Friday, May 11, 2007
3rd Annual Plays in Progress Deadline is June 8th
Stellar Network is now accepting submissions for its 3rd Annual Plays in Progress - an opportunity for emerging writers to gain exposure among top industry professionals. Last year over 200 playwrights submitted their works. The winner Bernard Weintraub's ACCOMPLICES went on to be produced by the New Group, and was nominated for the Drama Desk awards. This year's judging panel includes Tony Award Winning Producer Pun Bandhu (Spring Awakening); Artistic Director Jonathan Bank (Mint Theater); Literary Manager Andrea Ciannavei (LABryinth Theater Co.); Literary Associate Liz Frankel (The Public Theater); Director of New Play Development Adrien-Alice Hansel (Actors Theatre of Louisville) andAssociate Artistic Director Linda Chapman (New York Theatre Workshop). All submissions must be received by JUNE 8, 2007. Please forward this information to playwrights. For more information please contact me at LisaMarie@stellarnetwork.com. Looking forward to a huge success of this 3rd edition of Plays In Progress!LisaMarie MellerCreative Director, Stellar Network
CBS Wants You!
CBS Diversity Institute's Writers Mentoring Program
As part of its ongoing commitment to diversity, CBS Entertainment is wrapping up its fourth session of the CBS Diversity Institute's Writers Mentoring Program and is now accepting applications for year five, 2008. We are very proud of the success of the Program and its participants. Of the three graduating classes, 13 careers were launched out of a total of 19 participants. That's a terrific track record. The CBS Writers Mentoring Program is a unique program for new and emerging diverse writers -- with a focus on writers of color. The Program is not a traditional "writers training" program, but a combination of meaningful opportunities for talented new writers to experience the network television business from the inside and to form relationships with decision makers. The deadline for 2008 submissions is June 1, 2007. Additional information and application materials can be accessed at: http://www.cbsdiversity.com/.
Thursday, May 10, 2007
AAPEX Member Presents CROWNS at Atlanta's 14th Street Playhouse this Week!
CROWNS, which broke box office records at the Arena Stage in DC, opens this week at Atlanta's 14th Street Playhouse. CROWNS is being presented by IKAM Theater whose artistic director, Carletta Hunt, is a member of the African American Playwrights Exchange. Also, Atlanta's amazingly successful hit comedy PEACHTREE BATTLE will hit the 1,000 performance mark on May 20th. This May be a great month to come to Atlanta and go to the Theater!
Two AAPEX Writers Have NYC Readings This Weekend
Two writers from The African American Playwrights Exchange will enjoy readings of their work this weekend in New York City.
- Henry Meyerson
JUMP JIM CROW
Saturday, May 12, 12 Noon
Booker T. Washington Heights JHS
103 W. 108th St.
Between Amsterdam and Columbus
Strollers Players Readers Theater Workshop
- Dr. Henry Miller
MY BROTHER'S KEEPER
Marjorie Eliot's Parlor Entertainment
555 Edgecombe Ave @ 160th Street
Sunday May 13th at & pm
Jazz from 4 pm
212-781-6595
Saturday, May 5, 2007
African-American theater: Keeping the stage lights on
Reprinted with permission by the Washingtion University in St. Louis Record
By Liam Otten
Throughout the 1960s and 1970s, African-American actors, writers and directors inspired by the Black Arts Movements formed dozens of regional theaters in cities around the country.
Yet in recent years, several leading African-American companies — such as the Freedom Theatre in Philadelphia, the Jomandi Theatre in Atlanta and the Crossroads Theater Company in New Brunswick, N.J. — have been forced to cut staff, cancel seasons or close their doors entirely.
"We've lost a half-dozen of the larger companies," said Ron Himes, founder and producing director of The St. Louis Black Repertory Company, known as The Black Rep, and the Henry E. Hampton Jr. Artist-in-Residence in the Performing Arts Department in Arts & Sciences. "Nobody seems to quite understand why."
