black theatre

In this episode we have the pleasure of speaking with playwright, poet, and fiction essayist Nick Hadikwa Mwaluko!

Trans, queer, non-binary,  Tanzanian-American, poet-playwright-fiction-essayist NICK HADIKWA MWALUKO: Plays include: 37, S.T.A.R: Marsha P. Johnson; two queer African trilogies Waafrika and Waafrika 123; the QTPOC trans masculine THEY/THEM/THEIRS (TBA/Theater Bay Area); the queer apocalypse Homeless in the AfterLife; Blueprint for an African Lesbian; SH/Eroe; Asymmetrical We; Brotherly Love; Trailer Park Tundra; Once A Man Always A Man; Mama Afrika; Queering MacBeth; Life Is About the Kill; That Day God Visits You; Ata; To Dyke Trans; Gayze and many more. Residencies include: Nationally accredited Resident Playwright Initiative (RPI) with nationally acclaimed Playwrights’ Foundation; Resilience and Development (R&D) Writers’ Lab with Crowded Fire Theater Company in San Francisco; New York City’s EWG (Emerging Writers’ Group) at the Public Theater sponsored by Time Warner; New York City’s Groundbreakers Group, Djerassi Artist Residency in northern California, Freedom Train Productions, Ragged Wing Ensemble and more. Nick’s essay “XXYX Queer Africa: More Invisible”, written as a companion piece to Nick’s queer POC play Waafrika 1-2-3, is currently in Best American Essays 2020. Nick’s other essay was nominated for a Pushcart Award (results currently pending). Nick is a 2018 finalist for Africa’s Gerald Kraak Award; a two-time recipient of the Creativity Fund issued by the Public Theater and Time Warner, and a 2017 Spring grantee of a Theatre Bay Area (TBA) Individual Artist Cash grant. Nick graduated Magna Cum Laude at Columbia University in the City of New York for undergrad and completed an MFA at Columbia University in the City of New York while also a Point Scholar, the nation’s largest LGBTQIA academic scholarship fund, and was awarded a Columbia University Fellowship at the same time.  Nick was also at the Iowa Writers’ Workshop but dropped out.  

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A Love Letter to my Gay Beloved Andre Alexander Lancaster

MOJOAA Performing Arts Company Presents:

A Love Letter to my Gay Beloved Andre Alexander Lancaster by Nick Hadwika Mwakulo

Directed by Graceson Abreu

Performed by 

Tristan André Parks

Theme song by Dasan Ahanu and Scott Warren

Sound Design and Engineering by Only Us Media

Hosted by Monèt Noelle Marshall

Produced by MOJOAA Performing Arts Company

Funded in part by The Black Seed Grant, Manbites Dog Theatre, Cypress Fund, Triangle Community Foundation, United Arts Council and our MOJOAA fam!

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In this episode we have the pleasure of speaking with professor, director, and playwright, Dr. Carlton Molette!

Barbara and Carlton Molette have been Dramatists Guild members since 1971. The
Morehouse-Spelman Players premiered ROSALEE PRITCHETT in 1970. The Negro
Ensemble Company produced the New York premiere In 1971, as well as a revival in 2017
for their 50th anniversary season. ROSALEE PRITCHETT has also been produced by The
FreeSouthern Theatre, several universitytheatres, published byDramatistsPlayService, and
in the anthology Black Writers of America. In 1972, Atlanta University Summer Theatre
premiered DR. B.S. BLACK, a musical collaboration with Charles Mann, with Samuel L.
Jackson as Dr. Black and LaTanya Richardson as his wife before she became his real-life
wife. After Washington, D. C., Houston, and Memphis productions, Theatre of the Stars and
Just Us Theatre produced the musical at Atlanta’s Peachtree Playhouse. BOOJI and NOAH'S
ARK (published in the anthology Center Stage) also premiered in Atlanta in the 1970's.

