The Obsidian Theatre Festival to be Made Available for Streaming

Sloan's Ghostlight Productions announced today that they are partnering with BroadwayHD to bring the inaugural Obsidian Festival to viewers for free via the streaming service's YouTube channel. The Obsidian Theatre Festival is a virtual theatre and performing arts event featuring emerging Black artists, actors, directors, and playwrights from Detroit. Viewers watching on BroadwayHD's channels are encouraged to register and donate to one of three charitable organizations at obsidianfest.org: Black Theatre United, Detroit Public Schools Foundation and Project Art Detroit.

John Sloan III, Co-Executive Producer of the inaugural Obsidian Festival, said, "A global pandemic jeopardized the future of the theatre world, but in Detroit, we used the opportunity to innovate and reimagine the stage for a virtual world."

During the Fall of 2020, Sloan and Co-Executive Producer of the festival, David Carroll put out a call for new work. The response was incredible, over two hundred writers, composers, and lyricists submitted work. In the middle of the Pandemic the team at Ghostlight was able to rehearse, stage, and film six productions in person without a single member of the 100+ person staff getting sick. Obsidian, produced in the city of Detroit, by Detroiters, is a celebration of Black stories that will highlight the prolific work of emerging Black voices, focusing on the vast array of diverse experiences of those within the African diaspora in America. The festival will include six featured plays along with nightly cabaret performances.

This year, the festival will feature artists across the country, including special guests: Daniel J. Watts, actor and writer, known for playing Ike in Broadway's Tina: The Musical and as Samuel Seabury in Broadway's Hamilton; Sydney Morton, actress and dancer, known for her work in Netflix's She's Gotta Have It and Broadway's Motown; and Douglas Lyons, a composer, lyricist and actor best known for his work in Broadway's Beautiful and Book of Mormon; This is Us actor, Niles Fitch; Lincoln Center performing artist, Jessica Care Moore; and Broadway's The Lion King actress, Nia Holloway. Visit www.obsidianfest.org for the full schedule of special guest appearances.

"I've been a performing artist for 22 years and I have never been more inspired by the innovations being made in the industry than I am right now." says Sloan. "We have an opportunity to not only show the diversity of perspectives within American theatre but also the diversity of perspectives within the Black community itself. This partnership with BroadwayHD will give thousands of theatre lovers a chance to enjoy Black art created by emerging Black artists while in the middle of both a pandemic, and national racial reckoning. Nothing like this has been done before and Obsidian is proud to be a part of this new effort."

Bonnie Comley and Stewart F. Lane, Co-Founders of BroadwayHD said, "We are proud to work with Nicely Theatre Group and Sloan's Productions to bring incredible new talent and voices to a wide audience of theater lovers and support the performing arts in Detroit. The fantastic line-up features some incredible performances by up and coming black artists."

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