The subject is the topic of a series of lectures and panel discussions sponsored by The Black Rep and WUSTL March 24-April 12. Collectively titled "Beyond August: The State of African-American Theater," the series coincides with a new production of playwright August Wilson's "Gem of the Ocean," which debuts at The Black Rep March 28.
Himes said some companies have been unable to build corporate support and do major fund raising and that reduced federal, state and local funding have hurt. Other companies have been unable to find or maintain permanent performance facilities, making it difficult to build an audience base.
"There's certainly no lack of creativity," Himes said. "We have a great canon of African-American literature for the theater. Our biggest challenge is finding the resources to preserve that canon while continuing to develop new work."
Wilson's career is particularly instructive for African-American artists and companies, Himes said.
"Most playwrights are afforded a relationship with just one theater," he said. "But August had the luxury of working with a consortium of several theaters, which allowed his plays to go through an extended research and development period."
What's more, "because his plays were developed nationally, they had a tremendous impact on companies and artists all over the country," Himes said. "August stimulated an entire generation of young writers, actors and directors."
Himes himself is no stranger to Wilson's influence. With "Gem of the Ocean," The Black Rep will have produced nine plays from Wilson's "Pittsburgh Cycle," excluding only "Radio Golf," which was written shortly before Wilson's death in 2005.
Himes launched The Black Rep in 1976 while earning a bachelor's degree in business administration at the University. After graduating, he took his young company on the road, barnstorming local colleges and raising visibility.
In 1981, he converted a former church into the 23rd Street Theatre, giving The Black Rep a permanent home. In the early 1990s, he moved the company into the Grandel Theatre in the heart the Grand Center arts and education district.
Over the years Himes has produced and directed more than 100 plays and received numerous awards, including honorary doctorates from the University of Missouri-St. Louis and WUSTL in 1993 and 1997, respectively.
And The Black Rep — now celebrating its 30th anniversary season — has emerged as one of the nation's largest and most respected African-American companies, reaching an annual audience of more than 150,000.
Yet despite The Black Rep's success, Himes feels that many of his contemporaries have come to be taken for granted within their own communities.
"Things have grown harder for African-American companies in recent years," Himes said. "I think we're seeing a national lack of attention to the arts. It's an endemic problem, and unless we address it, more great African-American institutions may go under.
"We need a renewed commitment from the African-American community, from the philanthropic community and from the community at large," he added.
For more information, call 534-3807 or visit The Black Rep.
By Liam Otten
Throughout the 1960s and 1970s, African-American actors, writers and directors inspired by the Black Arts Movements formed dozens of regional theaters in cities around the country.
Yet in recent years, several leading African-American companies — such as the Freedom Theatre in Philadelphia, the Jomandi Theatre in Atlanta and the Crossroads Theater Company in New Brunswick, N.J. — have been forced to cut staff, cancel seasons or close their doors entirely.
"We've lost a half-dozen of the larger companies," said Ron Himes, founder and producing director of The St. Louis Black Repertory Company, known as The Black Rep, and the Henry E. Hampton Jr. Artist-in-Residence in the Performing Arts Department in Arts & Sciences. "Nobody seems to quite understand why."
The subject is the topic of a series of lectures and panel discussions sponsored by The Black Rep and WUSTL March 24-April 12. Collectively titled "Beyond August: The State of African-American Theater," the series coincides with a new production of playwright August Wilson's "Gem of the Ocean," which debuts at The Black Rep March 28.
Himes said some companies have been unable to build corporate support and do major fund raising and that reduced federal, state and local funding have hurt. Other companies have been unable to find or maintain permanent performance facilities, making it difficult to build an audience base.
"There's certainly no lack of creativity," Himes said. "We have a great canon of African-American literature for the theater. Our biggest challenge is finding the resources to preserve that canon while continuing to develop new work."
Wilson's career is particularly instructive for African-American artists and companies, Himes said.
"Most playwrights are afforded a relationship with just one theater," he said. "But August had the luxury of working with a consortium of several theaters, which allowed his plays to go through an extended research and development period."
