I'm heading to L.A. tomorrow to engage the faculty, staff and students at the University of Southern California's School of Dramatic Arts in a series of conversations around diversity, inclusion, race, gender, culture and identity. This weekend of events will include interactive workshops, panel discussions and performances and serves as a catalyst to spark a series of conversations and strategies to cultivate and sustain an artistic, innovative and inclusive environment that reflects the evolving communities of the 21st century. If you're in town, I hope you'll be able to join us!

Friday, November 13, 2015
12:00–1:30 p.m. Breakout conversations for the Faculty and Staff of the USC School of Dramatic Arts
Location: Massman Theatre in the Drama Center (DRC)
Noted playwright, dramaturg, scholar and arts advocate, Jacqueline E. Lawton will facilitate breakout conversations with USC School of Dramatic Arts faculty and staff.

1:30–3:00 p.m. Breakout conversations for the Students of the USC School of Dramatic Arts
Location: Massman Theatre in the Drama Center (DRC)
Noted playwright, dramaturg, scholar and arts advocate, Jacqueline E. Lawton will facilitate breakout conversations with USC School of Dramatic Arts students.

3:00–4:30 p.m. Breakout conversations for Students of Color of the USC School of Dramatic Arts
Location: Massman Theatre in the Drama Center (DRC)
Noted playwright, dramaturg, scholar and arts advocate, Jacqueline E. Lawton will facilitate breakout conversations with USC School of Dramatic Arts students of color.

6:00-7:30 p.m. An Evening with Alexandra Billings [OPEN TO ALL]
Location: Grace Ford Salvatori Hall, Room 106
SDA faculty member Debra De Liso facilitates a Q&A with actress and trans activist, Alexandra Billings (Transparent).

Saturday, November 14, 2015
9 a.m.–10:00 a.m. Student Presentations and Film Screening  [OPEN TO ALL]
Location: McClintock Building, Room 108
Students of SDA will share artistic work based on the themes of diversity and inclusion. Facilitated by Jonathan Muñoz-Proulx (Founding Artistic Director, Arts Bottega, and Vice Chair, Alliance of Los Angeles Playwrights). A screening of Still A Rose, starring SDA alum Troian Bellisario, with special guests, filmmakers Kyle Hasday and Matt Stewart.

10:00–11:00 a.m. Cultivating Multiracial Identity  [OPEN TO ALL]
Location: McClintock Building, Room 109
An interactive workshop on Cultivating Multiracial Identity, facilitated by Farzana Nayani, a multi-ethnic parent, educator and Advisory Board Member for Multiracial Americans of Southern California.

11:00 a.m.–12:00 p.m. Gender Equity  [OPEN TO ALL]
Location: McClintock Building, Room 109
Playwrights Paula Cizmar, Julie Taiwo Oni, Jacqueline E. Lawton, Nahal Navidar and more, lead interactive discussions around issues of gender equity in the theatre. Moderated by SDA faculty member Melinda C. Finberg.

1:00-2:30 p.m. Art and Social Activism  [OPEN TO ALL]
Location: McClintock Building, Room 109
SDA faculty member Rob Adler will lead a workshop on the ability of artists to affect social change. It will inspire critical reflection, community connection and deep dialogue.

2:30–4:00 p.m. Diversity in Hollywood Panel  [OPEN TO ALL]
Location: McClintock Building, Room 109
Panelists to include William Allen Young (Code Black), Anthony Sparks (writer on NBC’s The Blacklist and professor at Cal State Fullerton), Marlene Forte (The Fosters, Dallas), Brandon Bell (Dear White People) and Stephanie Drake (Mad Men).

4:00-5:00 p.m. A Conversation with Wren T. Brown  [OPEN TO ALL]
Location: McClintock Building, Room 109
A dialogue on diversity and inclusion in the dramatic arts with Founder/Producer of Ebony Repertory Theatre, Wren T. Brown. Moderated by SDA faculty member Anita Dashiell-Sparks, who serves as the School’s Diversity Liaison.

Monday, November 16, 2015
6:00–7:50 p.m. School of Dramatic Arts Diversity and Inclusion Forum for all SDA students, faculty and staff
Location: Taper Hall of Humanities, Room 101
Facilitated by Jacqueline E. Lawton.

Located in Los Angeles, a city synonymous with artistic innovation and excellence, the top-ranked USC School of Dramatic Arts is a leader in dramatic arts education. The School uniquely blends artistic training in a conservatory environment with outstanding faculty and the full academic experience found only within a major research university. This close-knit, supportive environment offers students the freedom to explore their artistic passions. Through programs of the highest caliber, as well as initiatives that provide access to professional experience, students are prepared for leadership in every facet of dramatic arts.
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The School’s active production program (more than 20 shows annually) utilizes four theatre facilities, including Bing Theatre, Scene Dock Theatre, McClintock Theatre, and Massman Theatre located in the Drama Center. The School encourages students to gain professional experience and academic credit through internships and has created partnerships with many professional companies, including Center Theatre Group, one of the country’s leading theatre organizations, that offers internships ranging from Audience Development, Management, Casting, Marketing, Costume Shop, Press, Development to Finance and Production.
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The School also attracts a wide range of guest speakers and lecturers, including some of the most distinguished talents from stage, screen and television. Our graduate programs in Acting and Dramatic Writing are both intensive, three-year programs taught by a faculty comprised of theatre professionals working at the highest level of the industry. The location of the campus, literally in the center of the entertainment industry, makes the School of Dramatic Arts distinctive among colleges and universities in the United States.

