The Last Days or The Meek Shall Inherit The Earth

by Ardencie Hall-Karambe, Ph.D.

ARDENCIE HALL-KARAMBE, PH.D.is an associate professor of English/Theatre Arts at the Community College of Philadelphia. An avid artist, Ardencie co-founded and leads Arden Blair Enterprises, LLC (ABE), a Philadelphia-based entertainment company which houses several subsidiaries including a semi-professional theatre company, Kaleidoscope Cultural Arts Collective (KCAC), an after-school theatre program, Arts4All, and a textile company specializing in handmade African-diaspora inspired home crafts, African Southern Chic. She has worked as an educator, workshop facilitator, actress, director, and designer for over 20 years; as an actress, she performed at The Public Theatre, Theatre for The New City (TNC), P.S. 122 and other theatres in NYC; in 2011, “Ain’t Nobody…A Civil Right Musical,” conceived, composed, and directed by Ardencie, was presented at TNC’s Dream Up: International Theatre Festival. Recently directorial and playwrighting work includes: “Lysistrata, Cross Your Legs Sister” (2014 revised in 2019), recommended for several Barrymore Awards, “#ALLLIVESDONTMATTER” (2016 revised in 2020) both presented at the Klein Theatre (PHILA) at the historic Church of the Advocate; “The Art of I AM,” presented at United Solo Theatre Festival at Theatre Row (NYC), Painted Bride Performing Arts Center (PHILA), and Venice Island Performing Arts Center (PHILA) as part of the THINK, CREATE, INSPIRE Theatre Festival. She in 2015 directed and designed Flyin’ West and Wine in the Wildness presented at the historic Walnut Street Theatre-Studio 5 (PHILA). In 2015, ABE Publishingpublished her book, The Actor’s Tool Kit available through Amazon and Barnes and Nobles Booksellers. ABE Publishing released a cookbook she co-authored entitled, Not Your Grandmother’s Table also through Amazon, and that corresponds with the Facebook page of the same name. In 2021, her poem “Sweet Daddy” is appearing in Philly Jawns: for Women Revisited, an anthology in tribute toNina Simone. Ardencie co-produces, writes, and hosts a program on the Emmy-nominated CCPTV entitled “The Market,” which explores historical and noteworthy topics from the African diaspora. Launching in 2016, “The Market” has been awarded an International Telly Award, and two Communicator’s Broadcasting Awards in the areas of Educational and Social Awareness Programming. She is currently in production with two new shows, “Black History Moments” and “Aunt Nancy’s Storytime.” Dr. Hall lives in Philadelphia with her son. www.arden-blair.com

HashtagTheBlackGirl

by Cashel Campbell

Your Grandma Was Out There

by Christopher Buchanan

CHRISTOPHER BUCHANAN is a New York City based playwright, performer and producer.  His play Ad Nauseam was recently produced by The New Ambassadors Theatre Company.  Angels Watching From Afar received a reading by The PlayGround Experiment in July, 2019.  The Emancipation of Bonnie Marie was read at CAP21 studios in November, 2014.  The Rule Book Can't Apply had a pair of readings: July, 2017 by The PlayGround Experiment and July, 2018 by The Polar Bear Theatre Company.   As a performer, Christopher was the title character in Mr. Long for the 2017 Frigid New York Festival.   In his hometown of Washington, DC, he appeared as Klingon Hamlet in Avant Bard Theatre’s By Any Other Name: An Evening of Shakespeare in Klingon, featuring George Takei and Stephen Fry.  He portrayed famed scientist Raymond Gosling in the world premiere of Photograph 51 for Active Cultures Theatre.  Christopher also appeared in productions for Rorschach Theatre, Theatre Lab of Washington, Unstrung Harpist and Lazy Susan Dinner Theatre.  Christopher studied playwriting in New York City at the Primary Stages Einhorn School of Performing Arts and acting in Washington, DC at the Theatre Lab Academy of Dramatic Arts and the Studio Theatre Acting Conservatory.
www.chrisbuchanan.us

Mother to Son

by Crystal D. Mayo

CRYSTAL D. MAYO is a Native New Yorker born and raised in the South Bronx East 152nd street. Her urban upbringing is a relentless source of inspiration in her writing. Her experiences are highlighted in her upcoming memoir, The Evolution of Me which captures her lifeline of rich and telling childhood recollections told through poetry and prose. 

Crystal’s repertoire of writing spans from memoirs and poetry to children’s books. Her literary contributions have been published in the Bronx Memoir Project Volumes three and four, The African Voices tribute to Ntozake Shange and Our Voices Our Stories, an anthology of Writings Advancing, Celebrating, Embracing and Empowering Girls and Women of Color through the National Girls and Women of Council Inc. Crystal holds a masters in elementary education and is the founder and artistic director of My Daughter My Legacy. This entrepreneur’s mission statement is to empower youth to discover their voice and vision through literacy and the arts. She teaches students how to write and perform spoken word in addition to creating collaborative performance pieces.

When Crystal is not writing she serves as a mentor for the New York based organization, Girls Write Now, and can be seen performing her latest spoken word and writing prompts on the virtual mic stage of the NYC Coalition for Writers. Crystal is a wife and mother of two. crystalmayoinfo.wordpress.com

Happy Birthday

by Dr. Mary E. Weems

DR. MARY E. WEEMS' is a poet, playwright, author, imagination-intellect theorist, and cultural foundations scholar. Weems is the author of thirteen books including Blackeyed: Plays and Monologues, Writings of Healing and Resistance: Empathy and the Imagination-Intellect, Public Education and the Imagination Intellect: I Speak from the wound in my Mouth, five chapbooks,  and numerous poems, articles and book chapters. Weems’ was awarded a 2015 Cleveland Arts Prize for her full-length drama MEAT, and both of her books of poems An Unmistakable Shade of Red and the Obama Chronicles (Bottom Dog Press, 2008) and For(e)closure (Main Street Rag, 2012) were finalists for Ohioana Book Awards. Weems has also been nominated for a Pushcart Prize. Her new book, Still Hanging: Using Performance Texts [plays] to Deconstruct Racism, co-authored with Dr. Bryant Alexander is forthcoming from Brill/Sense Publishing, Spring 2021. To purchase Dr. Weems books, leave her a message, and/or get updates on current projects please visit her website at www.maryeweems.org

