A Note to AAPEX Artists

When I first started AAPEX, I had no clue what I was doing or getting into. Honestly, I thought it would, like many good ideas, spark and fizzle and fade away.

We are now entering our 6th year. We have produced so many events in New York - thanks largely to Liliane Klein and The Players Club - that I have lost track. We have no board of directors and we have no funding. I have to repeat this - no funding. Our New York events routinely play to packed houses and from time to time get standing ovations. People do wonder how I do this and it's just because I have paid my dues in New York over the past 22 years and because I love, respect and - most of all - enjoy my wonderful brilliant and talented New York friends, so when I send someone a script, I only send the best. In fact, my primary theorem of theatre is: give a great actress a great role and get the fuck out of her way. It never fails.

Starting last fall, AAPEX entered into a partnership with Carolyn German and the Metro Parks Theatre Department and is now the producing arm of that department's New Play Reading Series. The first two readings were AAPEX authors - in fact, Mark Clayton Southers of the August Wilson Center in Pittsburgh drove down from Pa. the day of the reading of his play NINE DAYS IN THE SUN. The second two scripts were not in any sense African American, but AAPEX isn't just about scripts - it's also about the African American theatrical sensibility, which is grounded in struggle, in a fierce need to establish ground without the tools of privilege. It seems perfectly reasonable to me that the next generation of leadership in the American Theatre should and must come from these citizen artists who have harnessed the power of the theatre for it's most profound purposes.

My immediate strategy for this reading series is to balance AAPEX scripts and new musicals by Nashville songwriters.

To date, AAPEX has been represented by Hershell Norwood (BILLIE' BLUES) and Mark Clayton Southers.

Nashville songwriters have been represented by the team of Steve Leslie & Len Cohen (UMBRELLA) and Dr. Jamie Cutler (ANGELS WITHOUT WINGS).

This coming Monday, we expand our diversity platform with a reading of THE WAY OF WATER by Caridad Svich, in partnership with her organization NoPassport . The May reading will be of IT'S A RUFF LIFE - a musical about dogs by Jesse Goldberg & Gene Levine - two Nashville songwriters who belong to an interesting side of the local scene, being as they are two nice Jewish boys from New York City.

As I stop for a moment to assess exactly what is going on and where we go from here with this network, I have to chalk these first five years up to research - which has included reading more scripts than I can count, endless dialogues with all of you, with producers, artistic directors and with audience members and offering the best advice and support that I can. I have been aided immeasurably in this by our man in Miami, Dave Copeland - who created and has tirelessly edited the AAPEX blog - and that blog has become one of the most respected communications of it's kind because Dave and I are dedicated to making sure that what we post is not the same redundant crap that you see so many places. Dave's 18 years as Director of Marketing, Promotions and Publicity for Warner Brothers Studios in Florida makes him an ally who is profoundly deserving of your appreciation - and I might point out that both Dave and I do all that we do for free.

From time to time I toy with the idea of setting myself up as an "agent" - but I just can't do it. I'm a dramaturg. It's the mission that God gave me and anything an "agent" can do, I can do just as well. And where are you going to find an agent who's going to showcase your work?

The other day a query went out on the LMDA listserve re: whether "Black" playwrights are still being paid less than "White" playwrights. It's actually a strange question because any playwright can join the Dramatists Guild and take advantage of their standard contract - and if you know that you are getting a play produced, then for grief's sake, join the Guild. Two AAPEX writers who actually got plays produced completely ignored this advice and they both got screwed - royally screwed. The Dramatists Guild is there to advise and guide and in some sense protect you. The membership fee is considerably less than I have seen these two writers spend on lawyers over the past couple of years.

But if the real question is, are black playwrights determined to get their work out there regardless of financial considerations, the answer is yes. Do they have time to wait for grants that will never come. No. Are they looking for permission. Hardly. There is still a radical fire burning in our souls that was kindled in the 1960s and that has been continually fueled by living in a society where some folks think their job is to get in other folks' way. Whoever you are, you are not the boss of me.

