STAGE FRIGHT gets a second show on Halloween (NYC)

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The Spiral Theatre Studio production of STAGEFRIGHT has been invited to present at The Theatre For The New City in NYC on Halloween. Based on a concept by Jaz Dorsey, directed by Paula J. Riley and starring Arlene Love, Molly McGivern and Mr. Jesse May as Edgar Allan Poe. Catch a sneak preview at The Players Club, 16 Gramercy Park South, at noon on October 15. Seating for October 15 is limited. Reservations are required and may be made at paula@pjrileystudio.com 

Stage Fright: Poe gets his at the Players Club 10/15 at High Noon (NYC)

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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

AAPEX Interview: Saida Leekong

Saida Leekong

I was excited when Stella Adler acting instructor Benard Cummings took me up on my request to cast actors from among his students for the ensemble for our upcoming NYC reading of Alan Aymie's RAP at The Players Club on Gramercy Park.

I certainly didn't expect to find myself working with anyone from Clarkesville, Tennesse, a neighbor city of Nashville and home to the fabulous Roxy Theatre
. 

But I am and her name is Saida Leekong - now there's a good ol' Tennessee name for you!

Saida is exotically beautiful, she must be talented to be studying at Stella Adler, and I can tell from our communications that she is clearly ambitious. It's always a treasure to be able to work with a young actor of this caliber.

 In addition to her studies at Stella Adler, Saida is also a cheerleader for the NY Jets.

Here's what Saida has to say for herself:

"Theatre and the Arts played a huge role in my childhood and upbringing. I can not recall a time that I was not involved the Arts. I have always been passionate about the arts; my mother was very influential on me and encouraged self-expression through the arts at a young age. She enrolled me in dance at 4 years old and from that time I dabbled in everything from gymnastics, art classes, even piano. However, my passion for acting stuck.

I began acting training at nine years old ( the youngest student at the time) at the Roxy Regional Theater under the direction of John McDonald. I was very serious about my " craft" ( as they say in the acting world)  From a  very young age I knew there was no other path for me. 

I live by the idea that growth as an actor and as a person are synonymous, which is the foundation of teaching at Stella Adler. I still consider myself a very young artist, so my evolution is daily. I think that all artists are continually growing and learning more about themselves through their craft. 

I have been truly blessed. Upon moving to New York I spent my first months here as a 2010 New York Jets Cheerleader. I am also a full time student at Stella Adler conservatory. In addition to my already full schedule I balance a career as a professional dancer and upcoming actress. I am excited to be starting my new year off with my first New York stage production at the prestigious Players Club.

I had a great upbringing in Clarksville, Tennessee and theater and the arts played a huge role in my childhood. The Roxy Regional Theater is a great treasure, that offers alot of opportunities to young and new actors. I also am a graduate of Clarksville High School which has an amazing four year theater program under the direction of Barbara Wesner. There are several outlets for the arts in Clarksville. others trained before me under McDonald and Wesner have also gone on to have careers in acting. 

God has blessed me to be able to follow my dreams and represent my hometown proudly and thank those who gave me and many others an opportunity."

Please join us on Monday, April 4th, at The Players Club in New York City for our reading of RAP, winner of the AAPEX Best New Play 2011 award. For reservations and further information, contact Jaz Dorsey, Dramaturg, The African American Playwrights Exchange, by email at jazmn47@aol.com

Along with Saida, the cast features James Brown-Orleans, Mr. Jimmy Gary, Terrence Epps, Lindel Sandlin, Jason Gray, Adriana Spizuvoco, David Hartstone, Aaron Wright and Mark Barlow.

To Contact Saida, please click post's title.

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

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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.

Nathan Ross Freeman's MR. BONES wins Best Drama at Sweet Auburn Film Fest!

Nathan Ross Freeman, author of HANNAH ELIAS, won Best Drama for MR. BONES at the Sweet Auburn Film Festival in downtown Atlanta. Congratulations, Nat!

Seats are going fast for AAPEX's Hannah Elias reading at the legendary Players Club in NYC June 17th. Leilani N. Bryant, direct from Broadway's The Color Purple, is starring in the titular role. RSVP ASAP to jazmn47@aol.com.

Broadway's The Color Purple's LEILANI N. BRYANT cast as the lead in HANNAH ELIAS 6/17 (NYC)

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Leilani N. Bryant
Leilani is a native of Jacksonville, Florida. She has performed in the Broadway 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.

I am also honored that Nathan is going to use one of my original compositions as incidental music for HANNAH ELIAS, and I look forward to being in NYC to perform the music in conjunction with the reading, as well as to attend the opening night of Hershell Norwood's BILLIE'S BLUES at the Cherry Lane Theater, directed by T. Bankole.

Also on board for this event will be Winston Salem based costume designer Frenchie LaVern, who will present her costume renderings for Nathan's play.

This reading will take place at The Players Club at 7 pm on Tuesday, June 17. Seating is limited, so please let me know if you are planning to attend.