More recently premieres include: FORTUNES OF THE MOOR (New York’s Frank Silvera
Writers’ Workshop) with additional productions by Ghana’s National Theatre; Chicago’s
ETA Creative Arts; and Brown, Ohio State, Western Michigan, Louisville, Pittsburgh and
Connecticut universities; OUR SHORT STAY (Miami’s M Ensemble); PRUDENCE
(Connecticut Repertory Theatre after Connecticut Commission on Culture and Tourism’s
Playwright Award); LEGACY (Atlanta’s New African Grove after Ethel Woolson Award);
PRESIDENTIAL TIMBER (Houston’s De Luxe Theater). Ten minute plays include: OUT
OF TIME (New York’s Turtle Shell); MOVE THE CAR (Warehouse Performing Arts
Center, NC); TEE SHIRT HISTORY (Atlanta’s Essential Theatre); A FOND FAREWELL
(West Virginia’s Greenbrier Valley Theatre); LAST SUPPER and KIN SHIP (Houston’s
Fade to Black). A reading of ADA’s HUSBAND PASSED won the 2019 “Best of the
Festival Award” at the Atlanta Black Theatre Festival.

Barbara Molette (B.A. Florida A. & M. U.; M.F.A. Florida State U.; Ph.D. U. of Missouri)
Professor Emerita and English Department Chair, Eastern Connecticut State U.; faculty at
Spelman College, Texas Southern U.,Baltimore City Community College (also Director of
WritingAcross the Curriculum); Director of Arts-in-Education Programs, Cityof Baltimore.

Carlton Molette (B.A. Morehouse; M.A., U. of Iowa; Ph.D. Florida State U.) U. of
Connecticut Professor Emeritus; faculty at Spelman College, Florida A. & M., Howard,
Atlanta, Texas Southern Universities; Fine Arts Division Chair, Spelman; School of
Communications Dean, Texas Southern; Arts and Sciences Dean, Lincoln (MO); Vice
President for Academic Affairs, Coppin State (MD).

Learn more about MOJOAA at:

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Wife: Verlene Oats
Husband: King David Harris
Auto Guy: Christopher Bailey

In this episode we have the pleasure of speaking with dramaturg and playwright Ivan Mosley!

Ivan Mosley is a playwright and dramaturg from North Carolina. He graduated from Wake Forest University with a BA in Theatre. His play Evelyn & His Brothers was selected as a semifinalist for the 2018 Bay Area Playwrights Festival. He is a proud alumnus of the Kennedy Center Summer Playwrights Intensive and the Advanced Playwriting Program at the National Theatre Institute. He has developed his plays at the Greensboro Playwrights Forum, the John F. Kennedy Center, the Eugene O’Neill Theatre Center, the Ring Theatre and Route 66 Theatre Company. He has served as the dramaturg for The Sting of White Roses by Angelica Cheri and The Right Reverend Dupree in Exile by Jackie Alexander. Currently, he is pursuing his Master of Fine Arts in Playwriting and Masters in Arts Administration at Ohio University.

Learn more about MOJOAA at:

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MOJOAA Performing Arts Company Presents:

An Old Broom by Ivan Mosley

"Two friends talk about relationships, their future and their past all while waiting for the new year to come. Will their friendship change or will it be the same Old Broom?"

Directed by Keyanna Alexander

Cast of An Old Broom

K.D.: Monet Noelle Marshall

Lakenton: Justin Peoples

Theme song by Dasan Ahanu and Scott Warren

Sound Design and Engineering by Only Us Media

Hosted by Monèt Noelle Marshall

Produced by MOJOAA Performing Arts Company

Funded in part by The Black Seed Grant, Manbites Dog Theatre, Cypress Fund, Triangle Community Foundation, United Arts Council and our MOJOAA fam!

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In this episode we have the pleasure of speaking with actor, writer, director, and playwright Thomas Brazzle!

