Bamuthi, Jennifer Gollan, Nathan Brown, to Hold Talkbacks at 2018 Bay Area Playwrights Festival
By: Stephi Wild Jul. 17, 2018
2018 Bay Area Playwrights Festival (#BAPF2018) runs July 20-29, 2018 at Potrero Stage, 1895 18th St in San Francisco. This years festival features BAMUTHI, Jennifer Gollan and Nathan Brown as special guests leading the discussions following readings of 3 out of the 6 new plays that have been selected for the festival this year.
Resistance and revolution are in the air this year and the BAPF playwrights are delving into the most pressing issues of our times in a fantastic array of styles.The six plays in #BAPF2018 are by playwrights Jon Bernson, Dustin Chinn, Kristiana Rae Colón, Patricia Cotter, T.D. Mitchell, and Madhuri Shekar. This year's line-up includes a widely diverse and artistically challenging group of playwrights; all six are emerging talents. Echoing our turbulent times, all of the plays explore turning-points in past or future history, moments where worlds shift and the rules change.
The 2018 Bay Area Playwrights Festival runs July 20-29, 2018 at Potrero Stage, 1895 18th St in San Francisco. In addition to twelve staged readings, the Festival will offer a Theater Professionals weekend 7/27-29, special events schedule listed below.
Tickets at www.playwrightsfoundation.org
Arts activist and spoken word artist MARC BAMUTHI JOSEPH joins #BAPF2018 playwright Kristiana Rae Colón for a talkback following the staged reading of suspension, taking place at Potrero Stage in San Francisco. Together, they will be discussing the themes of the play and intersections between activism, education and the arts, as well as responding to audience questions.
Kristiana Rae Colón is an artist whose goal is to stimulate critical thought on difficult issues through art and live performance, she explores the intersection of hashtag blackgirlmagic and the oxymoronic disposability of Black girlhood in her new afro-futurist dystopian play suspension. Four teen girls stage a coup against the authoritarian regime of Climb & Succeed Academy where campus security patrols the halls in riot gear and a new disciplinary code takes in-school suspension to a haunting extreme. The teens of the powercheer squad, guided by a mystic teaching artist, learn to wield their ancestral magic and blackgirl badassery to combat the harrowing militarization of public education.
Social issues and discussions on cultural identity are everyone's concern In times like these.
This new play challenges audiences to reflect on the state of our current public education system and its wider implications. In a similar way to Kristiana, Bamuthi, a theater artist and cultural strategist who currently serves as Chief of Program and Pedagogy at Yerba Buena Center for the Arts in San Francisco, seeks to investigate the value of education, communities and art through poetically-charged works.
"I've long admired Bamuthi as a performer and educator; in a lot of ways, his work has paved the way for me as a multidisciplinary playwright and I'm excited for him to hear suspension and bring critical lens to the play." says Kristiana.
Please join BAMUTHI, Kristiana & the PF on Saturday, July 28 for this special event. The reading starts at 8pm. The talk will begin immediately after. Tickets & more information here: http://playwrightsfoundation.org/bapf2018
Panel: "Uses (& Abuses) of Virtual Reality" (Sunday 7/29 - following the 2pm reading of VRTU-L, written by T.D. Mitchell)
Moderator: Nathan Brown
Among guests: Dr. Elizabeth McMahon
What is Virtual Reality? How does it work? How is it being used in the arts, in entertainment, and in the wider culture? Local tech exec Nathan Brown and a panel of experts will discuss various topics relating to VR and the themes of the play. Panelists include Dr. Elizabeth McMahon, who specializes in the use of VR in psychotherapy.
VRTU-L is an exposé of the modern warrior's reliance on VR.
T.D. Mitchell was part of BAPF 2014 with her play Queens for a Year, which later premiered at Hartford Stage, was named "One of the 50 Notable Productions of 2016" (The Stage Review) and was nominated for the Pulitzer. Read her latest interview here.
Nathan Brown is a media executive, production veteran and entrepreneur with over 20 years of experience dedicated to the development, convergence and disruption of emerging platforms, content, technology, advertising and media.
"StoryWorks: The Intersection of Theater and Journalism" (Friday 7/27 - following the 8pm reading of When Lighting The Voids, written by Jon Bernson)
Playwright Jon Bernson and journalist Jennifer Gollan discuss the origins of When Lighting The Voids and the process of adapting a true story for the stage.
When Lighting The Voids is the story of a tragic explosion at a Gulf Coast shipyard commissioned by the Center for Investigative Reporting.
Jon Bernson is a playwright, musician and interdisciplinary artist from San Francisco. He is part of the Playwrights Foundation Residency Program, RPI. Follow the link to read his latest interview.
Jennifer Gollan is an Emmy Award winning reporter for Reveal, where she covers labor issues and corporate malfeasance.
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