On Saturday, April 26th, Boston's StageSource presented the Defining Gender Parity Town Hall. Hosted by Julie Hennrikus and Ilana Brownstein, here are the objectives, inquiries, and themes of the Town Hall:

"In this Defining Gender Parity Town Hall, we want to have a conversation about what gender parity looks like for our theater community. Where are we now, and what are our future goals? What does "success" look like, and how do we get there?

The Diversity/Inclusion/Gender Parity Task Force report talked about these three topics on stage (actors), back stage (playwrights, directors, designers, technicians, stage managers, crew), in the offices (administration, front of house), in the board rooms (and donor bases), and in the audiences. Gender parity is a conversation for all of these areas, though recent conversations have been around opportunities for playwrights and directors. We will not limit the conversation, though that context is helpful when we think about how to create the change we want (need) to see.

There are a number of recent conversations that help inform this meeting. They include Pat Gabridge's blog posts with an overview of some of the numbers around playwrights and directors on New England stages, and Ilana Brownstein's blog post "Rounding Up The Summit"."

While wasn't able to attend in person, I watched it live and thought it was an in-depth, thoughtful, and deeply engaging discussion. I don't know how often or in how many different ways we need to keep saying this, but sexism, like racism, is a pandemic issue. Just as we have to exercise our privilege to dismantle white supremacy, we must break down the barriers of patriarchy. We must challenge pervasive assumptions that rely on the notion of race and gender based mediocrity to promote and solidify exclusionary and discriminatory practices. White is not universal; male is not inherently best. We simply cannot thrive in either/or modalities. We are stronger together than apart. 

You can watch the Town Hall in its entirety below:

After watching the Defining Gender Parity Town Hall, I took the train to Baltimore to participate in Everyman Theatre's World of the Play panel discussion, Race and Representation: "Our greatest accomplishment. Our greatest shame." It was a powerful, complex, and challenging conversation that asked: 

"What is the personal cost of being a forerunner - a barrier breaker? Through her storytelling, Lynn Nottage reminds us of those who are marginalized by circumstance, yet fervently trying to assert their presence." 

Moderated by Marc Steiner, I was joined on the panel by Dr. Kimberly Moffitt (Professor of American Studies) and Otis Cortez Ramsey-Zoe (Lecturer of Theatre Arts). Click here to listen to the podcast.

One of the final questions had to do with hope. Marc wanted us to meditate on what issues we thought would be laid to rest in generations to come. Interestingly, and not surprisingly, no one was able to provide a solid answer. For me, in reflecting on this production of By the Way, Meet Vera Stark, I feel that many of the race and gender based socio-economic and geo-political issues that we struggled against in the 1930s, that we marched against in the 1950s, and that we balled our hands and raised our fists against in the 1970s, continue in detrimental ways to this day. And yet...I still have hope that progress, incremental though it may seem, is being made. 

The next morning, Sunday, April 27th, I took part in the "Writing Our History" panel, which was part of Shakespeare Theatre Company's AsidesLIVE symposium around Henry IV, Parts 1 and 2, which Shakespeare wrote approximately 200 years after the historical events depicted. Moderated by STC's Literary Associate and Production Dramaturg, Drew Lichtenberg, I was joined on the panel by Robert Schenkkan, Pulitzer Prize winning playwright of Broadway's All the Way.

"What is the history play," Lichtenberg ask. "People often throw those words about with complete confidence in the fixity of the genre, but when you look closer, 'the history play' becomes a surprisingly amorphous and constantly evolving term of art. I'm eager and excited to hold up models of the history play, both Shakespearean and contemporary, as we attempt to answer this surprisingly complicated and resonant question."

Many of the issues I wrestled with during the Race and Representation panel bubbled under this conversation. Weeks later, this question that Drew asked resonates with me still, "What is the ethical obligation of contemporary theatre artists in representing history?"

For me, the greatest obligation we have is to tell the stories of our communities, especially those who are marginalized and to speak truth to power. The greatest thing the Shakespeare Theatre Company (and perhaps even the Folger Theatre) can do is to commission writers of color to tell our stories and to adapt the classics for audiences today. This way, these new plays will be one day be the classics that theatres and historians 400 years from now will produce and study for a greater understanding of the generation that not only brought forth the greatest advancement of technology ever known to man, but also set us on the path to eradicating the ills of racism and sexism in this country.

By the time Monday rolled around, I was amped and ready. It was then that I took part in the long awaited and much anticipated final installment of The Summit hosted by Arena Stage and moderated by Washington Post theatre critic Peter Marks. The focus of the evening was on playwrights and directors. I was joined by Rachel Grossman, ringleader of the District’s innovative audience participation troupe, dog & pony dc; David Muse, Studio Theatre artistic director and director of Tribes; frequent Woolly Mammoth director/playwright Robert O’Hara (Antebellum and Bootycandy); Ari Roth, Theater J artistic director and author of last season’s Andy in the Shadows; and D.C.-area playwrights and members of Arena Stage’s inaugural Playwrights’ Arena collaborative writing group Norman Allen (Nijinsky's Last Dance).