What's more, "because his plays were developed nationally, they had a tremendous impact on companies and artists all over the country," Himes said. "August stimulated an entire generation of young writers, actors and directors."
Himes himself is no stranger to Wilson's influence. With "Gem of the Ocean," The Black Rep will have produced nine plays from Wilson's "Pittsburgh Cycle," excluding only "Radio Golf," which was written shortly before Wilson's death in 2005.
Himes launched The Black Rep in 1976 while earning a bachelor's degree in business administration at the University. After graduating, he took his young company on the road, barnstorming local colleges and raising visibility.
In 1981, he converted a former church into the 23rd Street Theatre, giving The Black Rep a permanent home. In the early 1990s, he moved the company into the Grandel Theatre in the heart the Grand Center arts and education district.
Over the years Himes has produced and directed more than 100 plays and received numerous awards, including honorary doctorates from the University of Missouri-St. Louis and WUSTL in 1993 and 1997, respectively.
And The Black Rep — now celebrating its 30th anniversary season — has emerged as one of the nation's largest and most respected African-American companies, reaching an annual audience of more than 150,000.
Yet despite The Black Rep's success, Himes feels that many of his contemporaries have come to be taken for granted within their own communities.
"Things have grown harder for African-American companies in recent years," Himes said. "I think we're seeing a national lack of attention to the arts. It's an endemic problem, and unless we address it, more great African-American institutions may go under.
"We need a renewed commitment from the African-American community, from the philanthropic community and from the community at large," he added.
For more information, call 534-3807 or visit The Black Rep.
Friday, May 4, 2007
Minority Playwrights Contest
NATIONAL BLACK THEATRE FESTIVAL (READERS THEATRE) (NY)
Deadline: 5-31-07
Material: One-Acts or Full length Plays by minority playwrights
The NBTF has various performance components of the Festival. One of the integral components of the Festival is The Readers’ Theatre of New Works. The series is designed to showcase the work of minority playwrights. Garland Lee Thompson, Executive and Artistic Director of the Frank Silvera Writers’ Workshop, is the curator of the series. The series is made up of two components. The first is New Plays At High Noon and the original component, Theatre Conversations At Midnight. Seating is limited at the Midnight readings.
EMAIL SCRIPTS WILL NOT BE ACCEPTED!!
In order for NBTF to notify you promptly, each submission package must include the following:A formal letter of introduction clearly stating the following information: Writer’s Name, address, city,state, zip, phone numbers (home, office, cell), email Play synopsis Typed script, Double spaced Font: Times Roman or Arial - 12 pt. Three-hole punched. Please do not staple script Include a self-addressed, stamped postcard so we may acknowledge receipt of your script.
Mail one (1) script, to this address:
The Readers’ Theatre Series
c/o Frank Silvera Writers’ Workshop
P. O. Box 1791
Manhattanville Station, NY 10027
Mail one (1) script, to this address:
National Black Theatre Festival
Reader’s Theatre Series
610 Coliseum Drive
Winston-Salem, NC 27106
For further information, please contact Garland Lee Thompson at (212) 281-8832 or e-mail: playrite@earthlink.net.
Deadline: 5-31-07
Material: One-Acts or Full length Plays by minority playwrights
The NBTF has various performance components of the Festival. One of the integral components of the Festival is The Readers’ Theatre of New Works. The series is designed to showcase the work of minority playwrights. Garland Lee Thompson, Executive and Artistic Director of the Frank Silvera Writers’ Workshop, is the curator of the series. The series is made up of two components. The first is New Plays At High Noon and the original component, Theatre Conversations At Midnight. Seating is limited at the Midnight readings.
EMAIL SCRIPTS WILL NOT BE ACCEPTED!!
