Carlyle Brown News

On March 21, 1953, Langston Hughes, celebrated as the Poet Laureate of Harlem, received a summons to appear before the Senate Permanent Sub Committee on Investigations on Un-American Activities, and went to Washington to be questioned by Joseph McCarthy and the rest of his committee. Playwright Carlyle Brown has used this historical incident to create a lyrical and thought-provoking piece centered around the hours before his appearance, and of the appearance itself, in Are You Now, or Have You Ever Been..., which will begin a 4-week regional premiere run at Stage West on Thursday, February 14.

Stage West is pleased to announces the lineup for its 40th season!   The new season will offer six plays plus two season extras, and patrons purchasing season tickets before October 1 will be offered a discount on the season extras. It's an exciting mix of shows, featuring seven regional premieres.  Here it is:

The Core Writer program at the Playwrights' Center gives 25-30 of the most exciting playwrights from across the country the time and tools to develop new work for the stage. The Center is announcing new Core Writers Darren Canady, Erin Courtney, Marisela Treviño Orta, Stacey Rose, Ariel Stess and Ray Yamanouchi. In addition, the Playwrights' Center is pleased to welcome three new student playwrights to its Core Apprentice program for 2018-19: Lily Padilla, Drew Paryzer and Lauren Wimmer.

The Playwrights' Center today announced the recipients of the 2018-19 McKnight National Residency and Commission and 2018-19 McKnight Fellowships in Playwriting.

Three evenings of the William Inge Theater Festival, May 9-12, will explore the career and works of Carlyle Brown, including a multi-media tribute to the writer's achievements.

At a time when the USA is waffling on its commitment to honor Harriet Tubman with her image on the 20 dollar bill, Woodie King, Jr.'s New Federal Theatre will present 'Harriet's Return: Based Upon the Legendary Life of Harriet Tubman,' written and performed by Karen Jones Meadows. The production takes audiences on a deeply personal, high energy journey into the private and public life of this famed Underground Railroad conductor, spiritual icon, revolutionary, and entrepreneur, whose life spanned nine decades and still influences the consciousness of people throughout the world. The production is directed by Clinton Turner Davis and will take stage February 8 to March 4 at Castillo Theatre, 543 West 42nd Street.

At a time when the USA is waffling on its commitment to honor Harriet Tubman with her image on the 20 dollar bill, Woodie King, Jr.'s New Federal Theatre will present 'Harriet's Return: Based Upon the Legendary Life of Harriet Tubman,' written and performed by Karen Jones Meadows. The production takes audiences on a deeply personal, high energy journey into the private and public life of this famed Underground Railroad conductor, spiritual icon, revolutionary, and entrepreneur, whose life spanned nine decades and still influences the consciousness of people throughout the world. The production is directed by Clinton Turner Davis and will take stage February 8 to March 4 at Castillo Theatre, 543 West 42nd Street.

At a time when the USA is waffling on its commitment to honor Harriet Tubman with her image on the 20 dollar bill, Woodie King, Jr.'s New Federal Theatre will present 'Harriet's Return: Based Upon the Legendary Life of Harriet Tubman,' written and performed by Karen Jones Meadows.

Playwright Carlyle Brown is the recipient of the William Inge Distinguished Achievement in the American Theater Award, at the 37th Annual William Inge Theatre Festival at Independence Community College, Kansas. The Inge Festival, the Official Theatre Festival of the State of Kansas, takes place May 9-12, 2018.

Politics can be the graveyard of the poet. And only Poetry can be his resurrection. Langston Hughes, 1964 These words by the great Langston Hughes adorn the backdrop of Metrostage's moving production of Carlyle Brown's Are you now, or have you ever been Waiting for the play to begin the audience is left to ponder these words and how they frame the action on stage. Politics and the arts have had a difficult time coexisting during certain eras, particularly during the Army-McCarthy hearings of 1953-54, which colloquially known as McCarthyism. The 90 minute intermission-less play takes place on the eve of Mr. Hughes testimony to the committee and the committee hearing itself. The evening before the hearing, Mr. Hughes is struggling to comprehend his subpoena to the hearings while attempting to write the poem, Georgia Dusk .

Producing Artistic Director Carolyn Griffin is pleased to announce that the play Are You Now or Have You Ever Been , a play written and conceived by Carlyle Brown and directed by MetroStage Artistic Associate Thomas W. Jones II with original music by William Knowles, will be in performance Oct. 5-Nov. 5 at MetroStage.

Producing Artistic Director Carolyn Griffin has just announced the 2017 fall/winter season at MetroStage, which actually begins with a limited engagement weekend reprisal of Anne & Emmett in July.

Under the leadership of Charles Newell, Marilyn F. Vitale Artistic Director and Stephen J. Albert. Executive Director, Court Theatre continues the Spotlight Reading Series, with a free, public reading of Buffalo Hair by Carlyle Brown and directed by Ron OJ Parson, at NEUI's Carruthers Center for Inner City Studies, 700 E Oakwood Boulevard, on Monday, July 10 at 6:30 p.m.

The Playwrights' Center is excited to announce the 2017-18 McKnight National Residency and Commission recipient, 2017-18 McKnight Fellows in Playwriting, 2017-18 McKnight Theater Artist Fellows, 2017-2020 Core Writers and 2017-18 Core Apprentices.

Since I left the theater last Sunday, I have been singing 'Camptown Races' (sometimes referred to as 'Camptown Ladies'), a comic song written by Stephen Foster, known as the father of American music who was considered the pre-eminent songwriter in the United States of the 19th century. Appropriately, the song was published in 1850 in Foster's Plantation Melodies, making it the perfect theme song for PURE CONFIDENCE, a play set in the high-stakes world of Civil War-era horse racing. This surprisingly funny and daring story takes a look at the complexity of race relations, love and dignity in the second half of the nineteenth century. Against a vivid backdrop of fast horses, gritty racetracks and high-stakes betting, it's an extraordinary tale of human triumphs and failings.

Under the leadership of Charles Newell, Marilyn F. Vitale Artistic Director and Stephen J. Albert. Executive Director, Court Theatre continues its Spotlight Reading Series, with a free, public reading of Roosters by Milcha Sanchez-Scott and directed by Ricardo Cutierrez, at the National Museum of Mexican Art, 1852 W 19th Street, on Monday, May 1 at 6:30 p.m.

Step-sisters in a magical trailer park, a clash between past and present (that's a realtor's nightmare), an exploration of race and family in segregated Cleveland, a murderous family in the American West -- sounds like this year's finalists for The Landing Theatre Company's New American Voices Play Reading Series.

The 2016-17 Ruth Easton New Play Series at the Playwrights' Center concludes April 3 and 4 at 7 p.m. with public readings of 'Minneapolis/St. Paul' by Core Writer Lee Blessing.

The 2016-17 Ruth Easton New Play Series at the Playwrights' Center continues March 6 and 7 at 7 p.m. with public readings of 'The Sea & The Stars' by Harrison David Rivers.

Court Theatre, under the leadership of Marilyn F. Vitale Artistic Director Charles Newell and Executive Director Stephen J. Albert, announces the 2017 lineup for the Spotlight Reading Series, a multi-year community outreach initiative that aims to expose communities beyond Hyde Park to theatre arts, focusing specifically on works from outside of the canon of classic theater.