Greenway Court Theatre Unveils 2023-24 Season Featuring Two World Premieres

Greenway Arts Alliance has unveiled 2023-2024 Anniversary Season at Greenway Court Theatre. The multi-award-winning theatre company will present the world premiere of American Born Confused Desi, a co-production with Greenway Arts Alliance’s resident performing arts company KriyaShakti, written by Lily Abja Cratsley and directed by J. Mehr Kaur from November 11 to November 19, 2023. The novel adaptation of award-winning author Erika L. Sánchez’s I Am Not Your Perfect Mexican Daughter, adapted for the stage by Isaac Gómez and directed by Sara Guerrero, will play from February 2 to February 25, 2024. For Black History Month, Greenway will celebrate with Black Future Exhibition (II), an exploration of Black culture and talent.  Greenway will also present the 8th Annual L.A. Get Down Festival, a celebration of Hip Hop and Spoken Word in conjunction with National Poetry Month in April 2024. Shihan Van Clief and Arianna Basco return as the festival’s directors. And Greenway’s 2023-2024 Season will round out with the world premiere of Greenwood 1964, written by Mohammed Ali Ojarigi, will play from June 7 to June 30, 2024.
 
“For over 25 years, Greenway has been rich in diversity in our programming, on every level,” said Whitney Weston, Greenway Arts Alliance Co-Founder and Co-Artistic Director. “We are proud to again have a season that reflects these core values with productions like the world premiere of American Born Confused Desi and I Am Not Your Perfect Mexican Daughter, along with our Black History Month celebration, Black Future Exhibition.”
 
Pierson Blaetz, Greenway Arts Alliance Co-Founder and Co-Artistic Director adds, “Returning to our stage is our crowd-pleasing, annual L.A. Get Down Festival now in its eighth year, and to kick off the summer, Greenway is pleased to present the world premiere of Greenwood 1964 written by Greenway Court Theatre’s producing director Mohammed Ali Ojarigi.”
 
 
Greenway Arts Alliance’s 2023-2024 Season includes:
 

American Born Confused Desi

A Co-Production with KriyaShakti, a Greenway Resident Performing Arts Company
Written by Lily Abha Cratsley
Directed by J. Mehr Kaur
November 11 – November 19, 2023
Opening Night:  Saturday, November 11 at 3:00 pm
 
While preparing dinner, three generations of Indian women clash and comfort one another. Willow, a young academic, is eager to learn all that her Nani can teach her. Aditi, a divorced mom, finds herself stuck between an overbearing mother and a critical daughter. Nani, the family’s matriarch, must face Jersey City once again after having moved back to India. What will happen when loss, love and longing are shared across the dinner table?
 
 

I Am Not Your Perfect Mexican Daughter

Written by Erika L. Sánchez
Adapted to the stage by Isaac Gómez
Directed by Sara Guerrero
February 2 – 25, 2024
Opening Night:  Saturday, February 3 at 7:00 pm
 
 A Novel adaptation of award winning author Erika L. Sánchez, I Am Not Your Perfect Mexican Daughter, follows Julia, a Chicago high school student as she navigates trials and tribulations of following her dreams of becoming a writer with the recent death of her sister, Olga --  who might not have been quite as perfect as she seemed. This vibrant and impactful piece of theatre encapsulates the mind of a teenager seeking truth of their family dynamic and environment, in hopes of finding themselves. 
 
 

Black Future Exhibition (II)

An exploration of Black Culture and Talent
February 9 at 8:00 p.m. & February 23 at 7:00 p.m.
 
This exhibition will feature Friday Fallout Comedy Night with host Monique Wyatt; Pages & Players, an homage to writers and actors; an educational screening of Larry Clark’s As Above, So Below, this powerful LA rebellion film released in 1973 follows a returning Marine with a heightened political consciousness; the stage reading of Love in Exile by playwrights Inés Branco López and Ben Caldwell from Kaos Network which feature actual love letters from political prisoners such as Nelson Mandela, Angela Davis, Jonathan Jackson and Mazisi Kunene. 
 
 

The 8th Annual L.A. Get Down Festival

A Celebration of Hip Hop and Spoken Word
Festival Directors Shihan Van Clief and Arianna Basco
Weekends in April 2024
 
DPL Co-Founder Shihan Ron Van Clief along with Palms Up Academy founder Arianna Basco return as festival directors. This month-long festival will have a special headliner performance and outstanding collaborations with the top poets in the city. Tickets go on sale in March 2024.
 
This program is supported in part by an arts grant from the city of West Hollywood through WeHo Arts- The City’s Arts Division and Arts & Cultural Affairs Commission, Los Angeles County Department of Arts and Culture,and Los Angeles Department of Cultural Affairs.
 
The full Festival lineup and schedule will be announced at a later date.
 