I look forward to talking with those of you who are interested in participating in the Metro Nashville Parks Theatre Department's New Play Reading Series and I also count on you to help me promote this series as widely as possible so that having this on your resume brings with it the merit that it deserves, both for the artists and the producers.

Jaz Dorsey

Vote for Liliane Klein!

Liliane Klein

Liliane needs your vote to get into the NYMF Next Broadway Sensation Finals! Lord knows how much she has done for AAPEX playwrights by not only finding us free venues in NYC for a whole slew of readings but also by appearing in them too (just click her name below and it will bring up her long and storied AAPEX past).

Please note votes must be in BEFORE 5pm THIS TUESDAY. To vote, just click the post's title.

AAPEX up to now (Nashville and beyond)

On Januray 1, 2007, I got a wild hair and sent out an email announcing the founding of The African American Playwrights Exchange. I don't know what I expected; honestly, I thought to myself; "A year from now, I will have heard from 20 wannabes and two students." By Wednesday, January 3 - a mere 3 days later - I had already heard from 30 playwrights. Among the first was Terrence Spivey, Artistic Director of Karamu House in Cleveland. Terrence sent a few more Karamu folks my way - Karamu's resident playwright, Mike Oatman, Karamu board member Peter Lawson Jones, Nicole Kearney of Indianapolis and Gregory Carr of St Louis. The first New Yorkers to join up were Dr. Henry Miller - recognized as one of the foremost African American theatre scholars - and the enigmatic Owa, absurdist extraordinare. By June, the number had grown to 70 writers and by the beginning of 2008 I had heard from about 150 writers nation wide. It is no coincidence that the impetus for this organization came out of Nashville, Tennessee. Since the 1950's, Nashville has been perceived as the capitol of country music, which, with the exception of Charley Pride, has been, without a doubt, the most Caucasian branch of the entertainment industry in the US. Most folks probably think that Nashville's moniker, Music City USA, comes out of this country music era. It does not. Music City is what Queen Victoria called Nashville after she heard The Fisk Jubilee Singers from Fisk University, which was founded in 1866. Fisk counts among it's alumni W.E.B.DuBois, Ida B. Wells, former DC Mayor Marion Berry, Lilian Hardin Armstrong ( second wife of Louis Armstrong) and Beyonce's father, Matthew Knowles. Nashville's African American history is something I am just beginning to explore, but as a member of Nashville's amazing theatre community, I know this - Nashville may have more African American theatre companies than any other city in the United States. This became very clear in 2006, when four of Nashville's black theatre companies accidentally booked their shows back to back in Nashville's "home-base" theatre, The Darkhorse. Once Mary McCallum, Shawn Whitsell, Eugenia Sweeney and Candy Robbins saw this, they teamed up to found the SHADES OF BLACK THEATRE FESTIVAL, which celebrated its fourth year in 2010. Always looking for a dramaturgical challenge, I offered to do some voluntary script scouting for Eugenia Sweeney's company COLLARDS AND CAVIAR. Another email out into Cyberspace returned a very interesting response - every single reply I got included the words "Thank you for taking in interest in new works by African American playwrights. " It was literally this, pretty much word for word, every time. Sensing that there was a niche that needed to be filled, on January 1, 2007, I sent out another arrow in to Cyberspace and, as per the beginning of this piece, three days later I found that I had started an organization. The most interesting thing to happen next was what was to happen in NYC. In August 2007 AAPEX presented a reading of pieces by Owa and George Broome, directed by dramaturg Roweena McKay at a dance studio somewhere in the West 30's. The next thing I knew, March 2008, we had produced a staged reading of Hershell Norwood's BILLIE'S BLUES at The Players Club in New York City. With no money. The next thing to happen was another Players Club event - thanks to our awesome friend, Player's Club member Liliane Klein - a reading of Nathan Ross Freeman's HANNAH ELIAS directed by Passion and starring Leilani Bryant, from the Broadway cast of THE COLOR PURPLE, as the cosmic Enchantress, Hannah Elias. Thanks to my Pastor, Doug Sanders, who got me there and came with me to see what all this "new play reading" business was about, I was in the audience which sat through a 2 & 1/2 hour play reading in 99% heat with no air conditioning TRANSFIXED! Afterwards there was not one word said about the heat. On the opposite end of the temperature spectrum, in Feb. 2010 I went up for the SECOND New York reading of Merrill Jones' MRS. STREETER at The Dramatists' Guild: Everyone dug their way through the snow to get there, and I got stuck in the city for three days because even Greyhound wouldn't send a bus out on those roads. But the reading was packed, weather not withstanding. Meanwhile, down in Miami, AAPEX member - founding member - Dave Copeland was creating the AAPEX blog, which has become an encyclopedia of African American playwrights and theatre companies. www.africanamerican playwrightsexcha nge.blogspot. com HANNAH ELIAS also played a huge role back here in Nashville, when we presented excerpts from the play as part of our first Black History Month at Vanderbilt. That and MADAM, the Madam C J Walker musical by Adriana Rogers which seems to be getting produced in Atlanta for Black History Month 2011. That brings us back to Nashville and OUR actors. And for that, you'll just have to Come to Nashville and Go to the Theatre!


