Lower Depth Theatre Ensemble Announces Playwright T. Tara Turk-Haynes To Write Next Play In Commission Series

Los Angeles-based theater company Lower Depth Theatre Ensemble announces playwright t.tara turk-haynes (MC Hesperides, If Eve Left, Indigos) will write the next installment for Lower Depth's 'Cycle of Violence' Commission Series.

A social-change activator through the art of theatre, Lower Depth continually seeks opportunities to collaborate with artists and storytellers on deeply moving, relevant and provocative humanitarian issues. Provocative, heart-breaking, and always illuminating, Lower Depth created this series to raise consciousness for social change.

This 4-part commissioned series, titled 'The Cycle of Violence', launched in 2017 with the first topic of Sex Trafficking. Via a 12-month process, playwright Tira Palmquist (Overburden, Two Degrees, Ten Mile Lake, Age of Bees) developed and presented a culmination reading of Safe Harbor in January 2019 at LA's Greenway Court Theatre. Palmquist managed to capture the horrific truths behind sex trafficking from a multitude of perspectives-police, victims, pimps, advocates, and the everyday heroes who when they see something, say something.

turk-haynes will tackle the next important issue up for exploration, Honor Killing. This devastating and largely under-studied patriarchal practice exacts the ultimate form of gender oppression by ending the lives of women and girls for perceived dishonorable behavior, often at the hands of her own family members.

"My top priority is making the topic accessible to people who may feel like this is something that happens to "those over there" wherever "there" may be," turk-haynes says. "The role of women in societies around the world needs to be discussed further so we aren't upholding a toxic patriarchal system where a woman's body is political/cultural/religious instead of her own. We don't do that for men so why for women?"

A novelist/playwright/screenwriter/producer, turk-haynes' work has appeared at LA's Company of Angels, the Hip Hop Theater Festival, the Actor's Studio, EST and the Kennedy Center. She is a graduate of Eugene Lang at The New School for her BA and Sarah Lawrence for her MFA, receiving the Lipkin Playwrighting Award. She was a Van Lier Fellow at New York Theatre Workshop and was an emerging playwright at The Underwood Theater reading series along with Julia Cho, Theresa Rebeck and Rinne Groff. She is also a founding member of the producing playwrights collective The Temblors.

Lower Depth will provide a week-long workshop, internal readings, administrative support, and a public culmination reading where turk-haynes' talents will be showcased as she tackles this harrowing topic.

Remaining 'Cycle of Violence' topics include Convict Reintegration and Black Moms and their Sons with commissioned playwrights still yet to be announced.

Lower Depth's mission is to explore the diverse experiences of the African diaspora and beyond. As an ensemble of theatre artists, we strive to awaken and enliven the community with transformative programming that celebrates authentic human stories told through the lens of the artist of color. Our vision is to transform perspectives, overcome obstacles for understanding, and create space for a new cultural narrative to unfold.

Lower Depth Theater Ensemble is: Gregg T. Daniel, Artistic Director, Veralyn Jones, Jason Delane Lee, Yvonne Huff Lee, Founders/Artistic Associates. Courtney Oliphant, Managing Director. Doug Oliphant, Program Director.

www.lower-depth.com

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