A Gathering of Old Men

Gladys W. Muturi

Born in Silver Spring, Maryland and currently lives in Germantown, MD. GLADYS MUTURI started acting at the age of eleven in her first play at Montgomery Village Middle School and continued pursuing acting. In the eleventh grade, she entered a Christopher Columbus state essay and won the contest. It became her first writing experience. She has completed two plays: White Mama and A Gathering of Old Men and is currently working on her one-act play Boys Like Us.

instagram.com/gladys_muturi95, vocal.media/authors/gladys-w-muturi

When It Rains

by J.J. Tingling

J. J. Tingling, M.A., M.S.L.I.S. has worked in a variety of professional information environments for several years, ranging from classrooms and archives to libraries and studio spaces. These programs and endeavors have provided her with informative opportunities to engage and promote the production, distribution, and preservation of quality information materials for all age groups in a variety of subject matters. She describes herself as the epitome of the information professional. The Author. The Publisher. The Librarian. The Archivist. The Recorder and Witness. Her writings are meant to connect spirits across time and space; to reach a deeper understanding of ourselves and all that is around us in the day. Her first collection of poetic work was published in partnership with Ashani Scales in The Brown Female Voice, April of 2020. During a time of great unrest, Scales & Tingling hoped their writings would bring comfort, reassurance, and acceptance to readers. These voices and experiences matter, because Every Brown Female’s Voice Matters. Tingling is the owner of J&B Press LLC, a publishing house dedicated to preserving and sharing the arts and experiences of marginalized communities.May these writings inspire and bolster readers. Be well.

How Dare You?!

by Jonathon Benjamin

JONATHON BENJAMIN. I am a proud veteran of the US Air Force. After studying English at community college on an academic scholarship, I decided to enlist in the military in 2010. I was trained in Avionics Technology and served at Dyess AFB, in Texas, for three years. 

After being stationed in the United Kingdom, I sustained serious injuries while on active-duty in 2013. It was a difficult two years of recovery in England, then Walter Reed, before I medically retired from the Air Force. In October 2015, upon notice that I would be retiring, I decided to grasp opportunity from the jaws of adversity. Rather than settle for work that would just pay the bills, I chose to develop my passion for theatre. In the same year I was released from the hospital and retired from the military, I was accepted to The George Washington University (GW) in Washington, DC. In addition to a regimen of physical therapy and mental health treatment, I diligently maintained a schedule of classes in the theatre program. 

I always had a penchant for writing, so, in my Junior year I attempted playwriting. The euphoria of creation, combined with the thrill of artistic expression, took an unyielding hold on me and I began writing. After an assignment collaborating with my classmates, I helped create a one-act play about sexual assault. In that same year, using the fodder of my life, I wrote about my experience in the military and the transition from catastrophic injury back into civilian life.  

My first play, American Airman, was honored at the Kennedy Center’s American College Theatre Festival in January 2018. The play was simultaneously produced as a staged reading for my Senior Thesis, earning me Departmental Honors in the theatre. I graduated from GW in May 2018, with the academic distinction of Magna Cum Laude. Not one to rest on my laurels, I continued to explore playwriting in the DC theatre scene, receiving at least one production per year since 2018. In 2019, I was commissioned to write a play (One Giant Leap) for the 50th anniversary of the Stonewall Riots at Rainbow Theatre Project in DC. In 2020, I had my first 10-minute play, The Enemy, produced by 4615 Theatre in Maryland for their Quarantine Festival. 

The opportunities afforded by professional productions has developed, not only the merit of my plays, but has forged an unapologetic playwright out of the fiery furnace of life’s volatility. Playwriting saved my life. I was once a recovering veteran that had no outlet to express myself—my pain, my anger, my dissatisfaction at a life so unexpectedly altered. Playwriting gave me a sense of agency over my experience and it created opportunities for me to empathize with others. My work seeks to offer the audience what I was gifted when I first picked up a pen and wrote. https://newplayexchange.org/users/21289/jonathon-benjamin

UN-RHYTHMIC SLAVE

by Karen L Smith

KAREN 'MAGIC FINGAZ" SMITH – Percussionist, Playwright, Poet,  Director, Educator hails from Brooklyn New and a Philly immigrant  since the mid-nineties. Karen has played with numerous of  musical artists, poets, storytellers, combos, theater productions.  Ms. Smith was the curator for the first LGBTQ Outbeat Jazz  Festival in 2014 featuring Andy Bey and Teri Lynn Carrington and  was the lead percussionist for Ms Debbie Allen Artist in Residence  Program of May 2017 under the Mann Center for the Performing  Arts. Karen has also been Sister Sonia Sanchez go to  percussionist for her various engagements. Currently a teaching  artist for African American American Museum in Philadelphia,  University Center Arts League, Northern Liberties Arts and The  Barnes Foundation which her own two groups Sistahs Laying  Down Hands and Weez the Peeples Collectives has been a part  of the entertainment schedule. Karen has also written a number of  plays and a recipient of the Pennsylvania Council of the Arts as  well as the Leeway Foundations Art and Change Grant for March  of 2019 to continue to create her latest project, “Awoke” the  musical on Mass Incarceration. Ms. Smith is currently among 40  poets for the Anthology, “Philly Jawns” a tribute to Nina Simone.  “My purpose has been granted and I embraced it daily with  honor.” karensmithdrums.wixsite.com/karensmithdrums