Jaz Dorsey

AAPEX Interview: Liliane Klein

Liliane Klein

Since it's founding on January 1, 2007, AAPEX has mounted a string of readings of our members' plays. Most of these readings have taken place in NYC and a significant number of those NYC readings have been held at the historic Players' Club on Gramercy Park - thanks to our great friend and supporter, actress Liliane Klein. AAPEX owes a tremendous debt to Lili for her support. She recently received outstanding reviews for her work in the lead role of a San Francisco production of FAT PIG. I have no doubt we will hear much from Lili in years to come. Below she shares with us her background and future plans.
Jaz Dorsey

What role did theatre and the arts play in your childhood and upbringing?
My parents always made arts culture very much a part of my upbringing. In utero, they were taking me to museums, concerts, and theatre around the world. I have tons of stories of growing up going to Tanglewood classical concerts in the summers for my dad's and my birthdays (our birthday's are three days apart). We would go with my grandparents and sit on the lawn and bring a picnic. And then my sister and I would run off and climb all over the terrific climbing trees. The first time my mother took me to an indoor concert, I was confused and worried because I didn't see where she had put the picnic basket! Between subscriptions to the Roundabout Theatre Family Series, The Pearl Theatre, Broadway Shows, and any Shakespeare or Moliere that came through New York, as well as trips to London and Stratford, La Comedie Francaise in Paris, and The Abbey Theatre in Dublin, I don't even remember a time when I didn't go to the theatre, it was just always a part of my life since before I can even remember.

Tell us about your own evolution as an artist.
I always acted and wanted to be a story-teller, (even though I'm a TERRIBLE story-teller, unscripted!) for as long as I can remember. I didn't do it because I wanted to be an actress. I just did it because I enjoyed it. I think I always enjoyed rehearsal and, oddly enough, learning lines. It feels like a sort of accomplishment after the daunting first read and then all of a sudden you realize that they're a part of you and that the brain has so much capacity to retain information. It wasn't until my Sophomore year in high school, when I was kicked out of the ensemble of the musical, A Chorus Line, for being late to rehearsals, (I was also an officer of our environmental club and meetings often coincided with rehearsals), that I realized what an integral part of my life theatre was. Since that moment, I spent every moment dedicating myself to it. I attended the Oxford Tradition, majoring in Theatre, that summer, the National High School Theatre Institute at Northwestern the summer after, and Yale summer drama school the summer before starting my 4 year BFA training at Boston University. When I graduated, my parents asked me if I wanted to apply right away to grad school... I thought it might be a good time to give academia a rest for a little while. Since then, I enjoyed an outstanding summer abroad at the month-long BADA summer Shakespeare intensive in 2009, and some New York City acting classes at Wynn Handman Studio and Dance Classes with Broadway Dance Center and Haila Strauss. Additionally, I'm a full-time student enrolled in the university of life-experience, which is in many ways, the most important school. It's where I figure out how best to utilize the tools I've been given and discover new tools at the same time. Nothing beats it!

