Theatre Now Offers Free Online Industry Q&A To Writers: Exploring Culture Without Exploiting Culture

Theatre Now, an artist service organization dedicated to supporting musical theatre writers, continues its Industry Q&A series with an online panel discussion on Exploring Culture Without Exploiting Culture March 8th at 6:30pm. The event is free and open to anyone who wishes to attend. Reservations can be made at www.tnny.org/industryqaseries.

The free series is designed to "remove the gatekeeping of information that often slows the career progress of early career writers, those without industry contacts or financial resources to cut through the hurdles that may be in their paths," explains Colleen Harris, Theatre Now's Managing Director. "This month's topic was developed by our DEI Committee as one that will be valuable for writers who are committed to telling diverse stories in thoughtful ways."

The March 8th event will feature panelists Kim Euell, Humaira Ghilzai, and Martine Kei Green-Rogers in conversation, followed by a Q&A with the online attendants.

Kim Euell is a playwright, dramaturg and arts educator who is passionately committed to promoting socially relevant new plays. She has headed play development programs at Center Theater Group's Mark Taper Forum, the Tony Award-winning Hartford Stage Company, San Jose Repertory Theatre and The Robey Theatre Company where she was the California Arts Council's Playwright in Residence. She has served as director of the New America Playwrights Festival and The Taper's Juneteenth Festival of New Plays. She has also worked as a new play dramaturg at The Sundance Institute's Theatre Lab and the Eugene O'Neill Playwrights Conference. Voices!, the play development program she founded at Hartford Stage to promote new plays by under-represented writers, recently yielded the Pulitzer Prize-winning play Water By The Spoonful. She edited for TCG Publications Plays from the Boom Box Galaxy, the first anthology exclusively devoted to theatre informed by spoken word poetry and the Hip Hop aesthetic (with Robert Alexander). She has published articles and reviews in American Theatre Magazine, The African American Review and The Oakland Tribune.

Humaira Ghilzai is a writer, speaker, and Afghanistan cultural consultant. She focuses on projects that bring positive social change. She co-founded Afghan Friends Network and instituted the Sister City relationship between Hayward, California, and Ghazni, Afghanistan where she has done extensive work to improve education for girls, boys, and women. She is a sought-after cultural expert who has worked with notable professional theatres, authors, playwrights, and artists for the past ten years, utilizing her extensive knowledge of Afghan people, culture, religion, and history to bring authenticity to their creative work relating to Afghanistan and the Islamic world. Ghilzai is currently working on her own new work, PILGRIMAGE, the KITE RUNNER - Broadway, HEARTLAND - off-Broadway, SELLING KABUL, Seattle Rep, Little America television series and is producing an original TV series. She shares Afghan culture and cuisine through her blog Afghan Culture Unveiled and Youtube channel. She shares the wonders of Afghanistan through stories of rich culture, delicious food, and her family's traditions.

Martine Kei Green-Rogers obtained her PhD from the Department of Theatre and Drama at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. Prior to studying at UW-Madison, she received her B.A. in Theatre from Virginia Wesleyan College and her M.A. in Theatre History and Criticism from The Catholic University of America. Her dramaturgical work includes productions with the Louisville Orchestra, Classical Theatre Company, Court Theatre (Chicago, IL), Pioneer Memorial Theatre, CATCO (Columbus, OH), Oregon Shakespeare Festival (Ashland, OR), Madison Repertory Theatre's New Play Festival, and the WI Wrights New Play Festival. Her publications include the article "Talkbacks for 'Sensitive Subject Matter' Productions: The Theory and Practice" in the Routledge Companion to Dramaturgy, "A New Noble Kinsmen: The Play On! Project and Making New Plays Out of Old" in Theatre History Studies and "The Dramaturgy of Black Culture: The Court Theatre's Productions of August Wilson's Century Cycle" in On Dramaturgy: Unpacking Diversity and Inclusion, Case Studies From the Field. She also was the adaptor of the Kennedy Center's World Premiere of Jason Reynolds' Long Way Down.

Green-Rogers is the Fellowship Associate for the Playwrights' Center in Minneapolis for the 2020-2021, and 2021-2022 seasons. She is the Interim Dean for the Division of Liberal Arts at UNCSA. Her research interests include violence in African American Theatre, African diaspora theatre, gender and race in American theatre, and issues of sustainability in the theatre. She is a proud member of the Association for Theatre in Higher Education (ATHE) and is Past-President of the Literary Managers and Dramaturgs of the Americas (LMDA).

Theatre Now is an artist service organization dedicated to the development, production, publication, and circulation of short and long- form musicals, by providing ongoing support for writers and their work in order to nurture voices and forms that push the boundaries of musical theatre. Theatre Now bridges the gap between early readings and fully produced theatrical runs by offering staged and performed developmental productions to pieces that are ready to live on their feet. They strive for continuity and growth in their production process by collaborating with artists on story development through song and dialogue and focusing on their prospective audience. For more information, visit tnny.org.

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