Atlantic Theater Company to Present MIXFEST (WRIT)UAL MIX: TRADITIONS OF THE DIASPORA
A melodic journey through cultural traditions.
By: Chloe Rabinowitz Jul. 21, 2023
Atlantic Theater Company will present (Writ)ual Mix: Traditions of the Diaspora, a series of free readings co-curated by theater artists Daaimah Mubashshir, NSangou Njikam,and Awoye Timpo, that will run at Atlantic’s Stage 2 from Monday, August 7th through Wednesday, August 16th, 2023.
Atlantic will present readings of full-length plays by Diane Exavier, Daaimah Mubashshir, NSangou Njikam, and a.k. payne. Additionally, Atlantic Theater Company has commissioned Dennis A. Allen II, Keelay Gipson, Amina Henry, Goldie E. Patrick, and Liza Jessie Peterson to create short one-acts and present them as an evening of readings.
Co-Curator and playwright Daaimah Mubashshir states, “For two hundred years Theater of the African Diaspora have expanded a communal ritualistic tradition for the purpose of witnessing, revitalization and persisting in the quest for freedom. These works embody multitudes of experiences, and political viewpoints, thus eschewing reification of Blackness in content and form. In MixFest 2023, we will showcase a set of theater works that demonstrates the multiplicity of Theater of the African Diaspora.”
NSangou Njikam, Co-Curator, playwright, and actor, adds: "Theatre of the African Diaspora is rooted in the tenets also found in ritual: the restoration of balance, the transformation of one's self into something even better, and a relationship with Higher Powers to fulfill one's destiny. Now more than ever, Destiny is a question amongst theatre makers around the country. This MixFest does not just provide an exploration of tradition. It may indeed provide the answer to the future of theatre overall."
And from Co-Curator and director Awoye Timpo, “This year’s festival connects the legacy of these theater traditions to the visionary and inspiring work of contemporary writers. Their work is bold, time-bending, sometimes poetic and always transformative. Co-curating this series with NSangou and Daaimah, whose plays both beautifully embody these ideas has been a truly incredible experience.”
Atlantic Artistic Director Neil Pepe adds, “We’re very excited to explore storytelling forms and traditions of the African Diaspora in this year’s MixFest. Daaimah, NSangou, and Awoye have co-curated an extraordinary lineup and we look forward to celebrating the work of these outstanding artists. We are also extremely grateful to Mel Litoff for his tremendous support of the festival through the Judith Champion estate. Judith Champion was a passionate supporter of new theater artists, and we can’t think of a better way to honor her legacy than with the annual MixFest series.”
Judith Champion, who also underwrote Atlantic’s Launch commissioning program, sadly passed away in July of 2022. She was a fierce advocate for theater, and wanted to leave a legacy of support for new voices so that American theater will thrive for generations to come.
(Writ)ual Mix and all of Atlantic’s new play and musical development activities are made possible by leadership support from the Howard Gilman Foundation and The Tow Foundation, with additional funding from the Axe-Houghton Foundation, The Max and Victoria Dreyfus Foundation, the National Alliance for Musical Theatre, and the Virginia B. Toulmin Foundation.
Atlantic productions and programs are also supported, in part, by public funds from the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs in partnership with the City Council, as well as the New York State Council on the Arts with the support of Governor Hochul and the New York State Legislature.
Admission is free. Reservations are required. To RSVP please visit https://atlantictheater.org/2223-season/writual-mixfest-2023/.
For questions email MixFest@atlantictheater.org.
Panel: ROOTS, RHYME, and REASON: Traditions of Black Storytelling
Monday, August 7th | 7 PM
MixFest will kick off with a group panel moderated by Dr. Sybil R. Williams, with additional artists to be announced!
BURNBABYBURN: an american dream
by a.k. payne
directed by Awoye Timpo
Tuesday, August 8th | 7 PM
The air conditioner at 1987 Apple St. been broke for a minute and it's hot in the afterlife.
A blue pantsuit. A broken bottle. A bible, a toolbox, a collection of records. A box of pictures, some found letters.
In her family's photographs and boxes of kept things, Sky II finds a picture of her grandmother, Sky, and her partner Char taken a month before Sky's death at 36 years old. Sky II's search for her grandmother's life story sends her down a trail containing memories, oral histories and dreams. Will Sky II ever live up to her name or release the pressure that demands for her to get the story "right"? Will her ancestors love her for trying? Will they rest?