Why I was late today, and will probably
always be late as a Black woman

by Liz Morgan

LIZ MORGAN is a playwright, poet and performer.  Her written work has appeared in The Huffington Post, the Long Island City One Act Festival Anthology and the Medium publication, Athena Talks.  She has previously developed projects with The Fire This Time Festival, The Lark, SPACE on Ryder Farm, The Flea, Fresh Ground Pepper, Liberation Theatre Company, Judson Arts, Amios, Rising Circle, JACK, NY Madness, POTPOURRI! World Women Works Series, Rites and Reason Theatre, Manhattan Rep and National Black Theatre where she was named a finalist for the I AM SOUL Playwrights’ Residency. Her original plays include her solo show, Deep $h*t, as well as Deliver: Letters to the Motherland from a Foreign Body (2019 Kilroys List Honorable Mention), Breaking & Entering, A Matter of Taste, Our Father and The Clark Doll which was featured at the 2019 Deep Water Literary Festival and nominated for a 2018 Drammy Award in the category of Best Original Script after its west coast premiere. Other honors include the Torchbearer for Black Theatre Award, Playwrights Realm Writing Fellowship (Semi-Finalist) and the New Works Lab at Stratford (Semi-Finalist).  MFA: Brown University www.LizMorganOnline.com

Outer Inner Monologue

by Louis DeVaughn Nelson

LOUIS DEVAUGHN NELSON is an interdisciplinary artist and the founder of Hokum Arts started in  2006. Nelson has worked for 20 years as a performer, choreographer, producer and director for film, theater, dance and more. His works have been shown in USA, Europe, Australia and South  Korea. He has studied at DeSales University, Drexel University, The New School, The Jeanne Ruddy School of Dance, The Koresh School of Dance, and is a proud member of The Dramatists  Guild of America.  

Intimate partner violence, racism, sexuality, discrimination, bigotry, misogyny and the marginalization of class and social systems are frequent topics of Nelson's film and dance theater work. His most notable pieces were included in his three-part dance theatre series satirizing sociopolitical warfare and sensationalism in the media in America entitled "Human Error"  (2007), "Man Bites Dog" (2010), and "Until Proven Guilty" (2018). In all of these works he used innovative methods combining several media/disciplines - collaborating with photographers,  filmmakers, fine artists, and performing artists.  

Since the pandemic – he has directed six theatre/dance productions virtually with an aim to push the envelope in this time of burgeoning new media.  

Credits Include: The English Theater Berlin, The Philadelphia Fringe Festival, The Festivale!  GLBT Arts Festival, The Philly Dance Collective, CEC's New Edge Mix Festival, The Peekaboo  Revue, The HOT! Festival, Hearts on the Wall by Dark Matter Productions, The FailSafe  Festival, Sans Limites Dance Festival, Manhattan Repertory Theatre, The Secret Theatre, Broadway Bound Theatre Festival, Dixon Place, Sitting Shotgun Theatre Co., Village Playwrights. www.facebook.com/hokumarts

Antigone's Monologue

by Marie Mayingi

MARIE MAYINGI is currently attending the University of Exeter and studying English Law and French Law. 

She has published two poetry chapbooks, "Ravings" in 2018 and "Happier" in 2019 and her first play, "Antigone" has been performed in February 2021 as part of the Philadelphia Artists' Collective's New Venture Festival. 

Michael is Black

by Michael Hagins

MICHAEL HAGINS (Playwright): Off-Broadway: The Long Rail North (Soho Rep, FringeNYC). Off-off Broadway: Basement (Roly Poly Productions), The Quest of the Hero (Planet Connections Theatre Festivity); Michael is Black (Planet Connections Theatre Festivity); The Renaissance Dueling Plays (Planet Connections Theatre Festivity); The Vengeance Room (FRIGID Festival). Regional/Other: Hit and Match (Chicago Fringe, Johannesburg Fringe). Outstanding Playwriting - Hit and Match, 2013; Outstanding Overall Production of a Solo Show - Michael is Black. Artistic Director, C.A.G.E. Theatre Company; Member - Dramatists Guild; Advanced Actor-Combatant - Society of American Fight Directors; Award-winning actor, director, fight director and producer. www.MichaelHagins.com

Red Card

by Michael Rishawn

MICHAEL RISHAWN (actor/writer/narrator), is a multi-hyphenate artist best known for his stage work in the  critically acclaimed plays HANDJOB opposite THE WEST WING’S Stephen Culp  and WIG OUT by TARELL MCCRANEY under the direction of KENT GASH. He  has worked in various Regional and Off-Broadway theaters including  ROUNDABOUT THEATRE, HARTFORD STAGE and SHAKESPEARE THEATRE CO.

His warm yet engaging voice moves effortlessly through THE USUAL SUSPECTS,  a YA novel for HARPERCOLLINS PUBLISHERS, and was a SUNDANCE  SCREENWRITERS LAB Finalist for his first feature film, MAMA’S BOY. www.michaelrishawn.com

Define "Black"

by Nessa Amherst

NESSA AMHERST is humbled that her monologue, Define “Black,” is included in the 08:46  Monologue Collection. Originally from Chicago, she is an actress who has worked with companies and organizations from within and outside the DC/MD/VA area. Some of her  favorite performances include Medea (Globe Online), Two Gentlemen of Verona (JaYo  Théâtre), Six Words. Pandemic Life. You. Me. (PlayZoomers), Saint Joan (JaYo Théâtre),  and Radium Girls (Silver Spring Stage). Define “Black” was one of many original monologues featured in the online performance Monologues of the Black Experience,  directed by Jacqueline Elisabeth. www.nessaamherst.com

Knock

by Rajendra Ramoon Maharaj

RAJENDRA RAMOON MAHARAJ is a multi-disciplinary, American Theater Artist, Administrator, and Advocate. Mr. Maharaj was hailed in The New York Times for his award-winning play, Little Rock, which was selected as a New York Times Critics Pick. He is currently the Associate  Artistic Producer of Milwaukee Repertory Theater. Mr. Maharaj is represented by Michael  Moore Agency. 

