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| Bleu Beckford-Burrell |
Ensemble Studio Theatre (EST) announced today the directors for the 38th Marathon of One-Act Plays, which will be fully comprised of work from artists who identify as Black, Indigenous & People of Color (BIPOC). The full list of directors is Sivan Battat, Dominic Colón, nicHi Douglas, Chika Ike, Cameron Knight, Rebecca Martinez, Jonathan McCrory, Jess McLeod, Keenan Tyler Oliphant, Erin Tripp, and Elizabeth Van Dyke.
This year's selection of eleven plays was curated by Co-Artistic Directors Mike Lew (Teenage Dick) and Colette Robert (Behind the Sheet). Ten plays will be presented across two different series from Sunday, October 16, 2022, through Sunday, November 13, 2022, at EST (545 West 52nd St, New York, NY 10019). An eleventh play, Yan Tután, will be streamed from October 23 to November 13 in collaboration with Perseverance Theatre in Alaska.
“France-Luce Benson, a Haitian-American playwright has given me a place in earlier marathons at EST, as a director and actress,” said Director Elizabeth Van Dyke. “In each of her plays, Learning to Swim, The Talk, and Fall, the cast was mostly Black Artists and the director was also Black. These were rich wonderful experiences. This year, the entire marathon is by BIPOC playwrights, directors, designers, and technicians, and artistically directed by two BIPOC artists, Colette Robert and Michael Lew. EST, founded by the late Curt Dempster, followed by Billy Carden, and now with interim Artistic Director, Graeme Gillis, is making an effort to reflect the world in which we live by embracing multi-cultures, races, and genders in a profound way- Giving space and resources to these dynamic voices- and it is a privilege to be a part of it.”
The biennial Marathon of One-Act Plays has been a landmark New York theatre festival since 1977. Praised by critics and beloved by audiences, it launched an industry-wide revival of the short play form, breaking new ground by putting emerging and established writers together on one stage. In its earliest days, the Marathon was key to sustaining the careers of writers like Horton Foote and Romulus Linney, while providing essential early opportunity for then-new voices like Christopher Durang, Richard Greenberg and Aaron Sorkin.
That mix of ages and cultures remains at the Marathon's core, with each subsequent generation – now including Julia Cho, Stephen Adly Guirgis, Amy Herzog, Qui Nguyen, Taylor Mac, and many others – taking their turn on the festival's Hell's Kitchen stage. Recently produced Marathon playwrights include Clare Barron, Leah Nanako Winkler, Anna Ziegler, and Lloyd Suh. Martyna Majok was awarded the 2018 Pulitzer Prize for Cost of Living, a play which originated in the 2015 Marathon of One-Act Plays.
General admission tickets are $25 and student/senior tickets are $20. A Marathon Pass is available for $40, which includes a ticket to each series bundled together. Tickets can be purchased at ESTnyc.org or ensemblestudiotheatre.org/marathon.
Complete casting is to be announced at a later date.
THE 38th MARATHON OF ONE-ACT PLAYS ARE:
SERIES A BEGINNING OCTOBER 16:
Still...
By Harron Atkins
Directed by Cameron Knight
Noah and Jeremy bonded over music, fell in love over music, then fell apart over music. Can music bring them back together? Still... is a play that follows two people over 50 years as they struggle to love two things at once: each other and their dreams.
Intro To
By Vivian J.O. Barnes
Directed by Keenan Tyler Oliphant
Three very different women take a writing class.
Prospect Avenue or The Miseducation of Juni Rodriguez
Written and Directed by Dominic Colón
Two young men from the Bronx meet on a downtown number 2 train. This brief encounter sparks a meditation on life, love, and McDonald’s.
Los Complicados
By Cusi Cram
Directed by Rebecca Martinez
It is 1984 and 15-year-old Manca is having a truly abysmal day. Will her pot-smoking, free spirited god-brother, Pedro be able to lift her up out of the dumps? The jury's out because with these two everything is muy complicado.
Younger Battles the Possible Ghost
By Shannon Tyo
Directed by nicHi douglas
There is almost certainly a ghost in Younger's bedroom. What to do, what to do...
SERIES B: BEGNNING October 23
Tr@k Grls (pt1)
By Bleu Beckford-Burrell
Directed by Elizabeth Van Dyke
Raeni Bailey and Anita Gordon have four things in common right now: living in Far Rockaway, Queens; the High School Track team and being Black Girls. A homage play to the Lady Seahorses of Far Rockaway High School.
Brass Knuckles
By Yussef El Guindi
Directed by Sivan Battat
As Maysoon puts on her hijab she tries to steel herself against the possible verbal, even physical assaults she might have to endure during the course of the day for wearing a hijab.
Prepared
By Keiko Green
Directed by Jess McLeod
Global warming, tidal waves, and tornadoes have destroyed all of humankind as we know it…well, all except Troop 4337. Set in the not-so-distant future, the only survivors of the apocalypse are a troop of boy scouts led by an eccentric Scoutmaster. They soldier on, fighting off the all-consuming cosmic loneliness, as they attempt to make peace with a vengeful Mother Nature.
Breath of Life: A choreoplay of Black Love
By Goldie E. Patrick
Directed by Jonathan McCrory
When Toni and Drew, both Black community activists, are hit with the double pandemic of COVID-19 and Police Brutality, the decision of whether to protest in their community or stay home becomes more than a political choice. Separated from each other for the first time in months, each has their own confrontation of the fears they've been holding onto about their new life.
blooms
By a.k. payne
Directed by Chika Ike
Ten minutes before their shift at the grocery store, Leticia tries to prove to Kim that love exists; Kim wishes she could rearrange the world.
STREAMING Oct 23 - Nov 13:
Yan Tután
By Vera Starbard
Directed by Erin Tripp
*Streaming in collaboration with Perseverance Theatre
An Alaska Native group faces a leadership crisis and must decide whether to continue their traditional practice at all.
ABOUT ENSEMBLE STUDIO THEATRE
The Ensemble Studio Theatre (EST) (Graeme Gillis, Interim Artistic Director) was founded by Curt Dempster in 1968 and led by William Carden since 2007. In over 50 years, EST has developed thousands of new American plays and has grown into a company of over 600 actors, directors, playwrights, and designers.
EST's mission is to develop and produce original, provocative, and authentic new work. A dynamic community committed to a collaborative process, EST is dedicated to inclusion across all aspects of identity and perspective, including but not limited to race, ethnicity, gender, age, religion, sexuality, physical or mental ability, physical or mental health, and recovery while acknowledging and working to end systemic marginalization and oppression at all levels of its organization. EST discovers and nurtures new voices and supports artists throughout their creative lives. This extraordinary support and commitment to inclusivity are essential to yield extraordinary work.
EST’s primary programs include Youngblood, a collective of emerging professional playwrights; the EST/Sloan Project, a partnership that commissions, develops, and produces new works about science and technology; and the biennial Marathon of One-Act Plays, a landmark New York theatre festival since 1977.
FOR MORE INFORMATION, VISIT
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