The USC School of Dramatic Arts announces its second annual Diversity and Inclusion Summit, taking place from Oct. 27-30, 2016. Consisting of a series of interactive workshops, panel discussions and performances, the summit was created to foster community through civic and conscious dialogue around issues of race, gender, culture and identity.

Organized by SDA Associate Professor Anita Dashiell-Sparks who also serves as the School’s Diversity Liaison Officer, these events are 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. The theme for 2016 is Crossroads – Embracing Race, Class and Gender in Theatre, Television and Film and will be guest facilitated by Jacqueline E. Lawton, playwright, dramaturg, Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion Advocate. All events are open to the entire USC community.

Schedule of Events
Thursday, October 27
12:00pm-1:30pm Cultural Appropriation and Cultural Capital Workshop - PED 208
This workshop facilitated by Shafiqua Sahmadi from USC Rossier School of Education will define the difference between celebration and exploitation of cultural customs and traditions. Participants will also examine the various forms of capital we collectively have from our diverse backgrounds that enable us to become allies. RSVP for this event.

1:30pm-3:00pm “Having Our Say” – Theatre for Social Change Workshop - PED 206
Jacqueline E. Lawton will facilitate a workshop exploring how art and theatre provide a creative and critical space for dealing with complex issues of diversity and inclusion. RSVP for this event.

3:00pm–5:00pm Performing Gender Workshop - PED 207
An interactive gender-based, workshop exploring the play SEVEN. One of the seven playwrights, Paula Cizmar, will discuss creative process of documentary theatre based on current events. Jacqueline E. Lawton will lead participants in a gender identity activity. RSVP for this event.

Saturday, October 29
10:00am-11:30am Theatre of the Oppressed Workshop - MCC 111
Dr. Brent Blair, Boal scholar-practitioner, will facilitate a workshop in theatre of the oppressed techniques that provoke civic and community engagement surrounding issues of diversity and inclusion. RSVP for this event.

11:30am-1:30pm #Every 28 Hours Project - MCC 111
Join a national collaboration of multicultural theatre artists responding to our Civil Rights Movement. After a community reading of one-minute plays produced by the Oregon Shakespeare Festival, Jacqueline E. Lawton and Oliver Mayer, will moderate discussion including community leaders/educators, and facilitate a creative writing workshop. RSVP for this event.

2:00pm-3:30pm Staging Diversity Panel - MCC 111
Join artistic directors Jon Lawrence Rivera (Playwright’s Arena), Anthony Abatemarco (Skylight Theatre Company), Gregg Daniel (Lower Depth Theatre Ensemble) and Khanisha Foster (Educational Outreach, Center Theatre Group) for a conversation about play selection, inclusive casting, diversifying audiences and educational/community outreach initiatives. RSVP for this event.

3:30pm-5:00pm Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion (EDI) Workshop - MCC 111
Jacqueline E. Lawton, playwright, dramaturg, and Equity, Diversity and Inclusion Advocate, will facilitate a workshop/discussion about how to effectively implement strategies and mission-relevant initiatives to enhance the culture of your school, organization, or business. RSVP for this event.

5:00pm-7:00pm Reading of The Hampton Years - MCC 111
USC students and alumni will present a staged reading of The Hampton Years, written by Jacqueline E. Lawton. This reading will be directed by Anita Dashiell-Sparks, Associate Professor of Theatre Practice and SDA Diversity Liaison. RSVP for this event.

Sunday, October 30
10:00am-12:00pm Performing Race and Class - PED 206
Screenings of the groundbreaking series Queen Sugar and Atlanta will illuminate different perspectives about race and class through the genres of drama and comedy. A discussion with Queen Sugar’s Anthony Sparks (writer/producer) and Ayanna Floyd Davis (writer/producer, Empire, Private Practice), moderated by Anita Dashiell-Sparks, will immediately follow the screening. RSVP for this event.