As an actress, what have been your experiences with the roles you have done for AAPEX? (BILLIE'S BLUES & HANNAH ELIAS)?
I have enjoyed the work and the artists I have met through AAPEX. I find that much of the work is still in developmental stages, which I like. AAPEX has been a terrific forum for me to help shape the theatre of tomorrow.

If you could handpick your next project, what would it be and why?
I have several roles on my bucket list. The one I'm dying to play right NOW is Josie in A Moon for the Misbegotten. There are only a handful of roles where I read the character description and so strongly think - that's ME! Josie is one of those roles. The writing is sheer poetry and her story is so bittersweet. She's a character you can really sink your teeth into. I also really want to play Mary in the Stephen Sondheim musical, Merrily We Roll Along. Sort of for the same reasons as above. I'm attracted to heartbreaking characters.

www.angelfire.com/fold/lilianeklein
Liliane Klein
516-353-3729

Stagefright: A Literary Cabaret at The Players Club Halloween Night (NYC)

Click Image to Enlarge.

The Southern Writers' Theater and The African American Playwrights Exchange invite you to join us at 7pm on Friday, October 31 in the library of The Player's Club, 16 Gramercy Park South, NYC for

STAGEFRIGHT,

a special pre-Halloween party event which fuses two poems by Edgar Alan Poe with one tale of (political) horror by AAPEX playwright Fernando Manon.

Poe may not have written much for the stage, but theater was definitely in his blood. Both of his parents were actors. That being the case, why didn't he write more plays?

Maybe he had... STAGEFRIGHT?

Was it the untimely death of his talented mother which left him orphaned at the age of three? Was it the horrible Richmond theater fire which consumed the lives and bodies of everyone in the theater that night? Do these tragedies resonate in his work (e.g. The Fall of the House of Usher; The Bells)? But even if he didn't write scripts, Poe's work has provided an endless source of material for actors. Where would Vincent Price be without him? Are his poems poems - or are they MONOLOGUES? And has his work not served as a profound source of inspiration for writers of stage, radio, television and film who have encountered his work since his death in 1849.

Join us, if you dare, for a brief sojourn with Poe himself (Jared Reinmuth) in the library of the renowned Player's Club. Let our hostess, Liliane Klein, turn you on to that monster THE CONQUERER WORM (is he talking about the theater?), and experience one of the most horrible horrors of all time as the Devil (Staxx Cordero) and a "really bad dude" (Lawrence Floyd) debate just what it takes for a man to have to go to h**l in Fernando Manon's classic political satire YOU'RE GETTING ME HOT.

And then THE RAVEN flies.

Seating is limited. Please RSVP ASAP to aapextv@gmail.com.

Hannah Elias NYC casting complete!

AAPEX has put together a stellar cast of Broadway veterans for

The Players Club reading of

Nathan Ross Freeman's

Hannah Elias.

Because of limited seating at the legendary Players Club, seating is going fast.

RSVP now to gumsandals@yahoo.com

*Indicates member of Actors Equity

Leilani Bryant
as Hannah Elias

She has performed on Broadway in the musical The Color Purple. She has also performed in the Broadway musical Show Boat, a benefit concert for Carnegie Hall. Other accomplishments include featured vocalist for Music Under the Stars with the Jacksonville Symphony Orchestra, as well as featured vocalist for the Florida Jasper Awards. Leliani is a native of Jacksonville, FL. *

Tobi Kanter

as Belle Marshall

After a spate of playing under-five and principal roles as Irish-heritage police officers on all the New York soaps, Tobi Kanter has graduated to the role of Irish maid. (Her Lithuanian and Hungarian grandparents are rolling in their graves, but Tobi’s having the time of her life!) She was last seen as Tanta Rose in the WorkShop Theater Company’s full production of Martin Sherman’s Messiah and the Polish Snuff Film Victim in Loren Marsh’s black comedy movie, Invitation to a Suicide, as well as roles in Woody Allen’s Celebrity, The Jane Pauley Show, HBO’s Earthly Possessions and Saturday Night Live. SAG, AFTRA, AEA. *

