Project Y Theatre Company to Present ALL HANDS ON DECK With Playwrights Bleu Beckford-Burrell, Lisa Rosetta Strum & More

Project Y Theatre Company will present the final programming in the 7th Annual Women in Theatre Festival: ALL HANDS ON DECK, a reading and commission series dedicated to supporting the creation of new works by Female playwrights of the African diaspora.

The ALL HANDS ON DECK series is back with a new session! The festival shares new works by Female Playwrights of the African Diaspora. Featuring work by award winning playwrights Julienne Hairston, Lisa Rosetta Strum, Bleu Beckford-Burrell, and up-and-comer Mahalet Tegenu, the short plays are directed by Celestine Rae and Dennis Allen II. Conceived and curated by Project Y's Associate Producer, Antu Yacob, the series explores different perspectives of the Black experience in America. This session's theme is "Lifestyles of the Strong & Black Female" and asks the questions, "What does it mean to be strong and Black and female in 2022? By whose standards?"

Actors include Lynda Gravátt, Al-nisa Petty, Gillian Glasco, Bob Jaffe, Starr Kirkland, and Ashley Nicole Baptiste.

While the plays all emerged from the same prompt, they feature different styles, themes, and characters that together compose a diverse and unique series. In Black Women: A Parable, by Bleu Beckford-Burrell, Grandma's got one hell of a story for her Grand/daughter, as she dismantles what it means to be a strong Black woman. In Lisa Rosetta Strum's An Actor Prepares, an aspiring actress prepares for more than she bargains for when an audition forces her to question her own identity. In Candles and Cocoons, by Julienne Hairston, Marley and her sisters struggle between choosing individual fulfillment and keeping their family commitments as their parents age. And in Mahalet Tegenu's Muse, a disillusioned Black ballerina is visited by the hostile ghost of George Balanchine, right before her principal debut at the New York City ballet. Each play reading features original music by Kena Anae.

Join in for the opening of readings of these four new plays by visiting the Women in Theatre Festival site: http://www.witfestival.projectytheatre.org/#allhands

These free readings are available on YouTube and Vimeo beginning Sunday June 26th. The short play readings will be premiered one after the other starting with 7pm Black Women: a Parable, by Bleu Beckford-Burrell; next up is 7:25pm Muse, by Mahalet Tegenu; followed by 7:45pm Candles and Cocoons, by Julienne Hairston, and ending with the 8:15pm premiere of An Actor Prepares, by Lisa Rosetta Strum. The plays will run on demand online from June 26th through July 24th.

Now in its 7th year, Project Y Theatre Company's Women in Theatre Festival is produced by Michole Biancosino and Andrew W. Smith (Co-Founding Artistic Directors) and is supported by NYC's Department of Cultural Affairs and The A.R.T./New York Creative Opportunity Fund.

 

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