Sandra A. Daley-Sharif and More Set for Ninth THE FIRE THIS TIME Festival

Now in its ninth season, the Obie Award winning The Fire This Time Festival has commissioned six playwrights to write new 10-minute plays for the 2018 festival, which will run January 15-28, 2018 at The Kraine Theater (85 East 4th Street between 2nd Avenue and Bowery).

The 2018 playwrights will include Sandra A. Daley-Sharif (Eugene O'Neill semi-finalist for Les Freres; Straddling the Edge on The Kilroy's List 2017; Producer, Obie award-winning Harlem...48 Hours in Harlem), Shelley Fort (price you pay), Gethsemane Herron-Coward (2017 Finalist for SPACE on Ryder Farm), Charly Evon Simpson (Hottentotted at Ars Nova's 2016 ANT Fest; Scratching the Surface with EST/Youngblood's Bloodworks; Jump at 16th Annual National Showcase of New Plays, The Girl With No Hands at The Flea), Mona Washington (Voices of Our Nations Arts), and William Watkins (Attempted Burglary).

Cezar Williams (director of the 8th Annual Fire This Time Festival 10-Minute Plays; Off-Broadway premiere of Dancing on Eggshells at the Billie Holiday Theatre; How to Be Safe with The Dirty Blondes at The Kraine Theater) will also join the team this season as The Fire This Time Festival's new Artistic Director.

Playwright Kelley Nicole Girod founded The Fire This Time Festival in 2009 to provide rising playwrights of African and African American descent a platform to write and develop new work. The festival was conceived as an opportunity for playwrights to write and produce material that reflects diverse perspectives as 21st Century Theater artists.

The first season of TFTT brought together over thirty collaborative performers, directors, and other collaborators to create an amazing evening of short one-act plays. Presented by Horse Trade Theater Group over a five-show run in February 2010, the first season of the festival sold out every presentation. Exploring themes from euthanasia, hero-worship, intergenerational conflict, and more, the inaugural season of TFTT presented a dynamic theatrical experience.

Following the success of the first year, TFTT has continued to grow, with input from participating playwrights and other collaborators. The Festival has evolved into an annual January event, expanding upon its core short play presentations to offer panel discussions, staged readings, and other programs. With ongoing momentum, TFTT has quickly become a destination for diverse audiences, producers, and artists seeking new possibilities and opportunities in contemporary theater.

The festival has previously featured the work of notable playwrights such as Radha Blank (40 Year Old Version developed at Sundance Institute; Seed), Jocelyn Bioh (School Girls; or The African Mean Girls Play at MCC Theater; Nollywood Dreams at Cherry Lane Mentor Project), Katori Hall (The Mountaintop; Hurt Village; book writer for Tina: The Musical in London), Jiréh Breon Holder (Too Heavy For Your Pocket at Alliance Theater/Roundabout Theater), Marcus Gardley (The House That Will Not Stand at NYTW; A Wonder in My Soul at Victory Gardens), Dominique Morrisseau (book writer for the musical Ain't Too Proud To Beg: The Life and Times of the Temptations at Berkeley Rep; Paradise Blue at Signature Theater; Pipeline at Lincoln Center Theater; Skeleton Crew at Atlantic Theater Company), Antoinette Nwandu (2017-2018 Paula Vogel Playwriting Award; Colt Coeur 2017-2018 Commissioned Playwright; Breach at Victory Garden; Pass Over at Steppenwolf Theater), and James Anthony Tyler (Dolphins and Sharks at Labyrinth Theater/Finborough Theater in London).

Ngozi Anyanwu's play The Homecoming Queen was developed during the inaugural The Fire This Time Festival New Works Lab and is being produced by Atlantic Theater Company in January 2018. Aziza Barnes' play blks. received a developmental reading during The Fire This Time Festival and is being produced by Steppenwolf Theater.

FRIGID New York @ Horse Trade is a theater development group with a focus on new work that produces a massive quantity of stimulating downtown theater every season. FRIGID's Resident Artist Program offers a home to a select group of Independent theater artists, pooling together a great deal of talent and energy. FRIGID New York grew out of the annual FRIGID Festival, the first and only festival of its kind in New York City to offer artists 100% of their box office proceeds, and Horse Trade Theater Group, a self-sustaining theater development and management group.

For more information, visit www.firethistimefestival.com and www.FRIGIDnewyork.info.