The NNPN Rolling World Premiere Of BR'ER COTTON By Tearrance Arvelle Chisholm Runs At Cleveland Public Theatre

National New Play Network, the country's alliance of nonprofit theaters that champions the development, production, and continued life of new plays, celebrates the opening of the Rolling World Premiere of Br'er Cotton by Tearrance Arvelle Chisholm at Cleveland Public Theatre.

By the end of its Rolling World Premiere, Br'er Cotton will have received three productions at NNPN Member Theaters: Kitchen Dog Theater (June 9-July 1, 2017 in Dallas), Lower Depth Theatre Ensemble (September 23-October 29, 2017 in Los Angeles), and Cleveland Public Theatre (March 29-April 21). Br'er Cotton is NNPN's 70th Rolling World Premiere.

In an NNPN Rolling World Premiere, the Network provides production support to the playwright and the partnering theaters, including assistance with the creation and the contracting of the premiere agreement, collaborative interactions between the theaters, and travel and housing funds for the playwright to further develop the play in each city.

Lynchburg, Virginia. The former site of a thriving cotton mill is now an impoverished neighborhood. Deeply affected by all the recent killings of young black men like himself, Ruffrino, a 14 year old militant, incites riots at school and online. More and more at odds with his mother and grandfather, the boys anger grows beyond containment while the family home literally sinks into the cotton field, and no one seems to notice but him.

Tearrance Arvelle Chisholm is a current member of the Lila Acheson Wallace American Playwrights Program at Juilliard. His play Hooded: Or Being Black for Dummies had its World Premiere at Mosaic Theatre in Washington, D.C. this year where it received raves from The Washington Post, "Breathtakingly on-point new comedy...Chisholm makes his own mark, powerfully." The popularity of this powerful piece has landed it a spot in their 2018 season. Chisholm's Br'er Cotton is a National New Play Network pick, receiving a Rolling World Premiere with the Kitchen Dog Theatre in Dallas, Lower Depth Theatre in Los Angeles, and the Cleveland Public Theatre. He was named a "person to watch" by American Theatre magazine and as a rising star student made Variety's list as a writer for the "future of film, media, and entertainment." Chisholm was a finalist for the inaugural Relentless Award and London's 503 Theatre Award, and he was named winner of both the Rosa Parks Playwriting Award and the Lorraine Hansberry Playwriting Award at KCACTF 2016. His work has been developed with the Signature Theatre, Theatre Alliance, Endstation Theatre, The Kennedy Center American College Theatre Festival, the Bay Area Playwrights Festival, and the Djerassi Resident Artists Program.

Cleveland Public Theatre's mission is to raise consciousness and nurture compassion through groundbreaking performance and life-changing education programs. CPT develops new, adventurous work, and nurtures Northeastern Ohio artists - particularly those whose work is inventive, intelligent, and socially conscious. CPT's acclaimed education programs engage underserved youth and adults in creating new works that speak to contemporary issues, and empower participants to work for positive change in the community. cptonline.org

National New Play Network (NNPN) is the country's alliance of non-profit professional theaters dedicated to the development, production, and continued life of new plays. Since its founding in 1998, NNPN has supported more than 250 productions nationwide through its innovative National New Play Network Rolling World Premiere program, which provides playwright and production support for new works at its Member theaters. Additional programs - its annual National Conference, National Showcase of New Plays, and MFA Playwrights Workshop; the NNPN Annual and Smith Prize commissions; its residencies for playwrights, producers and directors; and the organization's member accessed Collaboration, Festival, and Travel banks and online information sessions - have helped cement the Network's position as a vital force in the new play landscape. NNPN also strives to pioneer, implement, and disseminate ideas and programs that revolutionize the way theaters collaborate to support new plays and playwrights. Its most recent project, the New Play Exchange, is changing the way playwrights share their work and others discover it by providing immediate access to information on more than 18,000 new plays by living writers. NNPN's 30 Core and 81 Associate Members - along with the more than 250 affiliated artists who are its alumni, the thousands of artists and artisans employed annually by its member theaters, and the hundreds of thousands of audience members who see its supported works each year - are creating the new American theater.

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