Thomas Brazzle is an actor, writer and director originally from Texas. He got his start training in child television and commercial performance at KD Studios in Dallas, TX. After spending time studying abroad in London and Barcelona, Thomas returned to the U.S. to focus on creating new work and working in regional theatre. He has performed at The Guthrie in Minneapolis, Shakespeare and Company, Cincinnati Playhouse, Connecticut Rep, The Alley and many other regional theaters. His plays have been selected for readings and workshops nationwide. He is Co-Founder of the award winning production company Whet Ink Productions based in Atlanta, GA that focuses on re-imagining classics and creating new works by artists from marginalized communities. Thomas also teaches theatre performance for high schoolers at The Alliance Theatre in Atlanta, GA and guest lectures at Universities throughout Georgia. He is also the Chair of Programming for the Historic Morton Theatre in Athens, GA. He graduated from Stephen F Austin State University in 2008 with a BFA in Theatre, and in 2014 from The University of Connecticut with a MFA in Acting. (www.thomasbrazzle.com)  

You can find Thomas’ work on his production company’s website whetink.com, learn more about Thomas at thomasbrazzle.com, and follow him on IG at @tbrazzledazzle

Learn more about MOJOAA at:

www.MOJOAA.org

Facebook/Instagram: @MOJOAApac

MOJOAA Performing Arts Company Presents:

SMOKED by Thomas Brazzle 

In this short snippet of the dark comedy SMOKED, we get a taste of brotherhood and BBQ as we meet the owners and the locals that frequent Flints BBQ in Austin, Texas.

Directed by Leroy Ediage

Cast of Smoked

Jake: Vincent Drayton

Doc: John Ivey

Dwayne: Ronald Mayberry

Kalob: Trent Mollison

Theme song by Dasan Ahanu and Scott Warren

Sound Design and Engineering by Only Us Media

Hosted by Monèt Noelle Marshall

Produced by MOJOAA Performing Arts Company

Funded in part by The Black Seed Grant, Manbites Dog Theatre, Cypress Fund, Triangle Community Foundation, United Arts Council and our MOJOAA fam!

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In this episode we have the pleasure of speaking with playwright, professor, and researcher Brittney S. Harris! Listen in as we share our belief in the power of the arts to change hearts and minds, finding stories in our communities and of course, the joys of being a Southern Black theatre maker.

Brittney S. Harris is an Assistant Professor of Theatre in the Department of Communication and Theatre Arts at Old Dominion University. She holds a Master of Fine Arts in Acting from the University of Georgia. Brittney’s research efforts are supported and documented by the practices of PaR (Performance as Research). Her areas of expertise are in Race and Performance, Theatre for Social Change, and performative community-engaged programming.

Throughout the Southeast regions of VA, NC, DC, and GA, Brittney has created several community engagement-based projects and conducted workshops on solo performance development and devised theatre at several national interdisciplinary conferences including the 1st Annual Richmond Fringe Festival, 2020 Mid-America Theatre Conference, Black Theatre Network Annual Conference, and 2019 Gender, Bodies & Technology Conference: TechnoLogics: Power and Resistance. 

 Most recently, her short play The Amazin’ Jason was an official section for the Fade to Black Theatre Festival, Houston TX and she is workshopping and touring her two solo performance projects, The Intersection: The Sandra Bland Project and Being B.A.D.; each project explores the adverse effects of violence in social media on the personal psyche and how narrative-based storytelling is used as a vessel for social resilience and redemption.

You can find Brittney’s work at 

https://brittneysharris.com

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Learn more about MOJOAA at:

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Facebook/Instagram: @MOJOAApac

MOJOAA Performing Arts Company Presents:

How to Tie a Tie written by Brittney S. Harris

Directed by Danielle Harris

Cast of How to Tie a Tie

Charles Walker: Vincent Drayton

Grace Walker: Julia Drayton

Theme song by Dasan Ahanu and Scott Warren

Sound Design and Engineering by Only Us Media

Hosted by Monèt Noelle Marshall

Produced by MOJOAA Performing Arts Company

Funded in part by The Black Seed Grant, Manbites Dog Theatre, Cypress Fund, Triangle Community Foundation, United Arts Council and our MOJOAA fam!

