Talkback with Racey Plays playwright: Antu Yacob

Mourning Sun by Antu Yacob at ART NY on April 18, 2011

Our April 18th reading of MOURNING SUN was a huge success.
We had a standing-room only crowd of 55 audience at ART NY's Bruce Mitchell Room.
And when the reading was over, nobody wanted to leave - everyone wanted to talk about
the play!  That's exactly what this series is all about.
Thank you to everyone who was able to come out and support this amazing
play and playwright.

Antu and I had a chance to catch up and reflect on the reading. Here's our
online discussion:

MB: What was different/surprising/new in this reading as compared to other readings of the play?

 AY: The difference in this reading in comparison to others I've had was that I really heard the piece because I wasn't in the reading. Through the listening and great acting/directing, I was able to hear the cuts that needed to be made as well as recognize what worked for the story.

MB: Why did you write MOURNING SUN? why is this story important to you as a person/as an artist?

AY:  I wrote Mourning Sun because my sister is a medical student and was fortunate enough to volunteer at the Addis Ababa Fistula Hospital a few years ago as part of her studies.  The stories she told me of the women she met unsettled and stirred my spirit in a way that altered me forever.  All I could think of was that any one of those girls could have been me.  It incensed me that this thing is 100% preventable. The information my sister shared with me compelled me to further research  fistula and find what customs, what were my own people doing to our own girls and women to create and continually contribute to this epidemic. The script is the result of my research and my way of educating others about what my sisters are going through.

MB: I love love love the way Michael Jackson is so enmeshed in this play - it's the most unique and yet universal thing about the play, I think. Do you love Michael too? Whats your relationship to MJ?

AY: I do love Michael Jackson!!!! My mother cried for a long time when she heard of his passing. His music is so moving, physically and emotionally. When we came to the States, I was 5 years old and I remember him being the only musical artist my mom would let me listen to in the house, he was the first musician I remember listening to. With Mourning Sun I wanted to capture the international phenomenon that he was, still is. I'm not sure if those of us in the States really understand how Michael and his music left a stamp on our planet. I don't think there's a single Ethiopian out there that doesn't love Michael. Ok you get it right, I love Michael LOL.

MB:  What's next for the play? What's your ultimate goal long term for this story?

AY:  I would really like to get this story on its feet, in a theatrical production running in New York, with some of the proceeds donated to the Fistula Foundation.  A long-term goal I have for MOURNING SUN is for it to be turned into a film so that the story can reach even more people.  I think you and I should talk about the theatrical production and see what we can come up with.

Thank you to everyone who was able to come out and support this amazing
play and playwright.  Sign up for our email list to keep informed of the next steps
in MOURNING SUN's development as Antu Yacob tries to get it up and on its
feet in NYC.


MB

Racey Plays Reading Series: Mourning Sun

We are excited to announce Mourning Sun by Antu Yacob to be the second play to be presented as part of our Racey Plays Reading Series.

About the play:

When Biftu, a bright and upbeat girl from the Bahr Dar region of Ethiopia, turns fourteen she suddenly becomes the focus of her mother's ambition. Caught in a tug of war between cultural traditions and her own desires, Biftu dreams about the world beyond village life. "Mourning Sun" unearths the everyday violence lurking under the name "tradition" in Africa.

About the playwright:

Antu Yacob was born in Dire Dawa, Ethiopia and raised from the steep hills of San Francisco to the translucent lakes of Minnesota. She received her MFA in Acting from Mason Gross School of the Arts at Rutgers University. She was last seen on stage as Velma in The Theater Project's production of Crowns. Regional theatre credits include Primary Stages national tour of In the Continuum , Pillsbury House Theatre's The House that Crack Built, A Jew on Ethiopia Street at Mixed Blood Theatre, Pangae World Theatre's No Longer At Ease and The Gilded Six-Bits with Word-for-Word Theater Company. Film & television credits include Law & Order:SVU and Inspiration. She is founder of Shaggae's Song Peforming Arts Collective, an nonprofit organization dedicated to developing and producing new works about international women's issues as well as providing performing arts training to students grades 4-12.

Currently she teaches a song as monologue acting course to high school students at Somerset County Vocational & Technical School in New Jersey. Although writing poetry & short stories have long been a passion of hers, Mourning Sun is Antu's first script.