In order for NBTF to notify you promptly, each submission package must include the following:
Mail one (1) script, to this address:
The Readers’ Theatre Series
c/o Frank Silvera Writers’ Workshop
P. O. Box 1791
Manhattanville Station, NY 10027
Mail one (1) script, to this address:
National Black Theatre Festival
Reader’s Theatre Series
610 Coliseum Drive
Winston-Salem, NC 27106
For further information, please contact Garland Lee Thompson at (212) 281-8832 or e-mail: playrite@earthlink.net.
Nation-wide Call for New Scripts by Minority Playwrights
NEW PROFESSIONAL THEATRE WRITERS FESTIVAL (NY)
Deadline: 6-01-07
Material: Full Length Plays by minority playwrights.
The Writers Festival begins with a nation-wide call for new scripts by minority playwrights. Since its inception in 1991, the Writers Festival has received more than 2000 submissions. A panel of industry professionals reviews the scripts, looking for superior use of language and noteworthy narrative. Three winners are selected and awarded a cash prize to help sustain their work. Following their selection the winners embark on a two-week residency where they work closely with a dramaturge to develop their new works for a staged showcase reading performed by professional actors before an audience of industry professionals and mainstream theatregoers. Must be a full length play, no one acts, teleplays or screenplays. Musicals are accepted please include an audio tape with all music. Material must be bound and copywritten. Please include your bio and production history.
Please send to:
c/o Mr. Mark D. Wood
New Professional Theatre
229 W. 42nd St. #501 NY, NY 10036
Deadline: 6-01-07
Material: Full Length Plays by minority playwrights.
The Writers Festival begins with a nation-wide call for new scripts by minority playwrights. Since its inception in 1991, the Writers Festival has received more than 2000 submissions. A panel of industry professionals reviews the scripts, looking for superior use of language and noteworthy narrative. Three winners are selected and awarded a cash prize to help sustain their work. Following their selection the winners embark on a two-week residency where they work closely with a dramaturge to develop their new works for a staged showcase reading performed by professional actors before an audience of industry professionals and mainstream theatregoers. Must be a full length play, no one acts, teleplays or screenplays. Musicals are accepted please include an audio tape with all music. Material must be bound and copywritten. Please include your bio and production history.
Please send to:
c/o Mr. Mark D. Wood
New Professional Theatre
229 W. 42nd St. #501 NY, NY 10036
Where Are The Plays?
The following editorial by Gary Garrison for The Loop has resonance for all playwrights struggling to get their works seen on stage and we thank him for allowing us to post it here. The Loop is a net based newsletter aimed at playwrights. One of its unique features is that it regularly posts info about theater companies looking for new plays and refuses to hype any fee based playwrighting contest. AAPEX highly recommends requesting a free subscription at looptyloop@gmail.com.
Look how many people (new Loopers) joined this month. Staggering. AND, if you saw their private data, you’d know they’re from Texas, Great Britain, Georgia, Hawaii, California, Maine, Missouri . . . in other words, many other places BEYOND New York.
I love New York. I’ve lived here for twenty years. But it’s not the center of the friggin’ universe, okay?! Can we all agree to that? I mean, don’t get me wrong: it’s a fun place to live and practice your art. But great theatre, really great theatre, is being written and produced all over the country – all over the world. And it’s just plain ill-informed for everyone to collectively bob their heads toward New York to see what’s happening in the theatre. And it’s even more wrong-minded to think you can’t have a career as a playwright if you don’t get produced here.
Over the last several months, I’ve been really fortunate to travel around the country meeting folks and talking to writers, actors, artistic directors, designers and literary managers. There is some BRILLIANT theatre being done in Atlanta. Pittsburgh is bursting with creative energy and playwrights who love play-making. Washington, D.C. is a literal open invitation to anyone who wants to commune with like-minded artists that want to share a dramatic story while earning the artistic respect we all want. Don’t like those cities? How about Chicago, Boston, Portland, Minneapolis, Ft. Wayne, Dallas or Los Angeles?