A few days ahead of the event, Peter emailed each of us and shared:

"If you've been following along, you'll know the Summits have been lively, entertaining and even a bit provocative. As you're an especially brainy group, I'm going to try to make the questions friendly but challenging, and of course relevant to the issues facing playwrights, directors and artistic directors today. I think it would be helpful if you all think about the "meta" question of what role theater wants to function going forward in this society. Statistics indicate that a shrinking share of Americans opts for theatergoing as even a once-in-a-while experience. There are also those questions of who the theater you all so diligently strive to put on is for--and whether the playwriting and directorial opportunities are being shared equitably with, for instance, women and people of color."

The event was live streamed and so I'm going to let you all experience this event for yourself. 

After the Summit, I wrote to Peter to thank him for including me and shared my thoughts on why I felt events like this were important:
"With this series, you've given leaders of the D.C. Theatre Community an opportunity to address issues that concern theatre artists locally, regionally, and nationally. From Gender Parity and Diversity and Inclusion to marketing and capitalization to the complex Artist and Arts Organization relationship and the unfortunately reality of our ever dwindling audiences, you are challenging each of us--theatre practitioners and audience member alike--to dig deep, engage, and find new and lasting ways to grow, nurture, and sustain the American Theatre."

Over the past few years, I've been asked to serve as a mentor to theatre students and emerging playwrights near and far. And recently, in a forthcoming interview, I was asked to share my thoughts on being a mentor. Here's a collection of thoughts I've shared over the years.

On Becoming a Mentor:
I've always been the one to beg a seat at the table with the smartest person in the room. This way, I could listen, learn, grow, and be inspired. Many of my mentors are the women I knew in undergrad and grad school at the University of Texas at Austin: Amparo Garcia Crow, Jill Dolan, Ruth Margraff, and Omi Olono Osum. Recent mentors include folks I've met and reconnected with since moving to D.C.: Beth Blickers, Teresa Eyring, Gregg Henry, Morgan Jenness, Jennifer Nelson, Mary Resing, and Dawn Ursula. Some are also my peers: Sarah Bellamy, Ilana Brownstein, Julie Felise Dubiner, Jules Odendal James, and Dafina McMillan. So, when I was asked to be the one folks sat by, I thought wait a second, "How can I be a mentor when I'm still being mentored myself?" Then, I got over that, stopped being both selfish and self-conscious, and shared everything these amazing folks taught me.

On Being a Mentor:
I think about this quote from Benjamin Franklin:

“Tell me and I forget, teach me and I may remember, involve me and I learn.” 

I believe that being a mentor different from being a teacher. It’s a process of engaging another person in rich, inspired and challenging dialogue about shared passions, thoughts and ambitions. This allows each person to come to the conversation at different points of entry, different levels of experience and different points of views. You meet in a place of respect and admiration. 

On Finding a Mentor:
I started with people that I knew and who knew me. People who could speak to my ambition, enthusiasm, and experience. People whose aesthetic vision I admired and respected, even when it didn't mirror my own. For me, ultimately, it's was essential to find someone who shared my core and practicing values. I found that I was looking for someone to walk with in strength and solidarity. Someone who would challenge and nurture me. These are folks that I trust implicitly. 

Good Mentorship Advice:
1. It is essential that you learn how to talk about your work and aesthetic vision. You must be able to market yourself as a theatre professional. This will help with grants and interviews. Your narrative must begin with you who you are, what honed and shaped your voice and what you aspire to be. Be mindful, that there is a line between being clear about your path and being arrogant. It has to do with your intention. 

2. There is no success without the community. I am who I am because of my spirit, ambition, drive, and vision, but also because many people along the way believed in me and lifted me up. It is a part of my life service and artistic vision to lift others up as well. ​

I was just reminded that my play, LIONS OF INDUSTRY, MOTHERS OF INVENTION, is now playing at the Smithsonian Associates' Discovery Theater. I first wrote it back in 2008 under the direction of Discovery Theatre's Artistic Director Roberta Gasbarre. What excited me about this play was that I had the opportunity to introduce Black Inventors to young children. Historically, the contributions made by people of color to fields of agriculture, science, medicine, beauty, and elsewhere are overlooked. This was a chance to correct that history and honor these extraordinary people. During one of our rehearsals, NPR's Allison Keyes stopped by to speak with me and the other artists about he play and our experience. Click here to listen to that interview and here's more information about the current production:

Lions of Industry, Mothers of Invention
Tues.-Fri., Feb. 4-7 at 10:15 a.m. and 11:30 a.m.
Ripley Center, Smithsonian
Recommended for Ages 8+

Discovery Theater’s original interactive play honors the creativity and genius of African American entrepreneurs and inventors including beauty-product magnate Madame C.J. Walker; agricultural chemist and “peanut man” George Washington Carver; education giant Booker T. Washington; and George Crum, the cranky chef who accidentally created the potato chip. The production inspires the dreamer and achiever in all of us.

Individual Tickets:
Child: $6 ($10 on weekend)
Child under 2: $3
Adult: $8 ($12 on weekend)

Smithsonian Associate Members: $5

Group Tickets:
Child: $5
Adult: $5

Click here to purchase tickets.  If you have a group of 10 children or more, please visit our Group Sales page.