Join us for a staged reading of this play on Monday, April 18th at 7:30pm in the Bruce Mitchell Room at ART/NY, 520 8th Avenue, 3rd Floor.

We're looking forward to sharing this new work with you...

Racey Plays follow-up: a chat with Kevin R. Free

Playwright, Actor, and Theatre Artist Extraordinaire:
KEVIN R FREE and I have a post-mortem discussion of his RACEY PLAY reading

"A Raisin in the Salad: Black Plays for White People"



In our reading, the stage directions were really important to the audience experience of the play. In thinking of staging the play, do you feel that your stage directions have their own voice?
My stage directions do have their own voice... Thank God. I like to see myself as a "Negro Intellectual," someone who says a lot of things before he gets to a point. I'd like my stage directions to read that way: long-winded often, funny at times, self-important always. I am not sure that any of my plays make sense to the reader without some form of my Negro Intellectual to hold hands and usher the reader to the danger (or comedy) of the next scene. I think it's my way of saying, "I'm only angry and edgy in my plays; I'm more charming in real life. Read on (bitches)." I was happy to have David Carl read the stage directions and shocked and delighted that he became such a funny part of the reading.

The main character in "A Raisin in the Salad: BPFWP" is KevinRFree. I know that I was excited to have the REAL Kevin R Free play the role. Moving forward, do you want to play yourself in the play?

I don't think I want to play myself in this play (unless, of course, it is a requirement of the theatre who produces it). The play is about a specific moment in my career and I felt at the reading that I was tied to what I wrote, when I really wanted to say other things. Hmm. Now that I am writing this, I suppose if I had more rehearsal time and were directed by someone else, I would have found a way to make it work - even write newer material for the Kevin R. Free character. There's also a moment in the show - "Black Plays FOUR White People" - in which Kevin R Free reveals the (very bad) beginnings of a solo show. That scene was really hard for me to play straight, without giving a wink and a nod about how I know how bad it is... Maybe that's a good reason for me to play myself - because I'd be playing myself in the past, playing the me who doesn't really see his own humanity in the same moments that others see it. I have colleagues who tell me that I MUST play myself. Perhaps they want to see the guts & gore associated with this play firsthand. Hmmm. I'm still thinking about it.

Although since this reading, I have FINALLY seen "Too Much Light Makes the Baby Go Blind" by the New York Neo-Futurists, this reading was my first introduction to seeing that kind of work done.
Does the play work as a neo-futurist piece?

It DOES make sense as a neo-futurist piece, but a neo-futurist would have to direct it. I think it could either way. One of the facets of neo-futurism that most excites me is that, as performers, we don't have to "get" why we do the things we do in our plays. If someone gives us a task, we have to do it. The task gives us our objectives. Emotions are organic, because they are real - we react to how it feels to do the task, or whether we succeed or fail to do the task. Further, we acknowledge that we cannot SEE what a scene looks like, so we trust that while we are doing the scene, doing our tasks, that the audience is "getting" what we often do not. It's kind of freeing as a performer not to have to do anything more than what our director tells us. It is to me, at least. I don't think that actors are robots, but I think - at least with this play - what we do can be simplified.

As part of the rewriting process, how do you streamline the action of the play?

I cut a couple of scenes and combined a couple of others, and I couldn't be happier about it. There's one more moment I'd like to add for now, and I think the play is now short enough for me to add it. I think the play needs a short moment to acknowledge the struggles of other people of color. I won't go into what I think will happen, but it will definitely have an edge (and add to the number of people in the cast for that moment).


Thanks so much, Kevin, for being the first playwright to kickoff this series
for Project Y!

MB

Racey Plays Reading Series Kick Off! A Raisin in the Salad: Black Plays for White People by Kevin R. Free

We are excited to kick off our Racey Plays Reading Series with A Raisin in the Salad: Black Plays for White People written by the illustrious Kevin R. Free.

A Raisin in the Salad: Black Plays for White People is a dangerous comedy that looks at popular culture and artistic and racial marginalization. In 20 short parodies of plays, films, and various pop culture events, A Raisin in the Salad: Black Plays for White People, tells the story of one artist who, dogged by his conscience, is ready to leave behind his life’s work.