What New York is learning to do – sadly – is produce amazing commercial theatre; theatre intended for your mother, father and Aunt Sweezie who’s never stopped talking about Cats – The Musical. People who point to Disney are fooling themselves; it ain’t Disney, baby. It’s every sane producer looking to make a profit in a market that is shrinking by the day. Sad cases in point: Legally Blonde – The Musical, Beauty and The Beast, Tarzan, Grease, Hairspray, The Lion King, The Little Mermaid, Mary Poppins, Spamalot – need I go on? And before anyone tries to bust my chops about musicals, I like musicals, okay? But is there a dearth of original ideas, or are producers banking on a horse that’s already successfully crossed a finish line?
“That’s Broadway,” you say. Have you seen Off-Broadway lately? Of the thirty-four productions listed on Playbill On-Line, fourteen are musicals – almost half. So where are the plays? Off-Off Broadway, yes. But, poor baby. OOB’s gotten such a bad rap for being inconsistent that few people (beyond friends of the cast, director, designers, t.d.) make the effort. So where are the plays?
Baltimore, San Diego, Ft. Lauderdale, Provincetown, Bangor, Philadelphia. You follow me? The real work of playwrights all across this country is happening, more times than not, where you live – or close by. So embrace it. Love your geography; keep your heart there while looking around. And if you just gotta get out, get away, there are a lot of places to live in this great country, and even more to practice your art.
Look how many people (new Loopers) joined this month. Staggering. AND, if you saw their private data, you’d know they’re from Texas, Great Britain, Georgia, Hawaii, California, Maine, Missouri . . . in other words, many other places BEYOND New York.
I love New York. I’ve lived here for twenty years. But it’s not the center of the friggin’ universe, okay?! Can we all agree to that? I mean, don’t get me wrong: it’s a fun place to live and practice your art. But great theatre, really great theatre, is being written and produced all over the country – all over the world. And it’s just plain ill-informed for everyone to collectively bob their heads toward New York to see what’s happening in the theatre. And it’s even more wrong-minded to think you can’t have a career as a playwright if you don’t get produced here.
Over the last several months, I’ve been really fortunate to travel around the country meeting folks and talking to writers, actors, artistic directors, designers and literary managers. There is some BRILLIANT theatre being done in Atlanta. Pittsburgh is bursting with creative energy and playwrights who love play-making. Washington, D.C. is a literal open invitation to anyone who wants to commune with like-minded artists that want to share a dramatic story while earning the artistic respect we all want. Don’t like those cities? How about Chicago, Boston, Portland, Minneapolis, Ft. Wayne, Dallas or Los Angeles?
What New York is learning to do – sadly – is produce amazing commercial theatre; theatre intended for your mother, father and Aunt Sweezie who’s never stopped talking about Cats – The Musical. People who point to Disney are fooling themselves; it ain’t Disney, baby. It’s every sane producer looking to make a profit in a market that is shrinking by the day. Sad cases in point: Legally Blonde – The Musical, Beauty and The Beast, Tarzan, Grease, Hairspray, The Lion King, The Little Mermaid, Mary Poppins, Spamalot – need I go on? And before anyone tries to bust my chops about musicals, I like musicals, okay? But is there a dearth of original ideas, or are producers banking on a horse that’s already successfully crossed a finish line?
“That’s Broadway,” you say. Have you seen Off-Broadway lately? Of the thirty-four productions listed on Playbill On-Line, fourteen are musicals – almost half. So where are the plays? Off-Off Broadway, yes. But, poor baby. OOB’s gotten such a bad rap for being inconsistent that few people (beyond friends of the cast, director, designers, t.d.) make the effort. So where are the plays?
Baltimore, San Diego, Ft. Lauderdale, Provincetown, Bangor, Philadelphia. You follow me? The real work of playwrights all across this country is happening, more times than not, where you live – or close by. So embrace it. Love your geography; keep your heart there while looking around. And if you just gotta get out, get away, there are a lot of places to live in this great country, and even more to practice your art.
