Director, Artists Set for 2016 THE FIRE THIS TIME Festival at The Kraine Theater

Now in it's seventh season, the Obie Award winning THE FIRE THIS TIME FESTIVAL is pleased to announce that Nicole A. Watson (Katori Hall's The Mountaintop with Kitchen Theatre Company; Johnna Adams' World Builders with CATF) will direct the 10-minute plays for the 2016 festival, which will run January 18-February 6 at The Kraine Theater (85 East 4th Street between 2nd Avenue and Bowery).

The festival is excited to collaborate with Nicole again, following her direction of the 2014 THE FIRE THIS TIME FESTIVAL tour in Boston, MA. In addition to the 10-minute plays the 2016 festival will also feature excerpts of four solo shows written by some of THE FIRE THIS TIME FESTIVAL's multidisciplinary affiliated artists.

SOLO SHOWS:

She Gon' Learn - Written & Performed by Lisa Rosetta Strum Directed by Ngozi Anyanwu She Gon' Learn tells the hilarious story of how one woman navigates the trials and tribulations of childhood, the insanity of dating and finding the right one which ultimately, if we're lucky enough, we realize is our own selves. Writer/performer Lisa Strum was a featured actor in Season 2 &4 of the TFTT, as well as the Fire This Time production of Pia Wilson's The Flower Thief. She Gon' Learn will also be presented on Saturday, November 14 @ 7:30pm at Theatre Row, as part of the United Solo Festival.

OVERHEARD - Written & Performed by Kirya Traber Directed by Sara Lyons Writer-performer Kirya Traber, who was a featured actor in TFTT Season 6, embodies 18 different characters on a subway ride across the city. Public and private collide as strangers encounter an unconventional individual who challenges their fundamental conceptions of what it means to be female bodied, to be Black, and to be an artist. Through intersecting character monologue, personal narrative, dance, and song, Traber asks how minute moments of personal choice can define our experience in a world of predetermined roles. Overheard dares to expose a universe of complexity in a single body.

When I Was a Puerto Rican Girl - Written & Performed by Keila Fontanez LaSalle Technical Direction by Conor Daniel Bartram When I was a Puerto Rican Girl brings you a multidisciplinary experience about womanhood, self-identity and perception in the United States through the eyes of 3 generations of Puerto Rican women born and raised in the most populated area in Puerto Rico, Río Piedras. Follow these three women as they experience the complex process of finding their true self, jumping the pond and trying to be an active member of two different cultures. Writer/performer Keila Fontanez LeSalle is also the Associate Artistic Director of THE FIRE THIS TIME FESTIVAL.

Negative Processing - Written and Performed by Brigitte Barnett First commissioned by the Metropolitan Playhouse, Negative Processing is a performance piece created from transcriptions of interviews with Alex Harsley, legendary photographer and pillar of the art scene in the East Village since the 1970s. Brigitte as Alex Harsley tells stories about growing up, photographing images in and around New York City and the changing technology and its effect on photography and the world. Alex Harsley's work was the subject of the Fire This Time Ten-Minute plays last season so TFTT was excited to discover Ms. Barnett's piece, and to include it in this year's festival.
THE FIRE THIS TIME FESTIVAL Playwright Kelley Nicole Girod founded the festival in 2009 to provide rising playwrights of African and African American descent a platform to write and develop new work. The festival was conceived as an opportunity for playwrights to write and produce material that reflects diverse perspectives as 21st century theater artists.

With ongoing momentum, TFTT has quickly become a destination for diverse audiences, producers, and artists seeking new possibilities and opportunities in contemporary theater. The festival has previously featured the work of notable playwrights such as Katori Hall (The Mountaintop, Hurt Village), Dominique Morrisseau (Detroit '67), Marcus Gardley (The Box), Radha Blank (Seed) and Zoey Martinson (Ndebele Funeral).

FRIGID NEW YORK is a theater development group with a focus on new work that produces a massive quantity of stimulating downtown theater every season. FRIGID's Resident Artist Program offers a home to a select group of Independent theater artists, pooling together a great deal of talent and energy. FRIGID New York grew out of the annual FRIGID Festival, the first and only festival of its kind in New York City to offer artists 100% of their box office proceeds, and Horse Trade Theater Group, a self-sustaining theater development and management group.

For more on the festival, go to www.firethistimefestival.com. Visit www.horseTRADE.info for more information.