He has been featured in numerous articles and interviews in notable industry publications such as  The American Theater Magazine, The New York Times, The Yale School of Drama / Repertory  Theater Review, The Dramatist, The Uptown Magazine, Playbill, Broadway World, The Daily  News, The New York Post, The New York Beacon, The Philadelphia Sun, Time-Out New York,  Harlem News, Amsterdam News, and The Stage Directors and Choreographers Journal for his work as a theater practitioner and leader. Mr. Maharaj’s playwrighting residencies include the  Nuyorican Poets Cafe, New Orleans Writer’s Residency, Alliance Theater, Arkansas Repertory  Theater, Crossroads Theater, Amas Musical Theater, Triskelion Arts, and the 2020 Resident  Playwright of the Letter of Marque Theatre. As a scholar and artist, he has lectured at Yale  University, Columbia University, University of Arkansas at Little Rock, The Kennedy Center for  Performing Arts, Howard University, George Washington University, Catholic University, St.  John’s University, St. Joseph’s College, and Brooklyn College. 

He has worked on Broadway, Off-Broadway, and at many of our nation’s top Regional Theaters  including the Bernard B. Jacobs, The Theater at Madison Square Garden, The Sheen Center for  Thought & Culture, The Public, Second Stage Theatre, Soho Playhouse, Classical Theater of  Harlem, New Federal Theater, New World Stages, Nuyorican Poets Café, Tribeca Performing  Arts Center, Lark Play Development Center, Theatre Row, Milwaukee Repertory Theater, Portland Stage, Actors Theater of Louisville, Alabama Shakespeare, Signature Theater, Theater  Works, Goodman Theater, The Kennedy Center, Arkansas Repertory Theater, Perseverance, and  New Freedom Theater.  

Mr. Maharaj has been honored with many awards for his body of work in the American Theater including the prestigious Woodie King Jr. Award, four Vivian Robinson AUDELCO Awards,  Barrymore Award, Stage Directors and Choreographers Society Theatrical Moment of the Year,  The New York International Fringe Festival Overall Excellence Award, Theater  Communications Group Directors Grant and Playwriting Grant, and Recipient of the 2020  National Alliance for Musical Theater Short Musical Theater Challenge Award. He has been recognized with the Time Warner Diverse Voices Grant, New York City Council Citation for  Outstanding Community Service Leadership, New York State Senate Citation for Outstanding  Community Service and Mentoring Leadership, The Commonwealth of Pennsylvania House of  Representatives Citation for Excellence in the Performing Arts, Philadelphia Mayoral  Proclamation from Hon. Michael Anthony Nutter, and a Proclamation from Brooklyn Borough  President, Eric L. Adams. Mr. Maharaj was recently awarded the 2020 Trinidad and Tobago  United Community Association Inc. Award for his outstanding contribution to the Trinidad and  Tobago Diaspora as an Artist, Advocate, and Educator in the United States of America. 

After his graduate studies at Brooklyn College, Mr. Maharaj was awarded a Masters of Fine Arts  Degree from Brooklyn College. Mr. Maharaj is a proud alumnus of the Actors Studio  Playwrights and Directors Unit, Lincoln Center’s Directors Lab, and Theater Communication  Group’s Rising Leaders of Color in the American Theater. He has served as the Artistic Director of New Freedom Theater in Philadelphia as well as the Artistic Director of Rebel Theater, a  multi-cultural, Brooklyn based non for profit theater company for several years. Mr. Maharaj founded the Voices at the River, an African and Latinx American Playwrights New Works  Festival hosted at Arkansas Repertory Theater as well as serve as the Artistic Director for  WeFest, an annual festival of new works for emerging playwrights in the Borough of Brooklyn. www.rajendramaharaj.com

It's Over, Queen Mya

by Sharece M. Sellem

A native of Hartford, CT, SHARECE M. SELLEM is a playwright, choreographer, director and performing arts instructor based out of New Haven, CT. She was trained by Headlong Performance Institute of Bryn Mawr College in Pennsylvania and Yale University’s Practical Approach to Directing Summer Program 2014. Her resume includes performances at Bregamos Community Theater, Long Wharf Theatre, Pride Arts Center of Chicago, Charter Oak Cultural Center, Carriage House Theater, Illinois Voices Theatre, Norwich Arts Center, University of California San Diego and more. She is the founder of Vintage Soul Productions LLC. www.VintageSoulProductions.com

I Didn't Raise My Son To Die

by Sharnell Blevins

Shortly after graduating with a bachelor’s in business, SHARNELL BLEVINS married, birthed six children, and stayed home to raise them. She promised herself that if she ever went back to school that she would study something that she loved. During her eldest’s toddler years, she yearned to write. Wanting to deepen her understanding of creative writing, publishing, and editing, Sharnell pursued a MFA in creative writing, allowing her to be an example to her children that it’s always possible to achieve your dreams. During her MFA, Sharnell found her voice, settling within her soul. She creates the art that oozes out of her essence.

Sharnell Blevins developed her play, “Dreams on a Dime” from her MFA thesis, “Lottery Winner.” In 2020, “Dreams on a Dime” was a semi-finalist in the SheLA/SheNYC Play Festival and read at the San Diego Repertory’s Kuumba Fest; her story “COVID Prisms was read during The Billie Holiday Theatre’s Love in the Time of Corona, 50in50. Sharnell’s poems, “Ruling” and “preparations” were published in IO Literary Journal inaugural edition. Her blog, ‘Thank God It’s Friday” was published on Elev8.com. Currently, Sharnell is completing another novel and developing her next play.

Sharnell’s MFA is from Mount Saint Mary’s University. Sharnell is a member of Women Who Submits Editorial Team for its 2021 anthology; and was an Editor of The Rush Literary Journal. She is a member of the Association of Writing Professionals and Programs, Dramatist Guild, Kite City Playwrights, New Play Exchange, Playwright’s Center, and Women Who Submit. Sharnell Blevins lives in the Los Angeles area with her husband, Clifton, and their six children. sharnellblevins.com