 
A World Premiere

Greenwood 1964

Written by Mohammed Ali Ojarigi
June 7  – 30, 2024
Opening Night:  Saturday, June 8 at 7:00 pm
 
An official World Premiere, Greenwood 1964 immerses audiences into a transformative period in American civil rights history, vividly capturing the mood, urgency, and challenges of summer 1964. This narrative brings to the forefront the audacious efforts of luminaries Sidney Poitier and Harry Belafonte as they ventured into the deep South - Mississippi, a state notorious for its racial tensions. The mission, to amplify and support the voices advocating for voting rights, standing shoulder-to-shoulder with courageous leaders like Fanny Lou Hamer and Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. whose presence and influence are featured prominently in the play. 
 
Special performances include a Father’s Day performance on June 16 at 6 p.m., and Juneteenth weekend celebration performances on June 29 at 7:00 p.m. and June 30 at 6:00 p.m.
 
To purchase Greenway Arts Alliance’s 2023-2024 Season, visit www.GreenwayCourtTheatre.org or call 323-673-0544.
 
Greenway Arts Alliance (GAA) was Co-Founded in 1997 by artists-activists Whitney Weston and Pierson Blaetz, both of whom serve as Co-Artistic Directors for the organization. The organization is a community-based nonprofit, whose mission is to unite communities through its art (Greenway Court Theatre), education (Greenway Institute for the Arts) and enterprise (Melrose Trading Post) programs. GAA is based on the campus of Fairfax High School. Greenway Institute for the Arts (GIA) fosters education through creativity by offering both in-school and after-school multidisciplinary arts programs. Classes and workshops are offered at no cost to Fairfax High School students. Presented with opportunities to engage with professional artists, young people can discover their individual voices and passions. Through Greenway’s unique partnership with Fairfax High, students are exposed to a myriad of opportunities for creative collaboration through Greenway Court Theatre and at the Melrose Trading Post.
 
Whitney Weston (Co-Artistic Director) co-founded Greenway Arts Alliance with Pierson Blaetz in 1997. A lifelong activist, Whitney is committed to keeping the arts and community working together. She is a former Arts Commissioner for the City of West Hollywood's Arts and Cultural Affairs Commission and, both within and outside of Greenway, Whitney has produced and performed in hundreds shows which have earned her recognition from the NAACP, Los Angeles Drama Critics Circle, LA Weekly and the 2011 Women in Theatre Red Carpet Award. Whitney has also been recognized for outstanding service by the LA Mayor's Office, LA City Council and LAUSD's School Board and Administrators' Union. Whitney is also the recipient of the 2019 Rainbow Award from Los Angeles Women's Theatre Festival for her dedication to diversity and community artists, and professionals of diverse backgrounds to make the theater a vital hub of excellence which celebrates diversity and historically underrepresented communities.
 
Pierson Blaetz (Co-Artistic Director) co-founded Greenway Arts Alliance with Whitney Weston in 1997. He spent a lifetime integrating the worlds of art & business. As a social entrepreneur he founded several businesses, including “Free Time,” a volunteer placement service, and “infoLink,” an information retrieval service. Pierson has produced, directed and performed in film and theatre projects and has earned recognition from The Drama Circle Critics, NAACP, Garland Awards, LA Weekly and- way back when- The Dramalogue Award for Best Male Performance. Pierson has been recognized for outstanding service by the LA Mayor’s Office, LA City Council and LAUSD’s School Board and Administrators’ Union.
 
Greenway Court Theatre was initially built by Fairfax High School students in 1939 as a class project and used as a Social Hall by both students and faculty. It sat virtually unused for many years until it was finally renovated into a professional 99-seat theatre by Greenway Arts Alliance in 2000, to benefit both the school and the surrounding community. Greenway Court Theatre has a rich history of presenting and producing diverse bodies of work. Greenway has opened its door to many main-stage productions, weekly open mic poetry, festivals and world premieres that have moved to larger venues and toured across the country. Mohammed Ali Ojarigi serves as Producing Director of the Greenway Court Theatre.
 
Mohammed Ali Ojarigi (Producing Director) was born in Minneapolis, Minnesota. He received his bachelor’s degree in theater arts from UNLV. He is the founder/Artistic Director of the former MOments Playhouse Theater in East LA. A highly requested acting coach, Mohammed has helped introduce some of Hollywood’s top rising stars through his academy (BizB4 Show). Mohammed is an award-winning actor/playwright for his theatre works that include Greenwood 1964 a fictional reenactment of a trip made by Sidney Poitier and Harry Belafonte, which was commissioned by the prestigious Guthrie Theater in May 2021 (virtually). Also, for his 2012 NAACP Theater Award play, now short film, Your Land (available on Amazon Prime).

Pictured (L-R) are playwrights Lily Abha Cratsley and Mohammed Ali Ojarigi. Photo courtesy of Greenway Arts Alliance.
 

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