Jaz Dorsey
Artistic Director
AAPEX
(The African American Playwrights Exchange)
Nashville, Tennessee
615-837-8777
aapextv@gmail.com

Nathan Ross Freeman's HANNAH ELIAS reading at the PLAYERS CLUB June (NYC)

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AAPEX Celebrates JUNETEENTH with Nathan Ross Freeman's HANNAH ELIAS 6/17 (NYC)

On Tuesday, June 17th, AAPEX will recognize the annual observation of JUNETEENTH (June 19th) with a reading of Nathan Ross Freeman's stunning award-winning play HANNAH ELIAS. The reading will be directed by Passion and will include a presentation of the costume renderings of Frenchie LaVern. The reading will be held in on the main stage of The Players Club, 16 Gramercy Park South, NYC.

Nathan and Passion are both film makers whose work won awards at last year's Southern Appalachian International Film Festival.

We hope that you can plan now to join us for this exciting event.

Donations toward this project are welcome and can be made by sending a check to
Theater Resources Unlimited
309 W. 104th Street, ID
New York, New York
10025

Checks should be made out to TRU and marked "For AAPEX - HANNAH ELIAS."


Below is some information on Juneteenth.

Juneteenth is the oldest known celebration commemorating the ending of slavery in the United States. Dating back to 1865, it was on June 19th that the Union soldiers, led by Major General Gordon Granger, landed at Galveston, Texas with news that the war had ended and that the enslaved were now free. Note that this was two and a half years after President Lincoln’s Emancipation Proclamation - which had become official January 1, 1863. The Emancipation Proclamation had little impact on the Texans due to the minimal number of Union troops to enforce the new Executive order. However, with the surrender of General Lee in April of 1865, and the arrival of General Granger’s regiment, the forces were finally strong enough to influence and overcome the resistance.
Later attempts to explain this two and a half year delay in the receipt of this important news have yielded several versions that have been handed down through the years. Often told is the story of a messenger who was murdered on his way to Texas with the news of freedom. Another, is that the news was deliberately withheld by the enslavers to maintain the labor force on the plantations. And still another, is that federal troops actually waited for the slave owners to reap the benefits of one last cotton harvest before going to Texas to enforce the Emancipation Proclamation. All or none of them could be true. For whatever the reason, conditions in Texas remained status quo well beyond what was statutory.

General Order Number 3
One of General Granger’s first orders of business was to read to the people of Texas, General Order Number 3 which began most significantly with: "The people of Texas are informed that in accordance with a Proclamation from the Executive of the United States, all slaves are free. This involves an absolute equality of rights and rights of property between former masters and slaves, and the connection heretofore existing between them becomes that between employer and free laborer."

The reactions to this profound news ranged from pure shock to immediate jubilation. While many lingered to learn of this new employer to employee relationship, many left before these offers were completely off the lips of their former 'masters' - attesting to the varying conditions on the plantations and the realization of freedom. Even with nowhere to go, many felt that leaving the plantation would be their first grasp of freedom. North was a logical destination and for many it represented true freedom, while the desire to reach family members in neighboring states drove the some into Louisiana, Arkansas and Oklahoma. Settling into these new areas as free men and women brought on new realities and the challenges of establishing a heretofore non-existent status for black people in America. Recounting the memories of that great day in June of 1865 and its festivities would serve as motivation as well as a release from the growing pressures encountered in their new territory. The celebration of June 19th was coined "Juneteenth" and grew with more participation from descendants. The Juneteenth celebration was a time for reassuring each other, for praying and for gathering remaining family members. Juneteenth continued to be highly revered in Texas decades later, with many former slaves and descendants making an annual pilgrimage back to Galveston on this date.

AAPEX stages 3/19 reading at famed Players Club (NYC)

On Wednesday, March 19,

AAPEX has the honor of presenting a reading of

Hershell Norwood's play

BILLIES BLUES TONIGHT AT MAMA'S JAM

at the famed

Player's Club

in New York City.

For those of you who are not familiar with this historical organization , see below.
For more information on this event, contact Jaz Dorsey, Dramaturg, AAPEX at jazmn47@aol.com

The Players, which is its proper name, is a social club founded in New York City by the famed 19th century Shakespearean actor Edwin Booth who purchased a magnificent 1847 mansion located at 16 Gramercy Park. During his lifetime, he reserved an upper floor for his home, turning the rest of the building over to the Clubhouse. Its interior and part of its exterior was designed by famed architect Stanford White. Known also as The Players Club, it was named a National Historic Landmark in 1962. In 1989, women were invited to become fully participating members. The Players still maintains its entryway gaslights, among the few remaining examples in New York City.

Reasons for founding
On April 14, 1865, Edwin's younger brother John Wilkes, a popular actor, assassinated President Abraham Lincoln, after which the life of his family, and all actors, changed. Understandably, they found themselves despised by the society of the time. Perhaps inspired by London's Garrick Club, Booth established a social club which would bring actors into contact with men of different professions such as industrialists, writers and other creative artists. The building was completely redesigned, furnished, equipped and decorated with Booth's personal possessions. When ready, a series of meetings was held, and a small group of founding fathers turned the place over to newly invited members in a grand ceremony on December 31, 1888. Thus The Players was born. The word "club" does not appear in the club's official name. In the title papers, it is stated that Edwin Booth should retain a furnished apartment for his own use where he could be left undisturbed as he wished. It was in that revered room on the third floor, remaining undisturbed still, that he died at 1 a.m. on a stormy night, June 7, 1893, aged 59.