Tired

by Shaneisha Dodson

SHANEISHA DODSON is the founder of Black Girlz Productions, a public speaker, and an award-winning playwright. She holds a BA in psychology (Grambling State University), a MA in counseling (Dallas Baptist University), an Ed.S in education (Walden University), and a certificate in women’s entrepreneurship (Cornell University). Dodson has written, directed, and produced three full-length productions. Her one-act play Vagina Rights debuted off-Broadway in NYC at the Strawberry One-Act festival 2017 and won best theatrical presentation by NYC Success in the Arts Awards. Her children’s play Dog, Cat & The Red Bird was published in Drama Notebook. In her spare time, she enjoys reading, writing, and spending time with loved ones. www.blackgirlzproductions.com

to kneel or not to kneel

by Bryan-Keyth Wilson

Dubbed the Literary Prince, BRYAN-KEYTH WILSON is a noted playwright, screenwriter, director, teaching artist and choreographer. He is a published author of three books and 8 plays. His first novel, HOOD BOY CHRONICLES, was a groundbreaking work of inspirational fiction combining street literature swag and spoken word intermingled with a poignant and heartfelt story that restores faith. His second title was for the grown and sexy crowd. TRACK CHANGES & WHITE LIES was written under an alter-ego pseudonym Brendan Gotti. Currently BKW is touring with his published choreopoem FOR COLORED BOYZ on the verge of a nervous breakdown when freedom ain't enuff. BKW studied Musical Theatre with a Dance emphasis at Sam Houston State University. His passion for teaching has brought him into the classroom as a teaching artist where he shares his professional journey with young aspiring theatre/ musical theatre artists. He is the Artistic Director of The Wilson School and The Creative Co-Lab TX. BKW is a proud member of Chi Tau Epsilon Dance Fraternal Honor Society and Alpha Psi Omega the National Honor Theatre Fraternity.

Regional directorial/choreography credits include: BARE, The Frog Prince, PIPPIN, Little Shop of Horrors, RENT, The Rocky Horror Show, Spring Awakening, Macbeth, Mame, Once on This Island, Anything Goes, Dreamgirls, Confessions of a Preacher's Wife, and Suessical the musical. Off-Broadway Credits include: Pamlet and The Subway Series Pt 1. He has choreographed children’s productions of Fiddler on the Roof Jr., which won Outstanding Production at the 2011 Junior Theatre Festival. Seussical Jr., Once on This Island Jr., Godspell Jr., Disney’s AristoCats Kids, Disney’s Beauty and the Beast Jr., The Little Mermaid Jr. which won Outstanding Production at the 2012 Junior Theatre Festival FAME Jr. and excerpts from Dr. Doolittle Jr. 2012 Showcase Premiere at the Junior Theatre Festival.

 BKW has molded and guided the career of Nichole Cordova who was a member of the hot pop group Girlicious, Tommy Torres, Danny Armstrong, Maddie Ballio and more. BKW has directed music videos for American Idol Finalist Vincent Powell and the award winning debut video "Got Fruit" for YUNEK. BKW is also the founder and Executive Artistic Director of The Creative Co-Lab, founder of The Gulf Coast Writers Retreat and Artistic Director for Artists In Motion Performing & Visual Arts Academy. BKW is now in development of his first comic book series  THE TALENTED TENTH on Wilson Comics/ B's Ink Publishing. He is a five-year faculty member of The Black Writers Reunion & Conference and the creator of the LIFT EV’RY VOICE International Playwright & Spoken World Virtual Festival. www.bryankeyth.com

Follow the Fireflies

by Christian St. Croix

CHRISTIAN ST. CROIX (he/him/his) is a playwright, theatre maker and the author of M., a collection of prose, poetry and micro-fiction that Outword Magazine describes as, ”Raw. Real. Radical. Racy.” 

St. Croix’s works include Princes, winner of the 2017 San Diego International Fringe Festival Award for Outstanding LGBT Performance; Zack, which received its World Premiere at the Know Theatre of Cincinnati in November 2020, And All the Birds Loved Her, an audio play commissioned by Blindspot Collective and the La Jolla Playhouse, and Monsters of the American Cinema, the winner of the 2019 San Diego International Fringe Festival Award for Artists' Pick and Cultural Exchange that the San Diego Union-Tribune called “touching and funny”, “honest” and “engaging.”

He currently resides in San Diego, CA. www.saintscrossing.com

Create the Space

by Cris Eli Blak

CRIS ELI BLAK is an award-winning and internationally produced writer for the page, stage, and screen. His writing has won the Christopher Hewitt Award for Fiction and received a Pushcart  Prize nomination. His work has been produced, performed and/or published around the world,  including Off-Broadway (Urban Stages, Rattlestick Playwrights Theatre), West Coast (Common  Ground Theatre, Left Edge Theatre, Breath of Fire Latina Theater Company), Collegiate  (Columbia University, Academy of Arts University and Wellesley College), Canada (Ryerson  Community Theatre), London (The Quean's Theatre), Australia (Melting Pot Theatre), and  Ireland (Eva's Echo). He is currently developing new work as a season 6 playwright with Derby  City Playwrights, as part of the Under Construction 2 group with The Road Theatre and with Et  Alia Theater Company. He continues to strive to create work that reflects the world that we live in, with all of its different and diverse colors, creeds, and cultures through work with organizations such as TEDxBroadway and Fine Arts Forward, and as a student blogger for  BroadwayWorld. Instagram: @criseliblak

SPIT

by Diana Mucci

Born and raised in Chicago's Southside, Back of the Yards neighborhood, DIANA MUCCI is an Afro-Latina author, playwright, poet, professional speaker, and producer. She was inspired by her multi-ethnic family to share stories out loud that could draw laughter from a crowd. A former English teacher and sales executive, Diana has performed as an actress and has written, published, and/or produced short stories, children's books, poems, TV commercials, indie films, and in 2005 her first play, I'm a Female. . . Seeking a Male, which earned accolades from the Chicago Sun-Times. Diana revised the play, now entitled Come 'n Go, and mounted a wildly successful premiere at The Factory Theatre in Chicago, September 2018. Diana's credits also include co-producing the indie full-feature film, Bloom which premiered at the Chicago Latino Film Festival, won best drama at the Palm Springs Film Festival and earned a Women-in-Film grant. Diana established Back of the Yards Entertainment in support of independent artists. She performed a virtual monologue of her short story “Spit” with the esteemed nonprofit A New World Of Theater as a way to amplify the stories of systemic racism in 2020.  Diana is also a professional speaker working as an advocate for racial injustice and equity in education by presenting to groups and schools. She is a member of The Dramatist Guild of America, New Playwright’s Exchange Amigos del Rep through the San Diego Rep Theater and the Playwright’s Collective with A New World Theater. She just published her children’s naptime series, The Snugawinks of Cuddleton Falls, is finishing her memoir Growing up with Big Hair, and is looking for a new city for her play, Come ‘n Go. You’ll find Diana living the dream in the Chicago area with her husband, family, and friends. For more information, please visit: www.backofyards.com

