The Robey Theatre Company's Playwrights Lab Session Starts May 22

The Robey Theatre Company Playwrights Lab, dedicated to new play development and theatre-making, will begin its summer session on May 22 for ten Saturdays from 10:00 a.m. to 1:00 p.m. Because of the ongoing Covid health crisis, the summer session will be held virtually, via Zoom.

Playwrights will be guided to create new work ultimately intended for production and public presentation. Areas of concentration during the session include : May 22- June 12 four weeks of instruction focusing on developing first-time works; June 19: one session exclusively focused on solo performances; June 26- July 24: five weeks focusing on a singular advanced draft and completed draft.

Moderating the Playwrights Lab will be Dr. Daphnie Sicre. Dr. Sicre is a faculty member of Loyola Marymount University. She is The Robey Theatre Company's resident dramaturg. Also a director and educator, she engages in anti-racist and culturally competent theatre practices with objectives of diversity, equity and inclusion. She has served as dramaturg on over 30 plays, working predominantly with up-and-coming Black and Latinx playwrights.

Tuition is $250.00, payable in advance. Applicants are asked to submit samples of their writing (a scene, a one-act play, or an essay) and their resume to office@therobeytheatrecompany.org . Weekly Zoom links will be sent to confirmed registrants.

The Playwrights Lab is an incubator for work considered for future production by The Robey Theatre Company. The Robey is a non-profit institution founded twenty-seven years ago by Danny Glover and by Ben Guillory, the company's current Producing Artistic Director. Its plays are devoted to telling the stories of the global Black experience. Its critically acclaimed work has resulted in its becoming one of the most-awarded African American theatre companies in the nation.

We are pleased to announce that a limited number of waived fees are available to qualified applicants. Please include a brief note of inquiry when submitting.

The Robey 2021 Kwanzaa play has been commissioned with Lab playwrights Barbara Bullen and Maria Lamelle scripting the work, to be entitled The Kwanzaa Story: A Celebration of Unity.

This year, five previous participants in the Playwrights Lab received commissions to write new plays for possible future production by The Robey Theatre Company. The five playwrights hired for these paid projects are Nui Brown, Pauletta James, Kwik Jones, Julio Hanson, and Lorinda Hawkins Smith.