50IN50: Women's Voices Initiative Curated By Playwright Dominique Morriseau Comes to The Billie Holiday Theatre

The AUDELCO and Obie Award-winning Billie Holiday Theatre brings back the groundbreaking 50in50: Women's Voices Initiative with the Obie Award-winning Frank Silvera Writers' Workshop with a reading March 17, 2018 at 7pm in The Billie Holiday Theatre, 1368 Fulton Street, Brooklyn, NY.

Fifty writers (all women and girls) have had their say, writing a short monologue in response to the powerful statement shaped by critically acclaimed playwright Dominique Morriseau, which partially reads, "As Black Women writers, we fulfill a unique and un-duplicated role in theatre. We are telling the stories that represent us with balance and complexity and illuminate our side of the human experience." Join us for a revolutionary event that places the diverse, rich and challenging perspectives of Black women and girls from all walks of life at the center in this era of #MeToo.

These stories will be read by an ensemble of women performers in an astounding 90-minute journey of truth, humor and strength."These stories of love and despair and, above all, resilience link women from all over the globe." stated AUDELCO Award-winning actor Pauletta Pearson Washington (Autumn and The Old Settler) "This experience reminds us that wherever we are, whoever we are, we are all sisters in our struggle to be heard and seen and acknowledged.""50in50 does the absolutely essential work of creating a platform for the forgotten voices of women of African descent, even within the very movements in which they have been a driving force," stated Dr. Indira Etwaroo, Executive Director, the Billie Holiday Theatre at RestorationART.

"The Billie is proud to team up with the Frank Silvera Writers' Workshop to provide a platform for these voices that are paramount in moving us forward, as a community."

Cast: Celestine Rae (Crazy Famous, Boardwalk Empire), Mandi Masden (Law and Order, Blue Prints to Freedom), Marsha Stephanie Blake (Orange is the New Black, Girls), Pauletta Pearson Washington (Autumn, She's Gotta Have It), Phyllis Yvonne Stickney (How Stella Got Her Groove Back), Simone Missick ( Luke Cage), with a live sound score by renowned pianist and vocalist Maritri Garrett.50in50: Women's Voices Initiative is made possible through the generous support of Time Warner Foundation.

TO SUBMIT A MONOLOGUE GO TO http://thebillieholiday.org/shows-and-events/DEADLINE: FRI, MAR 2, 2018 AT 5PM EST

The Billie Holiday Theatre (The Billie), founded in 1972 by Bedford Stuyvesant RestorationCorporation, is an OBIE and AUDELCO Award-winning theater devoted to the discovery ofworld-class storytelling with a focus on stories for, by and about people of African descent with 3-4 productions annually. The Billie presents and produces art that reflects the definitive issues of our time in and through all of its forms of expression and is especially committed to commissioning and premiering new works.

The Billie Holiday Theatre is a proud member of RestorationART's artistic coalition, working together to ensure the sustainability of arts institutions devoted to the stories of people of African descent. About The Frank Silvera Writer's WorkshopThe Frank Silvera Writers' Workshop was founded in 1973 by playwright/director Garland Lee Thompson, along with famed actor/director Morgan Freeman, director/actress Billie Allen Henderson and journalist Clayton Riley, as a living memorial to the late actor, director, teacher and producer, Frank Silvera (1914-1970).

The Workshop was based in the heart of Harlem, New York for 26 years and is currently located at RestorationART. The Workshop has built a long, time-honored and prestigious reputation as a nationally and internationally removed playwrights' development theatre for upcoming and established artists of all colors, sizes and shapes.

Artists who have worked with the Workshop include Mari Evans, Billy Graham, A. Marcus Hemphill, Larry Neal, Vinnette Carroll, Ruby Dee, Owen Dodson, Charles Gordone, Charles Fuller, Ed Bullins, Laurence Holder, James De Jongh, Clifford Mason, Ntozake Shange, Aishah Rahman, China Clark, Ed Shockley, Richard Wesley, and Samm-Art Williams.