National Black Theatre Opens Application For The 2023-2025 Soul Series L.A.B. Program

National Black Theatre (NBT) is now accepting application submissions for its SOUL Series L.A.B. program. EST. THE L.A.B. (Liberating Artistic Bravery) is a contemporary laboratory for accelerating and creating innovative new work by cutting-edge artists rooted in NBT's pedagogy. To gain access to the application and learn more about the program, visit www.nationalblacktheatre.org/soul-series-lab.

"This residency program has been a launching pad, the spark to help propel some of the brightest and thought provoking artists of our time. It is a program deeply rooted in the powerful love, teaching, and values that Dr. Teer used to forge NBT. I am amazing and deeply grateful for all the years and artists we have been able to shepard and ready to bring on MORE new family members as we invest in the future. We want to fuel the next wave of creatives. To propel and center the power of the art that is needed to heal the trauma filled and forgotten spaces. We want to activate one's LIFE and by leaning into the three aspects of this program, we help guide that way forward."
- Jonathan McCrory, Executive Artistic Director of NBT.

"A fundamental slogan of our founder, Dr. Barbara Ann Teer, is Keep Soul Alive. A term that promotes a safe and nurturing environment for black artists to thrive, be uplifted, seen, heard, and nurtured as they stay committed to giving witness to their soul. Since the L.A.B program started 10 years ago, we have continued to expand it to support the mastery of one's craft each year. The environment is intentionally surrounded by cultures that allow the soul to DREAM, explore, learn, and grow. As a community of playwrights, directors, and future producers, L.A.B. Soul Series strives to create a pipeline of new plays for black audiences in the present and the future. This unique program is living up to the legacy of NBT in elevating, encouraging, and transforming artists, audiences, and managers through the work and to always, Keep Soul Alive."
- Belynda M'Baye, Soul Series L.A.B. Program Manager

The I AM SOUL - Playwrights Residency, which launched in 2012, is the only program with a commitment to production in the United States that is dedicated to Black playwrights, whose work demonstrates exceptional artistic merit and excellence in the theatrical field. Coined as a dream MFA program, this residency also seeks to unleash the soul of a playwright so that they can develop, hone, and explore new ways of artistic expression in a safe, supportive, and transformative environment. Alongside NBT's Artistic Director, the selected playwright(s) will develop a new play during the eighteen (18) month residency. This process culminates with a Workshop Production in NBT's following season.

With I AM SOUL, NBT seeks to deepen the artistic relationship between Black theatrical institutions and Black playwrights in order to re-establish Black theatrical institutions as the foremost supporters and producers of new works created by Black playwrights.

Application for the I AM SOUL - Playwrights Residency will begin on April 3, 2023. All applications must be received by May 8, 2023 at 11:59pm EDT. To submit visit: www.nationalblacktheatre.org/playwrights-residency

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