GOOD BLOOD
Wednesday, August 9th | 7 PM
The story of a Haitian family living in Brooklyn and their return to Haiti as they work to cure their history in the hopes of securing a future. From the journey of immigrants to the spread of a global epidemic, language, time, and an ocean are crossed in an interrogation of the contracts we make, the conditions under which we live, and what it means to reach for a love that might outlive you.
SHORT PLAYS
by Dennis A. Allen II, Keelay Gipson, Amina Henry, Goldie E. Patrick, and Liza Jessie Peterson
Co-directed by Raelle Myrick-Hodges and Derrick Sanders
Monday, August 14th | 7 PM
Come enjoy readings of five short plays, written specially for (Writ)ual Mix!
A FREEKY INTRODUCTION
by NSangou Njikam
Directed by Dennis A. Allen II
Tuesday, August 15th | 7 PM
"Everybody say YEAH!" People talk about getting free, but few know how to do it. That's because they haven't tapped into their inner freak. Have no fear, Freeky Dee has arrived with a mix of music, ministry, and poetry to stimulate our souls so we can step into our Sacred Profane and rise into our freedom. It won't be easy. They'll be fears, apprehensions, self-doubt and the like...but stick with Freeky Dee and everything will feel so right. You wanna really be free? Then come on and meet the illustrious Freeky Dee.
LIFTING WEIGHT
Directed by Colette Robert
Wednesday, August 16th | 7 PM
Rasheedah arrives at the gym after a devastating break-up. Pennsy, a personal trainer, tries to help get Rasheedah ready for Hot Girl Summer. How many pounds does Rasheedah need to lose to mend her broken heart?
BIOGRAPHIES
CO-CURATORS
Daaimah Mubashshir (They/She) (co-curator, playwright, Lifting Weight) is a playwright and theatre-maker living and working in New York. Their work has been commissioned and developed by Fire This Time Festival, Going To The River, WP Theater, PlayCo, Clubbed Thumb, and Soho Rep. Daaimah was recently awarded a Helen Mirrell Playwriting Award, and residencies from The BAU Institute in Camargo, MacDowell, and Catwalk Institute. They are currently Assistant Professor of Theater and Performance at Bard College.
NSangou Njikam (co-curator, playwright, actor, A Freeky Introduction) is an actor, playwright and Hip Hop Theatre artist originally from Baltimore, MD. His writing credits include Syncing Ink, Re:Definition, When We Left parts 1 & 2, I.D., 21 STRINGS and he is one of seven writers of Hands Up: Seven Plays; Seven Testimonials. Acting credits include Syncing Ink(Alley Theatre/Flea Theater), Re:Definition (LaMama), Henry V (Classical Theatre of Harlem), Deep Azure (Congo Square Theatre). NSangou’s play Re:Definition (Hip Hop Theatre Festival reading) was developed and directed by Chadwick Boseman. NSangou has also written for and collaborated with Grammy Award winner Common, specifically on his Audible.com project “BlueBird Memories”, the 2020 NBA All Star Game, and the Audible interview series Mindpower Mixtape. Freaky Dee, Baby, premiered at the Williamstown Theatre Festival in 2021. His Hip Hop Theatre play, I.D. (commission by Penn State University) premiered at the National Arts Festival in Grahamstown, South Africa. NSangou is a member of the 2015 Emerging Writers Group at The Public Theater as well as a member of UNIVERSES, a theatre company fusing jazz, blues, hip hop, Spoken Word and Spanish boleros. He received his BFA in Acting from Howard University. After tracing his African ancestry, he received his name from the Bamum King in Cameroon. He is represented by A3 Agency. He currently resides in New York City.
