A Blaze of Horns: African American Voices in Brief Director Interviews

9/19/2013

Please join African Continuum Theatre Company for A Blaze of Horns: African American Voices in Briefs, an evening of 10-minute play readings by six of your favorite local playwrights.

Hosted by Patrick Washington of the Poem-Cees, playwrights include Michael J. Bobbitt, Paige Hernandez-Funn, Caleen Jennings, Tom Minter, Jennifer L. Nelson, and Malcolm Pelles.

A Blaze of Horns
Saturday, September 21, 2013 at 7:30 pm
Atlas Performing Arts Center
1333 H Street NW
Suggested $15 Donation

To learn more about this event and the featured plays, please enjoy these wonderful and insightful director interviews!

Director Michael J. Bobbitt

JACQUELINE LAWTON: As a director, what excited you about taking part in African Continuum Theatre Company’s A Blaze of Horns: African American Voices in Brief?
MICHAEL J. BOBBITT: I am always excited to be a part of a new initiative. More than that, whatever Thembi Duncan asks me to do, the answer is always "yes". And, more than that, any initiative that can celebrate the voices of African American Playwrights is something that I want to be a part of.

JL: Whose play are you directing? Why is he or she an essential voice in the American Theatre?
MJB: I am excited to have the chance to direct A DEAD MOUSE ON YOUR DOORSTEP by Malcolm Pelles. Malcom has such a unique and accessible voice. He is a skilled and experienced writer whose work needs to be heard as much as possible.

JL: What do you hope audiences will walk away thinking about after experiencing this play?
MJB: I hope a lot of laughs, mostly. But, underneath it all - passion, not matter what, is a great thing and that passionate people should be revered, even when questioned. Without passionate people, we stop evolving.

JL: What are you working on next? Where can we follow your work?
MJB: This year is a year to focus on advancing Adventure Theatre MTC as an institution and long term strategic planning, so my outside gigging is less than usual. I have a bunch of choreographing gigs - Good Night Moon at Adventure Theatre, Scapin at Constellation and Spelling Bee at Ford's. No directing gigs this year, but I'm happy for a break.

Michael J. Bobbitt is the Producing Artistic Director of Adventure Theatre MTC and has directed, choreographed and performed at many theatres in the DC region, including Arena Stage, Ford’s Theatre Society, The Shakespeare Theatre Company, Signature Theatre, Metro Stage, Rorshach Theatre Company, Studio Theatre, Woolly Mammoth Theatre Company, Center Stage, Roundhouse Theatre, The Music Center at Strathmore, The Kennedy Center, The Helen Hayes Awards and the Washington National Opera. His national and international credits include the NY Musical Theatre Festival, Mel Tillis 2001, La Jolla Playhouse, Jefferson Performing Arts Center, and 1996 Olympics. He studied creative writing and music at Susquehanna University and theater and dance at The Washington Ballet, The Dance Theatre of Harlem, The American Musical and Dramatic Academy and NY University’s Tisch School of the Arts (Cap 21). He is a member of the Dramatist Guild of America and the Society of Stage Directors and Choreographers.

Director Thembi Duncan

JACQUELINE LAWTON: As a director, what excited you about taking part in African Continuum Theatre Company’s A Blaze of Horns: African American Voices in Brief?
THEMBI DUNCAN: I love the challenges of the 10-minute play format -- you have to tell an entire story in a very short amount of time, so it's a great way to practice succinctness and restraint. As a director, I see myself as the personal valet of the playwright. The playwright takes my arm, I walk him in, sit him down and slip an ottoman under his feet while he tells his story. I am there to support him, but also to engage my own aesthetic with his work and see what becomes of it.

JEL: Whose play are you directing? Why is he or she an essential voice in the American Theatre?
TD: I'm directing Michael Bobbitt's Redskins v. Rockettes. Michael has a wonderful ear for provocative, engaging dialogue, which creates such rich conversations between his characters -- but then the artistry of his wordsmithing heightens the work to a theatrical pitch. Plus, he's outrageously funny. He can take something potentially sad and make it hilariously optimistic. American Theatre needs more optimism in the face of adversity -- particularly from within African-American stories.

JL: What do you hope audiences will walk away thinking about after experiencing this play?
TD: I want audiences to walk away from this play with a renewed respect for all forms of selfhood. Each of us has the right to define and live within our own identity(ies), and we must allow others that same right. We don't have to be cut from the same cloth to find common ground, but it requires movement from both sides in order to meet in the middle.

JL: What are you working on next? Where can we follow your work?
TD: I likely won't be directing for the next few months, but if you want to see what's next for me, just go to www.african-continuum.org!

