DEFINE 'BLACK' to Make World Premiere at District Fringe SPARK Reading Series

Define "Black" by Nessa Amherst from N.A. Productions will make its world premiere at District Fringe in Washington, DC, as part of the SPARK New Play Reading series. SPARK is a brand new play development program where new plays and works in development are showcased by promising local DC area playwrights, and allows their works to be presented to audiences for them to watch and give feedback to help these stories reach the next stage of play development.

Brianne Jackson is minding her own business in the Ripley Grier waiting room when Akeelah Harris bursts in and upends all of Brianne's plans for a quiet preparation for the final callbacks of Branden Jacob Jenkins' new play, Untamed. It seems that Akeelah's bold and brash attitude is clashing with Brianne's quiet method of preparation for the callback, which involves reading a book and listening to music on her headphones. Barely ten seconds passes by when Brianne notices Akeelah standing there and looking around the room, and Brianne reluctantly offers Akeelah a seat. What starts off as an uncomfortable introduction between two actresses vying for the lead role in a play that could make or break their careers unexpectedly turns into an exploration of what blackness looks like through each of their eyes, through conversations of music, films, sex, and the challenges of being a performer in an industry that seems to struggle with change and what it truly means to be “black”.

Define "Black" is written by Washington, D.C. actor & writer, Nessa Amherst, and it is based off of the original monologue of the same name which has been published into the anthology, 08:46: Fresh Perspectives, published by New World Theatre Publishing and is available to order on Amazon. Amherst based both the original play and monologue off of her experiences growing up as a black woman in the Midwest and in the Washington, DC region, and sees blackness as not monolith but as varied and layered and complex.

“There is a great deal of rage within our society at the moment, but there's a different kind of rage I'm personally feeling as a black woman, and it's being considered not 'black' enough by some of my peers," says Amherst. "My love of words, my diction, my fashion sense, my love for all types of music, including classical, and so much more that make up who I am as an individual… has led me to being called 'white'. And it's especially bad as a black actor & writer, even now. There is still so much stereotyping and generalizing blacks as nothing more than poor, uneducated, traumatized, and without dignity in film, television, and theatre. All for the sake of bringing people together to show strength within the black community, while repeating the trauma and the anguish and the rage over and over again. Setting Define 'Black' in an audition waiting room seems like an odd place to explore how blackness is defined, but I believe that the most unexpected and most vulnerable conversations about our lives and what makes us tick, including the question of what “blackness” really is, can happen in the rooms you want to be in as an artist & creative. And just how limiting those spaces can still be to artists who just want to be seen and be the voice in the room that gets heard, stereotyping notwithstanding.”

About the Artists:

Nessa Amherst (playwright, producer, and Stage Directions - July 12 performance) is an actor & writer based in the Washington, DC area, with credits based in theatre, short film, voiceover, and web series. She has performed all throughout the DMV with various companies and organizations, including the Kennedy Center, 1st Stage, Rorschach Theatre, Voices Festival Productions, Young Playwrights' Theater, TheatreLab, and District Fringe. Nessa performed in The Survival by Achiro P. Olowoch with National Queer Theater & Lincoln Center, as part of the Criminal Queerness Festival in 2022. She has also performed with companies and organizations based in Tennessee, South Carolina, Illinois, Massachusetts, and California. As a writer, Define “Black” is Nessa's first play, which is based off of the monologue of the same name and it is one of the many featured monologues in 08:46: Fresh Perspectives, which is now available to order on Amazon. To find out more about Nessa Amherst, visit her website at www.nessaamherst.com.

Julia Rudgers (Director) is an actor, director, writer, and teaching artist based in the Washington, DC area. She is a graduate of George Mason University, with a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree in theatre for acting and directing. Rudgers has credits in theatre, film, web series, and voiceover, with some of her acting credits coming from Virginia’s Little Theatre of Alexandria, as well as ’s Tampa Fringe Festival, Lab Theatre Project, African American Shakespeare Theatre, American Stage, and The Space at 2106.

Rudgers’ directing and assistant directing credits include the George Mason University’s production of Hookman, and St. Petersburg City Theatre’s Mary Poppins the Musical Jr. and High School Musical 2, Jr. She has also had the opportunity to be a teaching artist with two of the DC area’s most prestigious theatre companies - Round House Theatre and Signature Theatre.

Whether onstage or in the director’s chair, Rudgers is passionate about telling stories across all mediums and creating opportunities for artistic collaboration in her community.

Ariel Friendly (Brianne Jackson - July 12 performance) is so excited to be joining this project! She is a Musical Theatre performer from the Northern Virginia area. She has also made a step into directing/associate directing this past year for elementary school level to high school level. You can catch her this summer delivering the Virginia Resolution on Independence as she plays Richard Henry Lee in 1776 at Mclean Players. She has done many productions with Adventure Theatre MTC that include Aesop's Fables, Dragons Love Tacos, She Persisted, Knuffle Bunny, Junie B. Jones. Her other Regional credits include: Aladdin (Creative Cauldron) Ragtime, Private Jones (Signature Theatre); Buddy Holly, Cinderella ( Studio Theater); Additional D.C credits include Little Women (Arlington Players) Shrek the Musical, American Idiot (McClean Players) Into The Woods, Hunchback of Notre Dame, The Drowsy Chaperone, Urinetown (Workhouse Arts Center); Other credits include Outdoor Theatre: The Lost Colony (Lost Colony) Theatre; Grease, For God and Country, The Motown Sound (Wolfhart Haus Dinner). She holds a BFA from Emory & Henry College. 

Rakell Foye (Stage Directions - July 17 performance) is delighted to be in this reading for District Fringe. Recent credits include: Sally & Tom (Round House Theatre), Galatea (Theatre Prometheus), Chicken and Biscuits (NextStop Theatre Company), Honey Bee Baby (Rapid Lemons Productions) and Macbeth (Chesapeake Shakespeare Company). Education: Bowie State University (Acting/Directing).

Taylor Mitchell (Brianne Jackson - July 17 performance) is a singer, actor, and storyteller who is passionate about creating honest, emotionally resonant performances that connect with audiences. A graduate of the University of Hartford, she holds both a Bachelor of Music and a Master of Music in Vocal Performance. Her previous stage credits include Once on This Island, Legally Blonde, and Songs for a New World.

Ivy Montague (Akeelah Harris) is a DMV based actress and choreographer originally from Davidson, NC. A life long performer and creative, she received her B.A. in Arts Administration from University and is making her return to the stage as Akeelah in Define "Black”. She just wrapped up her role as choreographer for The Colored Museum with Silver Spring Stage, and is looking forward to starting the next one!

Define "Black" will take place on July 12 at 7:45 p.m. and July 17 at 7:30 p.m. (masked required performance) at the Flicker Bar on the University of the District of Columbia campus on Connecticut Avenue. To learn more about Define "Black" and other productions at District Fringe, you can visit the official District Fringe website: https://www.districtfringe.com.

District Fringe was created by artists for artists to promote and propel the strong independent theater tradition in the D.C. area. At a time when the arts community is under direct threat from the current administration, we unapologetically stand for diversity, equity, and inclusion as we work to create an open, egalitarian space for artists to produce work that challenges, entertains, and inspires. District Fringe was founded by area artistic leaders Tracey Erbacher, Karen Lange, Sophia Menconi, Aubri O'Connor, Samba Pathak, and Sarah Wilson.

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