Silenced Voices
EXTENDED DEADLINE: November 15
The Anacostia Playhouse is seeking new and non-produced 10-minute plays for its annual new works series. Selected playwrights will have the opportunity to work with a professional director and actors to prepare for the final staged reading or performance.
Play submissions should address the prompt: What happens when a city loses its soul?
We ask playwrights to ponder the themes of displacement and its effect on the residents of Anacostia and neighborhoods East of the River. As residents are displaced, what does a city lose? What voices are at a threat of being silenced today?
Shine a spotlight on the silenced voices. What has made this neighborhood? Maybe it’s Go-Go Music; maybe it’s the special cuisine that was once sold at a neighborhood cornerstone; and maybe it’s the people themselves who built an amazing culture and city. Or maybe it’s something else entirely.
The guidelines:
The play should be short: 10-15 minutes
The play should have no more than 4 characters
The play should focus on neighborhoods east of the Anacostia River
EXTENDED DEADLINE: November 15
Submit online at
November 2019
Part theatre, part ritual, and part epic journey, the earth, that is sufficient is a contemplative inquiry into the precarity of human relationships to extraction, consumption, and power. the earth, that is sufficient is an iterative performance project that conceptualizes theatre-making as an ecology, and asks audiences to consider the braided legacy of our past and the infinite possibilities we might stitch into a shared future.
The iterative performance project is told through the eyes of Lucy, the australopithecus, the 3.2 million year old hominid fossil. She speaks of the earth’s vast history and her relationship to lands, place, and time. With her, we wonder, “when a body has been turned into an object, where does it find rest?”
JOB POSTING
Anacostia Playhouse Seeks Events Manager
The Events Manager will serve as the on call person for evening and weekend events at Anacostia Playhouse. They will serve as the coordinator between the executive director and renting companies, and will be present for events held at the Playhouse as necessary. In addition, they will provide box office assistance and support as needed to rental companies.
Essential Job Tasks
– Providing keys or entry to renters
– Presence at the playhouse for events and functions
– Providing support for renters throughout events
– Ensuring theater is properly locked up at the end of events
– Providing some box office help
Qualifications
– Some theater familiarity
– Evening and weekend availability
– Punctuality
– Some box office experience preferred, but not required
Pay: $15/hr
Will be called on evenings and weekends, depending on Playhouse schedule. As much advance notice as possible will be provided.
To apply, please send resume and cover letter to natasha.anacostiaplayhouse@gmail.com
Anacostia Playhouse presents A Nite at the Dew Drop Inn
Directed by Stephawn Stephens
Music Direction by William Knowles
August 31- September 21
For tickets click here.
DC Theatre Scene Interview with Stephawn Stephens on working with castmate Jacquelyn Hawkins
DC Theatre Scene Reivew: “The blues take center stage during Anacostia Playhouse’s relentlessly engaging revue, A Nite at the Dew Drop Inn. For one all-too-brief night (the show flies by in about 75 minutes), six talented performers assemble, under the direction of Stephawn Stephens, to bring back to life a swanky historical New Orleans nightclub, known locally as “The Drop,” which welcomed all, catered particularly to African-American audiences during segregated times and, in its heyday, hosted everyone from Otis Redding to Ray Charles (Little Richard even wrote a song about the place)”
Let the good times roll as you experience a raunchy, raucous night of song filled with laughter, high jinks, and tears of joy. This fun-filled musical journey will take you on a ride of those Unforgettable moments of that first date, first kiss, the one that got away, or maybe the one you kicked to the curb! A Nite at the Dew Drop Inn is a musical celebration and tribute to the Juke Joint, to those iconic nightspots that were known for good food, music and maybe a little trouble (if you weren’t careful). This cabaret-style presentation highlights themes of love found, love lost and love renewed. It features songs made famous by Big Mama Thorton, Fats Waller, Etta James, and Dinah Washington, just to name a few.
About Stephawn Stephens
Stephawn P. Stephens has become a recognizable presence, as a local actor, singer, and director in the Metropolitan area theater scene. He is a native of Cleveland, Ohio and received his formal training at the Karamu House, Cleveland State University, majoring in English and Music Education and Bowie State University completing his studies in Musical Theater/Acting.