Thembi Duncan has performed as an actor in the region for almost fifteen years. As an emerging playwright, she penned Gridiron: Adventures from the Sidelines,for the Active Cultures 2011 Sportaculture Play Festival, which was re-produced in the Best of Sportaculture Festival later that year. Champagne, her 15-minute play commissioned by The Brave Soul Collective, was performed for National Black AIDS Day 2012, the 2012 National Black Theatre Festival, and the 2012 International AIDS Conference. She wrote Coop in the Yard for Active Culture's Govaculture offering in the Atlas Intersections Festival, and BLUEP for Rorschach Theatre's Klexography Festival. Mon Chaton is her first full-length play, which was first developed in 2009 under the tutelage of Dr. Walter Dallas at the University of Maryland, and has had successful staged readings in D.C. and Virginia. Her cross-gendered adaptation of the cult classic film Whatever Happened To Baby Jane?, called WTF Happened To Baby Sister?, will receive a workshop performance in February 2014 as part of the Mead Theatre Lab Program. Thembi serves as Lead Teaching Artist at historic Ford’s Theatre, and also serves as Producing Artistic Director of African Continuum Theatre Company.

Director Angelisa Gillyard

JACQUELINE LAWTON: As a director, what excited you about taking part in African Continuum Theatre Company’s A Blaze of Horns: African American Voices in Brief?
ANGELISA GILLYARD: I am always excited to work with African Continuum Theatre Company (ACTCo) as it is an established and critical voice of the African diaspora in DC theater. This particular program is especially valuable because it will introduce the work of playwrights who may be previously unknown to the audience. So often when we think of African American playwrights, the same big names come to mind – August Wilson, Lorrain Hansberry, Suzan Lori-Parks, etc. I think it is important to remind the community at large that there are still new voices telling important stories. These new voices will perhaps become the next set of African American writers to add to the African American theater canon.

JL: Whose play are you directing? Why is he or she an essential voice in the American Theatre?
AG: I am directing Undisclosed by Caleen Sinnette Jennings. I have actually directed other work by Ms. Jennings, including Unlearned and Uncovered for ACTCo’s Off the Circuit Troupe. A common theme in her plays is the emotional support black women give to each other, often while simultaneously navigating and surviving their own personal trials. Undisclosed is particularly poignant and timely as it puts faces to the scandals we hear on the news about the prevalence of sexual violence perpetrated against women while serving in the military. Black women in the media today are often portrayed as either the perfect woman who always has it all together (e.g. Claire Huxtable) or as mere objects and props (e.g. just about any music video out there now). It is not often enough that we see black women acting out of compassion for their fellow women and passion for justice. Ms. Jennings’ voice is essential to American Theatre because she presents black women’s stories as a part of American history, not separate from it.

JL: What do you hope audiences will walk away thinking about after experiencing this play?
AG: I hope that audiences walk away with three main ideas from this play: First, is the depth and passion of the sisterly love, dedication and commitment that is exhibited by the two military women; second is the realization that every woman, every person, has a story that should be told and witnessed; and third is that for every seemingly unreal scandal we see on the news, there is someone actually living that painful nightmarish reality. We have a responsibility to make sure that justice prevails.

JL: What are you working on next? Where can we follow your work?
AG: I just finished choreographing an opera for The In Series, Mozart’s Abduction from the Seraglio, which opened this past Sunday (9/8) and runs through September 22. I will also be working with ACTCo again for the Intersections Festival next year and I will be choreographing a production of Ain’t Misbehavin’ in Maryland next spring.

Angelisa Gillyard is an emerging director and choreographer in Washington, DC. Angelisa has choreographed and directed operas, musicals, readings and plays for African Continuum Theatre Company, The In Series, Studio Theatre, Arena Stage, Montgomery College, The Inkwell and Active Cultures Theatre. Her work has also been seen in local festivals including the Kennedy Center Page to Stage Festival, Capitol Fringe Festival, Smithsonian Folklife Festival, and Arena Stage’s Edward Albee Festival. Some of her favorite musicals she has choreographed include Once on This Island, The Wiz, Purlie, and Dreamgirls. She holds a BS from Spelman College, MBA from GA Tech and PhD in business from The Ohio State University and has taught business at several universities in the area for the past ten years.

Director Scot Reese

JACQUELINE LAWTON: As a director, what excited you about taking part in African Continuum Theatre Company’s A Blaze of Horns: African American Voices in Brief?
SCOT REESE: I have been a part of ACTC since I moved to the DC Metro area in 1996. I call ACTC my artistic home. I was fortunate to direct our first production at the new Atlas Theatre under the Artistic direction of Jennifer Nelson and now am carrying on the legacy with the new Artistic Director - Thembi Duncan. Its also thrilling in that I've directed Thembi as an actor and when she returned to school at UMD, I was able to work with her as a teacher.