Walk a Mile in My Rage

by Gary Earl Ross

GARY EARL ROSS is a retired UB professor whose books include The Wheel of Desire, Shimmerville, Blackbird Rising, Beneath the Ice, and the Gideon Rimes mysteries Nickel City Blues and Nickel City Crossfire (originally Black Opal but with new editions forthcoming from SEG), and Nickel City Storm Warning (SEG). His plays (staged in Buffalo, Rochester, Knoxville, NYC, other U.S. cities, Canada, England, China, India, and Kazakhstan) include Picture Perfect, Murder Squared, The Scavenger’s Daughter, The Mark of Cain, The Guns of Christmas, The Trial of Trayvon Martin, and Matter of Intent, winner of the Edgar Award from Mystery Writers of America. Other writing honors include three Emanuel Fried Outstanding New Play Awards, a LIFT Fiction Fellowship, a Saltonstall Foundation Playwriting Fellowship, an ASI-DEC artist’s grant for fiction, and public radio commentary awards from the New York Associated Press and the New York Broadcasters Association. Both The Scavenger’s Daughter and Matter of Intent have been adapted into motion pictures by CITOC Productions of Mumbai, India. Visit him at www.garyearlross.net.

Monologue for a Tutting Face

by J. E. Robinson

J. E. ROBINSON is an award-winning essayist and fiction writer, as well as a playwright. His plays include Groove, from which “Monologue for a Tutting Face” is excerpted. His book following a woman’s escape from slavery in St. Louis to freedom in Canada in 1853, “Gertrude Barlabie?” My Quest, is forthcoming. He teaches history at the University of Health Sciences and Pharmacy in St. Louis.

Inertia

by James J. Johnson

JAMES J. JOHNSON (or J. J.) is an actor and writer based in the Washington, DC area. As an actor, he last appeared onstage in the co-production THE ROYALE (1st Stage/Olney Theater Center). He has performed on many local stages including Arena Stage, Woolly Mammoth Theatre and Ford’s Theatre. Since the pandemic, he has been focusing on writing. His first screenplay, “A Thousand Cuts,” which he co-wrote, is scheduled to film in Connecticut, February 2021. Directed by Sundance Institute Feature Film Fellow, Aristotle Torres.  He also recently received a Solo Works Commission from 1st Stage in Tyson’s Corner, Virginia. jamesjjohnson.weebly.com

Black by Unpopular Demand

by K.E. Mullins

K.E. MULLINS is retired from the Navy and currently works as a Navy Junior Reserve Officer Training Corps (NJROTC) Instructor in Gainesville, Fl. She graduated from National University with an MBA in Finance and University of Central Florida with a Major in Marketing. 

Additionally, Ms. Mullins is a Jacksonville, Florida native and has enjoyed reading and writing since her early childhood. She began her writing career while in the Navy by venturing into poetry.

 Her first poetry piece, “My One Last Cent,” was published in a literary journal, “Amistad” in 2007 at Howard University. Currently, Ms. Mullins has published a book of poetry, “Thinking Aloud: Dimensions of free-verse” and her fiction novels, “The Friends and Family Connection: Get Unplugged”, “In the Company of Strangers,” and, “Murder: Another Name for Revenge,” are all available on Amazon.  Ms. Mullins is a regular contributor with Harness magazine, www.harnessmagazine.com. In addition to writing poetry, Kimberley has done spoken word venues in Urban Grind, Atlanta, GA, Busboys and Poets in Washington, D.C., and the Thomas Center in Gainesville, FL. kmullins.shop

I AM NOT YOUR TEACHER

by Kayodè Soyemi

KAYODÈ SOYEMI is a Nigerian-American actor, writer, and multifaceted artist. As an actor, he has appeared regionally at Actor’s Express, Dallas Theater Center, Yale Cabaret and Actors Theatre of Louisville. His plays have been produced at Yale Cabaret, Shaking the Tree, and New World  Theatre. He has directed/produced at Meadows School of the Arts, Yale Cabaret, House Party  Theatre, Shakespeare on Draught, and Actors Theatre of Louisville. Kayodè has his B.F.A. from  Southern Methodist University in Dallas, TX. He is an alum of the ‘18-’19 Professional Training  Company at Actor’s Theatre of Louisville. He is currently pursuing his MFA in Acting from Yale  School of Drama. kayodesoyemi.com

The Voice Inside My Head

by Louis D. Johnson

LOUIS JOHNSON. In June ’14, his play “The Lepers of Orchard Park” was produced in the Fade to Black Play Festival in  Houston, Tx. Also in June ’14, “Remember This: Words from an Angry Young Man” had a staged reading in the Reverend Al Sharpton’s National Action Network’s Gun Violence Awareness play reading at N.A.N  headquarters in New York. In August ’14, his play “Papa” was produced in the Stage Black Play Festival in  New York City and Dallas, Tx. In December ’14, “The Nag” premiered in the “6’10 Festival of African American Plays” in Louisville, Ky. In August ’15, Colors of Community presented a staged reading of “A  Bullet for Jenny King” at the Museum of Contemporary African Diaspora Art (MoCADA) in Brooklyn, NY.  In October ’16, “Old Man Cleans His Gun” had a staged reading in the Shades of Black Theatre Festival held at the Darkhorse Theatre in Nashville, Tn. 

