Idris Goodwin's BARS AND MEASURES Continues NNPN Rollout This Fall
By: BWW News Desk Jul. 14, 2016
The National New Play Network, the country's alliance of nonprofit theaters that champions the development, production, and continued life of new plays, celebrates the initial success of the first half of the NNPN Rolling World Premiere (RWP) of Bars and Measures by Idris Goodwin.
NNPN Core Member Prop Thtr (Chicago, IL) will offer its production, directed by Tara Branham, in its back room-turned-nightclub through July 17. Associate Members Jungle Theater (Minneapolis, MN, August 26 - October 9) and The Theatre @ Boston Court (Pasadena, CA, September 15 - October 23) will continue the RWP of Bars and Measures this fall. The play, originally commissioned by newly named Core Member B Street Theatre, has received acclaim from both critics and audiences in Sacramento and Chicago in the first two productions of its Roll.
ABOUT BARS AND MEASURES
Commissioned by B Street Theatre, Bars and Measures is the fascinating tale of two brothers. One a classical pianist. The other a jazz bass player. One a Christian. The other a Muslim. One living in freedom. The other in jail. Separated by bars, the brothers try to reconcile their differences through the language they know best. Music. A beautiful journey through faith, family, melody and time.
Idris Goodwin is a playwright, rapper and essayist. His plays include How We Got On, Remix 38 (Actors Theater of Louisville); And in this Corner: Cassius Clay (StageOne Family Theater), This is Modern Art (Steppenwolf), Blackademics (MPAACT, Crowded Fire). Goodwin is one of the six playwrights featured in Hands Up an anthology commissioned by The New Black Fest and presented across the country. Upcoming world premiere productions include The Realness (Merrimack Theatre) and The Raid (Jackalope Theater). He is the recipient of Oregon Shakespeare's American History Cycle Commission and InterAct Theater's 20/20 Award. Goodwin has been a writer in residence at Berkeley Rep's Ground Floor Program, The Lark Playwriting Center and New Harmony Project. An accomplished Hip Hop poet, his albums include Break Beat Poems and Rhyming While Black. Goodwin was featured on HBO, Sesame Street and Discovery Channel. He is the author of the pushcart nominated essay collection These are the Breaks (Write Bloody, 2011). Idris is the co-host and contributor to Critical Karaoke, a radio show and podcast about music and culture. Idris teaches performance writing and Hip Hop aesthetics at Colorado College.
Prop Thtr is one of Chicago's oldest storefront theaters producing new work and neglected masters since 1981. Prop is a charter/core member of both The League of Chicago Theatres and the National New Play Network. Since 2004, Prop houses a two theater venue wherein it primarily functions as an incubator for new and experimental work, with multiple forms of new work development and a mission to facilitate and develop new work and new workers for the performing arts. Emphasizing a road to production, this combines play readings and workshops with The Rhinoceros Theater Festival, a bare bones new work festival of six weeks, at year's begin, where makers are given space and promotion to produce new works of all kinds. Prop Thtr also emphasizes long term artistic relationships, with playwrights, composers, directors, designers and performers, joining the NNPN in seeking to promote continued life for new work. ABOUT JUNGLE THEATER
The Jungle Theater, headed by Artistic Director Sarah Rasmussen, is a neighborhood theater with a national impact. As one of the region's most dynamic theaters, the Jungle is known for its definitive productions, exquisite design, masterful acting and compelling storytelling. Since its founding in 1991, the Jungle has been a flagship example of the transformative power of the performing arts, playing a vital, continuing role in the economic, social and cultural life of its Minneapolis Lyn-Lake neighborhood. ABOUT THE THEATRE @ BOSTON COURT
Based in Pasadena, CA, The Theatre @ Boston Court produces passionate, artist-driven theatre that challenges both artist and audience, urging its artists to fearlessly and passionately pursue their unique voice and passion. Play selection encompasses a wide variety of genres (with a special emphasis on nurturing playwrights and new play development), which are inherently theatrical, textually rich, and visually arresting. The Theatre @ Boston Court has produced new plays by playwrights such as Luis Alfaro, Sheila Callaghan, Julia Cho, Dan Dietz, Jason Grote, Jordan Harrison, Carlos Murillo, Laura Schellhardt, Octavio Solis, Deborah Stein, Jean Claude Van Itallie, Kathryn Walat, David Wiener, among many others. ABOUT B STREET THEATRE
Since bursting into the Sacramento scene, B Street Theatre continues to keep critics raving and audiences coming back for contemporary productions ranging from popular classics to first time debuts. Our two-theatre playhouse on B Street in Midtown is home to our Mainstage, B3 Series and Family Series, each created to house quality, intimate theatre for audiences year-round. Recognized as one of Northern California's top professional theatres, we've produced more than 100 new plays, 60 of which are world, national, West Coast, or regional premieres. ABOUT THE NATIONAL NEW PLAY NETWORK
National New Play Network (NNPN) is the country's alliance of non-profit professional theaters dedicated to the development, production, and continued life of new plays. Since its founding in 1998, NNPN has supported more than 200 productions nationwide through its innovative National New Play Network Rolling World Premiere program, which provides playwright and production support for new works at its Member theaters. Additional programs - its annual National Conference, National Showcase of New Plays, and MFA Playwrights Workshop; the NNPN Annual and Smith Prize commissions; its residencies for playwrights, producers and directors; and the organization's member accessed Collaboration, Festival, and Travel banks and online information sessions - have helped cement the Network's position as a vital force in the new play landscape. NNPN also strives to pioneer, implement, and disseminate ideas and programs that revolutionize the way theaters collaborate to support new plays and playwrights. Its most recent project, the New Play Exchange is changing the way playwrights share their work and others discover it. NNPN's 30 Core and more than 75 Associate Members - along with the more than 250 affiliated artists who are its alumni, the thousands of artists and artisans employed annually by its member theaters, and the hundreds of thousands of Audience members who see its supported works each year - are creating the new American theater.
Show Art courtesy Prop Thtr
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