The Tank Announces Inaugural Writers For LIT Council

The Tank announces the talented playwrights selected for LIT Council, an 8-month development intensive for male playwrights of color. During their time with the Council (October 2018 through April 2019), writers will be in an affinity space with one another, developing a project and having in-depth conversations around their identity as men of color working in the theatre field as playwrights. In order to further promote collaboration and communication between genders, each play will be attached to a female director of color, chosen from a group of professionals and mentors, who will be active presences throughout the process. The program will culminate in a public presentation of this work, hosted at The Tank (312 West 36th Street between 8th and 9th Avenue).

"Sometimes you have to create the thing you want to be a part of," explains LIT Council Founder/Creator, Akin Salawu. "In the theater world, men of color are really still the junkyard dogs chained to the side of the house to bark at strangers. And rarely admitted inside. I wanted to create a space where we no longer have to justify our presence in the room. The planets aligned with a simple Facebook message to Meghan Finn (Co-Artistic Director of The Tank) telling her I had this pipe dream." Finn's immediate reply was "I can say without a doubt The Tank would love to support!"

No stranger to the hustle, Beto O'Byrne (LIT Council Co-Creator/ Facilitator) was up for the challenge: "My career as a theatre-maker and writer has been largely defined by me looking for a space for my work, not finding it, and making my own. It's been a lot of work to manifest this particular opportunity with Akin, but I am so very excited to be in fellowship with such an amazing pool of writers and can't wait to see what work we create."

O'Byrne and Salawu have agreed to push the playwrights to create works where female characters are given equal weight to their male counterparts and also supported to stretch their voice in writing for, and collaborating with, women.

According to Salawu, "It is important to foster artists who are aware of and responsive to gender inequity in the theater as well as racial inequity. So, we're creating opportunities for men of color who are willing and invested in creating opportunities for women of color as well."

The 50 applicants were evaluated by an exceptional panel of female theater makers of color which included playwright Alex Beech, actor/playwright Yadira de la Riva, playwright Guadalís Del Carmen, producer/creative strategist J.J. El-Far, playwright Monet Hurst-Mendoza, actor/director Tia James, playwright/director Young Jean Lee, director/theater maker Rebecca Martinez, actress/theater maker Nina Mehta, producer/theater maker Meropi Peponides, director Taylor Reynolds, playwright Melissa Tien, and playwright/dramaturg Jillian Walker.

Given that the playwrights applied to an affinity group built around men of color, the panelists were asked to recognize that these artists inevitably come to this project with certain biases and privileges at play. Keeping in mind the common goal of working to eradicate white supremacy and toxic masculinity from our field, and by consequence, our society, the panelists selected ten finalists: Benjamin Colón, Brandon Bogle, Francisco Mendoza, Ja'Michael Darnell, Marcus A. Scott, Mel Nieves, Nikhil Mahapatra, Travis Tate, and Tylie Shider.

Along with facilitating the development of 7 new works, LIT Council will also help the playwrights foster the necessary professional relationships that are historically challenging for members of underrepresented communities. LIT Council's Inaugural members gathered at The Tank on October 20th for their first meeting. The seven playwrights pitched their projects to each other and began an ongoing discussion on power, privilege, and race. Before leaving the theater, the 7 playwrights agreed to help each other become better writers and committed to helping each other become better men.

The Tank is a non-profit arts presenter serving emerging artists engaged in the pursuit of new ideas and forms of expression. We serve over 2,000 artists every year in over 400 performances, and work across all disciplines, including theater, comedy, dance, film, music, public affairs, and storytelling. Our goal is to foster an environment of inclusiveness and remove the burden of cost from the creation of new work for artists launching their careers and experimenting within their art form. The heart of our services is providing free performance space in our 98-seat proscenium and 56-seat blackbox that we operate in Manhattan, and we also offer a suite of other services such as free rehearsal space, promotional support, artist fees, and much more. We keep ticket prices affordable and view our work as democratic, opening up both the creation and attendance of the arts to all.

Past Tank produced-work includes Drama Desk-nominated productions Ada/Ava (2016), youarenowhere (2016), The Paper Hat Game (2017), the ephemera trilogy (2017), and The Hunger Artist (2018), as well as New York Times Critics' Pick's The Offending Gesture by Mac Wellman, directed by Meghan Finn (2016) and Red Emma & The Mad Monk by Alexis Roblan, directed by Katie Lindsay (2018). Since its founding in 2003, artists who have come through The Tank include Alex Timbers, Amy Herzog, Lucy Alibar, Reggie Watts, Kyle Abraham, Andrew Bujalski, We Are Scientists, and tens of thousands of others. www.thetanknyc.org

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