Luna Stage Launches Virtual Solo Show Creation Workshop

Luna Stage is launching a nation-wide virtual solo show creation program, Voices Across America. The project will be collaboratively facilitated by three solo performers via Zoom, and was inspired by Luna Stage's American Voices series which premiered last year and featured world premieres of solo projects in the company's MainStage and Studio theaters.

Nine participants will be selected for the first cohort of this unique program, which will be co-facilitated by three solo performers simultaneously, offering participants the opportunity to evolve their own pieces with support from multiple perspectives. Instructors include Ami Brabson, whose solo plays with music Phenomenal Women and A Change Is Gonna Come both performed on Luna's MainStage; Will Nolan, whose Hooray for Lady Land! Gay History for Straight People! was scheduled to open at Luna on March 14 and has been postponed; and Aizzah Fatima, creator of the award-winning Dirty Paki Lingerie.

Participants in the solo show creation workshop will be selected from across the country. "A central aspect of Luna's mission has always been to reflect the diverse voices of our community," said Luna's Artistic Director Ari Laura Kreith. "It's interesting to discover how COVID-19 shifts our awareness of who is 'inside' our communities."

The workshop will culminate in a virtual showcase performance featuring everyone's work.

The New Jersey-based regional theatre recently launched a series of 10 Minute Playwriting programs, which filled within minutes. The theatre announced the workshops to its mailing list, and assumed it would attract local participants. However, they were surprised to discover that participants came from across the country as well; some were former locals who continued to follow the company, while others had never visited Luna but were interested in the company's work.

"This moment in time offers a unique opportunity to connect and listen to one another," Kreith said. "We hope that by inviting a geographically diverse group of participants into this workshop, we will begin to build a platform that allows us to empathize across our divided America."

The workshop will begin May 25 and runs Monday evenings for 6 weeks from 6-9pm. The suggested fee to participate is $120 but no one will be turned away for lack of funds.

The program is designed both for theatre artists who have experience as actors or writers but have never before created solo work, and also for non-theatre professionals who feel they have something powerful to communicate at this moment in time.

Interested applicants should email a brief paragraph about why they're interested in participating, and mention where they live currently and where they consider "home" to annika.franklin@lunastage.org by May 18.

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