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In this episode we have the pleasure of speaking with playwright, actor, choreographer and dancer, Tristan André Parks. This conversation is like eavesdropping on your two artsy cousins. We talk about what we are dreaming, how art impacts us and of course, being a Southern Black theatre maker.

Tristan André. Brother. Sun. Black memory cultural worker. Lover of his community. Yes, beloveds. You are that community. Tristan, an alum of the MFA Professional Actor Training Program at UNC-Chapel Hill, is a Southern multi-hyphenate artist whose credits include PlayMakers Repertory Company's Life of Galileo, Sherwood: The Adventures of Robin Hood, Leaving Eden, Twelfth Night and The Crucible, andDC's Shakespeare Theatre Company's production of Baldwin's The Amen Corner. Tristan is represented by About Artists Agency and is a member of Actors' Equity Association. Peace and love to all. 

You can find Tristan’s work at tristanandre.com and follow him on IG at @fishgritsandcollardgreens

Learn more about MOJOAA at:

www.MOJOAA.org

Facebook/Instagram: @MOJOAApac

MOJOAA Performing Arts Company Presents:

The Waterflower by Tristan André Parks 

This lyrical, poetic piece,  a nod to Zora' Neale Hurston's Mules and Men, takes us on a journey through family, brotherhood, loss and what all exists in the water inside and around us.

Directed by Korinn Annette Jeffries

Performed by Alicia Johnson

Theme song by Dasan Ahanu and Scott Warren

Sound Design and Engineering by Only Us Media

Hosted by Monèt Noelle Marshall

Produced by MOJOAA Performing Arts Company

Funded in part by The Black Seed Grant, Manbites Dog Theatre, Cypress Fund, Triangle Community Foundation, United Arts Council and our MOJOAA fam!


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In this episode we have the pleasure of speaking with playwright and screenwriter, Raven Monroe! We get into about Black girls playing all kinds of roles, writing across genres and mediums and how growing up in the South impacts her work.

Raven Monroe is an actor and playwright from Charlotte, NC. She is a proud graduate of UNC Charlotte (BA ‘16) and NYU Tisch School of the Arts (MFA ‘19) where she honed her skills in the dramatic arts, studying under theatre director Oskar Eustis and playwright Suzan-Lori Parks. As a writer, her intention is to create works that send Black women and girls on adventures, providing representation and showing Black girls that they can be the star of any story. Her works include Mary Davis: Adventures in the Godlands, which was a quarterfinalist at the 2019 Los Angeles International Screenplay Awards, and Sissy & Gen, which is a quarterfinalist in the 2020 Emerging Screenwriters Genre Screenplay Competition. She currently serves as the Vice President on the board of the North Carolina chapter of Women in Film & Television, where she created the bi-weekly live panel “Filmmaker Fridays”, which airs on the NC WiFT Facebook page.

You can find Raven's work on New Play Exchange https://newplayexchange.org/users/36026/raven-monroe

Learn more about MOJOAA at:
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Facebook/Instagram: @MOJOAApac

MOJOAA Performing Arts Company Presents:

Ama and Coltrane, Beware Beware! by Raven Monroe
Two young Black people try to survive a night at home, while the Beasty, a dark force that preys on people like them, is on the loose.

Directed by Leroy Ediage

Cast of Ama and Coltrane, Beware, Beware!
Ama: Sa'a Melioge
Coltrane: Jefferson Gichuru
Beasty: Leroy Ediage
Radio: John Ivy

Theme song by Dasan Ahanu and Scott Warren
Sound Design and Engineering by Only Us Media
Hosted by Monèt Noelle Marshall
Produced by MOJOAA Performing Arts Company
Funded in part by The Black Seed Grant, Manbites Dog Theatre, Cypress Fund, Triangle Community Foundation, United Arts Council and our MOJOAA fam!