He has written for The Rhythmic Lounge magazine and is the lead writer/co-creator of the web-series,  “The Thrill of the Kill”@ likemindscreative.com. “T.O.T.K” was an official selection of Phoenix Comicon  Film Festival 2017 in Phoenix, Az., May 25-28, 2017. In February ’18, Louis was selected to be a Fellow at the Tennessee Playwright’s Studio in Nashville, Tn. In November ’18, his play “NEC Compuncti: (No  Remorse)” had a staged reading in the Tennessee Playwright’s Studio’s Fall Festival of Plays at the  Darkhorse Theatre in Nashville, Tn. In May/June ’19, he directed his one-act play, “A Bullet for Jenny  King” in ACT ONE Theatre Company’s One Act Wednesdays at the Darkhorse Theatre in Nashville, Tn. In  January ’20, his new play, “Makin’ Bond” will have its’ first staged reading in The Fade-to-Black Reading  Series in Houston, Tx. In January ’20, his play, “Makin’ Bond” will be produced in The Secret Theatre  Company’s One-Act Play Festival in Long Island City, NY. In February ’20, he will direct his play, “Oh, the  LIES we’ve told” In ACT ONE Theatre Company’s One-Act Play Festival at the Darkhorse Theatre in  Nashville, Tn. Louis was a 2020 Finalist for the 2020-2021 Maison Baldwin Writer-in-Residence Program presented by Les Amis de la Maison Baldwin.  

The Reapers on Woodbrook Avenue

by Mardee Bennett

MARDEE BENNETT is a playwright and actor. He is a 2021 National Black Theatre (Harlem, NY) Playwrights Residency Finalist. His new play CANE is a 2021 Bonnie & Terry Burman New Play Award Semi-Finalist (Barrington Stage).

His play THE REAPERS ON WOODBROOK AVENUE was a Eugene O’Neill Playwrights Conference Finalist, Seven Devils Playwrights Conference Finalist, Princess Grace Award Semi-Finalist and Bonnie & Terry Burman New Play Award Semi-Finalist.

His plays have been developed with Center Stage, Signature Theatre, National Black Theatre and Baltimore Playwrights Festival. Other Plays: In the Ramble; Loretta; The Nerve; A Pleasant Place To Be. Mardee trained at New York University’s Tisch School of the Arts.

He lives on a small farm in Louisiana with his partner Michael and their wee pup Gumbo.

He is represented by A3 Artists Agency.

newplayexchange.org/users/4627/mardee-bennett

Drawing While Black

by Maurice Moore

MAURICE MOORE is currently a doctoral Performance Studies student at the University of California-Davis. He has exhibited and performed at the Medford Arts Center in Medford New Jersey, the International House Davis (I-House) in Davis California, The Memorial Union Gallery at North Dakota State University, Christina Ray Gallery in Soho New York, Weatherspoon Museum of Art in Greensboro North Carolina, and performed with Rios/Miralda in Madison Wisconsin. Moore’s creative non-fiction, fictional and visual works have appeared in Storm Cellar Journal, Harbor Review, Rigorous, Wicked Gay Ways, Unlikely Stories Mark V, Confluence, and HIVES Buzz-Zine.

maurice-moore-mkx7.squarespace.com

November 4, 1967

by Melda Beaty

Playwright, author, and assistant professor, MELDA BEATY is the “one to watch.” Born in Jackson,  Mississippi, Melda resides in Chicago, Illinois with her three gifted and beautiful daughters. 

Melda is a passionate playwright. Her first play, Front Porch Society, delves into the complex and  connected lives of four elderly Black women living in the Mississippi Delta on the eve of the 2008  presidential election as they relive the struggles of Jim Crow, the fight for civil rights, and the trauma of senseless killings of Black boys? The play enjoyed a world premiere at The Ensemble Theatre in Houston,  TX (2017), and most recently, a mainstage production at the National Black Theatre Festival in Winston Salem, NC (2019). Her second play, Coconut Cake, was accepted into the New Works Reader's Series at  the National Black Theatre Festival (2017) and had virtual readings at St. Louis Black Rep (2020),  Ensemble Theatre (2020) and a staged reading at ReadFest in Houston, TX (2017). Her most recent stage  play, Thirty, is an explosive look at a generation of Black women caregivers grappling with family secrets.  Melda was commissioned by The Ensemble Theatre for their 2021-2022 season. Her upcoming short  film, Cupcake, chronicles the divide mental illness creates between a mother and her daughter. 

In addition, Melda is an author of two books and freelance contributor to Black Masks magazine. Her  first book, My Soul to His Spirit: Soulful Expressions from Black Daughters to Their Fathers won the 2006  National Fresh Voices Award. It is a diverse and cathartic compilation of non-fiction writings by Black  women from across the United States. Her debut novel, Lime, is hailed as “America’s Next Top Model” meets “Burning Bed.” 

Melda earned a B.A. in Broadcast Communications from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. meldacreates.com/

The Sleeping Cop

by Max King Cap

MAX KING CAP is a visual artist from Chicago who now lives in Los Angeles. His work has been awarded by Artadia and Creative Capital, exhibited in the Bronx Museum, Walker Art Center, Museum fur Neue Kunst Freiburg and numerous other cities in Europe and the US. He is also a writer whose work has appeared in The Racial Imaginary, Threepenny Review, Shenandoah, The Puritan, and TriQuarterly. He earned his MFA from the University of Chicago and his doctorate from USC. He has also taught at Columbia College Chicago, Illinois Institute of Technology, and Pitzer College.

maxkingcap.com

I'm Tired

by Rachel Lynett

RACHEL LYNETT is a queer Afro-Latine playwright. All of her plays are dark comedies that center on queer people of color and how they attempt to navigate through the various complexities of their existence. Her plays have been featured at Magic Theatre, Mirrorbox Theatre, Laboratory Theatre of Florida, Barrington Stage Company, Theatre Lab, Theatre Prometheus, Florida Studio Theatre, Laughing Pig Theatre Company, Capital Repertory Theatre, Teatro Espejo, the Kennedy Center Page to Stage festival, Theatresquared, Equity Library Theatre, Chicago, Talk Back Theatre, American Stage Theatre Company, and Orlando Shakespeare Theatre. In 2017, her play Well-Intentioned White People was honorable mention for The Kilroy’s and in 2020, Last Night and HE DID IT made the 2020 Kilroy’s List.  Rachel Lynett is also a Visiting Assistant Professor at Alfred University, the Artistic Director of Rachel Lynett Theatre Company, and the Executive Director for Page by Page. rachellynett.com

The Signing

by Sharon Cleveland Blount

SHARON CLEVELAND BLOUNT is an emerging playwright with creative roots steeped in the heart of Motown. After high school, she ventured from Detroit to Los Angeles to attend the  University of Southern California where she received her B.A. in Broadcast and Digital  Journalism from the Annenberg School for Communication and Journalism. Sharon utilized her journalism and communication skills as an Entertainment Reporter for Black Entertainment  Television (BET), and as Assistant Fashion, Beauty, and Accessories editor for Black Elegance  Magazine.  

