Black Ensemble Theater Announces The BPI Black Playwright’s Festival

Black Ensemble Theater (BE) announces its 7th annual Black Playwright's Festival, March 19-24, 2012, as part of the company's Black Playwright's Initiative (BPI).  The Festival, at the Black Ensemble Theater Cultural Center, 4450 N. Clark Street, brings new scripts to the BE stage for readings after being developed through the BPI in workshops and rehearsals. 

The 2012 BPI Black Playwright's Festival opens with an Opening Party and Tribute to award-winning playwright, actor and directorReGina Taylor, directed by Black Ensemble Theater Founder and CEO Jackie Taylor, on Monday, March 19, at 7:00pm.  The Festival includes full-length plays by Leonard Ferris, Creola Thomas, Wendell Etherly and Rueben Echoles, and 10-minute works by Wendell Etherly, Loy A. Webb and Andre Wright.

"Black Ensemble Theater is committed to identifying and developing new playwrights.  Since the BPI started seven years ago, ten members have had their plays professionally produced-four at Black Ensemble Theater, four at other local theaters and two nationally," says Jackie Taylor.  "We invite the community to experience new readings by our playwrights in a series of entertaining evenings, and it is our mission to usher these talented Black artists into the local and national spotlight."      

The BPI develops and strengthens the playwriting skills of novice and experienced playwrights.  It is the purpose of the BPI to expose the playwrights to local and national theater companies who may be interested in their work and to identify and develop potential writers for the Black Ensemble Theater.  To this end, the BPI involves its 27 members in a mentoring process to teach the basic skills necessary to develop a script for the stage; to enhance the abilities of experienced playwrights to transform their non-musical scripts into musical productions; to provide opportunities, resources and exposure to the Black playwriting community; and to ensure future productions for the Black Ensemble Theater. 

Black Ensemble Theater produces approximately 15 BPI readings of new scripts per year, the annual Sex in the Summer Play Series, and the annual Black Playwright's Festival.

 

 

The BPI Black Playwright's Festival includes:

 

Opening Party and A Tribute to Regina Taylor

Directed by Jackie Taylor

Monday, March 19, 2012 at 7:00pm

 

Award-winning television and film star, writer and director, Regina Taylor will be honored for her various contributions to film, television and theater.  The evening will include readings from ReGina Taylor's most popular scripts and an excerpt from her award-winning television series "I'll Fly Away."  Emerge magazine noted that Taylor's character in I'll Fly Away "one of the most intelligent, independent and courageous women on American TV."   Taylor will be presented with the Outstanding Playwright of the Year Award by the Black Playwrights Initiative.  

 

ReGina Taylor has an impressive body of work that encompasses film, television, theater and writing. Taylor is best known to television audiences for her role as Lilly Harper in the series "I'll Fly Away," for which she received the Golden Globe for Best Performance by an Actress in a TV Series, an NAACP Image Award for Outstanding Lead Actress in a Drama Series and two Emmy Award nominations for Outstanding Lead Actress in a Drama Series. In addition to her film and television work, Taylor holds the honor as being the first Black woman to play William Shakespeare's Juliet in Broadway's Romeo and Juliet.  Her other theater credits include As You Like It, Macbeth, Machinal, A Map of The World, The Illusion and Jar the Floor, among many others.  Taylor's critically acclaimed "Crowns" continues to be the most performed musical in the country - it is the winner of four Washington D.C. Helen Hayes awards including Taylor's win for Best Direction, as well as Best Regional Musical. Taylor's plays Magnolia and The Trinity River Plays premiered at Chicago's Goodman Theatre, where she is an Artistic Associate.

 

 

The Diversion of Barbara Jean Williams

By Leonard Ferris

Directed by Lyle Miller

Tuesday, March 20, 2012 at 7:00pm

 

On the south side of Chicago in the turbulent '70s, CLeon Williams has just lost his wife to a senseless auto accident. Cleon is very closed off and inaccessible emotionally, so the people who love him-his mother and father-in-law; his alcoholic, drug abusing brother; his alcoholic father; and the ghost of his dead wife-try to help him connect first to his own humanity, so he can eventually connect to them.

 

Leonard Ferris began writing for an artistic outlet in 2001. Having taken writing classes at ETA Creative Arts Foundation and Dramatist, he was able to finish the play The Diversion of Barbara Jean Williams. Leonard has been a member of BPI since 2011.