Educational materials:
Common Core Learning Standards
Learning Guides

On Sunday, January 5th at 4:00pm, Dance Exchange presents FROM THE DESK OF RACHEL CARSON, which celebrates the life, career and legacy of environmentalist Rachel Carson as part of Dance Place's Modern Moves Festival at the Atlas Performing Arts Center. For the past few months, I've been collaborating with Cassie Meador (Artistic Director and Choreographer), Ouida Maedel (Production Manager), Stowe Nelson (Sound Designer), Cheryl Patton Wu (Costume Designer) and Ben Levine (Lighting Designer) along with dancers Gabriela Fernandez-Coffey, Carli Mareneck, and Dance Exchange Resident Artists Shula Strassfeld and Matthew Cumbie to bring this devised work to life.

As many of you know, I grew up in a farming community in East Texas, where there were more cows than people. We had chickens and goats, and I spent a summer learning how to train horses. Each year, we grew a large vegetable garden and had several fruit trees in the yard: pear, peach, cherry and pomegranate. When I was young, I was fascinated by insects and snakes and climbed trees like the Von Trapps! I loved reading the U.S. Fish and Wildlife newsletter and tried to learned the names of as many birds, trees, and wildflowers as I could find. 

As I got older, I never lost my love for the nature. I remain passionate about the environment, and about efforts of conservation and renewal. I first read Rachel Carson's Silent Spring years ago while serving as dramaturg on a play with Active Cultures Theatre. I was moved by Carson’s passion, intelligence and insight for the environment. When first published, her work was controversial. Many tried to discredit her and her findings, but she was well-researched, thorough and wrote about facts. I admired her strength, determination and tenacity. 

As I consider the role and impact that advances in science have had on our lives, I am struck by its duality: there is immeasurable good and irreversible damage. For instance, if it were not for the coal fueled Capitol Power Plant that provides steam and cooled water for the United States Capitol, the Supreme Court, the Library of Congress and 19 other buildings in the Capitol Complex, I probably wouldn't need daily doses of three medications just to breathe. While it's never simply a question of whether the good or convenient outweighs the bad or destructive, there is an undeniable price to progress of advancements of science and technology.

This complexity is what makes Dance Exchange's From the Desk of Rachel Carson such an important, powerful and worthwhile work. It’s a story that must be told. We have a responsibility to do as much as we can to repair the damage done to environment, so that those who live after us will be able to enjoy the splendor and wonder of the world. 

The Modern Moves Festival showcases twelve world-class contemporary dance companies that call DC home, each with different points of view. Experience the rich field of modern dance in the Greater DC Metropolitan area!

Modern Moves Festival
Sunday, January 5 at 4:00pm
At the Atlas Performing Arts Center
1333 H St NE, Washington, DC 20002

Saturday, January  4 at 8pm: alight dance theater, Bowen McCauley Dance , Christopher K. Morgan & Artists, Dana Tai Soon Burgess & Company , Daniel Burkholder/The PlayGround , Human Landscape Dance

Sunday, January 5 at 4pm: Company E, Dance Exchange, Jane Franklin Dance, Naoko Maeshiba/Kibism , Rebollar Dance, VTDance/Vincent E. Thomas

For venue transportation and parking details, click here.
For information about the entire festival, click here.

Online sales are sold out, call 202.399.7993 for more information.

Dance Exchange is an intergenerational company of artists that creates dance and engages people in making art. We serve as an incubator for creative research, bringing ideas to action through collaborations that range from experts in the field of dance to unexpected movers and makers. Through these exchanges we stretch the boundaries between the studio, stage, and other environments to make dances that are rooted in the particularity of people and place.  We recognize the body and movement as an essential resource to understand and investigate across disciplines. Through local, national, international, and online projects we gather and create community to contribute to a healthy and more sustainable environment.

Tomorrow, October 12th at 3:00pm, Hampton University Museum will present a student reading of my play, THE HAMPTON YEARS, as part of their Homecoming Festivities and in conjunction with the opening of The Diane Whitfield-Locke & Carnell Locke Collection: Building on Tradition. RSVP for both today by calling 757.727.5308. 

This will be my first time at Hampton University and I can hardly wait. I'll be sure to take lots of pictures and share them here..

Hampton University Museum events for Saturday, October 12, 2013
3:00pm -THE HAMPTON YEARS: A READING written by Jacqueline E. Lawton, directed by Artisia Green at Little Theater, Armstrong Hall). Come hear the reading by HU students and meet the playwright!

About the Play
The Hampton Years explores the relationship between art professor Viktor Lowenfeld and his students, John Biggers and Samella Lewis. Lowenfeld joined the Hampton Institute in Virginia in 1939 as assistant professor of Industrial Arts and studio art teacher. He was later appointed as Chairman of the Art Department and in 1945, he was named curator of the distinguished collection of Black African Art at the Hampton Institute. Burgeoning artist John Biggers, who went on to become an internationally acclaimed painter, sculptor, teacher and philosopher, was his student. As was Samella Lewis, artist, printmaker and educator, with whom Lowenfeld had a contentious, but respectful relationship. The Hampton Years examines the impact of World War II on Jewish refugees living in the United States and their role in shaping the lives and careers of African American students in the segregated south.