In 2018, Sharon received her MFA in Creative Writing, from Mount Saint Mary's  University in Los Angeles. “Unexpectedly, I re-discovered a passion for writing as a playwright.  Play writing offers such immediate satisfaction. Once you have a finished script, you have the option to bring your vision, your script, right to the stage. That is empowering.”  

Sharon’s monologue, Not Made to be Your Maid, was featured in 50in50: Letters to Our  Sons, a Facebook Live performance produced through Brooklyn’s Billie Holiday Theater on  April 2, 2020. The production was also staged live, in theater at The WACO Theater in North  Hollywood, California on March 7-8, 2020. 

Since the pandemic, Sharon has been feverishly writing (Shut-in, performed April 17, 2020) and directing (Becoming Boring (May 9), Golden Girls and Ventilator for Two (May 29),  Just A Little More…You Know and Unrendered Aid (June 19), The Ring Thing (July 17), monologues for Theatre is the Cure, a theater platform presented on-line through Facebook Live, created to keep theater alive during the stay-at-home orders due to the corona virus of 2020.  

Sharon recently established HerShe Productions as a clearing house and platform for writers to share their written materials and stories in the best and most appropriate format for maximum audience reception. “I am a storyteller. My vision is to enable other writers. Sharing my own,  and other people’s stories is part of my purpose and passion. Everyone has a story, most people  simply want their stories heard.” 

Lost Generation

by SIRI IMANI

SIRI IMANI is quickly emerging as one of the Midwest’s foremost young, black voices. Her poetry and music are infused with hard truths, tough love and visions of a better tomorrow.

Never has an artist been more open and honest on the stage than Siri Imani. She weaves together song and poetry to tell powerful stories of love and liberation; state and personal violence; social, environmental, racial and sexual justice; woman’s empowerment and human transcendence. 

Siri Imani is a boundary-breaking soul sister who has sharpened her art as a tool for popular education, community organizing and personal transcendence. She is a warrior woman writer not afraid to tell her personal truths while making biting social commentary on the world we live in.
https://www.facebook.com/siriimaniartistpage  -  https://www.siriimani.com/

UNBECOMING TRAGEDY:
A Ritual Journey Toward Destiny

by T.R. Riggins

T.R. RIGGINS is a produced playwright whose play Otis and Zora produced by The Billie Holiday Theatre garnered several Audelco Award nominations. His solo shows, A Ritual Journey Toward Unbecoming Tragedy and The Picasso Incident are currently in development. T.R. Riggins is also an actor best known for his roles as Spider in What's Love Got To Do With It? and Don Navarone in the CBS soap opera The Bold and The Beautiful. He has appeared in episodes of Seinfeld and Law and Order. He began his Equity career in the title role of August Wilson's King Hedley II under the direction of the late Israel Hicks for the Denver Center Theatre Company where he was an acting company member. He then went on to play Stanley and Thorvald, respectively, in the company's adaptation of A Streetcar Named Desire and A Doll's House. He has appeared as Harmond Wilks, Caesar Wilks, and Walter Lee Younger also under the direction of Mr. Hicks, whom he credits along with August Wilson with reawakening his passion for the theatre. www.terrenceriggins.com

A Sickening Loop

by Tina Fakhrid-Deen

TINA FAKHRID-DEEN is a playwright, author, and English professor at Oakton Community College. Tina is the author of Let’s Get This Straight: The Ultimate Handbook for Youth with LGBTQ Parents. Her play, Powerless Gods, was developed and produced at Oakton Community College in 2018. Powerless Gods was a semi-finalist for the Bay Area Playwriting Festival (2019) and O’Neill Playwriting Conference (2016/2018). Tina’s second play, Dandelions, was commissioned for Theatre on the Lake - In the Works, and received a developmental podcast play production as part of their 2020 season. Her third play, Pulled Punches, was developed through the Women’s Theatre Alliance of Chicago and MPAACT in 2019 and the world premiere of Pulled Punches was slated for April 2020 with MPAACT at the Greenhouse Theater, but has been postponed due to COVID. Tina is a 2020 MacDowell Fellow, 2018 Kimbilio Fellow, and VONA Fellow in Fiction and Playwriting (2011/2017). Her essays, cultural commentary, and poetry have been published in anthologies and media outlets such as Without A Net: The Female Experience of Growing Up Working Class, Sometimes Rhythm, Sometimes Blues: Young African-Americans on Love, Relationships, Sex, and the Search for Mr. Right, Homegirls Make Some Noise: Hip-Hop Feminism Anthology, Families Like Mine: Children of Gay Parents Tell It Like It Is, Jet Magazine, Tidal Basin Review, Scott Foresman, The Root, NPR: Eight-Forty-Eight, News One/Amtrak, and The Laura Berman Show on Oprah Radio. Tina is represented by Promote Talent Agency and is a company member with MPAACT. You can connect with Tina at www.shespeaksrivers.com.

A Park For Children To Pretend In

by Vincent Terrell Durham

VINCENT TERRELL DURHAM (he/him/his) is a playwright and author who first honed his storytelling skills as a stand-up comic in comedy clubs across the country. He was born and raised in Binghamton, New York to a family of vibrant storytellers. His powerful new play Polar Bears, Black Boys & Prairie Fringed Orchids is a 2020 Eugene O’Neill semifinalist and a 2019 NNPN finalist. His voice as a proud gay man of color is fresh, compelling and his marksmanship for piercing the souls of theater audiences is unerring. vtdisme.com