Jerome P. Bates

as Cornelius Williams

Jerome Preston Bates created the role of Floyd Barton in the world premiere of August Wilson’s Seven Guitars at Chicago’s Goodman Theatre. He has appeared in King Lear at Classical Theatre of Harlem and at the Folgers in Washington, DC. His television credits include NYPD Blue, All My Children, One Life to Live, as well as numerous appearances on NBC’s Third Watch and Law & Order. He appeared in the remake of the 1970’s classic Shaft, starring Samuel L. Jackson and HBO’s original series Oz. He directed Eddy P, from the Oedipus Project as seen through the eyes of the Black Panthers Party. His play Electric Lady is about Jimi Hendrix. *

Stu Richel
as Andrew H. Green & John R. Platt

NYC theatre: Merry Wives of Windsor (Lion), Autoeroticism in Detroit (Blue Heron), The Lower Depths (Manhattan Ensemble Theatre), Slaughter City (WOW Café), The Philanderer (Jan Hus), East Village Chronicles (Metropolitan Playhouse), and Bag Fulla Money (Clurman). Principle roles in 22 indie films, including Death in Love (Sundance 2008; Jacqueline Bisset’s husband), Sexland (with Dan Fogler) and Hiding Divya (Madhur Jaffrey’s companion). TV: 30 Rock (Alex Baldwin’s boss), As the World Turns and One Life To Live. In earlier lives...a corporate attorney...and combat photographer with the 1st Infantry Division.*

Liliane Klein
as Red Head Maid & Brunette Maid

NYC: Me and My Girl (McGinn/Cazale Theatre, Musicals Tonight!), I Wanna Be Rosie (La Mama, E.T.C.), The Greeks (MET, IMUA!), Narative Intervention (Here, IMUA!), Do I Hear $5? (St. Clements). National Tours: Titanic(Candlewood), Scrooge (NYSO), Cyrano De Bergerac (NTAE), The Little Prince (NTPA), Tikki Tikki Tembo & Friends (StorySalad). Liliane plays Terry the Turtle on Kid Fitness (PBS). Recording: Stage Stars Gypsy (Mama Rose). Training: Boston University (BFA). Member: AEA, SAG, CFS, NJ Rep, The Players.*

Jessica Fontaine

as Clara Elias-Hudson
Jessica Fontaine is blessed to be back on stage for her fifth production this year. After earning a BFA at Howard University, Jessica moved back to New York with one thing on her mind: becoming a working actress. Theatre credits include The Sanctuary, an Off-Broadway production at The American Theatre for Actors. She stunned people as little old Birdie Lee in Tambourines To Glory. Her debut lead role was in Antigone Assata Shakur. Jessica’s consistency and determination for acting stems from her belief that “with God all things are possible” and gives thanks to her family for their unconditional support. www.nycastings.com/msfontaine.

Jonathan Marbelli

as Detective 1

Past theatre work includes: Mr. Bumble in Berkeley Repertory’s Oliver Twist (understudy), Benjamin Cohen in the Contemporary American Theatre Co’s production of The Underpants, Walter in Keely & Du,Williamson in Glengarry Glen Ross, Roderigo in Othello, and Yovan in Division Street. Television: Made-for-TV movie Skin Complex. You may also see Jon in the upcoming web-series pilot Penelope’s Playland. Jon would like to thank his loving, devoted, and supportive family and friends. Above all he thanks God for-- well-- everything.

