Lark Play Development Center Presents Koffi Kwahule, 5/13-14

 

The Lark Play Development Center will host French-African playwright Koffi Kwahulé in New York City on May 13 and 14. Free public readings of Kwahulé's play, THAT OLD BLACK MAGIC, translated by Chantal Bilodeau will be presented at the Lark Studio. The readings are part of Lark's 7 year project to translate, develop, and publish seven of Kwahulé's plays in an effort to both encourage international exchange and to bring to the forefront a unique theatrical voice.

Born in the Ivory Coast, Kwahulé, currently residing in Paris, is a playwright, novelist, essayist, actor and director. He has written more than twenty five plays, which have been translated in many languages and presented throughout Europe and Africa. Working with translator Chantal Bilodeau, seven of his plays, including THAT OLD BLACK MAGIC, have been translated into English. The goal of the Koffi Kwahulé project is to develop "stage-ready" translations of these plays. Furthermore, the Lark wishes to create a movement around Kwahulé's body of work through strategic partnerships, global and national, which promote the development, production and teaching of his plays. To that end, the Lark has facilitated or hosted events with the Mark Taper Forum in Los Angeles, the Playwrights' Center in Minneapolis, The Berkshire Theater Festival, the New York Theatre Workshop, The Internationalists, the hotINK International Festival of Play Readings, Howard University and The Movement Theatre Company. Étant donnés: The French-American Fund for the Performing Arts has been a major funder of Lark's activities.

In THAT OLD BLACK MAGIC, Kwahulé paints a picture of a divided America whose racial tensions get played out in a boxing ring. Public readings of this new work will be held on May 13 and 14 at 7pm at the Lark Studio. 939 8th Avenue (btw 55 & 56) 2nd Floor. 1, A, B, C, D, to Columbus Circle, N, Q, R, W to 57th Street. For information: visit www.larktheatre.org or call 212-246-2676, x24

A laboratory for new voices and new ideas, the LARK PLAY DEVELOPMENT CENTER provides playwrights with indispensable resources to develop their work. The Lark brings together actors, directors, playwrights and the community to allow writers to learn about their own work by seeing and hearing it, and by receiving feedback from a dedicated and supportive community. The company reaches into untapped local populations and across international boundaries to seek out and embrace unheard voices and diverse perspectives, celebrating differences in language and worldviews. The Lark also plays a leading role in advancing unknown writers and their works to audiences through carefully stewarded partnerships with a host of theaters, universities, community-based organizations, and NGOs, locally, nationally and globally. The Lark is led by Producing Director, John Clinton Eisner and Managing Director, Michael Robertson.

 

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