We've got it all wrong

I'm sorry, theatre.

I've been pretty strident about the need for a more radical approach to addressing racial disparity in American theatre, and I have pointed out a lot of what you were doing wrong.

I take it all back.

What I should have been saying is, "Just add rap music."

Apparently, we've been missing out. Maybe if we simply play rap music, Black people will spring up at the box office like cabbages.

Why haven't we thought of this?

See, that's the real problem. The problem isn't the racism embedded in the institutional structures we participate in. It's not playing enough rap music.

So all this transforming systems of power thing? Forget all of it.

Just blast some rap music.

Crossroads - something I'm thinking about.

If I were to put the selling points of my current project in a few words . . .

Black stories on stage.

No maids.

No crackheads.

No Tyler Perry.

I've named the project I'm working on Crossroads, since the works of all 3 of us come from or deal with how race intersects with other identities - namely gender and sexuality. It also links to an idea in Vodoo, African American folklore, and Delta blues songs about the crossroads being a place where strange and unexpected happens. Essentially, our works, simply by the fact that they exist, challenge popular notions about what Black theatre is and what it means.

New Media Investment - read now

Read this shit right now. Then do it.

When I Grow Up

I'm going to do something that's likely very, very stupid on this post. I'm going to tell you what I want to do when I grow up. Isaac posted a blurb about this over on his blog. But since I'm continually dissatisfied with what I write (I veer between being as great as Shakespeare and a talentless poser who's just faking it until she realizes there's no hope for her), I revised it.

Also, to give a bit of context: I'm not writing this for my health. I really do want to do this. I really can do this. I just need a crack in the door.

I write text for artists, designers, and performers to talk about their work. Whether the audience is a funding organization, a donor, or just the average person on the street, I provide the words that express how powerful and engaging their work really is.

Let me be really honest. You can find someone with more skill, more experience, and more connections. You can find someone faster and cheaper. But you won't find many who are artists themselves. I'm a playwright. So I understand what it means to put your heart into something you create. I know what it's like to have dry spells and struggle with the direction you want your work to take. I can relate to how you can be both confident and insecure about your work. I understand the need for space. I understand flow.

I know a lot of stuff is all hype and no substance. But that's not me. I'm not doing this for fame and fortune. I don't want to get rick quick or become an overnight success. I just want to make a living using my writing skills to help the kind of people I enjoy working with - creative, passionate, intelligent people out there doing what they love. I want to tell the world about these wonderful people and the awesome work they're doing.

Who better to do that than someone who knows what you go through?

Coming Soon at RVCBard Theater . . .

Nobody Gets AIDS.

(just a teaser for a bit of spec work I'm doing. More later.)