People's Light Opens Conversations in Fifth Season of COMMUNITY MATTERS

Amid the current fractured national landscape - where political and cultural tensions have many people deeply angered, saddened, and retreating to their own ideological camps - the grassroots reading and discussion series, Community Matters at People's Light aims to spark conversation about relevant issues in our community with a diverse array of perspectives and voices. Performed readings of new plays are the centerpiece of each evening, followed by a discussion with community partners, special guests, artists, and audiences. The fifth season of Community Matters features the reading and discussion of plays focused on the American work-force, mental illness, and the representation of race, gender, and sexuality in art.

Readings include Skeleton Crew by Dominique Morisseau on July 25, Touch(ed) by Bess Wohl on August 1, and WHITE by Philadelphia playwright James Ijames on August 22, 2016. People's Light is located at 39 Conestoga Road, Malvern, PA 19355. The readings are free, but seating is limited; reservations are required. To reserve, call 610.644.3500 or visit PeoplesLight.org.

Post show discussions will be facilitated by David Bradley, People's Light Company Member and director of Touch(ed). "What I love about Community Matters at People's Light is the way a story helps us talk to each other," David says. "The plays we share in this series become inviting doorways into great conversations about all manner of things-things we might talk about often, and things we might not talk about that much, or that easily. But Community Matters helps that happen."

PLAYWRIGHT BIOS

James Ijames

James is a Philadelphia-based actor and playwright. He has appeared regionally at The Arden Theatre Company, The Philadelphia Theatre Company, The Wilma Theatre, Baltimore Center Stage and Interact Theatre Company. He is a member of the InterAct Core Playwrights group and a mentor for The Foundry. James's plays include The Most Spectacularly Lamentable Trial of Miz Martha Washington, Moon Man Walk, WHITE, Kill Move Paradise, The Threshing Floor, and Osiris: Redux. ... Miz Martha was developed with PlayPenn and the Wilma Theater and received its world premiere with Flashpoint Theater. Moon Man Walk premiered with Orbiter 3. His play WHITE was part of the 2015 PlayPenn New Play Conference and the 2015 Gulfshore Playhouse New Works Festival and will receive its world premiere at Theatre Horizon in the 2016-2017 season. Kill Move Paradise was developed by Victory Gardens Ignition Festival. James is a recipient of the F. Otto Haas Award for an Emerging Artist, two Barrymores for Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Play for Superior Donuts and Angels in America and a Barrymore for Best Direction of a Play for The Brothers Size. He is an Independence Foundation Fellow, a 2015 Pew Fellow, the 2015 recipient of the Terrence McNally New Play Award for WHITE and the 2015 Kesselring Honorable Mention Prize for ... Miz Martha. James received a BA in Drama from Morehouse College in Atlanta, GA and an MFA in Acting from Temple University in Philadelphia, PA. He is Assistant Professor of Theatre at Villanova University and resides in South Philadelphia.

Dominique Morisseau

Dominique is an alumna of The Public Theater Emerging Writer's Group, Women's Project Lab, and Lark Playwrights Workshop. Credits include: Skeleton Crew (Sundance; Lark Barebones; Atlantic Theater Company (Scott Rudin)); Paradise Blue (Williamstown Theatre Festival), Detroit '67 (Public Theater, Classical Theatre of Harlem/NBT); Blood At The Root (Arkansas Rep, Penn State), Sunset Baby (Gate Theater, LAByrinth Theatre); Follow Me To Nellie's (O'Neill, Premiere Stages). Her 3-play cycle, entitled "The Detroit Projects" includes Detroit '67, Paradise Blue and Skeleton Crew. She's produced original works for the Hip Hop Theater Festival, American Theatre of Harlem and her play Blood at the Root has toured South Africa, Scotland, Australia and the U.S and garnered her production the Graham F. Smith Peace Foundation Award. Dominique has been commissioned by Steppenwolf, LCT3, Women's Project, South Coast Rep, People's Light, and Oregon Shakespeare Festival/Penumbra Theatre. She currently serves as Story Editor on the upcoming season of the Showtime series Shameless and is developing two original musicals. Awards: Jane Chambers Playwriting Award, two-time NAACP Image Award, Stavis Playwriting Award, Spirit of Detroit Award, U of M Emerging Leader Award, Weissberger Award, PoNY Fellowship, Sky-Cooper New American Play Prize, TEER Spirit Trailblazer Award, and the Edward M. Kennedy Prize for Drama. She is an artist that believes wholeheartedly in the power and strength of community.

Bess Wohl

Plays include Small Mouth Sounds, Barcelona, American Hero, Touch(ed), In, Cats Talk Back and the original musical Pretty Filthy, in collaboration with Michael Friedman and The Civilians (Lucille Lortel and Drama Desk nominations for Outstanding Musical). Her work has been produced or developed at Second Stage, Ars Nova, The Williamstown Theatre Festival, The Geffen Playhouse, Hartford Stage, People's Light, The Contemporary American Theater Festival, Vineyard Arts Project, The PioneerTheatre, The Pittsburgh Public Theater, The Northlight Theater, TheaterWorks, Ojai Playwright's Conference, the Cape Cod Theatre Project, PlayPenn and the New York International Fringe Festival (Award for Best Overall Production). In 2015, Bess won the Sam Norkin Drama Desk Award for "establishing herself as an important voice in New York Theater." Other awards/honors include a Macdowell fellowship, the Athena Award for her screenplay, Virginia, and inclusion on Hollywood's Black List for best screenplays. She is an associate artist with The Civilians and an alumna of Ars Nova's Play Group. She holds new play commissions from Manhattan Theatre Club, Hartford Stage and Lincoln Center. Bess has also developed film/TV projects for HBO, ABC, USA, Disney, Paramount and others. She is a graduate of Harvard and the Yale School of Drama.

Now in its 41st season, People's Light, a professional, not-for- profit theatre in Chester County, Pennsylvania, makes plays drawn from many sources to entertain, inspire, and engage our community. We extend our mission of making and experiencing theatre through arts education programs that excite curiosity about, and deepen understanding of, the world around us. These plays and programs bring people together and provide opportunities for reflection, discovery, and celebration. Founded in 1974, we produce eight to nine plays each season, in two black box theatres with 340 and 160 seats respectively, mixing world premieres, contemporary plays, and fresh approaches to classic texts for our 7-Play, Discovery, and Teen Series. Community Matters is supported in part by the Phoenixville Community Health Foundation and Rebecca Bradbeer.

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