Nick Raio

as Detective 2

Nick Raio is a Bronx born New York based actor/writer and member of SAG, AEA, AFTRA and the Dramatists Guild. Nick will be on the season premiere of Rescue Me as the AA group leader. Other TV credits include The Sopranos, Law & Order: CI, America’s Most Wanted, numerous soap operas and commercials. Films presently available on DVD include One-Third, Invitation to a Suicide, Mob Queen and Unsavory Characters. He is Nick of Nick’s Commercials and Guile in Street Fighter: The Later Years on the College Humor website. For links to Nick’s work go to:http://www.nickraio.com/. Nick can be contacted at nickraio@rcn.com. *

Eric Bondoc

as Kato

Broadway: Pacific Overtures. Favorites: Rizal, a one-person play about the Philippine National Hero; Where Elephants Weep, the first known Cambodian rock opera; Road Dreams, a cabaret about his 800-mile solo bicycle trip from Arizona to California; Ariel in The Tempest; title roles in M. Butterfly and Peter Pan. Regional Theatres include: The Guthrie; Actors Theatre of Louisville; The Alliance, The O’Neill; North Shore Music Theatre, Bay Street Theatre; Flat Rock Playhouse, George Street Playhouse, Cincinnati Playhouse; Triad Stage, Sacramento Music Circus. *

Passion

(Director)

Passion has directed more than 30 productions and has been critically acclaimed as “creative” and “stunning.” As Artistic Director of the New Jersey Performing Arts Center Young Writers’ Workshop, she recently directed Just Imagine at NJPAC’s Victoria Theater. She directed Tony Award winner Melba Moore in Sweet Songs of the Soul at the Bermuda Festival and directed the cast of Real Black Men Don’t Sit Cross-Legged On The Floor to rave reviews and standing ovations. Under her guidance both productions received AUDELCO Awards. She is a private coach, educator and new filmmaker. Passion is the producer and director of DramaMamas! The Film, Black Women Theatre Directors in the Spotlight and Remembered. She welcomes your support of her feature-length documentary at dramamamasthefilm.org.

Nathan Ross Freeman

(Playwright)

Author, Director, Producer of the Independent Feature Film, Mr. Bones, the Official Selection of the following festivals: San Francisco Black, National Black Theatre, Indie Memphis, Southern Appalachian International Film (Best Drama/Edit), Black Disapora (Durham, NC), Cackalacky (Charlotte, NC), Sweet Auburn International Film Festival (Best Feature), and NYC Festivals. Francine, Official Selection of the New York Short Film Festival. Hannah Elias screenplay runner up at the 2005 San Francisco Black Film Festival Screenplay Contest. Awarded the 1997 North Carolina Arts Council Playwrights Fellowship for Hannah Elias. Founder of Montage Showcase Ensemble and Assegai Film Group. Mr. Freeman also teaches professional acting. He was awarded B.E.S.T. Outstanding Faculty as a member of the Intensive Writing Faculty teaching screenwriting/playwriting at the University of North Carolina. Currently Mr. Freeman is a member of the NC Humanities Speakers Bureau and Co-Founder and Artistic Director of the Winston-Salem Youth Arts Institute. http://www.nathanrossfreeman.com/

Frenchie La’Vern

(Costume Designer & Cutter/Draper)

Frenchie graduated from North Carolina School of the Arts with a degree in Design and Production. During the last 10 years, Frenchie has worked in theater and film. She has enjoyed an ongoing professional affiliation with Nathan Ross Freeman since signing on as the Designer of costumes, hair and make up for Mr. Bones. Her most recent film credits are Lost Stallion: The Journey Home and Westerly, both do for release in 2008. Her most recent professional credits include Ethel Waters: His Eye Is On The Sparrow, starring Broadway veteran Jannie Jones, directed by Broadway veteran Mable Robinson and produced by the North Carolina Black Repertory Theatre. Regarding the NCBR, Frenchie has mounted the Black Nativity for seven seasons. Her work was also seen on productions by the Community Theater of Greensboro, Duke University, North Carolina Shakespeare Festival, and The Barn Dinner Theatre of Greensboro, the oldest continuously operating dinner theatre in America.

Thierry Saintine

(Stage Manager)

Thierry Saintine is a graduate of City College Theatre and Speech Program. He has made appearances on several New York City stages and screens and is determined to keep the arts and performing arts alive within and around him.

AAPEX Presents BILLIE'S BLUES 3/19 (NYC)

Below are the bios of the actors who will be reading

Hershell Norwood's

BILLIE'S BLUES TONIGHT

AT MAMA'S JAM

at the

Players Club

16 Gramercy Park South

at

1 pm on Wednesday, March 19.