Kevin R. Free, the creator of Black Plays for White People, wants OUT. He announces to his adoring public that he will move on to creating work that is more in line with his sociopolitical beliefs. But his creations – Whitelady, Blackboy, Blackgirl, Whiteboy, Whitegirl (the stars of his Black Plays for White People) – frightened that they may never again see the lights of the stage, revolt. They perform the roles they were meant to play, taking the words already written for them to create new plays, thus trapping Kevin R. Free in his own artistic identity prison.

Why do a reading series about Racey Plays you might ask?

The idea for the "Racey Plays" reading series comes from my own interest in and fascination with race and racism - and more specifically how race effects the way we see other people and ourselves.

My world got shaken up the first time I traveled to India with my boyfriend to meet his family and travel. It was the most foreign sensation to be looked at as foreign. Everywhere I went, people stared at me. In the streets, beggars and merchants swarmed around me. That's normal. I was obviously a tourist and that's who gets goods hawked to them. But I got more attention that just for being a tourist. I was stared at by EVERYONE. EVERYWHERE. I had never felt all those eyes on me before. Mostly they were looks of interest, but it still felt so strange to be looked at because I was so glaringly different. When I mentioned this to my boyfriend, he laughed and said - more or less - "Welcome to my world! That's what its like for me every day at home. This is the only time I'm not stared at like that." That really floored me. I mean, to suddenly feel what it is like for someone considered a "minority" in America to be in a room, a street, a city, a country, where you stand out is an intense sensation that makes you become self-aware and self-conscious. This feeling stayed with me forever after that.

Since then, I've had many experiences of feeling "outside" the racial majority. The more countries I experienced, the more I was able to again confront the feeling that race, the color of one's skin, plays a huge role not only in how people perceive an individual, but in how that individual begins to perceive herself. I became keenly interested in race - in trying to figure out all the implications. I even wrote a one woman show about it.

Now I am looking to share the voices of others artists who are trying to explore the intricacies of race and culture in their work. Ultimately, these are plays about identity, about what it means to be a human being living in a skin, a culture, an ethnicity, or a language that just doesn't quite fit the majority mold.

We hope you can join us for the kick off to the series with Kevin's play, it will no doubt be an incredible night of theater.

We're growing and we're taking you with us...

Our 2011 Fundraising Campaign is underway! We've grown tremendously over the past year and we owe that to some new enthusiastic company members and the support and encouragement of people like you. Yes, you!

If you're just becoming familiar with us this past year, our company has quite an interesting history.

In 1999 Project Y’s founders united as artists fueled by an unorthodox model: make the highest level of theatre possible for 5 years and then disband. We were aware of the root causes in the struggles of theatre companies in America, and a limited life inherently conquered them. We shed the influence of external expectations and tackled the work that challenged and engaged us. And as a result, a remarkable groundswell of acclaim, support, and attention arose from audiences and artists alike.

After 5 years and 14 productions, we stayed true to our mission and dispersed to the top graduate training programs in the country, expanding our minds and our contacts. After naturally landing in New York City upon graduation, Project Y Theatre Company was re-launched in the spring of 2009.

Project Y is now primed to take another leap: expanded programming, more performances and longer runs, with grants and larger fundraising events in the works. As we sit on the precipice of growth in NYC, we need you now more than ever.

A 100% tax deductible donation will allow us to continue to foster the work of new artists and create theatre that is a vital part of our society.

Imagine what we could accomplish with your continued support! Looking forward to sharing our work with you in 2010...

The Revival: Meet the Choir and Congregation

Thanks to all of those who have attended the past three weeks of performances for The Revival! The show has been a great success due to all of those involved and our audience members who have spread the good word.

If you have attended the show or your planning on attending our last day of performances, you'll notice that we have both a choir and congregation that play an interesting role in the show.

Take a peak at the videos below to learn more.

The Revival: Judy Bowman, Casting Director, discusses casting the show and tips for aspiring actors

Project Y was honored to partner with Casting Director Judy Bowman to cast our current production of The Revival. Throughout the run, we've received some incredible reviews of our casting choices. See below:

"This is one of the best cast assemble for an Off-Off Broadway show in a long time, perfectly directed by Michole Biancosino...it's certain to win over fans of good theater."

- NY press

"What a perfect play for these times...an enormous tale and fortunate to have a cracker jack cast that is ready, willing, and more than able."

- NY Theatre Guide

We got a chance to sit with Judy recently to discuss casting for the show and she offered some advice for aspiring young actors in NYC.