Then, be sure to stop by the Hampton University Museum for the opening reception of the exhibit. More details below:

6:30pm - Opening Reception and Music by the Jason Jenkins Trio
7:30pm - Comments & Special Presentations
8:30pm - Opening Receptions Ends

The Diane Whitfield-Locke & Carnell Locke Collection: Building on Tradition

The exhibition will include master artists from both the 19th Century including Henry O. Tanner, Robert Duncanson, and Grafton Tyler Brown; from the Harlem Renaissance period with pieces from Aaron Douglass, a rare work by William H. Johnson, as well as works by Palmer Hayden, Jacob Lawrence; and from the modern tradition like Benny Andrews, Gwen Knight and Faith Ringgold. Additionally, the exhibition will also reflect the Locke's move towards collecting contemporary artists such as Clarissa Sligh, Betye Saar and James Phillips and feature twenty sculptures including works by Richard Hunt, Augusta Savage, Beulah Woodward, Richmond Barthe, and art historian and artist, Dr. David Driskell have been selected.

Co-curator, Woodson Reid states, "The Dianne Whitfield-Locke and Carnell Locke collection of African American art can be seen as a product of these groundbreaking years of research and inventiveness," begun by the many art historians and institutions that have focused on collecting African American art.

Vanessa Thaxton-Ward is the curator of collections at the Hampton University Museum and Shirley Woodson- Reid is a noted artist, educator and curator. Woodson-Reid resides in Michigan.

Click here to learn more.

“Bullying comes in many forms. Helping our children learn ways to cope with bullying behavior is the best way to protect them. Adventure Theater MTC’s Anti-Bully plays are a great way to start the conversation with your kids.”

Please join Adventure Theatre on September 28, 2013 at 7:00pm for the world premiere of their Anti-Bully Play. By kids, for kids.

These imaginative, hopeful, funny, touching and compelling plays authentically portray the anti-bully message from a child’s perspective and words.  Written by some of the DC region’s middle school students, these three plays illustrate the words of actual kids who have experienced or witnessed bullying. ATMTC will be presenting them free to the public for one night only. 

Talkback and reception to follow.  Remember:  October is  National Bully Prevention Month

Cost: 
This is a free event, but donations are accepted.

Where: 
Adventure Theatre MTC in Glen Echo Park
7300 MacArthur Blvd, Glen Echo, MD 20812

RSVP:
Michael J. Bobbitt at mbobbitt@adventuretheatre-mtc.org

Booking info:
Want to book the tour for your own school or community organization? 
Call 301-588-7525 or visit Class Acts Arts online.

In partnership with the Montgomery County Department of Recreation. Endorsed by the Montgomery County Police Department. Sponsored by Monument Bank. The program is endorsed by J. Thomas Manger, Chief of Police, Montgomery County Department of Police.

Adventure Theatre (founded in 1951) and Musical Theater Center (founded in 1986) merged into one organization in 2012.  The combined entity is called Adventure Theatre MTC.  Located in Glen Echo Park (Glen Echo, MD) and The Wintergreen Plaza (Rockville, MD), Adventure Theatre MTC (ATMTC) cultivates new generations of artists and life-long audiences by creating memorable theatrical productions and experiences and by providing young people the highest quality training in musical theater and theater.

The ATMTC Academy offerings complement the National & State Fine Arts Standards of Learning, providing a challenging outlet for students to develop the skills necessary to be successful performers - including self-discipline, teamwork, problem solving, and self-confidence.  ATMTC Academy Alumni have numerous Broadway, national tour, TV and film credits.  ATMTC fosters collaborations and partnerships with local and national arts, humanities and civic organizations.  These collaborations, which have been recognized locally, regionally, and nationally, help to ensure that all of our programming is diverse, affordable and accessible. Adventure Theatre MTC is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization.

I've had the extreme pleasure of working with the lovely, sharp and talented Azie Mira Dungey on a number of occasions. The recent attention and immediate success for her new web series Ask a Slave!  comes as no surprise.  

Ask a Slave! is based entirely on the day-to-day encounters she had while working as a slave character at George Washington's Mount Vernon. The character of Lizzie Mae is a made up person, who did not live at Mount Vernon, but is inspired by the women she portrayed. This smart, witty, satirical look at race relations is a welcome and useful addition to current racial and social discourse. Click here to hear her recent interview NPR's Meghna Chakrabarti on Here and Now.

Episodes One and Two have already been released. New videos will be released every Sunday. Make sure you don't miss a single one by subscribing here. Four more videos will be released in the series. Please enjoy Episode One: Meet Lizzie Mae.

If you enjoyed this episode, please consider making a donation to Ask a Slave! by clicking here. To learn more about Azie Mira Dungey, the process and inspiration for Ask a Slave!, and a behind-the-scenes look at production, please enjoy this interview. 

JACQUELINE LAWTON:  Why did you decide to get into theater? Was there someone or a particular show that inspired you?
AZIE MIRA DUNGEY: That is an easy question. I have always loved television and films. When I was a little girl, I watched The Carol Burnett show every night before bed. I spent most of my time writing stories and acting them out. This is how I entertained myself as an only child who did not attend preschool.

What sealed the deal for me, so to speak, was a performance I attended with my mother. It was “Ragtime” at the Kennedy Center. My mother is not a fan of musicals, but I remember looking over to her in middle of Act II and her eyes were filled with tears. And I thought, “I want to do that.” I don’t mean that I wanted to make my mother cry. I wanted to make people connect with a story and find an emotional release--laughter, tears, what have you-- for the greatest purpose: to learn more about themselves, and each other, and grapple with this question of what it means to be human. For me, Ragtime did that. And it’s still my favorite show.

