Liberation Theatre Company Taps Four New Playwrights For 2020-2021 Writing Residency Program

Liberation Theatre Company (LTC) has named four early career playwrights to participate in their Writing Residency Program for 2020-2021.

The program will provide dramaturgical and career support to writers over a ten-month period, during which time they will be required to complete the first draft of a new original full-length play. The plays will receive a public reading in the Spring of 2021.

The Harlem-based theatre company is a home for emerging Black playwrights and launched the Writing Residency Program in 2017. Support is provided by the New York State Council on the Arts and the Alliance of Resident Theatres/New York.

"The number of submissions and the quality of applications we received was by far the best we've had in our four-year history," said Sandra A. Daley-Sharif, Producing Artistic Director of LTC. "Growing interest in our program speaks to a very specific need. Black playwrights are not only looking for support in their development as writers but an environment where their artistic voice is heard and respected."

"We are excited to welcome this year's group, who bring diversity in terms of years in the industry, personal goals, writing styles and aesthetics," Daley-Sharif continued. "It will be our task to help them achieve clarity and focus in their writing, so that whatever they wish to say through their work is understood and a reflection of their true intentions."

Beginning in May, residents will meet monthly to share work in progress and receive constructive criticism. Because of COVID-19-related shelter-in-place regulations, at least initially, LTC will meet with playwrights via online video conference. Travel restrictions permitting, they will also have access to theatre events around New York, dialogue with more advanced playwrights, attend a writers' retreat, and collaborate with a director and professional actors for both a table read and the public reading that concludes the residency. Each writer will receive an honorarium upon successful completion of the program.

Participants in the Liberation Theatre Company Writing Residency Program for 2020-2021:

Gethsemane Herron-Coward's plays include "Heifer, Blanks" and "Lordes" (w/ Katherine Wilkinson). Gethsemane's work has been seen with the The Fire This Time Festival, The Flea, JAG Productions, and more. Fellowships include: Puffin Foundation, VCCA, and the Millay Colony. Member of the Ars Nova Playgroup and Dramatist's Guild. MFA: Columbia University.

Karen Chilton received her MFA in Dramatic Writing at NYU-Tisch School of the Arts and authored the biography, "Hazel Scott: The Pioneering Journey of a Jazz Pianist from Café Society to Hollywood to HUAC", which she adapted for the screen. She co-authored the jazz memoir of Gloria Lynne, "I Wish You Love". Dramatic writing credits include: "Afrodisiac" (2020 Goldberg Prize-Finalist); "Heirloom" (O'Neill Nat'l Playwrights Conference-Semi-Finalist 2019); "Convergence" (Winner of the NPT Writers Festival) and short plays produced for the 48Hours in...Harlem and The Fire This Time theater festivals. www.karenchilton.com

Malcolm Tariq is the author of "Heed the Hollow" (Graywolf Press, 2019), winner of the 2018 Cave Canem Poetry Prize. He completed an apprenticeship at Horizon Theatre Company and his plays have been developed by Working Title Playwrights and Brave New World Repertory Theatre. A graduate of Emory University, Malcolm has a PhD in English from the University of Michigan. He is the Programs and Communications Manager at Cave Canem, a home for Black poetry.

Travis Tate is a queer, black playwright, poet and performer from Austin, Texas, who earned an MFA from the Michener Center for Writers at the University of Texas at Austin in playwriting and poetry. Their debut poetry collection, Maiden, will be published on Vegetarian Alcoholic Press in June 2020.Find more at travisltate.com.

Liberation Theatre Company was established in 2009 with the mission to create a home for emerging Black playwrights to develop their work and express themselves artistically in a supportive and focused environment. Directly and indirectly, LTC has helped to develop or provide exposure to more than 100 writers through various programs.

LTC is managed by Sandra A. Daley-Sharif, co-founder and Producing Artistic Director, Spencer Scott Barros, co-founder and Associate Artistic Director, and Bernard J. Tarver, Associate Producing Director.