The Robey Theatre Company Commissions Five Playwrights

The Robey Theatre Company announced its Community Creatives Developmental Project to support the advancement of original plays by emerging and established African American voices. The Project has commissioned five playwrights to develop five original plays.

"Playwrights of Color are often marginalized and go without the funding and developmental support afforded to white artists and creatives. The Robey Theatre Company is pleased to be able to work with and fund these gifted artists and creatives," said Ben Guillory, Co-Founder and Producing Artistic Director, The Robey Theatre Company.

Over the next year, each of the commissioned playwrights will be asked to write a full-length play. Each play will be workshopped, and a public staged reading will follow.

Over the past two years, the five selected playwrights have participated in the organization's Playwrights Lab and received substantial and tailored developmental support from The Robey Theatre Company's experienced resident dramaturgs, Daphnie Sicre, PhD, and Dylan Southard. Following this process, the playwrights will be considered for full productions in future seasons of The Robey Theatre Company.

The selected playwrights and their working titles are Nui Brown, Looking for the Hustle; Pauletta James, Buffalo Meets the Thunder; Kwik Jones, When the Wind is Gone; Julio Hanson, La Negra; and Lorinda Hawkins Smith, Vaccination Elevation.

The Robey Theatre Company is funded, in part, by grants from the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors through the office of former Supervisor Mark Ridley-Thomas, the Los Angeles County Department of Arts and Culture, the California Arts Council, the California Community Foundation, and the Ford Foundation. For information regarding The Robey Theatre Company's Community Creatives Developmental Project, please email office@therobyehteatrecompany.org or visit www.therobeytheatrecompany.org.

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