JL: How long did you live and work as an actor in the D.C. area? What brought you here?
AMD: I moved to Prince George’s County when I was 8 years old. I grew up mostly in College Park. I went to NYU, and soon after graduation, I came back. Honestly it was because I got married, and we decided to make a go of it there. It was a great decision and I enjoyed working in theatre there. I’ve lived in Los Angeles for about 9 months now.

JL: You describe “Ask a Slave” as a new comedy web series hosted by the plucky Lizzie Mae, housemaid to George and Martha Washington. What inspired you to create this provocative, smart and humorous new show?
AMD: I worked at Mount Vernon as a part-time day job for about two years. I actually quite enjoyed it, mostly because I loved the people I worked with and I love learning. The subject matter was horrifying, but the working experience was quite pleasant.

The impetus for this series came from friends and family. I would tell them the stories of these crazy or disturbing or humorous interactions with visitors, and we would laugh or be incredibly angry together (many times both). They encouraged me to write it down, which I started doing. I had a conversation with the DC-area actress Jennifer Mendenhall while in her kitchen, and she was very insistent that I make a show about it. She was thinking theatre, maybe a one-woman show. As I ruminated over it, it became clear to me that it would work best on film because the questioners could sort of pop in and out, and my character would still be in control.

I wanted to talk about these crazy Mount Vernon questions, not just to make fun of them or the experience I had, but also to give kind of a “checking-in” on where we are as a country with this. History is our narrative, it shapes what we think of ourselves and our society. How it is controlled, and whose stories get told (or not told) has a strong effect on culture, and even on public policy. These misconceptions about black history and the modern black experience is really dividing us politically and socially. If we don’t understand racism and where it comes from, how can we end it? How can we weed it out? We have to be critical of these things to make true progress. 

JL: What is a living history character? How is this different from playing a character from history in a film or play?
AMD:  I spent about two months in the MV library reading about the time period, and George Washington’s life, and the very specific stories of three enslaved women that I portrayed. That was amazing. I learned so much and I was eager to give that knowledge away.

Living history can be very effective, but it is also very strange. The strange part is that you are kind of caught between actor and educator, and you are put in situations that this person you are playing would never have experienced. Caroline Branham, Mrs Washington’s Lady’s maid, would never have been sitting in a Greenhouse sewing shirts and talking to a school group from Ohio that keeps trying to explain to her what a cell phone is. So it can be very frustrating and awkward. 

I should say that MV actors don’t do living history, exactly. At Williamsburg, you will see living history, because they are living as a town in that time, and you, as a visitor, walk into that world. At Mount Vernon, there were maybe 5 of us, and on any given day, perhaps 1-3 of us working at a time, and we were the only ones “living” in 1797. We were really just there to answer questions. I did not wash clothes, or dye wool or fetch tea for Mrs. Washington. I was a “housemaid” who wasn’t even allowed to be in house because it is a museum! So that is why is was all about the questions.

JL: What do you love about playing Lizze Mae? What is the most challenging part of bringing her to life? 
AMD: Lizzie Mae is just great. I love playing her. (I mean, I wrote her!) I love that she is candid but thoughtful, and gracious. I think she is very classy, though she is a low-status person. That is something that I believe is a part of the African American female experience: Having to find grace and dignity in yourself and your life in a world that thinks you are less than a man, and even less than a human.

That was actually also the most challenging. To tow the line between her own high sense of herself and her inherent oppression. People at MV often asked me if I (my character) was happy. I would say “People like me aren’t given happiness in this life, we have to make it.” I wanted to make sure that came across. She can find laughter and goodness in a moment, but she is living in the pain and horror of slavery.

Another issue was making sure that she did not become a minstrel show. I don’t think I have to get into that. We all know what I mean. But she is not the butt of the joke. Her speech patterns, her looks, her situation is not what makes the comedy. It’s the ignorance and misconceptions of others that bring the laughs. That was very important. 

JL: What is the process of creating a web series? Who are your collaborators? How long does it take from when you’ve written an episode to when it’s finished and ready? 
AMD: For me it started with the writing. I wasn’t going to do anything until I was very comfortable with the scripts. And that took a lot of effort because it’s such a delicate process, finding humor with slavery staring you in the face. Slavery is not funny, and no one should try to make it so. The script underwent many revisions.

The director, Jordan Black, is a phenomenal person and artist. He was on-board from the moment I contacted him (with no introduction) on Facebook. He is the creator of a show at the Groundlings called “The Black Version” which is an all-black improv show that is one of the most popular comedy shows in LA. I am a student at the Groundlings, and a mutual friend, a brilliant actress named Katierose Donahue told me about him. He really pushed the script in the right direction, impressing upon me that I should focus focus focus on the questions. He pulled in many of the actors you see in the show from the Groundlings Sunday Company that he directs. I couldn’t have been happier with his work.

We shot all the content for six episodes in two days, with about 2 1/2 hours on a third day for pick-up shots. Ryan Moulton was our DP and editor. He is fantastic. One day we shot all of the “Questions” right outside of the Groundlings Theatre on Melrose Ave in West Hollywood. People came in 10-20 minute blocks. Our Production Manager Pamela Peters kept us on schedule. The second day was shooting the “Guest Appearance” scenes, like the one with the abolitionist and all of my answers. We didn’t even know which Q&A would go where. We just shot it and then later collaborated on how to situate the content within the episodes.