Awoye Timpo (co-curator, director, BURNBABYBURN: an american dream) is a Brooklyn-based Director and Producer. Her New York credits include Elyria by Deepa Purohit (Atlantic Theater), Wedding Band by Alice Childress (Theatre for a New Audience), In Old Age by Mfoniso Udofia (New York Theatre Workshop), The Loophole by Jay Adana and Zeniba Britt (Public Theater), Carnaval by Nikkole Salter (National Black Theatre), Good Grief by Ngozi Anyanwu (Vineyard Theatre and Audible), and The Homecoming Queen by Ngozi Anyanwu (Atlantic Theater Company). Regionally she has directed The Bluest Eye (Huntington), Pipeline (Studio Theatre), Paradise Blue (Long Wharf), Everybody Black (Actors Theatre of Louisville), School Girls (Berkeley Rep), Jazz (Marin Theatre Company). Other projects include concert performances for independent artists and for the NBA, Ndebele Funeral (59E59, Edinburgh, South African Tour), “Black Picture Show” (Artists Space/Metrograph), Bluebird Memories and Mindpower Mixtape (both for Audible). Awoye is a Creative Arts Consultant for the African American Policy Forum and a Founding Member of CLASSIX.
ADDITIONAL ARTISTS
Dennis A. Allen II (short play commission, director, A Freeky Introduction) is a multi-hyphenate in the world of theatre. As a playwright, his play The Mud is Thicker in Mississippi won the 35th annual Off Off Broadway Samuel French Festival. He is the recipient of Atlantic Theater Company’s inaugural Launch Commission, Clubbed Thumb’s Early-Career Writer’s Group, and National Black Theatre’s “I Am Soul” Playwright Residency. Allen is an associate producer for The New Black Fest and serves as the National Playwriting Program Chair for the Kennedy Center American College Theater Festival region 1. He is an adjunct professor at LaGuardia Community College, Montclair State University, The New School, and is the Co-Program Director for the MFA Playwriting program at Brooklyn College. Dennis received his MFA from Brooklyn College's Playwriting program.
Diane Exavier (playwright, Good Blood) is a writer, theatermaker and educator working at the intersection of performance and poetry. Her work has been presented with The New Group, BRIC Arts, The Bushwick Starr, Bowery Poetry Club, Dixon Place, and more. Diane concerns herself with what she recognizes as the 4 L’s: love, loss, legacy, and land. Her play Bernarda's Daughters premiered Off-Broadway in 2023, co-produced by The New Group and National Black Theatre. Her poetry collection, The Math of Saint Felix was recently published by The 3rd Thing Press. A 2021 Jerome Foundation Finalist, Diane lives and works in Brooklyn. She is currently working on a Sloan Foundation new play commission in partnership with Manhattan Theatre Club.
Keelay Gipson (short play commission) is an Afro Surrealist writer/director and professor whose plays include demons.(The Bushwick Starr), The Red and the Black (O’Neill Finalist), #NEWSLAVES (Princess Grace Finalist), imagine sisyphus happy (P73 Summer Residency @ Yale), Mary/Stuart, a dramatic queering of friederich schiller's classic play(BAM Next Wave Festival), The Lost Or, How to Just B (Kernodle New Play Award). AWARDS: NYSAF Founders’ Award, Barrington Stage Spark Grant. FELLOWSHIPS: Victory Gardens Playwrights Ensemble, Van Lier Fellowship at New Dramatists, Lambda Literary New Voices, Playwrights Realm, Dramatist Guild Foundation. RESIDENCIES: MacDowell, City of New York Public Artist in Residence (PAIR), The Hermitage Artist Retreat. Their work has been developed/supported by Roundabout, The Old Globe, Artist Repertory Theater, Bushwick Starr, New York Stage and Film, Ars Nova, National Black Theater, Rattlestick Playwrights' Theater, Classical Theater of Harlem, and New York Theatre Workshop.