Free "My Brother's Keeper" Reading (NYC)
Marjorie Eliot's Parlor Entertainment
Presents a Reading
of the Two-act Play
MY BROTHER'S KEEPER
By
Henry Miller
(Member: African American Playwrights Exchange & Dramatist Guild of America)
Location:
555 Edgecombe Avenue @ 160th Street, NYC, Apt #3F - 212-781-6595 (1 Block East of St Nicholas Avenue) . The nearest train station is the IND line @ 163rd St. CC local.
Date & Time:
Sun. May 13, 2007 @ 7pm
Readers:
ARTHUR FRENCH (Obie Award-winner, founding member: NEC) reading Mr. Newborne
LAWRENCE WINSLOW reading Lucas Newborne
CANDICE MYERS reading Dana Askew
BRIGITTE BARNET reading Margaret "Zulima" Newborne
ED SHELDON reading Mayor Jacob A. Lyman
&
ERIC COLEMAN reading Marcus Newborne
This reading will be hosted by Marjorie Eliot who starred in Charles Gordone' seminal, Pulitzer Prize-winning African American drama, No Place to be Somebody. Also a jazz pianist, Ms. Eliot is the founder of Parlor Entertainment, Harlem's internationally recognized "Straight-Ahead" Sunday Afternoon contemporary Jazz venue.
ADMISSION IS FREE!
So eat a big late lunch and come early at 4pm and make it an afternoon of Jazz and an evening (7pm) of African-American Drama.
Presents a Reading
of the Two-act Play
MY BROTHER'S KEEPER
By
Henry Miller
(Member: African American Playwrights Exchange & Dramatist Guild of America)
Location:
555 Edgecombe Avenue @ 160th Street, NYC, Apt #3F - 212-781-6595 (1 Block East of St Nicholas Avenue) . The nearest train station is the IND line @ 163rd St. CC local.
Date & Time:
Sun. May 13, 2007 @ 7pm
Readers:
ARTHUR FRENCH (Obie Award-winner, founding member: NEC) reading Mr. Newborne
LAWRENCE WINSLOW reading Lucas Newborne
CANDICE MYERS reading Dana Askew
BRIGITTE BARNET reading Margaret "Zulima" Newborne
ED SHELDON reading Mayor Jacob A. Lyman
&
ERIC COLEMAN reading Marcus Newborne
This reading will be hosted by Marjorie Eliot who starred in Charles Gordone' seminal, Pulitzer Prize-winning African American drama, No Place to be Somebody. Also a jazz pianist, Ms. Eliot is the founder of Parlor Entertainment, Harlem's internationally recognized "Straight-Ahead" Sunday Afternoon contemporary Jazz venue.
ADMISSION IS FREE!
So eat a big late lunch and come early at 4pm and make it an afternoon of Jazz and an evening (7pm) of African-American Drama.
Thursday, May 3, 2007
M Ensemble (Miami) Opens "Steal Away"
A group of churchgoing women have to raise money for a scholarship fund in Steal Away, opening tonight at the M Ensemble Theatre, 12320 W. Dixie Hwy. in North Miami.
Selling pies and rolls doesn't raise the money needed for a college tuition, so the women have to try out a new plan in Ramona King's comedy-drama, set in Chicago in the 1920s. Marshel Adams, Carey Hart-Alverez and Latrice Bruno star in the play, directed by Jerry Maple Jr.
Showtimes are 8 p.m. Thursdays through Saturdays and 3 p.m. Sundays, through May 27. Tickets are $25, and $20 for seniors and students. Call 305-895-0335 or themensemble.com.
Selling pies and rolls doesn't raise the money needed for a college tuition, so the women have to try out a new plan in Ramona King's comedy-drama, set in Chicago in the 1920s. Marshel Adams, Carey Hart-Alverez and Latrice Bruno star in the play, directed by Jerry Maple Jr.
Showtimes are 8 p.m. Thursdays through Saturdays and 3 p.m. Sundays, through May 27. Tickets are $25, and $20 for seniors and students. Call 305-895-0335 or themensemble.com.
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