 

 

Sisters From Belzoni

By Creola Thomas

Directed by Daryl Brooks

Wednesday, March 21, 2012 at 7:00pm

 

Sisters From Belzoni is a simple love story, with humorous lessons in self acceptance complicated by secrets and lies that have been passed down through generations.

 

Creola Thomas is a teacher, published author, and motivational speaker. She is currently writing a screenplay titled Seven Weeks to Make a Man.  Her play Sisters from Belzoni is the recipient of the Columbia College Theodore Award and has been produced in several cities throughout the United States.

 

 

BPI Shorties (Short 10-minute plays written by members of the Black Playwright's Initiative)

Thursday, March 22, 2012 at 7:00pm

 

The Inheritance

By Wendell Etherly

The Inheritance is a story about a young mother who is forced to deal with her past when her son seeks out the true identity of his father.

 

Inequitable Situations

By Loy A. Webb

A Parent Teacher Organization meeting becomes ground zero for the fight against chauvinism and misogyny.

 

Loy Webb is a performance poet and playwright, who has been a part of the Black Playwrights Initiative since late 2010. She holds a BA in Political Science from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, and is currently in her final semester at theJohn Marshall Law School.

 

Jay's Game

By Cory Andre Wright

Jay is a young man dealing with his past.  He played a game that no child should have to play and now he is forever changed.

 

Cory Andre Wright hails from the south suburb of Country Club Hills.  It was here where he honed his writing skills.  Wright's playThe Golden Boy was the first play to be produced in Black Ensemble Theater's Sex in the Summer Play Series in 2008. Wright diverts from his usual comedy to bring you his short, Jay's Game.

 

The Red Summer

Written by Wendell Etherly

Directed by Daryl Brooks

Friday, March 23, 2012 at 8:00pm

 

The Red Summer is based on the infamous race riot that took place on the south side of Chicago in the summer of 1919. This story surrounds a working poor Black family who hosts an engaging, yet naïve, distant relative who escapes the oppressive Jim Crow south and migrates north in pursuit of a career as an artist.

 

Wendell is the Co-Chairman of the BPI and the newly elected Treasurer of the African-American Arts Alliance.

 

Reverend Lee

Written and Directed by Rueben Echoles

Saturday, March 24, 2012 at 8:00 pm

 

Rev. Lee is a powerful musical that takes a look at the lives of a separated town of Bayou Port, LA. The self-righteous "Church Folk" are set in their ways, but are taught a lesson of love and acceptance when the town is struck by a terrible hurricane. 

 

Rueben Echoles is the Associate Director of the Black Ensemble Theater and has written many plays through the BPI program.

Tickets

The BPI Black Playwright's Festival is held at the Black Ensemble Theater Cultural Center, 4450 N. Clark Street.  Valet parking is available.  Tickets, $15 for each evening, or $50 for the entire Festival, are available online at www.ticketmaster.com or at the BE box office, (773) 769-4451.

 

The Black Ensemble Theater

Founded in 1976, by the phenomenal producer, playwright and actress Jackie Taylor, the mission of the Black Ensemble Theater Company is to eradicate racism and its devastating effects upon society through the theater arts.  The Black Ensemble Theater is the only African American theater located in the culturally, racially and ethnically diverse north side Uptown community. Through its Five Play Season of Excellence, The Black Ensemble Theater dazzles audiences locally, nationally and internationally with outstanding original musicals that are entertaining, educational and uplifting. The Black Ensemble Theater has produced more than 100 productions and employed over 5,000 artists.

On November 18, 2011, The Black Ensemble Theater Cultural Center opened and is able to accommodate large-scale productions and a wide range of educational programming. The new facility includes amenities such as a 299-seat main stage theater (double the capacity of the original venue); 14 offices, classroom space; rehearsal hall, dance studio, scene shop, costume shop, and wardrobe rooms; seven dressing rooms; rehearsal room for musicians; front lobby space with concession areas; and an indoor parking garage. The completion of a 150-seat theater, which will serve as an experimental stage for the work of the Black Playwright Initiative (BPI), is expected late fall.

For more information on the Black Ensemble Theater Company, please visit www.BlackEnsembleTheater.org or call 773-769-4451.