The reading is free, so please join us!


Hershell Norwood (playwright) has an M.F.A in acting from Brandeis and is currently working to complete doctoral degree in history/theory and acting/directing from Texas Tech University. His interests feature playwriting and developing a Black Aesthetic Theory for theatre. He spent growing years in the metropolitan New York and New England areas and currently resides with his wife and grand children in Coeur d’Alene, Idaho.

Thierry Saintine, (director) recipient of a BA in Theatre and Speech from City College, author of My Heart's Talking (book of poetry) which won him the Lowell Fellowship Award, Diamond Lovers (screenplay) and BitterSoul (stage play), Mr. Saintine is currently pre-producing Diamond Lovers which will begin production this summer under his newly founded Struglife Productions.

Juliette Fairley was discovered by Spike Lee in 2007 when she was hired to play a principal role in Mayor of New York (M.O.N.Y), a TV pilot commissioned by NBC in March 2007, produced by Tom Fontana with Barry Levinson (Oz, The Jury). Prior to booking her breakthrough role, Juliette hosted Cha Ching Money Makers, a tv show that aired on the Discovery Channel. She played a principal role in a re-enactment Segment for A&E TV's Watching the Detectives, airing in April 2008 and appears in a McDonald's TV commercial on Spanish television. Miss Fairley recently wrapped a lead role in the stage play Mulatto's Dilemma, which was a semi finalist in the 2008 Strawberry One Act Festival. View press clippings and her show reels at http://www.juliettefairley.info/ and at http://www.imdb.com/.

Ken Dashow (Jack Hearald) is a fish-monger from Brooklyn who has actually fooled people into letting him act, write, and direct His play, “The Wingding Doodle Club,” is in discussions for an Off-B’way run after its successful debut at the N.Y. Fringe Festival. Ken can be heard each afternoon, 4-8 PM, on Q104.3, “New York’s Classic Rock,” where he practices his day job of spinning mounds of sounds platters-that-matter. You can also find-out other junk about him at http://www.dashow.com/, and http://www.q1043.com/.

Zeretha Jenkins (Mama Sadie) Multi-talented as an actress, author/playwright and producer, Zeretha Jenkins has acted in TV, film and theatrical projects including: American Adoption, Who’s the Man, NYPD Blue, Law and Order, The Rape of Leila Meshki, Dancin’ on Moonlight; and various commercials/videos: Dove’s Fresh Take with Alicia Keys; I Apologize with Anita Baker; Pfizer; MasterCard. Her book, Walking By Faith: An Afro-American Trilogy, is a collection of dramatic works. Her plays -- Trial of the Race and Illusion in Blue, were presented at the prestigious National Black Theatre Festival. As producer, she currently has two projects in development. For more information, visit: http://www.walkingbyfaithonline.com/ and http://www.efs-enterprises.com/.

Jermaine Small (John Levy) is a proud Howard University alumnus, originally from Atlanta, Ga. He has performed in numerous productions, ranging from TopDog Underdog to Black Eagles. He would like to thank God, AAPEX, his family, and friends.

Liliane Klein (Katie Rose) NYC: Me and My Girl (McGinn/Cazale Theatre, Musicals Tonight!), I Wanna Be Rosie (La Mama, E.T.C.), The Greeks (MET, IMUA!), Narrative Intervention (Here, IMUA!), Do I Hear $5 (St. Clements). Regional: Fat Pig (Speakeasy, *Elliot Norton and IRNE Award Nominee), A Streetcar Named Desire (Foothills), Love's Labours Lost (CFS), Cyrano de Bergerac (CFS), As You Like It (CFS), Smokey Joe's Cafe (Ivoryton), Dido (001 Gallery, Scratch Theatre), Legend of Sleepy Hollow (Broadhollow,) Nunsense (Acting Up Theatre Co.). National Tours: Titanic (Candlewood), Scrooge (NYSO), Cyrano De Bergerac (NTAE), The Little Prince (NTPA), Tikki Tikki Tembo & Friends (StorySalad). Liliane plays Terry the Turtle on Kid Fitness (PBS). Recording: Stage Stars GYPSY (Mama Rose). Training: Boston University (BFA). Member: AEA, SAG, CFS, NJ Rep, The Players. http://www.angelfire.com/folk/lilianeklein -- www.myspace.com/lilianeklein