Tonight's performance is Industry Night dedicated to the New York Theatre community. Visit www.broadwayoffers.com and use code: INDS for $15 tickets.

Actors who attend the show are encouraged to bring their headshots to be submitted to Judy Bowman Casting.

Beyond Gay: LGBT Performances for The Revival

David Darrow (on floor) and Trent Dawson in The Revival

This post was written by guest blogger Joe Basile

At the age of 16, I was lucky enough to see the original production of Angels in America on Broadway starring Stephen Spinella, Marcia Gay Harden, and Jeffrey Wright, among others. At the time, I had no idea what I was about to see. I was enrolled in a college level musical theater program at NYU (or what seems more like camp looking back) for ambitious young theater geeks. After a day full of singing and dancing our little butts off in the hot studios at 440 Lafayette, we got to see some amazing plays and performances in the evening of all genres.

That night I was blown away by the performance. Never had I seen gay characters explored with such depth and nuance. It was an eye opening experience for me, one that would shape my work as an artist in years to come. (Recently, I was excited to hear about its return to the stage at the Signature Theatre Company.) Before that, the only gay characters that I recognized in the media were Jim J Bullock from Too Close for Comfort or John Ritter from Three's Company. One was closeted and the other was faking it. Boy have times changed!

It's been exciting to witness how gay characters in theater, and in film and television have evolved. I've seen more and more playwrights and directors experiment with subtlety and complex issues with gay characters. On the flip side, it's also been fun to watch entertaining romantic comedies like Trick or even Another Gay Movie, that quite simply, are pure eye candy and explore a mood or emotion. I love the diversity here.

Another shift in consciousness over the past ten years or so has been the development of the LGBTQ theater community. It's wonderful to see how the community has grown and united to create organizations to tackle health issues, marriage equality, and human rights all over the world.

Why else is this important? I think whenever you bring people together, questions get asked and people start talking. In turn, silence is broken. Audre Lorde, writer, poet and activist, once wrote:

"What are the words you do not yet have? What do you need to say? For it is not difference which immobilizes us, but silence and there are so many silences to be broken."

I can't think of a better non-threatening way to do this then through the structure of a play.

I've been excited to work with Project Y to help promote their current production of The Revival and to help coordinate their LGBTQ evening performance (Thursday, Sept 16th 8pm) and matinee performance (Sept 19th 3pm). Tickets for the Thursday performance can be purchased for $15 when you use promo code: LGBT and when you visit www.broadwayoffers.com.

If you've watched some of our videos about the show, you'll notice that no one describes it solely as a gay play. Yes, there are gay characters but underneath it all is a story about inner conflict, desire, and the role of religion in our lives (at least in my opinion). Something that anyone can relate to.

I hope that you will join us for these performances. If you like what you see, I encourage you to go to the New York Innovative Theatre Awards website and vote for our production to bring the attention of our efforts to the larger New York theater community.

See you at The Revival!

The Revival: Opening Night & Upcoming Events...

Thanks to all of those who attended shows during our previews and opening weekend. We are excited to share that we had sold out performances! Below is a schedule of a couple of themed nights we have coming up. Looking forward to seeing you at The Revival...

Wednesday, September 15th - Middlebury Alumni Night

Thursday, September 16th - LGBT Night (followed by cocktails at HK Lounge).

Friday, September 17th - Actors Theatre of Louisville Night

Saturday, September 18th - Student Matinee Performance followed by a Q and A

Sunday, September 21st - Industry Night

Thursday, September 23rd - Rutgers Alumni Night

Sunday, September 19th - LGBT Matinee Performance followed by a Q & A

For more information and to purchase tickets please click here.

Here are some pics of our opening party at The Lion Theatre after Opening Night..

The Revival: Playwright & Director

Theatre is a collaborative art. A successful production is reliant on the combined efforts of the actors, designers, and of course, the playwright and director.

For our production of The Revival (which opens tonight!), the Project Y artistic and production staff does an amazing job of embracing the elements that truly make a production successful: truth, respect, and passion.

From the first reading to the final preview of The Revival, we've been working hard to create theatre that is dynamic; that engages and challenges the intellect and emotions of our audience. The three elements I mentioned above take us there. They each complement each other and give us all an unspoken blueprint to create a rewarding experience for our audience and our company.

Liam Joynt, Co-Producer of The Revival, recently sat down with our director and playwright to discuss the origins of their collaboration and work.