Amina Henry (short play commission) is a Brooklyn-based playwright. Recent productions include: The Animals, Ducklings, Hunter John and Jane, and The Johnsons, all at JACK (Brooklyn, NY), P.S. produced by Ars Nova (New York, NY), Little Rapes at Long Island University (The New Group), Nothing, Nothing produced by HERO Theatre (Los Angeles, CA), The Great Novel produced by New Light Theater, Happily Ever at Brooklyn College, Bully produced by Interrobang Theater (Baltimore, MD), Clubbed Thumbs 2019 Winterworks, and SUNY Purchase, among other venues, An American Family Takes a Lover, produced by The Cell: a 21st Century Salon and presented by Theatre for the New City (New York, NY), Water and Rent Party produced by Drama of Works (Brooklyn, NY), Cindy and Sleeping Beauty produced by Project Y Theatre. Her work has been produced, developed and/or presented by: The New Group, Clubbed Thumb, New Georges, The Flea, Page 73, Project Y Theatre, National Black Theater, Little Theater at Dixon Place, The Brooklyn Generator, The Brick, Oregon Shakespeare Festival in the 2013 BLACK SWAN Lab Series (Ashland, OR), Kitchen Dog Theater (Dallas, TX), The Brick, HERE Arts Center, and The Cell: a 21st Century Salon, HERO Theatre. Her work has been featured on The Kilroys List. She has been a member of Clubbed Thumb’s Early Career Writers Group, Page 73’s Interstate 73, and the 2017-2018 Ars Nova writers group. She was a 2017-2018 recipient of the Lower Manhattan Cultural Council Space Residency and is a 2018 recipient of a space residency at Dixon Place. She is a 2020 recipient of the Sarah Verdone Writing Award and is an affiliate artist of New Georges. She is a member of the Women's Project 2022-2024 Lab.
Raelle Myrick-Hodges (co-director, short plays). Raelle’s primary goal by working in live performance is to rebuild community and fight sexism- along the way she has directed some plays. This spring she directed the world in the premier of, Media/Medea by Pulitzer Prize winning playwright James Ijames in Philadelphia. This world premiere featured two college campuses - one private (Bryn Mawr) and one public (Philadelphia Community College) to work together around privilege, status and artistic development. She is the founder of Azuka Theater in Philadelphia. Over the past 12 years, she has directed nationally including but not limited to: The Magic Theater, Public Theater, National Black Theater, Indiana Repertory, Atlanta Shakespeare Company among others. She is a self-taught theater artist on the spectrum with no arts degree, yet, Raelle is also a Master Teacher/Adjunct Professor with Actor's Studio, PACE University, Brown University, and recently finished a Master Teacher residency with Cornell University. Her work during the pandemic included all non-binary Coriolanus adapted by Sean San Jose for UNCSA, as well as working on her 2023 work-in-progress reflecting on an adult father-daughter relationship, He Has the Prettiest Handwriting, that sold out at The Public Theater in New York. Raelle is currently the Performing Arts Curator for the Charles H. Wright Museum in Detroit. She will be directing in the upcoming season at Magic Theater and will (if the strike ends) filming her first narrative film.
Goldie E. Patrick (short play commission) is a playwright/TV writer and director based in New York City originally from Detroit and a proud alumna of Howard University (BFA) and Columbia University (MFA-playwriting). She is the inaugural Black Creation Playwright in residence at The New Federal Theatre, a Generative Theater Black Seed resident at 651Arts, and a former APAP Emerging Artist cohort member. She recently directed and had one of her plays included in the 13th Annual Fire This Time Festival. She is currently a TV staff writer and proud member of the WGA East. Goldie is currently the Director of Grants and Programming at the Dramatist Guild Foundation. Her works include Fish Fry (New Federal Theatre), “#LakeishaJefferson” (Fire This Time Festival), “Breath of Life” (Ensemble Studio Theater One Act Marathon/Columbia University), HERstory Love Forever Hip Hop (Kennedy Center), Name Calling (Theater Alliance).
