Marie Cisco Launches Cisco & Co. Productions, LLC, Focusing on Uplifting Stories of Black and African Culture

Celebrated Producer Marie Cisco has launched Cisco & Co. Productions, LLC, a full-service production house that specializes in live theatrical events and filmed content with a focus on uplifting stories of Black and African culture in addition to its intersection with feminism.

Cisco begins this new venture after working at many esteemed theatrical and film organizations including The National Black Theatre, The New Black Fest, The Lark, The Public Theater, and Lee Daniels Entertainment.

"I started Cisco & Co. Productions because I wanted to direct my artistic energy towards amplifying the voices of Black creatives from across the African Diaspora. Having honed my skills at the most prominent institutions in the United States, I am exceedingly excited to rigorously craft and execute my own vision," said Owner and Lead Producer Marie Cisco. "There is a dire need for more infrastructures that support black artists and black creativity. My hope is that this company fills in a little piece of that gap."

Joined by Associate Producer Pier Lamia Porter, Cisco & Co. Productions launches with the projects Post Covid Reimaginings: From the Mind of Millennials, The Black Joy Project, and a Short Film.

Post Covid Reimaginings: From the Mind of Millenials is an anthology that will contain re-imaginings of what the live performance world can look like when we emerge on the other side of the Pandemic. These innovations will be shared directly from Back artists and administrators who work in various artistic disciplines. Cisco sees these creatives as "Artists on the cusp of inheriting their roles as the future leaders of the creative fields. These works will serve as a blueprint for the impending new dawn, unencumbered by our current societal limits." Writers have been asked to create the world they desire to live in, as practical or imaginative as it may be. The work will take the form of short stories, essays, manifestos, etc. Cisco & Co. Productions has commissioned a visual artist who will serve as an illustrator to create visuals for each reimagining. The project is made possible with support via a micro-grant from The Black Theatre Commons.

The Black Joy Project is a venture with JAG Productions and Writer/Director Stevie Walker-Webb. The project brought together 11 actors, two documentarians, a producer (Marie Cisco), and a chef on a month-long retreat to explore the question, 'Can a play be created outside the power structures and without reference to whiteness, in a pure expression of Black Joy?' The group of 17 Black creatives spent four undisturbed weeks at Knoll Farm in Waitsfield, VT to attempt to answer these questions, resulting in a new play, a methodology, and a documentary. The exercises, contextual stories, and essays that Walker-Webb and others used to get them to that point are being turned into a methodological handbook that will serve generations to come, as a platform or foundation for Black creatives. Directors of Photography and Cinematography Claudel Chery and Asher Brown documented the four-week long process and out of it are creating a documentary called Homecoming: A Return to Black Joy.

Originally from Atlanta, Georgia, Marie Cisco currently serves as the New Works Development Consultant for the Apollo Theatre and Development Consultant for Think Common Entertainment. Cisco's past projects include Broadway for Biden, Ain't No Mo' by Jordan E Cooper, and the feature film US vs. Billie Holiday directed by Lee Daniels. She holds a B.F.A from The Theatre School at DePaul University in Theatre Arts and a M.A from Columbia College Chicago in Interdisciplinary Arts.

For more information visit ciscoproductions.com.

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