As a director, I am fortunate to work on a wide variety of material - but what excites me most is working on new plays. My job as a director is three-fold: to interpret, collaborate and communicate. I am in the unique position of getting this new play from the writer - collaborating with the writer to understand the material - interpreting the material to work on in rehearsal with actors and writer, and then communicating our work to an audience. Its a joy to see a work that hasn't been done before go from page to stage.

JL: Whose play are you directing? Why is he or she an essential voice in the American Theatre?
SR: I'm honored to be directing Jennifer Nelson's play - Talking with the Ex. Jennifer IS American Theatre! She was my introduction to the DC arts scene. She welcomed me and made me feel included an essential. She has worked in the theatre for over 30 years (she started when she was a baby!) and has worked as an actor, administrator, educator, playwright, producer and director. She was President of the League of Washington Theatres, Artistic Director  for African Continuum where she produced and directed numerous plays and world premieres. But what strikes me most is Jennifer's vision. She began her career in DC with he Living Stage Theatre Company, which was the community outreach program of Arena Stage dedicated to making art that would make a difference. Jennifer MAKES a difference!

JL: What do you hope audiences will walk away thinking about after experiencing this play?
SR: This play is about relationships and listening. Anybody that has been in a relationship will enjoy this story. And anybody that has had an EX will understand it on another level. I don't want to give away the plot - but Jennifer has captured a unique place and time in a relationship and how relationships continue - even when people aren't living together. You'll walk away thinking about how you listen and how you feel you aren't listened to.

JL: What are you working on next? Where can we follow your work?
SR: Thanks for the plug! On Friday, September 6 the Clarice Smith Performing Arts Center’s will kick off its 2013–2014 season with a new incarnation of The Movement Revisited, by jazz bassist Christian McBride. He composed a four-part suite dedicated to four major figures of the Civil Rights Movement: Rosa Parks, Malcolm X, Muhammad Ali and Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. I’ll be performing the part of Malcolm X alongside civil rights activist and artist Harry Belafonte, Dr.Ysaye M. Barnwell (of Sweet Honey in the Rock), The Christian McBride Big Band and Washington DC’s Heritage Signature Chorale. It should be quite a night and honored to be in such prestigious company!

Scot Reese is a professor in directing, Black theatre, and musical theatre. Professional theatre credits include productions from Los Angeles to New York. Television credits include daytime dramas, situation comedies, variety specials, commercials, and an Emmy Award in performance. Recent credits include premiere’s of A Cricket in Times Square, Colossal, Embrace, Etudes for the Sleep of Others, and Blues Journey at the Kennedy Center, the premiere’s of The Waiter at Arena Stage, and 24/7, 365 at the Theatre of First Amendment, Dr. of Alcantara at Strathmore Music Center, Once On This Island at the Round House Theatre, Pretty Fire for the African Continuum Theatre Company, and Barefoot in the Park (with Laura Linney and Eric Stoltz) at LA Theatre Works.

Director Kenyatta Rogers

JACQUELINE LAWTON: As a director, what excited you about taking part in African Continuum Theatre Company’s A Blaze of Horns: African American Voices in Brief?
KENYATTA ROGERS: I have been a fan of African Continuum Theatre Company since I moved to the area 15 years ago. African Continuum has been a regional leader its innovative play selection and play cultivation, its reputation for audience development, and its commitment to hiring and showcasing talented local artists. This American Voices project will provide a resurgent African Continuum an opportunity to continue this proud tradition.

JL: Whose play are you directing? Why is he or she an essential voice in the American Theatre?
KR: The very talented Tom Minter’s play COLLECTIONS OF A WORKING MIND. This is my first time hearing and working with Mr. Minter’s work and I was blown away from first read. The play is simple in its construction but unusual in its subject, complex it’s layering of meaning, and refreshing in its precision and careful construction of its characters.

JL: What do you hope audiences will walk away thinking about after experiencing this play?
KR: I hope that audiences new to the challenges that this play provides and that those who have read and been witness to this kind of non-realistic work are excited and/or reinvigorated by the power of image, the power of text, power of context, and the power of silence. I hope they walk away with a sense of wonder about the way we re(member) our past and recognize that we possess tools within us that both protect us from the facts that can overwhelm while revealing to us the truths we seek.

JL: What are you working on next? Where can we follow your work?
KR: I will be directing and cultivating a new project by local playwright and theatre artist Baye Harrell in October and directing the very funny Bruce Norris play THE UNMENTIONABLES for Montgomery College in November. I’ll be back onstage as performer in the Round House Theatre Production of TWO TRAINS RUNNING in April 2014. See you in the theatre!

