The Ensemble Studio Theatre and Going to the River have lined up some of the most gifted women playwrights of color - some new, some established - for a three-week presentation of thirteen short plays in a new play series entitled The River Crosses Rivers, a three-week festival of short one-act plays by women of color, September 9 through 27 at the Ensemble Studio Theatre, 549 West 52nd Street.
"The goal, simply put, is to give women playwrights of color the kind of exposure that is provided by the Ensemble Studio Theatre, whose goal is to nurture individual theatre artists and to develop new American plays," said Ensemble Studio Theatre (EST) Artistic Director William Carden. "The River Crosses Rivers is a stellar lineup of playwrights whose voices add richness and texture to the American Canon."
The primary goal of Going to the River, founded in 1999 at the Ensemble Studio Theatre by the late Curt Dempster and Elizabeth Van Dyke*, the Producing Artistic Director of Going to the River, is to provide a major forum in which professional African-American female playwrights may develop, refine and present their work.
The River Crosses Rivers will present two series of short plays in repertory. Each evening will mix established playwrights like Kara Lee Corthron, Kia Corthron, Lynn Nottage, Ruby Dee and J.E. Franklin with emerging playwrights.
" The River Crosses Rivers is a new program of Going to the River," said Elizabeth Van Dyke, Producing Artistic Director of Going to the River who started the program ten years ago with the late Curt Dempster. "For the last decade, Going to the River has provided a forum through EST in which professional African-American women playwrights may develop, refine and present their work. The River Crosses Rivers broadens the criteria beyond African-Americans to allow a wider range of submissions and to give voice to all women of color."
Going to the River has presented staged readings of full-length plays, a solo program entitled Down By the River All By Yo'Self, a River Poetry Slam Jam, RiverFest of ten-minute pieces, a writer's unit, panels and distinguished guest speakers.
The River Crosses Rivers Schedule
Series A begins previews September 9 and opens September 11
Risen from the Dough by France-Luce Benson, directed by Holli Harms*
Two Haitian-American women in a bakery kitchen must grapple with the impending arrival of the health inspector.
France Luce-Benson is a two-time recipient of the Shubert Foundation Fellowship. Her play Fati's Last Dance received an honorable mention prize from the Kennedy Center. Ms. Benson has had several plays read or workshopped as part of prior Going to the River Festivals, including Silence of the Mambo, Destiny's Edge, Ascension and Floating Under Water.
The Kitchen or 9 1/2 Minutes of Subcontinental Absurdity by Naveen Bahar Choudhury, directed by Jamie Richards*
Two traditional Indian parents go to absurd lengths to stop their Americanized daughter from making what they believe to be a disastrous mistake.
Naveen Bahar Choudhury is a playwright and fiction writer whose work has been produced in theaters and festivals in New York City and around the country. Her plays have been presented or developed by Desipina & Co., at Second Stage Theater and at The Lark Play Development Center. She was a finalist for The Public Theater's 2008 Time Warner Emerging Writers Group.
Ladybug Gonna Getcha by Kara Lee Corthron, directed by Pat Golden
An aging punk queen, furious at being upstaged by Blondie, makes a drastic, last-ditch effort to become an international headline.
