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Prominent Theatrical Institutions Seek Playwright For New Work Based On A Poem By Maya Angelou

The companies plan to collect and utilize the stories and ideas of youth living in each of our cities to inform a play with music.

By:

Dallas Children's Theater, Children's Theatre of Charlotte, Children's Theatre of Madison and The Rose Theater in Omaha seek a playwright with meaningful experience working directly with youth to create a new work inspired by Life Doesn't Frighten Me by Maya Angelou. This new work should serve ages 4-8. The companies plan to collect and utilize the stories and ideas of youth living in each of our cities to inform a play with music. The playwright will hopefully engage in residencies with youth in each of the four cities.

The company would like to uplift an artist who identifies as Black, Indigenous, and/or Person of Color (BIPOC). The four partnering theaters acknowledge their status as historically white institutions and are making a commitment to transformational change that is ongoing within our companies. As such, they intend to create as many supports for the partnering artist as possible, including but not limited to having a mostly or all BIPOC creative team and centering BIPOC staff/board in this artist selection process.

Goals:
To lift this poem off the page
To reflect the communities this piece of art is made with
To center young people in the creative process, with the support of each of our institutions
To have a working draft by April 2022

Fee - $10,000 - Submit questions and expression of interest (in any format you wish to share- letter, statement of approach, video, or anything that captures your artistic voice as it speaks specifically to young audiences) by July 1, 2021 to playwrightlife@gmail.com.

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