Liza Jessie Peterson (short play commission) is an artivist; an actress, playwright, poet, author and youth advocate who has worked steadfast with incarcerated populations for more than two decades. Her critically acclaimed one woman show, The Peculiar Patriot, was nominated for a Drama Desk Award, Elliot Norton and a recipient of a Lilly Award. The play is also available on Audible. Liza performed The Peculiar Patriot in 35 prisons across the country and a documentary, Angola Do You Hear Us; Voices from a Plantation Prison, features her historic performance of The Peculiar Patriot at Louisiana State Penitentiary (aka Angola) which is streaming on Paramount Plus and Amazon Prime, and was shortlist for an Academy Award. She has developed a TV pilot based on her ensemble play, SistahGurls and the Squirrel. Liza is author of a memoir, ALL DAY; A Year of Love and Survival Teaching Incarcerated Kids at Rikers Island (Hachette publishing) and was commissioned by The Old Globe Theater to adapt the book into a stage play, and has developed a TV series based on the book. Liza was featured in Ava DuVernay’s Emmy award winning documentary, The 13th, and was a consultant on Bill Moyers documentary Rikers (PBS). Also known for her exceptional poetic skills, Liza began her poetry career at the Nuyorican Poets Café and appeared on two episodes of HBO’s Def Poetry. Liza appeared in Showtime’s mini-series, Everything’s Gonna Be All White, by Sacha Jenkins. She can be seen in A Luv Tale (BETplus), Love the Hard Way (co-starring with Pam Grier and Adrien Brody), Spike Lee’s Bamboozled, and K. Shalini’s A Drop of Life. Liza wrote and starred in two short films, MERLINA and Black Love Manifesto. For more info on her projects, visit her website at www.lizajessiep.com
a.k. payne (she/they) (playwright, BurnBabyBurn: an american dream) is a playwright, artist-theorist, and theatermaker with roots in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Her plays love on and engage Black lives and languages beyond the confines of linear time to find/remember stories that might create conditions for our collective liberation(s). They hold a B.A. in English and African-American Studies from Yale College and an MFA in Playwriting under Tarell Alvin McCraney from fka Yale School of Drama. Their work has been a finalist for the L. Arnold Weissberger New Play Award, the Susan Smith Blackburn Prize and the Bay Area Playwrights Festival. She is a recipient of the David Mark Cohen National Playwriting Award, the Kemp Powers Commission Fund for Black Playwrights and Atlantic Theater Company's Judith Champion Launch Commission. Their work has been developed with the O'Neill National Playwrights Conference, The New Harmony Project, Great Plains Theater Conference, and Manhattan Theater Club's "Groundworks Lab." They are a proud graduate of Pittsburgh Public Schools; grandchild of the Great Migration; descendant of a music teacher and a carpenter, who both march every year with their unions in Pittsburgh’s Labor Day parade; a queer & non-binary abolitionist affected in community by the ‘New Jim Crow;” and of a great lineage of Black women storytellers and living-room archivists; all of which deeply informs, uplifts and amplifies their work as a playwright, community organizer and spacemaker.
Colette Robert (director, Lifting Weight) is a director and playwright from Los Angeles, based in New York. She directed the world premieres of Stew by Zora Howard at Page 73 and Behind the Sheet by Charly Evon Simpson at Ensemble Studio Theatre, where she is a member. She recently directed the first New York revival of Crumbs from the Table of Joy by Lynn Nottage with Keen Company. Regional credits include City Theatre Company, Penumbra Theatre, and Williamstown Theatre Festival. Colette is an alumnus of The Drama League's Beatrice Terry Residency, Lincoln Center Directors Lab, and The Public Theater’s Van Lier Directing Fellowship. Her play The Harriet Holland Social Club Presents the 84th Annual Star-Burst Cotillion in the Grand Ballroom of the Renaissance Hotel, which she also directed, recently closed off-Broadway, produced by The Movement Theatre Company and New Georges. She is the 2023 SDCF Denham Fellow.
Derrick Sanders (co-director, short plays) is an award-winning director and filmmaker that has recently directed the World Premiere of Penny Candy at Dallas Theatre Center and Twisted Melodies at Baltimore Center Stage, Apollo Theater (NYC) and Mosaic Theatre (Wash., D.C.). Along with The Island and African Company present Richard III at American Players Theatre. He has also directed the Washington, D.C. and West Coast premiers of Will Power’s Fetch/Clay Make/Man at Round House Theatre and Marin Theatre Company. He has directed August Wilson’s Fences at Marin Theatre, The Mountaintop at Virginia Stage Company, Clybourne Park, and Beneatha’s Place in repertory for “The Raisin Cycle” at Baltimore Center Stage. Sanders credits include August Wilson’s King Hedley II at Signature Theatre and for “August Wilson’s 20th Century” at the Kennedy Center, August Wilson’s Joe Turner’s Come and Gone at Baltimore Center Stage, August Wilson’s Fences and Radio Golf at Virginia Stage, August Wilson’s Jitney and Stick Fly at True Colors Theatre in Atlanta; Sanctified at Lincoln Theater; Gee’s Bendat Cincinnati Playhouse; Topdog/Underdog at American Theatre Company in Chicago; the world premieres of Mr. Chickee’s Funny Money, Bud not Buddy and Jackie and Me at Chicago Children’s Theatre; and the world premiere of Five Fingers of Funkat Minneapolis Children’s Theatre. Sanders was the assistant director of August Wilson’s world premiere productions of Radio Golf and Gem of the Ocean. As the Founding Artistic Director of Congo Square Theatre, he directed numerous productions and has received multiple awards and accolades for his work. He was named the Chicago Tribune’s Theatre Chicagoan of the Year in 2005. He is the Founder of Chicago’s August Wilson Monologue Competition, which is featured in the film Giving Voice on Netflix. Mr. Sanders short film Perfect Day, which he wrote and directed, has been screened in more than 20 film festivals around the world and has garnered critical acclaim and numerous awards. He received his BFA from Howard University and MFA from the University of Pittsburgh. Sanders is the Associate Director of Drama at the Juilliard School and is the Director of the National August Wilson New Voices Competition.
