Donja R. Love and National Queer Theater Present WRITE IT OUT! New Playwriting Workshop for People Living with H.I.V.

Donja R. Love and National Queer Theater, in partnership with The Lark, Mobilizing Our Brothers Initiative (MOBI), and the Each-Other Project, have announced Write It Out!, a new playwriting workshop for people living with H.I.V.

Supported through the generosity of Broadway Cares/Equity Fights AIDS, Write It Out! will support 10-12 participating writers in finding their unique voice as they navigate their serostatus. Over the course of the ten-week program, participants will partake in virtual workshops twice a week, which will focus on creating a community for people of similar lived experience to express themselves freely. The program will culminate in an optional virtual sharing of the participants' work with professional actors and directors.

"While many plays have been written and produced about H.I.V. and AIDS, rarely do those playwrights come from the HIV+ community. Donja R. Love has carved out a unique space for people living with H.I.V. to write their own stories, and we are excited to host this new program with Donja, The Each-Other Project, The Lark, and MOBI, with the help of Tom Viola at Broadway Cares/ Equity Fights AIDS," said Adam Odsess-Rubin, Founder and Artistic Director of National Queer Theater.

National Queer Theater is thrilled that award-winning playwright Donja R. Love and poet Timothy DuWhite are leading Write It Out! in its inaugural year. Love is joining as the program instructor. DuWhite is coming aboard as the program manager.

Taking to playwriting after being diagnosed with H.I.V. in 2008, Love's own work examines the forced absurdity of life for those who identify as Black, Queer, and H.I.V.-positive - a diverse intersection filled with eloquent stories that challenge the white supremacist, heteronormative structures that exist in American culture.

"While in previews for my play, one in two, a semi-autobiographical story about my experience living with H.I.V., I remembered how I started writing plays after my diagnosis. I remembered how healing that was," said Love. "Then, I started to think about the importance of PLWHIV expressing themselves and how art is a powerful medium to do so. Through Write It Out! I hope that all involved, myself included, can shed the shame of being HIV-Positive as we build an artistic community."

Applicants who are eighteen or older and living with H.I.V. are invited to submit a brief bio and short writing sample to National Queer Theater beginning on August 1st. The deadline for applications is August 31st before midnight EST. Virtual workshops will begin on Zoom on September 24th and will continue on Tuesdays and Thursdays from 5:00pm - 6:00pm EST through November 19th. The optionally public, final sharing will take place on World AIDS Day, which is December 1st. Applicants can apply at www.nationalqueertheater.org/education.

To post a comment, you must register and login.