Horse Trade Theater Group Presents The 2011 Fire This Time Festival

The African American experience is not represented solely by one voice or one style. Horse Trade Theater Group (Erez Ziv, Managing Director, Heidi Grumelot, Artistic Director) will present THE FIRE THIS TIME FESTIVAL, a platform for talented early-career playwrights of African-American descent to explore new voices, styles and challenging new directions for 21st century performing arts, and move beyond common ideas of what is possible in "black theater." THE FIRE THIS TIME FESTIVAL 2011 will feature five staged readings, six ten-minute plays, and a panel discussion on Diversity in Contemporary Theatre.

Diversity in Contemporary Theatre Panel
January 17 at 7pm FREE
Panelists include Keith Josef Adkins (playwright, Co-Artistic Director of The New Black Fest), Heidi Grumelot (Artistic Director, Horse Trade Theatre Group), J.Holtham (Co-Artistic Director, The New Black Fest), Morgan Jeness (Agent, Abrams Agency), Abigail Katz (Literary Associate, Atlantic Theatre Company), Nick Maccarone (Actor/Youth Mentor), Nicole A. Watson (director), and Pia Wilson (playwright).

The Flower Thief
Written by Pia Wilson
January 18 at 7pm FREE
The Flower Thief is about a young man named Clark and the exploration of his grief after he loses his twin brother in a drowning accident. Jumping through time and mind, we also see Clark through the lens of his troubled relationship with a young woman named Angela.

Casket Sharp
Written by Radha Blank
January 19 at 7pm FREE
Casket Sharp explores gang rituals and death rites at a funeral parlor in the center of a deprived town.

Ten-Minute Plays $15
January 20-22 & 27-29 at 7pm
January 23 & 30 at 2pm
Featuring The Scorpion and the Fox by Jesse Cameron Alick, The Big Crunch or...(the eternal return) by Christine Jean Chambers, Exodus by Camille Darby, The Bitter Seraph of Sugar Hill by Marcus Gardley, Breakfast by Yusef Miller, and Third Grade by Dominique Morisseau.
The Anointed (A Full Length)
By Germono Toussaint
January 24 at 7pm FREE
Four African American ministers are forced to wrestle with their own truth. The truth that they know could set them free or destroy their ministries. A talkback with writer Germono Toussaint will follow the reading.

Gypsy Moth
By Kelley Nicole Girod
January 25 at 7pm FREE
Gypsy moths are seen only in mid-summer. Males are grayish brown and can fly; females are larger, whitish with black marks and cannot fly.

On Troubled Waters
By Derek Lee McPhatter
January 26 at 7pm FREE
There may be nothing left to lose as the city vanishes into the sea, but three challengers - a healer, a teacher and a soldier will finally confront that Madman at the bridge. It's a showdown, throw-down for the ages, but nobody agreed to a fair fight, and this time madness just might be love.

All festival events will be held at The Red Room (85 East 4th Street between 2nd Ave and Bowery). January 17-30, 2011. Tickets ($15) are available by calling Smarttix at 212-868-4444 or online at www.horseTRADE.info. Reservations for free events are strongly encouraged. RSVP at thefirethistime@gmail.com.

HORSE TRADE THEATER GROUP is a self-sustaining theater development group; with a focus on new work, it has produced a massive quantity of stimulating downtown theater. Horse Trade's Resident Artist Program offers a home to a select group of Independent Theater artists, pooling together a great deal of talent and energy. It is also the home of FRIGID New York - the first and only festival of its kind in New York City.