In his professional endeavors, Mr. Stephens has performed at several local and well-known venues such as Arena Stage, African Continuum Theater Company, Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, Ford’s Theatre, Olney Theatre Center, Round House Theatre, Theater Alliance, Theater J, Signature Theatre and Woolly Mammoth. He has been a member of Actors Equity Association since 2004. He is currently the Lower School Music Teacher at Creative Minds International PCS.
Throughout his career, Mr. Stephens has developed his craft, gained invaluable knowledge and experience in theater and education. He believes in cultivating an atmosphere where undiscovered talent is trained and perfected. While building partnerships within the community through volunteering and his faithfulness to his church, Mr. Stephens has been touted by his peers as a “game changer”. He strives to help build and motivate cross-functional teams that exceed worldly expectations and marries passion to purpose
About William Knowles
William Knowles is originally from Milwaukee, Wisconsin. He attended Howard University and the
University of Massachusetts and now lives in Washington, DC. As a composer, arranger, music director
and pianist, he has worked at regional theaters around the country, including Dallas Theater Center,
Philadelphia Theatre Company, Arena Stage, Northlight (Chicago), CenterStage (Baltimore), Indiana
Repertory Theater, and the Milwaukee Repertory Theater, where he has performed in eight different
productions. He has received five Helen Hayes nominations for Musical Direction, winning twice.
Offstage he has released seven jazz CDs with music partner Mark Saltman. Their latest release is titled
Almost (SaltmanKnowles.com).
ON STAGE
Sherice Payne
Yvette Spears
Jacquelyn Hawkins
Marcel Worrell Miller
Robert Person
Rodni Williams
DESIGN AND PRODUCTION STAFF
Set Design: Megan Holden
Lighting Design: Willie J. Blakeney, Jr
Costume Design: Alison Johnson
Choreography: Rodni Williams
Stage Manager: Monica Cook
Production Manager: Rachel Walsh
Pianist: DeAndre Shaifer
Playwrights! Anacostia Playhouse is seeking new and non-produced 10-minute and one-act plays for the 2018 New Works Festival: Visions/Revisions. Selected playwrights will have the opportunity to work with a professional director and actors to prepare for the final staged reading or performance.
Play submissions should address the themes of deterioration and renovation, both physically and socially, over the course of Anacostia’s long history. Consider the many physical and social changes Anacostia has survived; from the time of the Nacochtank Native American settlement along the Anacostia River, to the founding of Union Town, to today. Your submission should address the impact of revisionist history on Anacostia and its residents.
This New Works Festival will be held November 15 – 19 at the Anacostia Playhouse located in historic Anacostia in Washington DC. The festival, featuring both ten-minute staged readings and one-act productions, is an opportunity to introduce new playwrights to Washington’s theater community and establish relationships between writers, producers and directors. All plays will be read by the Anacostia Playhouse. 10-minute plays will receive a staged reading and one-act plays will receive a full production.
Please note that, due to the high volume of submissions we receive, we are unable to respond individually to each submission or to offer feedback. You will hear from us by September 21, 2018 if your work has been accepted into the festival.
The Rules:
Submissions will be accepted June 5 – September 15. Submissions and payment must be submitted through the Anacostia Playhouse website using the form and payment button below. Please submit only new non-produced works. All plays must utilize a maximum of four actors (actors can play multiple parts).
Submission/Reading Fee:
One-Act plays: $20.
Ten-minute plays: $10.
There is no submission fee for high school students. If the submission fee causes a financial hardship please contact Adele Robey at arobey@fusemail.com for financial aid.
Happy Ending
By Douglas Turner Ward
“This ‘Happy Ending’ is fresh, funny, and bursting with song-and-dance pizzazz. Yes, song and dance! It’s hard to imagine ‘Happy Ending’ ever ending with more upbeat joy” – DC Metro Theater Arts Review by John Stoltenberg.
A long-running Off-Broadway hit, Happy Ending was written by Douglas Turner Ward, founder of The Negro Ensemble Company.
