Silenced Voices

The Anacostia Playhouse New Play Festival 2019

What happens when a city loses its soul?

The silence is deafening.

In 1968 more than 3,000 people from the Poor People’s Campaign set up camp on the National Mall for six weeks in an effort to organize collective activism that would bring economic empowerment and a true end to poverty in America.

Unfortunately the memory of that event and the voices of the people who lived, worked and educated their children in that tent city in the hopes of achieving real change were silenced, drowned out by the celebrity-filled success of the August 1963 March on Washington.

Over fifty years have passed. The go-go music on the corner of Florida and Georgia Avenue proved too loud for a resident in a shiny new condo close by. The city acquiesced and silenced the music. But even though the outrage was immediate, owner Don Campbell couldn’t turn the music back on back on until T-Mobile CEO John Légère said so. Weeks later, the noise of outrage rose again against those who chose not to honor, or even attempt to understand, the sacred space that is Howard University’s campus.  The question was posed: Why don’t “they” just move out of the city?

While other American cities have found ways to allow bike lanes, yoga studios and pet friendly coffee shops to coexist with long time residents and low income housing , DC has chosen a different path.

Washington DC has the highest rate of displacing African American residents to make room for developers who serve primarily affluent white residents. According to the National Community Reinvestment Coalition in Washington DC, gentrification does not mean increased investment or physical improvements. In Washington DC, gentrification is removing people of color.

These voices are now going unheard, silenced by the constant noise of construction projects.

What happens when the creation is valued more than the creators?

As artists we  focus on inspiration. Inspiration that, regardless of race, religion, or economic background, allows us to connect on a spark that is foundational to humanity. That spark is why we create art, write songs, and author plays.  It’s the spark that’s found in go-go music, the unique language and fashion of DC’s children, mumbo sauce, and Howard University students. And now, 20,000 of the very people who invented countless ingenuities have been forced out of the city.

This city once captured good food, great music, beautiful art, and a warm, welcoming environment in which to enjoy it all. We had this in Shaw, Petworth, and Anacostia. Unfortunately, in the name of progress and improvement, the creators of these vibrant places were displaced. What they created was appropriated and the creators were no longer needed.

The Anacostia Playhouse asks playwrights to imagine what could happen East of the Anacostia if new residents awoke to find that their new communities no longer had that vibrancy they craved and now they must make a life in a place devoid of the soul that drew them to it.

Let us also imagine the next chapter of the creators as they propose to own their space and, perhaps, to withhold their gifts of soul from the displacers.

Shine a spotlight on the voices that are being silenced: The corner cell phone store that plays a musical genre invented in DC ; the special cuisine that was once a neighborhood cornerstone; and the people themselves who built an amazing culture, despite limited resources, over policing, and a lack of access to financing. The people who were brushed aside and left behind. And whose voices were silenced.

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

Deadline for submissions September 7, 2019

Winners notified October 1, 2019

Submit online at

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.

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:

Preview show tickets

Show tickets

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.!

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

We have partnered with CulturalDC to help promote the Mobile Art Gallery for Anacostia Community Museum! It’s a great opportunity to meet new people and artists in the community. It’s also a great way to enjoy your relaxing  Saturday with friends and family with free food and performances!

• Saturday, April 28, 2018
• No admission fee
• 12:00 PM  2:00 PM
• Anacostia Community Museum (map)

Anacostia Playhouse and the high-energy youth acting company the Laugh ‘n’ Learn Players present Pop-Up Books! A wonderful play bringing to life four fabulous tale by the young authors of Reach, Incorporated and Shout Mouse Press. We’re partnering with Reach, whose missions is to develop grade-level readers and capable leaders by preparing teens to serve as tutors and role models for younger students, resulting in improving literacy outcomes for both. Reach’s teen authors contribute to creation of more diverse children’s literature by writing stories that are engaging and relevant to the young readers they serve. This fun filled show is directed by the DMV’s own Thembi Duncan!

Don’t Miss it!

Running from Thursday, April 19th at 7:30 pm to Sunday, April 22nd at 2 pm!

Adults:$10  Kids:$5

Get your tickets here!