Then Ryan cut it all six episodes.  Johnny, my husband, did the sound, and Jamie Noguchi, who is a fabulous visual artist and comic book author, made the cute animated intro. We shot it and went through several drafts of the editing and such, and all in all it was about 2-3 months.

JL: On the show, different people ask Lizzy Mae questions about her life. Issues of race and race relations are addressed with great candor and wit. Where do you get these questions?
AMD: The questions were word for word what I was asked while working at Mount Vernon. You really can’t make this stuff up.

A few of the actors used their amazing improv skills to come up with some questions while we were shooting. About 3 ended up in the series. I only chose them if they were close to something I remembered being asked. For instance the one about face products. She made that up on the spot. People were always commenting on my skin being so pretty. I did tell a woman, “You don’t want this skin. It hasn’t done me any good.”

JL: If there is one thing you want audiences to walk away knowing or thinking about after experiencing Ask a Slave, what would that be? 
AMD: Read a book. That is all I ask. Really a book.

No, really, on a serious not. One thing I notice at Mount Vernon was how visitors felt such strong and immediate affinity to George Washington and his story. And rightly so, he deserves it. However, in this series, I hope people begin to feel that same passion for the Lizzie Maes of history as well. Her history belongs to all of us as well.

I wish people would see America differently. We made this country together. White, black, American Indian, and everyone else. When I look at my family history, which I know back to the 1690s, that is what I see. We need to have an interest in everyone’s American story. Black history is not a separate history or a less important one. We have been here from the beginning. We are America, too.

JL: Where can we watch new episodes of “Ask a Slave?”
AMD: Please subscribe to our "Ask a Slave" youtube channel. There are two episodes up now. We will post one new episode per week. They will also be posted on the web site AskASlave.com and our Facebook page.

JL: How can we support “Ask a Slave” to make sure this wonderful new series continues? 
AMD: Well, I would love to make more than our initial 6 episodes, but I am currently out of funds. If you would like to see more, please give to our gofundme page.

AZIE MIRA DUNGEY
Azie is an actor/writer living in Los Angeles. She is from the Washington, DC area where she worked in both historical interpretation and professional regional theatre, performing in shows at the Smithsonian, Folger Shakespeare Theatre, and the Studio Theatre, one of which earned a Helen Hayes nomination. She is soon to be featured in the upcoming web series Josie and Dale, directed by Mark Rutman. Azie is a graduate of NYU Tisch School of the Arts, and is currently studying at the Groundlings Theatre and School. 

Once again, Norman Allen, Renee Calarco and I served as mentors to young playwrights who had been awarded the 2013 Playwrights Discovery Award as part of The Kennedy Center's Department of VSA and Accessibility.

This year’s distinquished recipients were chosen from more than 350 applications nationwide and an excerpt of their work will be presented at the Kennedy Center as part the 11th Annual Page-to-Stage Festival. In my next post, I'm going to introduce you to the mentors and share their experience and the role of mentorship! For now, here's more information about the reading and the wonderful young playwrights!!!

The John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts 
presents the
28th Annual Playwright Discovery Performance
Staged readings of four award-winning student scripts
Sunday, September 1, 2013 at 6:00 p.m. 
MILLENNIUM STAGE SOUTH

I had a wonderful experience again this year, so wanted to check in with Norman and Renee. They were kind enough to share their thoughts. Please enjoy and I hope to see you on Sunday!

What excited you about working with VSA Playwrights Discovery Program again this year?
I had such a fantastic time working with the program last year that I jumped at the opportunity to return. The process itself is rather dramatic. You spend several weeks working with your young playwright by phone and email. You get to know them and their work and their goals. You share ideas about what it means to collaborate with actors and directors. Then suddenly the day comes when they arrive in Washington and you get to be in the same room together.

Last year, it was especially interesting to watch the young playwrights during the rehearsal process. I think it’s always difficult and complicated when a playwright lays their work before other artists. It takes a level of maturity to be open and flexible, and yet also hold fast to your central vision. A lot of adult playwrights I know have never mastered this. To watch young writers move toward it can be very moving.

Who is your playwright and why should audiences come experience his/her play?
Will Hedgecock is a brilliant young writer, with an incredibly mature comic sense. His play Bad Days is an exploration of depression, how it affects a person, and how that person is perceived by others. But he does this with a light, comic touch. It’s a very difficult line to walk – taking a very serious subject and dealing with it in a humorous way. Will walks that line brilliantly.

He also has a lot to say with this play. It touches on family relationships, on romance, on loyalty. It’s the portrait of a young man discovering his own strength, and I think audiences will discover some new perspectives by stepping into this story.

What are your thoughts on mentorship?
You know I can’t get through this interview without quoting The King and I. Mrs. Anna sings, “If you become a teacher, by your pupils you’ll be taught.” And she’s right. I spent the last year working as a mentor with the Center for Inspired Teaching, coaching teachers in DC public schools. I never left one of those classrooms without knowing more than I went in. It’s the same here. The key to mentoring is, actually, recognizing that it’s very different from teaching. You’re not there as the expert, or the one who holds all the knowledge. You’re there to enter into conversation with another artist who has similar interests and similar goals. There was definitely stuff I had to share with Will after working as a playwright for the last twenty years, but Will and I met as equals, and I think we both benefited from the experience.