It tells of two sisters, Ellie and Vi, who work as maid and laundress for the wealthy Harrisons. As the play begins they are sitting at the kitchen table in a tenement apartment in Harlem, lamenting the end of their good times. Mr. Harrison has discovered his wife in an act of infidelity.
The sisters fear that if the marriage breaks up they will be both out of a job. Their nephew, Junie, chides them for their sentiments at a time when Blacks are on the march towards liberation.
But what Vi and Ellie really fear is that the divorce threatens a cutoff in the household graft the sisters have engaged in and which has brought considerable luxury to their lives.
Happy Ending is directed by Ella Davis Artistic Director of All About the Drama Theater Group and Board Chair, Anacostia Playhouse.
About the playwright:
Douglas Turner Ward, dramatist, actor, director, and producer was born in 1930. Guided by a burning desire to continue the legacy of W. E. B. Du Bois, Ward was determined to create theater that was primarily written by, performed for, and representative of African American people. In his plays, Ward examines a mixed bag of attitudes and stereotypes that permeate our environment both within and outside the African American community. He uses various comic conventions such as satire, farce, absurdism, and irony to attack widely divergent cultural philosophies, politics, and ethics as well as social, moral, and racial biases. Since the 1960s, the African American dramatic literature and aesthetic philosophy of Douglas Turner Ward have been highly influential.
For more information on the Negro Ensemble Company click here.
Happy Ending Performance dates and times:
Previews
August 9th, 2018 -August 10th, 2018 8PM
Shows
August 11th, 2018-August 25th, 2018
Thurs-Sat at 8PM, Sat and Sun at 3PM
For tickets, click below:
Review from DC Theatre Scene: https://dctheatrescene.com/2018/08/14/review-douglas-turner-wards-happy-ending-at-anacostia-playhouse/
Review from DC Metro Theater Arts: https://dcmetrotheaterarts.com/2018/08/12/review-happy-ending-at-anacostia-playhouse/
One of the most active partners of the DC Jazz Festival, East River JazzFest, founded by Vernard Gray will be playing at Anacostia Playhouse this June! This year, their performances will explore “social change” themes in celebration of the 200th anniversary of the birth of social activist Frederick Douglass and the 50th anniversary of the death of social activist Dr. Martin Luther King. And it’s making the point that D.C. is a major jazz community, going back to Duke Ellington and even before: [pioneering 1920s bandleader] Fletcher Henderson and those people all did things here in D.C. and they were internationally renowned as well. Same with Marc, Kush, and Corcoran: They spent the last month performing in France with different ensembles. There’s clearly something in the water in D.C.!
| Come join us for 2 nights of celebration with East River JazzFest!
June 12th, 2018 @ 7:30 PM Anacostia Playhouse Admission: $20/advance Ron Sutton…..New Music · Ron Sutton, Jr., tenor saxophone · Alan Jay Palmer, piano · Vaughn Bratcher, bass · Aaron Walker, drums This performance will explore new compositions by saxophonist Ron Sutton, Jr.
June 13th, 2018 @ 7:30 PM Admission: $20/advance Music from liberation struggles: USA, South Africa, Palestine Liberation Project · Harry Appelman, piano · Todd Marcus, bass clarinet · Jeff Reed, bass · Eric Kennedy, drums The quartet will play jazz interpretations of music associated with several struggles of liberation: 1. USA civil rights struggle 2. South Africa anti-apartheid movement The ongoing struggle of the Palestinian people for freedom and human rights. |
Don’t miss this important exhibit on display now at our friend & neighbor’s Smithsonian Anacostia Community Museum!
Developed and created by Chief curator Dr. Samir Meghelli, Smithsonian’s New Exhibit A Right to the City gives us the opportunity to reflect and to gain an insight on the evolution of our nation’s capital, Washington DC. The exhibit introduces us the stories of six Washington neighborhoods (Adams Morgan, Anacostia, Brookland, Chinatown, Shaw, and Southwest) and helps us to see how the Washingtonians have shaped our rapidly growing neighborhoods in myriad of ways and how Washington DC evolved into the neighborhood we have today.
Smithsonian Anacostia Community Mueseum:
1901 Fort Place SE
Washington DC 20020
Hours:
open daily 10:00 am to 5:00 pm
Closed December 25
ADMISSION FREE