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Welcome to our first interview on Red Clay Plays with Dr. Lisa B. Thompson! In this episode we talk about Afrofuturism, mothers who make art, writing the comedy out of pain and, of course, being a Southern Black playwright.

Lisa B. Thompson is an award winning playwright, scholar, and professor of African and African Diaspora Studies at the University of Texas at Austin. She is the author of three books, Beyond The Black Lady: Sexuality and the New African American Middle Class (University of Illinois Press, 2009), Single Black Female (Samuel French Inc. 2012), and Underground, Monroe, and The Mamalogues: Three Plays (Northwestern University Press, 2020).

Thompson’s plays, which have been produced off-Broadway, throughout the US and internationally, include Single Black Female (LA Weekly Theatre Award for Best Comedy nominee, Irma P. Hall Black Theatre Award Best Play winner), Underground, (Austin Critics Circle David Mark Cohen New Play Award winner, Broadway World Regional Awards Best Writing of an Original Work nominee), Monroe (Austin Playhouse Festival of New Texas Plays winner), The Mamalogues (Broadway World Regional Awards Best Writing of an Original Work winner), and Dinner (Crossroads Theatre Genesis New Play Festival).

Thompson has received teaching awards from the Texas Exes and the Warfield Center for African and African American Studies. Her scholarly and creative work has been supported by the American Council of Learned Societies; the University of Texas at Austin’s Humanities Institute; the W. E. B. DuBois Research Institute at Harvard University; the Michele R. Clayman Institute for Gender Research; the Five Colleges, the University of California’s Office of the President; Stanford University’s Center for Comparative Studies in Race and Ethnicity; Hedgebrook; the Millay Colony for the Arts; and MacDowell.

You can find Dr. Lisa's work at:
https://lisabthompson.com
Twitter: @drlisabthompson
Instagram: @drlisabthompson

Learn more about MOJOAA at:
www.MOJOAA.org
Facebook: @MOJOAApac
Instagram: @MOJOAApac

MOJOAA Performing Arts Company Presents:

Mother Nature & Mother's Day by Dr. Lisa B. Thompson

MOTHER NATURE
In a world where men over 40 years old find themselves rejected and isolated, what will a mother and her adult daughter do with the aging men in their lives?

MOTHER’S DAY is a comedy where Afro-futurism meets motherhood. What happens when a black woman wants to “lean in” but first must find adequate childcare? In this one-act play the search for a nanny for one professional couple forces them to confront a litany of black maternal stereotypes.

Directed by Keyanna Alexander

Cast of Mother Nature
Mother: Phyllis Morrison
Daughter: Alyse James

Cast of Mother's Day
Veronica Taylor-Warren: AhDream Smith
Maurice Warren: Rodney Martin
Big Mama 1850: Robin Marshall
American Mother 2009B: Alexandria Smalls
Afro Queen 3000X: Tyanna West

Theme song by Dasan Ahanu and Scott Warren
Sound Design and Engineering by Only Us Media
Hosted by Monèt Noelle Marshall
Produced by MOJOAA Performing Arts Company
Funded in part by The Black Seed Grant, Manbites Dog Theatre, Cypress Fund, Triangle Community Foundation, United Arts Council and our MOJOAA fam!

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This episode shares the meaningful work that Ashley Lyle and Dan Johnson are engaging in to make the Michigan theatre industry more diverse, inclusive, fair and equitable for all artists, but specifically BIPOC artists! While listening, share the show on social media! Give a rating or leave a review on Apple Podcasts, and subscribe wherever you listen to podcasts. Thanks for listening, I appreciate you!