What excited you about working with VSA Playwrights Discovery Program again this year?
Last year, I had such a great time—and learned so much from my mentee—that I absolutely jumped at the chance to work with VSA again. I love working with young playwrights because they’re still exploring and learning and doing astonishing things with their scripts. And their energy is contagious! Last year, after the weekend was over, I dove right back into a script I’d been struggling with. There’s something about the community of young writers that’s so inspirational.

Who is your playwright and why should audiences come experience his/her play?
Mickey Liebrecht is 16 and thinks big. Really big. Her play, BROKEN BODIES, has a cast of 13. Several characters speak American Sign Language. It’s a play about broken bodies…broken relationships…and the ultimate healing that comes with time. Also, Mickey’s got an amazing ear for dialogue, which is something you just can’t teach. Though her play has 13 characters, each one of them has his or her own unique voice. It’s quite an accomplishment. (A note: the excerpt we’ll be hearing at Millenium Stage does not involve all 13 of those characters!)  

What are your thoughts on mentorship?
I love it. We so often talk about “giving back” to our communities in one way or another, but I have to admit that I feel like I’m taking more than I’m giving. Again, it’s that energy and enthusiasm that inspires me so much. And I think we all need mentors—no matter how old we are or how many hours we’ve spent writing and revising. It helps to have someone to not only guide you,  but to also act as a sounding board and peer. It’s more of a give-and-take relationship, which I just love.

What excited you about working with VSA Playwrights Discovery Program again this year?
The mission of the program is what drew me back. Also, it’s wonderful to be a part of the professional experience that these young playwrights get to experience. It’s amazing to be at the beginning of a process with a young playwright. I get to all the things to her that I wish had been said to me in terms of honoring voice and vision for the play. Both years, I was in the process of writing my own play and I learned a lot from each meeting about coming back to the “What if?” and about remembering what originally drew me to the story and characters in the first place. What’s more, any and all advice I gave to my mentee, I turned back and gave to myself! Finally, there’s nothing like getting that late night text that says, “I finished the next draft! It’s only its way!” It’s beautiful to be able to celebrate that success with someone who understands that feeling.

Who is your playwright and why should audiences come experience his/her play?
Nicole Zimmerer is an extraordinary young woman and I am fortunate for having spent this time with her. She is a talented, passionate, smart and hardworking writer. In her play, Falling with Grace, we meet a teenager working to figure out the rest of her life. She has cerebral palsy, but doesn’t want to be defined or limited by her disability. She is quite independent, which makes it difficult to confront feelings of the loss and anxiety that comes with major transitions in life such as graduation. She lashes out at those she loves, when really she wants to hold on them and keep every still, everything in place. It’s a beautiful play, a brilliant journey of struggle, acceptance, and hope. What I love most about this play are the relationships between women. It’s a play about mothers and daughters, and also about best friends of two generations. It’s funny, insightful and unlike any play that I’ve ever before experienced.

What are your thoughts on mentorship?
When I think about mentoring, I think about this quote from Benjamin Franklin:

“Tell me and I forget, teach me and I may remember, involve me and I learn.” 

I completely agree with Norman that being a mentor different from being a teacher. It’s a process of engaging another person in rich, inspired and challenging dialogue about shared passions, thoughts and ambitions. This allows each person to come to the conversation at different points of entry, different levels of experience and different points of views. You meet in a place of respect and admiration. After reading Nicole’s play, I was excited to speak with her about the process of writing and about how we go deeper into our characters to make them bolder, richer and more realized. But this wasn’t about what I could teach her; it was about sharing what we each experienced in our lives and how that could manifest on the page. I consider myself very fortunate to have been a part of this experience.

JACQUELINE E. LAWTON
Jacqueline E. Lawton received her MFA from the University of Texas at Austin, where she was a James A. Michener Fellow. Her plays include Anna K;Blood-bound and Tongue-tied; Deep Belly Beautiful; The Devil’s Sweet Water;The Hampton Years; Ira Aldridge: the African Roscius; Lions of Industry, Mothers of Invention; Love Brothers Serenade, Mad Breed and Our Man Beverly Snow. She has received commissions from Active Cultures Theater, Discovery Theater, National Portrait Gallery, National Museum of American History, Round House Theatre and Theater J. Her play, Cinder Blocks, was published in Experiments in a Jazz Aesthetic: Art, Activism, Academia, and the Austin Project (University of Texas Press). A 2012 TCG Young Leaders of Color, she has been nominated for the Wendy Wasserstein Prize and a PONY Fellowship from the Lark New Play Development Center.

About VSA
VSA, the international organization on arts and disability, was founded more than 35 years ago by Ambassador Jean Kennedy Smith to provide arts and education opportunities for people with disabilities and increase access to the arts for all. VSA is an affiliate of the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts. For more information, www.vsarts.org.

About Education at the Kennedy Center
As the national center for the performing arts, the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts is committed to increasing opportunities for all people to participate in and understand the arts. To fulfill that mission, the Kennedy Center strives to commission, create, design, produce, and/or present performances and programs of the highest standard of excellence and of a diversity that reflects the world in which we live—and to make those performances and programs accessible and inclusive.