From October 19 to November 6 at the Cherry Lane Theatre, 38 Commerce Street, The Negro Ensemble Company, Inc. (NEC) will present “Our Voices, Our Time” a program of three one-acts co-commissioned by Penn Live Arts at the University of Pennsylvania (Annenberg Center) and developed through the NEC’s 22/23 Brownstein Residency for Artistic Innovation there. The shows are: “Clipper Cut Nation” by Cris Eli Blak, directed by Ralph McCain; “What If” by Cynthia Grace Robinson, directed by Daniel Carlton and “I Don’t Do That” by Mona R. Washington, directed by Petronia Paley.
Prior to this New York premiere, Penn Live Arts will present the program’s debut on October 8, 2022 at 2:00 PM and 8:00 PM on Annenberg Center, 3680 Walnut Street, Philadelphia. More info: https://cloud.broadwayworld.com/rec/ticketclick.cfm?fromlink=2193943®id=2&articlelink=https%3A%2F%2Fpennlivearts.org%2Fevent%2Fnegro-ensemble-company?utm_0source2193943®id= 2&articlelink=https%3A%2F%2Fpennlivearts.org%2Fevent%2Fnegro-ensemble-company?utm_0source2193943®id=BWWferm =article&utm_content=buttonbuybuy1.
The three plays were selected from a pool of over 40 scripts that were submitted from across the US, as well as the UK, Morocco and Trinidad-Tobago.
Appearances
“Clipper Cut Nation” by Cris Eli Blak, directed by Ralph McCain
This four-character play takes place at a well-known local barbershop, where everything is business as usual as the owner opens up shop with the help of his new apprentice. A rising politician full of hometown pride comes in, to great acclaim—that is, until another neighborhood resident walks into the store and accuses the politician of killing his own son years ago in a gun violence incident, raising issues of forgiveness, redemption, loss, grief and survival.
Cris Eli Blak’s work has appeared off-Broadway at Urban Stages, in colleges (Columbia University, Academy of the Arts University and Wellesley College) and in London, Canada and Ireland. He was awarded the Judge’s Choice for Best Play in the NEC’s Ten Minute Play competition. He received an Emerging Playwrights Fellowship from The Scoundrel & Scamp Theater and is a selected participant of The Kennedy Center Playwrights Intensive. He is also a screenwriter and performance artist.
“What If” by Cynthia Grace Robinson, directed by Daniel Carlton
In this two-character play, a black college student’s need to fight for justice highlights her mother’s fear for her child’s life. It’s a story about love, loss and courage as the show peels back the curtain on the relationship between a mother and her daughter as they experience the unseen personal cost of activism.
Cynthia Grace Robinson is an award-winning playwright, most recently commissioned Not a Moment, But a Movement with Center Theater Group. Works include Freedom Summer (NCBlackRep), Dancing on Eggshells (Billie Holiday Theatre), Passing (New Perspectives Theatre), Gold Star Mother (EstroGenius), Ascension (NYCFringe) and Thunder: A Musical Memories” (NYCFringe). www.CynthiaGraceRobinson.com.
“I Don’t Do That” by Mona R. Washington, directed by Petronia Paley
A Game of Sexual Politics in Black Couples. Newly engaged Norah (African American) and Simon (Nigerian) are in love. As two of their friends watch and confess, a thwarted romantic moment thrusts the pair into an argument based on stereotypes and power.
Mona R. Washington is a playwright, librettist, activist, and graduate of Georgetown University’s School of Foreign Service and Harvard Law School. She has received fellowships and residencies at The Djerassi Foundation, The Ucross Foundation, Dora Maar/MFAH (France), The Ragdale Foundation, and the Jack Kerouac House (their first playwright). She is a recipient of the 2021 New Jersey Artist Individual Scholarship.
The residency between Penn Live Arts and the Tony® and Obie Award Negro Ensemble Company, NEC’s first with a major institution, brings together one of the most important producers of black theater in the United States and the University of Pennsylvania’s performing arts affiliation. , two legacy organizations that share a mission to advance innovative, contemporary theater. The purpose of this one-year residency is to Discover authentic, poignant stories of the black experience and to inspire meaningful and positive thinkinginviting conversations about the extensive role of black artists in shaping art and culture in our country.
In addition to the Our Voices, Our Time: One-Act Play Festival, the residency also includes the development of a new multidisciplinary theater work (TBA) that brings together live music, dance, civil rights-era poetry, and contemporary writing that reflects on the times of the end of our nation’s racial reckoning, with additional inspiration from Ntozake Shange’s acclaimed play, “for black girls who have thought about killing themselves when the rainbow is enough.” It will premiere at Penn Live Arts February 14-18, 2023. The residency will conclude with collaborative community activities with NEC artists and Penn students and faculty, notably Penn Professor of English and Africana Studies Herman Beavers, who teaches, with instructor Suzana Berger, the arts-based community service course titled August Wilson and Beyond.
Penn Live Arts, celebrating 50 years
In June 2021, the Annenberg Center launched a new brand identity, Penn Live Arts (PLA), to reflect a deeper integration with the University and an expanded canvas for presenting performances. This year PLA, Philadelphia’s leading provider of innovative and transformative performing arts experiences, celebrates the 50th anniversary of its home, the Annenberg Center for the Performing Arts. A vital resource for the performing arts at the University of Pennsylvania, PLA is an artistic crossroads that unites Penn and the greater Philadelphia region through world-class music, dance, theater and film on campus and in venues throughout the city. PLA emphasizes artistic and intellectual excellence and diversity in its offerings; prioritizes broad involvement in the artists, audiences and groups it serves; and expands access to the arts by actively engaging a wide range of school audiences and inclusive communities from the campus, the West Philadelphia neighborhood, and the surrounding region.
The Negro Ensemble Company’s 22/23 season residency is made possible in part with support provided by the Penn Live Arts Accelerator Program at the University of Pennsylvania. The NEC is the artist-in-residence of the 22/23 season of the Brownstein Residency for Artistic Innovation. This project is funded in part by an ArtsForward grant from the Association of Performing Arts Professionals, made possible through support from The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation. Additional support is provided through an Extended Artist Residency grant from the Sachs Program for Arts Innovation.