Dr. Sybil R. Williams (moderator, Rhythm, Rhyme and Reason panel) is a playwright and dramaturge who currently teaches in both the Theatre/Musical Theatre Program and the Critical Race and Gender Studies Collaborative where she serves as Program Director for African American and African Diaspora Studies. Her play From U. Street to the Cotton Club produced by the In-Series January 2019. An additional play, Gloria and Rwanda was produced by FRESHH Theatre as part of their new works development series in July 2019. Her play Stormy Weather, an adaptation of Shakespeare’s Tempest recently premiered at the Atlas Theatre in October 2019. She completed an adaptation of Mozart’s Magic Flute titled Black Flute with the IN-SERIES which premiered in Spring 2021. She also co-authored an adaptation of Alcestis which will premiere at the IN-SERIES in Fall of 2023. She is currently working as a dramaturge on two New York city premieres, the off-Broadway production of hip-hop musical Syncing Ink in New York City in Fall 2023 and The Winter Circus written by Joe Calarco and Ben Clark which is still in development. Professor Sybil R. Williams is the first recipient of the American University’s Antiracist Research & Policy Center’s Jacqueline Cirillo Meisenberg and Richard Meisenberg Faculty Fellowship to create a premiere performance work on the women of Rastafari.
ATLANTIC THEATER COMPANY (Neil Pepe, Artistic Director; Jeffory Lawson, Managing Director). At Atlantic, our aim is singular—to empower simple and honest storytelling that fosters greater understanding of our shared world. We are a family of artists dedicated to exploring essential truths onstage, be it a show at Atlantic Theater Company or a class at Atlantic Acting School. As a producer, presenter, and educator of theater, we are driven by the belief that theater can challenge and transform our ways of thinking and urge us to reflect on our role in society. From our Tony Award and Pulitzer Prize-winning productions to our community-based education programs, we are committed to uncovering and celebrating the stories of our varied human existence. Founded as an ensemble of impassioned artists in 1985, Atlantic Theater Company has grown into a powerhouse Off-Broadway company. We challenge, inspire, and awaken audiences with truthful storytelling presented across our two venues, the Linda Gross Theater and the intimate Stage 2 black-box. As a producer of compelling new works, we are committed to championing the stories from new and established artists alike, amplifying the voices of emerging playwrights through our deeply collaborative programs and initiatives. We have produced more than 200 plays and musicals including Tony Award-winning productions of Kimberly Akimbo (David Lindsay-Abaire, Jeanine Tesori), The Band’s Visit (David Yazbek, Itamar Moses), Spring Awakening (Steven Sater, Duncan Sheik), and The Beauty Queen of Leenane (Martin McDonagh); Pulitzer Prize recipients Between Riverside and Crazy (Stephen Adly Guirgis) and English (Sanaz Toossi); New York Drama Critics’ Circle winners for Best New Play The Night Alive (Conor McPherson) and Best Foreign Play Hangmen (Martin McDonagh);Obie Award winners for Best New American Play Guards at the Taj and Describe the Night (Rajiv Joseph); and Obie Award Special Citation recipient Skeleton Crew (Dominique Morisseau).
TICKETING INFORMATION
Admission is free. Reservations are required. To RSVP please visit https://atlantictheater.org/2223-season/writual-mixfest-2023/.
For questions email MixFest@atlantictheater.org.
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