KenYatta Rogers is a local director, actor, and educator who is proud to call DC his artistic home. He proudly returns to African Continuum Theatre after having directed or acted in over 10 productions for the company. He has also directed full productions for New Galaxy Theatre Group, Tribute Productions, Touchstone Theatre, The InSeries, Source Theatre Festival, University Pittsburgh, Howard University, Point Park College, and Montgomery College. He has also directed staged readings for Lincoln Theatre, Essential Theatre, Woolly Mammoth, Gala Hispanic Theatre, and Theatre J. As an actor, Mr. Rogers has performed in regional houses such as Round House Theatre, Everyman Theatre, Woolly Mammoth Theatre, Forum Theatre, Arena Stage, Ford’s Theatre, Folger Theatre, Olney Theatre, Theatre Alliance, City Theatre, Trustus Theatre, and Shakespeare and Company. He earned his BA from Clark Atlanta University and his MFA from the University of Pittsburgh. Currently, he is a member of the theatre faculty at Montgomery College and a member of Round House Theatre’s Artists’ Roundtable. To Kasai, his heart, Mecca, his soul and Michelle, his all.

Director Deidra Starnes

JACQUELINE LAWTON: As a director, what excited you about taking part in African Continuum Theatre Company’s A Blaze of Horns: African American Voices in Brief?
DEIDRA STARNES: Two of the most exciting aspects of taking part in African Continuum Theatre Company's A Blaze of Horns: African American Voices was being able to direct for the theatre company that launched my DMV career and to collaborate with long time friend and colleague, Thembi Duncan.

JL: Whose play are you directing? Why is he or she an essential voice in the American Theatre?
DS: I am directing North (7th Street Echo) by Paige Hernandez. Paige is an amazing trend setter in the Hip Hop world of theater. She creates a viably aesthetic world that is comprehensible by all audience members and has the ability to bridge generational gaps of tradition

JL: What do you hope audiences will walk away thinking about after experiencing this play?
DS: I prefer not to have expectations of what an audience member will walk away with as each one is unique. But at the very least, I would hope they walk away with new information that informs their opinions as they move forward throughout their respective journeys.

JL: What are you working on next? Where can we follow your work?
DS: I am performing in a reading of the Container at Center Stage and then in The Twelve Days of Christmas at Adventure Theatre.

Deidra Starnes is thrilled to be making her African Continuum Theatre directing debut. A theatrical educator throughout the DMV, her directing credits include a reading of Mary Stone Hanley’s Street Life for the DC Theatre Festival. David Toney’s Soul Collector at Port City Playhouse,” Mary Stone Hanley’s The Name Game for the DC Theatre Festival, Once on This Island, Jr. and 101 Dalmatians for The Theatre Lab Summer Musical Camp for Tweens. She last appeared in the Shakespeare Theatre Company’s production of Much Ado about Nothing. Her African Continuum Theatre credits include; 24, 7, 365, Intimate Apparel (Helen Hayes Award), A Raisin in the Sun, The Gingham Dog, I Have before Me a Remarkable Document…., Two Trains Running, Personal History, and Spunk. Other appearances include Invisible Man (Helen Hayes Award), Charlotte’s Web, Passing Strange, In the Red and Brown Water, Radio Golf, King Lear, Doubt and for colored girls who have considered suicide when the rainbow is enuf, directed by Ntozake Shange. Her film credits include Chasing Refuge, Nocturnal Agony, and Ladder 49. She holds a BA in Theatre from the University of Maryland and an MFA in Drama from the University of Connecticut.

About African Continuum Theatre Company
The African Continuum Theatre Coalition was created in 1989 as a service organization to assist the dozen or more small black community theatres in the improvement of the quality and visibility of their work. In 1995, the Coalition transitioned into a theatre company, with a primary mission to produce professional, high-quality programming for the general public that preserves and highlights African-American history and culture.

African Continuum Theatre Company has presented over 35 fully-produced, main-stage plays, seven of which were world premieres, along with numerous public readings of new works by playwrights of color. African Continuum Theatre Company is committed to providing new and traditional performing art forms from main-stage productions to community engagement programs. Its focus and strength is engaging the community with exciting and meaningful theatrical productions, educational programs, partnerships, and volunteer opportunities that bring us to the larger community.

African Continuum has garnered recognition for its artistic endeavors and leadership from the Cultural Alliance of Greater Washington and other agencies, including 16 Helen Hayes Awards nominations, 3 Helen Hayes Awards, the Washington Post Award for Distinguished Service to the Community, and the Mayor’s Arts Award.

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