reading series began in September 2011 as a partnership between The African American Playwrights Exchange and Carolyn's department.
The casts have ranged in size from the 5 character UMBRELLA to the cast of over 30 for the reading of Mark Clayton Southers NINE DAYS IN THE SUN.
The curtain call for Southers' play, with a cast pretty much evenly split between African American and Caucasian actors, was a tribute to Nashville's outstanding acting community, and these events are intended as much as showcases for the actors as for the plays and the playwrights. Agents, casting directors and industry (film) folks are the first to receive invitations and sometimes they even come.
Speaking of UMBRELLA - the Steve Leslie/Len Cohen collaboration - this fine new musical is one of three finalists in the Boiler Room new musicals competition and just had a brief sold out run over at Bongo Java, while Jamie Cutler's WWII drama ANGELS WITHOUT WINGS got a workshop workout at The Darkhorse (ANGELS was given a Looby reading in March 2011).
Next Monday, in addition to celebrating a successful year of new play readings, we will also be celebrating the fifth anniversary of The African American Playwrights Exchange, so our August 27th event will feature two one act plays by writers who are members of AAPEX: Dr. Frank Dobson of Vanderbilt University and Dr. Mary Weems of Cleveland, Ohio and the Karamu House community of artists. These two powerful dramas deliver the kind of gestalt altering experience that only African American survivors of the 20th century United States can summon up.
Come to Nashville and Go to the Theatre.
Free: All are welcome.
Monday, August 27th
7:00 pm
The Z. Alexander Looby Theatre
2301 Rosa Parks Boulevard
Nashville, Tennessee
No comments:
Post a Comment