Arlene Love (Narrator) Among Arlene's many theatre credits: Nominated Best Actress in a Full Length Production off-off Broadway by Spotlight On for Lunch at Armageddon by Richard Lay. Appeared as a nun and as a prison inmate on One Life to Live and as the evil maid in the Nicole Kidman film,Fur. Studied with Anthony Vincent Bova. A proponent of The Eric Morris System. AEA SAG AFTRA.

Jimmy Gary Jr (Bobby Tucker) is a former NFL football player and Graduate of West Virginia University. He has appeared in "LAW & Order", "Rescue Me", "All My Children" and a number of independent films. He has just completed filming "A Long Road to Nowhere" a feature film that will make its way into the public eye in 2009. He is freelancing with agents Karen Goldberg & Associates and The Krasny Office.

T. Bankole. The last twelve years T. Bankole has been involved in producing and directing film, documentaries, and made for television projects. In 2000 Bankolé co-produced and acted as assistant director on a film entitled Conversation Piece with partial monies given by Miramax films, In 2002 Bankolé produced and directed a made for television pilot for Vh1 entitled Verses, which involved Wyclef John as a co-producer, He was also involved with a Japanese film production entitled Collogue of Our Lives which premiered at the 2003 Tribeca Film Festival. He has also produced and directed a numerous amount of plays that he secured, and controlled funding for under the auspices of the New Federal Theater, ran by Woodie King Jr. Noted actor Armon Assante and Italian legend Marrio Fratti were involved with a production of his entitled Parallel Lives. He has had the opportunity to work with great names, from actors, such as Ruby Dee to Dave Chappell and Aretha Franklin to John Legend. Over the years Bankolé has built great relationships with music video directors, producers and industry insiders, he is associate producer for The national Black theatre c/o NFT, http://www.newfederaltheatre.org/.

We would love to thank our sponsors:

AAPEX (The African American Playwrights Exchange) was founded January 1, 2007 by dramaturg Jaz Dorsey to preserve, present & promote new works by African American playwrights and new works by any playwright which deepens our awareness of and connection to our African American heritage. Visit us at http://www.africanamericanplaywrightsexchange.blogspot.com/ AAPEX is a program of TRU (Theater Resources Unlimited).

S.O.A.P.I.F.F (Southern Appalachian International Film Festival), A film festival held in the majestic mountains of East Tennessee every October that celebrates the beauty and history of the Appalachian mountains. For more information go to http://www.soapiff.com/ and also on
www.myspace.com/soapiff or contact Mark Compton at 423-743-soap.

TRU (Theater Resources Unlimited) was organized in 1992 to provide information and a variety of entertainment-related services and resources that strengthen the capacity of producing organizations, individuals producers, self-producing artists and other theater professionals. TRU produces monthly seminars on a wide range of subjects important to theatrical producers and directors. In 1996, TRU served as the umbrella organization for a co-production by member companies as a part of the first annual NY Fringe Festival. The organization has expanded its production efforts by creating the TRU VOICES Annual New Plays and New Musicals Reading Series in which TRU underwrites developmental readings of new works. Shows developed through the series that have gone on to off-Broadway productions include The Great American Trailer Park Musical, Nor'mal, Pied a Terre and Taxi to Jannah. TRU is ciurrently the associate producer with Animated Theatreworks for Missives by Garret Jon Groenveld, a play from the 2006 TRU series that is opening March 20th at 59E59 Street Theaters.

Donations to this project are welcome and can be made by contacting Jaz Dorsey at jazmn47@aol.com.

Program provided by Ginna Bellamy 423-367-2584 www.myspace.com/themusicchic or at ginnabell2000@yahoo.com