The Tea aka Topics: Theatre, Michigan Theatre, Professional Theatre, Acting, Industry, Anti-Racism, Towards an Anti-Racist Theatre, Black Literature and Art Queens Network, Black Queens Onstage Podcast, Tales from the Mitten, Ashley Lyle, Dan Johnson, Black Theatre, Black Lives Matter, Black Stories Matter, Support Black Artists, Actor Tips, Acting Life, Activism

• Visit blaqn.org or email Ashley at blaqshowmichigan@gmail.com for more information, or to support the work discussed on this episode.

Support the show!

• SUBSCRIBE ON PATREON! All subscriptions go back into making the show: https://www.patreon.com/lifeintheatrepodcast
• Continue the conversation on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/lifeintheatrepodcast/
• Interested in sponsoring the podcast? Email the host athttps://www.tylercalhoun.com/contact

FOLLOW Ashley & Black Literature and Art Queens Network: 

• https://www.instagram.com/blaqnshowmichigan/
• https://www.facebook.com/blaqshowmichigan
• https://twitter.com/BLAQNMI
• https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCCDavoCIIZ7P0HTv9eJ9c_g
• https://www.instagram.com/taurus4912/

Tyler’s Tip:

Learn more about Ashley and Dan’s work by investigating the links below!

• ‘Towards an Anti-Racist Michigan Theatre’ Published by BLAQN LLC. https://www.blaqn.org/?p=1060&fbclid=IwAR3k2iDFeYjtcLsdxjtH_UFYmbA5MJ2K8hpjfY2v9gcrUJGu_VRLyEH_TTw
• Listen to the 4 Part Black Actor Conference Hosted by Black Queens Onstage Podcast https://www.blackqueensonstage.com/

Learn more about Black Literature and Art Queens Network LLC. https://www.blaqn.org/

Does the diversification of mainstage theatre amplify or co-opt marginalised voices? Ilbijerri Theatre Company is one of Australia's only companies creatively controlled by Indigenous artists. We meet their artistic director, Rachael Maza.

Also, we discuss August Wilson's famous The Ground on Which I Stand speech about the need to fund black arts organisations in America and visit the company that developed his first play: Penumbra Theatre in Saint Paul, Minnesota.

Music 

Introduction  - Pondering Profundity (Part Two), Odd Expressions, The Kris Johnson Group

Closing - For Browne, Odd Expressions, The Kris Johnson Group

About Black Theatre Matters

Black Theatre Matters is a bi-weekly podcast covering the intersection between culture, politics, and Blackness. Black Theatre Matters explores the various plays, people, and topics of importance to Black Theatre, the production elements and unique dynamics of Black Theatre. In other words, Black Theatre matters.

A program of Plowshares Theatre Company, BTM is designed to be a liberal arts resource dedicated to supporting, documenting and celebrating the achievements of Black theatre artists throughout the United States, Canada and the United Kingdom.

Subscribe to Black Theatre Matters in Apple Podcast, Google Podcast, Spotify, Stitcher, and wherever to listen to podcasts.

Also, like and follow us on:

Instagram, Facebook and Twitter: @blacktheatrematters

Website: https://blacktheatrematters.org where we have additional articles on Black Theatre as well as a comprehensive listing of Black Theatre in America or follow the hashtag #BlackTheatreMatters. Finally, email us at gary@blacktheatrematters.org with your thoughts.

About Black Theatre Matters

Black Theatre Matters is a bi-weekly podcast covering the intersection between culture, politics, and Blackness. Black Theatre Matters explores the various plays, people, and topics of importance to Black Theatre, the production elements and unique dynamics of Black Theatre. In other words, Black Theatre matters.

A program of Plowshares Theatre Company, BTM is designed to be a liberal arts resource dedicated to supporting, documenting and celebrating the achievements of Black theatre artists throughout the United States, Canada and the United Kingdom.

Subscribe to Black Theatre Matters in Apple Podcast, Google Podcast, Spotify, Stitcher, TuneIn, and iHeartRADIO.

Email the show at gary@blacktheatrematters.org. Follow us on Twitter at @BlkTheatreMatrs and on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/blacktheatrematters/. Visit our website at https://blacktheatrematters.org.