American Theater Group PlayLab
American Theater Group is excited to introduce ATG PlayLab, a new professional space for BIPOC (Black, Indigenous, People of Color) and Queer (LGBTQ+) playwrights to develop their works for the stage. This workshop is an outgrowth of our mission to fully represent our community and nurture tomorrow’s theater today.
Launched in September 2020 and meeting 36 weeks out of each year, the PlayLab will share new works and provide participants with a sounding board for new ideas, constructive criticism and ample support. Led by program director Pandora Scooter, this year's group is comprised of 10 writers, including two Dramatist Guild Fellowship recipients, all from the New York City/New Jersey area. Members were selected through a rigorous application process and are invited to attend ATG PlayLab meetings for up to two years.
Click Here to read more from BroadwayWorld.
Meet the Playwrights:
Calley N. Anderson is a Brooklyn-based playwright from Memphis, Tennessee. She is a graduate of Davidson College (BA in English with a Concentration in Film and Media Studies) and The New School for Drama (MFA in Playwriting), a member of the Dramatists Guild, and is currently commissioned by the University of Memphis Dept. of Theatre and Dance. Learn more at calleynanderson.com!
Ian August is an award winning, internationally-produced playwright from central NJ. Several of his works have been published by Samuel French, Smith and Kraus, and Pipeline / Applause books. For more information on his body of work, go to his page on the New Play Exchange or visit ianaugustplaywright.com.
Bryson Boyd is a playwright and essayist. He has received fellowships/scholarships from The Kennedy Center, Sewanee Writers Conference, Columbia University, HBMG Foundation National Playwrights Retreat, Napa Valley Writers Conference, Performing Arts Initiative for Students of Color, and elsewhere. His plays have been presented in part with The Boston Theater Marathon, the Kennedy Center, Kansas City Melting Pot, Horizon Theater - Atlanta, and others. His nonfiction has most recently appeared in the Florida Review.
Evan Edwards is a polyonymous member of Actors Equity. As Steven Hamilton, he earned a Bachelor of Arts degree in English and Theatre from Niagara University. He’s worked across the United States and Europe as a director, choreographer, musical theatre performer, and teacher, and now adds playwright to his multi-hyphenate theatre resume.
Onyekachi Iwu is a Nigerian-American playwright, filmmaker, and poet from Nashville, Tennessee. She is a current member of the American Theatre Group 2020-2021 PlayLab and the Eden Theater Company Fall 2020 Playlab. Her play, The Magical South, was a finalist for the 2020 Leah Ryan's FEWW Playwriting Prize. Iwu believes in the healing, archival, and educational force theatre can have for black people. Her plays often explore themes of black womanhood, love, healing, and radical escapism.
Tracey Conyer Lee's plays have been produced in Boston, Chicago, DC and NYC. Her labor of love, Retreat, is receiving an audio play recording by Brickshop Audio which will stream for 6 performances Nov 19th-22nd through National Black Theatre. For details and more: www.traceyconyerlee.com
Andres Piña graduated with an MFA in Acting from Columbia University Class of 2019. As a writer, he's currently working on several plays, and an autobiographical solo show. Thank you ATG and Pandora Scooter for this amazing opportunity.
Juan Ramirez, Jr. is an internationally produced and award-winning playwright, screenwriter, monologist and filmmaker. He's a Dramatist Guild Member, a 2020-2021 Dramatist Guild Fellow, founder of The PlayPen and R&R Productions, with an MFA from NYU Tisch. He'll be working on his tetralogy play cycle based on chupacabras and the four psychological pillars of racism: Ignorance, Fear, Elitism and Self-Hate.
Lori Roper is a writer, award-winning teaching artist and producer. Her work as a playwright has been commissioned and produced by the August Wilson Center for African American Culture in Pittsburgh, PA, The College of William and Mary in Williamsburg, Virginia, and both the Newark Museum and Newark Symphony Hall in Newark, NJ. Lori is a Semi-Finalist of the 2020 National Black Theatre, I Am Soul Playwright Residency - Playwriting Micro-Development Session. Roper is currently the Visiting Artist in Residence for the School of Alternative Studies at Douglass Residential College - Rutgers, the State University of New Jersey.
Pandora Scooter is a nationally produced solo show writer and performer. Her feminist punk rock musical, wRETCH, won Best Musical in 2017 at the Fresh Fruit Festival, NYC's LGBTQ+ theatre festival. As a literary associate/reader, she has worked for New York Theatre Workshop, Arena Stage, Delaware Theatre Company, the Goodman Theatre and George Street Playhouse. Her plays #UsToo, Masks and Two Peas in a Pod are under option agreements for stage and film production. She is currently working on a new solo show (her 7th) called Cognitive Dissonance or How to Speak to Woke White People. She lives in Highland Park, NJ with her daughter. Power to the Peaceful and Love to All.
Education
To ensure the longterm health of American Theater Group and theater in general, ATG will train both the artists and audiences of tomorrow by offering quality arts-in-education programming.
The following are just a few additional education programs:
a.) EQUITY MEMBERSHIP CANDIDATE PROGRAM. Working with Actors Equity Association, ATG will employ a corps of aspiring actors as interns. These performers will serve in a variety of functions (including, where possible, on stage) in exchange for cumulating “points” toward their Equity membership.
b.) HIGH SCHOOL MATINEES. ATG will work aggressively to reach out to area high schools to schedule student matinees for those productions that are age-appropriate. Student matinees will incorporate both pre- and post performance teachers guides, as well as “talk-back” sessions with the cast.
c.) STATEWIDE DRAMA FESTIVAL. Each spring, ATG will invite high schools throughout the state to perform a 20-minute excerpt from their school play or musical. Each excerpt will then be critiqued by industry professionals (actors, directors, writers, etc.). At the end of the day, students will attend the evening performance.
d.) MASON GROSS SCHOOL OF THE ARTS. Based on Joe Mancuso’s and Rick Sordelet’s affiliation, ATG will employ students and graduates from the design program in design positions (set, lights, costumes, etc.)
e.) WAGNER COLLEGE. Based on board president Michelle Pawk’s affiliation, ATG will continue to employ students in our productions.