Lineup Set for 8th Annual The Fire This Time Festival at The Kraine Theater

Now in its eighth season, the Obie Award winning The Fire This Time Festival will run January 16-February 5, 2017 at The Kraine Theater (85 East 4th Street between 2nd Avenue and Bowery).

The festival will kick off on Martin Luther King Jr. Day (Monday, January 16) with a panel discussion examining the unconscious bias we all bring to judging artist's work.

The 2017 festival will also feature a 10-minute play festival, several full length play readings, excerpts from solo shows, a reading of excerpts from the second cycle of the Writers' Group, an open mic night, a webseries event, and a special Fire This Time Festival edition of New York Madness.

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Panel Discussion: I Hate Your Work

Presented in collaboration with The Field

Moderated by Shawn Rene Graham

Monday, January 16 at 7:30pm

The Fire This Time Festival and The Field are collaborating on a two-part panel and workshop to examine the unconscious bias we all bring to judging artist's work. Join Shawn Rene Graham, Artist Service Manager at The Field, and a group of highly experienced artists, facilitators and gatekeepers in a dynamic panel discussion as they share experiences and strategies to disrupt bias and to support diversity and engagement. The workshop portion of this program will be held on Saturday, Jan 21st at 3pm.

YOU MINE

A Full-Length Play Reading Written & Directed by Nia Witherspoon

Tuesday, January 17 at 7:30pm

Set during a water crisis in the final year of Trump's second term as president, Sayida, a black caregiver accused of murdering a white Alzheimer's patient is thrust between the nursing home, a South Carolina plantation, and the Haitian Revolution, as she struggles to keep her child alive and her partner out of the custody of the state.

America v.2.1

A Full-Length Play Reading Written & Directed by Stacey Rose

Wednesday, January 18 at 7:30pm

Some time in the not so distant future this rag tag group of theatrical re-enactors will present to you the revisionist history of The American Negro. What the group doesn't realize is history has a strange way of repeating itself.

The 10-Minute Play Festival

Directed by Cezar Williams

Thursday, January 19 - Saturday, January 21 at 7:30pm

Friday, January 27 & Saturday January 28 at 7:30pm

Friday, February 3 & Saturday February 4 at 7:30pm

Sunday February 5 at 5pm

Stiletto Envy by Eliana Pipes

Childhood friends Shaun and Melanie are on the cusp of adulthood, but when a secret lesson takes an unexpected turn, Melanie is forced to reconcile the fact that her upbringing might be at odds with her heart.

Love and Happiness: Ada's Story by Fredrica Bailey

Set in 1939 against the vibrant, vivacious backdrop of juke joints and jazzy blues, this play centers on a middle aged black woman in love with a much younger man. With a secret to tell and a decision to make she grapples with age, love, and the realities of life.

SWITCH! by Karen Chilton

When two estranged friends, both prominent psychiatrists, meet unexpectedly in a therapy session, they are forced to face the guilt and sadness surrounding a mutual friend's recent suicide, as well as the uncomfortable complexities of their own relationship.

Detained by Shamar S. White

A young Black female soldier conducting a cordon search in Afghanistan encounters a young Afghan female detainee who makes her question who she is underneath the uniform, and forever changes the soldier's life.

Waiting For Virginia Wolfe by Michelle Tyrene Johnson

Two black married couples, while waiting for a fifth guest to arrive, clash over class and cultural karma. This may be the one black dinner party where shipped in collard greens from Neiman Marcus are served!

Ain't No Mo by Jordan E. Cooper

A small church holds an earth-shattering funeral on the election night of America's first black president.

The f-ing World and Everything In It by C.A. Johnson

A Black man stands inside a jail cell, while a white cop gazes at him from the other side. Both men have a request: one to be un-cuffed, the other to understand his captive's motives. As tensions mount and their pleas grow more desperate, they must face the inevitability of what comes next and how it is inextricably tied to history.

In-Action Workshop: I Hate Your Work Part II

Presented in Collaboration with The Field

Saturday, January 21 at 3pm

This workshop puts the topics and strategies discussed during the kick off panel into action. Participants will be invited to observe a condensed version of Fieldwork -- The Field's core program that offers artists a forum to share works in development and exchange critical, non critical, non-directorial, peer-to-peer feedback -- and reflect on how this model disrupts biased thinking or assumptions that are made during the course of critiquing artistic work.

