The Welders Announce Third Generation of Producing Playwrights

A new generation of playwrights is taking over The Welders -- Washington DC's only playwrights' collective devoted exclusively to developing and producing new work.

Starting in January 2020, the Welder Producing Playwrights will be Cat Frost, Farah Lawal Harris, Teshonne Powell, Sisi Reid, JR Russ, and Jared Shamberger. They are excited to take on leadership and make work that they see as expanding "the tapestry of DC theatre to include voices that currently are missing at most, co-opted at worst, diluted at best; and those voices are black and femme and queer and triumphant and joyful."

"The Welders," they write, "are a collective, not just for 6 playwrights, but for all." The third generation of The Welders will showcase the work of the six playwrights over three years of leadership. They will continue the organizational structure and pass on the company to a fourth team of leadership in 2023.

Each generation of The Welders has brought their own voices, vision and passion to the DC theatre community. The Welders 3.0 intend to show that one "cannot simply rest on producing shows with diverse representation on stage; there also needs to be representation on the production team, in how a performance is marketed, and how community members are treated upon entering and leaving the space. We are uniquely positioned to manage those experiences as an all-Black ensemble of playwrights and arts administrators."

The Welders Playwrights' Collective was founded in 2013 to be an alternative platform for production in DC that would be passed on to future generations.

The Welders' founding members were playwrights Bob Bartlett, Renee Calarco, Allyson Currin, Caleen Sinnette Jennings, and Gwydion Suilebhan with Executive and Creative Director Jojo Ruf. The second generation of Welders are Brett Abelman, Annalisa Dias, Rachel Hynes, Alexandra Petri, Hannah Hessel Ratner, Deb Sivigny, Steve Spotswood, with Laley Lippard succeeding Ronee Penoi in the role of Creative Producer (Dias was Acting Creative Producer during the transition).

All past, present and future Welders will be present to celebrate the organization at the annual fundraising party The Joint on March 31, 2019. The event will take place on Sunday, March 31, from 6:30 - 9:30 pm at Rhizome DC (6950 Maple St NW). This spectacular art-house-party will be filled with connection, sneak peeks, and a celebration of three generations "passing it on." Tickets are available at: https://thejoint2019.brownpapertickets.com/.

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