Writer's Group Presentation: Excerpts from the Second Cycle of the Writers' Group

Sunday, January 22 at 2pm

Playwrights Edgar Chisholm, Khalil Kain, Liz Morgan, Christine Jean Chambers and Shawn Nabors will present excerpts from their works in progress developed during the second cycle of TFTT's Writers Group.

Solo Show Excerpts

Sunday, January 22 at 7:30pm

Five multidisciplinary artists will be presenting excerpts from their new solo show projects including Michelle Tyrene Johnson, Mike Wiley, Roger Q. Mason, and Kareem Lucas.

The White Dress

A Full-Length Play Reading by Roger Q. Mason, Directed by Sam Szabo

Monday, January 23 at 7:30pm

Jonathan kisses girls, wears dresses, and brings shame to his family. Inspired by the Stations of the Cross, The White Dress examines a life lived outside of the binary.

The Fire This Time Festival Open Mic Night

Hosted by Najah Imani Muhammad

Tuesday, January 24 at 7pm (Sign up at 6:30pm)

A special festival edition of The Fire This Time's monthly open mic! Artists can bring in whatever they would like to present from music and poetry to monologues and scenes.

CRH- A Dinner Party Play

A Full-Length Play Reading by Keelay Gipson, Directed by TJ Weaver

Wednesday, January 25 at 7:30pm

A millennial couple, newly parents, invite their friends over for a dinner party to get back into the swing of their social lives. A meditation on what it means to be a partner, a parent and approaching thirty, this deliciously decadent, dark comedy may give you a case of indigestion. And will have you questioning, long after it's finished, what it means to be a member of The Mooching Class in the Age of Trump, technology, and student loans.

Sister to Sister: Book Reading & Talkback Event

Moderated by Elena Araoz

Thursday, January 26 at 7:30pm

Kia and Kara Corthron, sisters who are both acclaimed playwrights, read from their debut novels "The Castle Cross The Magnet Carter," and "The Truth of Right Now." A talkback moderated by director Elena Araoz will follow the reading.

New York Madness at The Fire This Time Festival

Sunday, January 29 at 7:30pm

New York Madness, now in residence at The Kraine Theater, will present readings of new 10-minute plays by emerging playwrights in conjunction with The Fire This Time Festival.

reluctant to burn

A Full-length Play Reading by Korde Tuttle, Directed by Victor Cervantes, Jr.

Monday, January 30 at 7:30pm

EDDIE and AJ have both erected walls. After moving-in together, the need to protect themselves is intensified when their newfound lack of space -- and its effect on their sex life -- becomes unbearable. As a result of visiting EDDIE's once-estranged father at a vintage bowling alley, in North Carolina, the couple is forced to confront their relationship to their bodies, and their parents' bodies. What they find allows them to profoundly connect in ways they never could've anticipated.

A Slow Boil

A Full-Length Play Reading by Tanya Everett

Tuesday, January 31 at 7:30pm

In A Slow Boil, generations of traditional family bonds are destroyed, forcing all to confront the ugly realities of race, obligation and loyalty. As they break out of their shells, our characters face the question: how do you choose between home and the pursuit of happiness?

Webseries and Short Film Night

Wednesday, February 1 at 7:30pm

Artists from the TFTT community share their webseries and short films including works by Kevin R. Free, Alex Ubokudom, Melissa Mickens, Larry Powell, Derek McPhatter, Eric Lockley, Rod Gailes OBC, Yusef Miller and more!

Fire This Time Festival Producer Night

Thursday, February 2 at 7:30pm

TFTT producers, including Executive Producer Kelley Girod and Producing Artistic Director Kevin R. Free, step out from behind the stage to present excerpts from their latest projects.

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THE FIRE THIS TIME FESTIVAL Playwright Kelley Nicole Girod founded the festival in 2009 to provide rising playwrights of African and African American descent a platform to write and develop new work. The festival was conceived as an opportunity for playwrights to write and produce material that reflects diverse perspectives as 21st Century Theater artists. With ongoing momentum, TFTT has quickly become a destination for diverse audiences, producers, and artists seeking new possibilities and opportunities in contemporary theater.

FRIGID New York @ Horse Trade is a theater development group with a focus on new work that produces a massive quantity of stimulating downtown theater every season. FRIGID's Resident Artist Program offers a home to a select group of Independent theater artists, pooling together a great deal of talent and energy. FRIGID New York grew out of the annual FRIGID Festival, the first and only festival of its kind in New York City to offer artists 100% of their box office proceeds, and Horse Trade Theater Group, a self-sustaining theater development and management group.

For more information, visit www.firethistimefestival.com and www.horseTRADE.info.

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