12:00pm–1:00pm Identity Politics and Representation in Mass Media - PED 206
A panel discussion, moderated by David Maquiling from the USC School of Cinematic Arts, examining how multi-cultural actors, writers, producers and directors explore, define, and represent diverse identities and culture on stage and on screen. RSVP for this event.

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.

From the halls of Congress to pulpits and court houses around the country, there is so much noise around abortion - but it’s women’s personal stories that have been silenced. Until now. Now our stories come Out of Silence.

Playwrights: Allyson Currin, D.W. Gregory, Caleen Sinnette Jennings, Nicole Jost, Jacqueline E. Lawton, Kristen LePine, Jennifer L. Nelson, Anu Yadav and Karen Zacarías

Director: Marie Sproul

Performance Dates and Times
Friday 7/10 at 8:15 PM 
Tuesday 7/14 at 8:00 PM
Saturday 7/18 at 2:30 PM 
Thursday 7/23 at 10:00 PM
Sunday 7/26 at 6:00 PM

Location: All performances will take place at Gallaudet University: Eastman Studio Theatre, located at 800 Florida Ave NE , Washington, DC, 20002.

Cost: Tickets are $17 each. Online sales end 2 hours before performance, but tickets may be available at venue 45 minutes prior to show. Click here to purchase tickets.

Additional Info:
Running time: 75 minutes.
Recommended for ages 13 and up. This show contains profanity.
Each performance will be ASL interpreted.
Capital Fringe Festival Button required for admission.

Inspired by real abortion stories, Out of Silence: Abortion Stories from the 1 in 3 Campaign confronts the cacophony of polarizing political rhetoric that surrounds abortion and instead asks us to listen to the voices of women and to explore with them the situations, relationships, emotions and logistics that contextualize their decisions to seek abortion care. Composed of a series of vignettes Out of Silence is at times heartbreaking, funny, and even commonplace but always thought provoking and honest.

After the premiere last fall, an overwhelming number of people asked how they could bring Out of Silence to their school, theatre, and communities. Now, you can sign up to perform Out of Silence this October! Registration deadline is August 15th. Click here to learn more.

By hosting a performance, you can help to challenge the stigma around abortion by engaging in dialogue with your community. When you sign up, you’ll receive copies of the script, a toolkit to assist in planning the performance, in addition to 1 in 3 Campaign Materials and swag, all for FREE!

Regrettably, I won't be able to attend the production of American Theater Company’s annual 10 x 10 Play Festival. Bright and early tomorrow morning, I'm heading to D.C. for first rehearsal of the Wonderful Wizard of Oz at Adventure Theatre. So, all good and wonderful things, but it's a busy time! I'm excited to hear how it goes and will certainly share anything that I learn. Now, as you know, I've been connecting with the wonderful playwrights being featured and decided to respond as well. In this interview, I talk about a bit what inspired me to get involved in theatre, the relevant themes of my plays, and the role of theatre as a tool for social change. Click here to learn more about the 10 x 10 Festival and I hope you enjoy!

Why did you decide to get into theatre? Was there someone or a particular show that inspired you?
I’ve always loved theatre. I credit both my mother’s love of MGM musicals and a TYA touring production of Jack and the Beanstalk that got me hooked. I wrote plays, poems, short stories, and performed in high school. In college, I was frustrated by the lack of performance opportunities for students of color and decided to focus on playwriting in addition to screenwriting. This way, I could create roles for actors of color. This way, I could creatively channel my frustration and disappoint into action.

Next, tell me a little bit about your writing process. Do you have any writing rituals? Do you write in the same place or in different places?
Yes! I find music and images that speak to the world of the play and the characters. I do a lot of research on the socio-economic and geographical politics of the characters. I also study the foodways of each character. Food teaches so much about people. Also, for 8 years, I wrote in the same place. I lived in a lovely basement apartment in D.C. and had a secretary desk. While it had lovely windows, I could make it dark as night. I’d write by candlelight. Now, I live on the 3rd floor. My desk faces a large window, which gets direct sun and moonlight.  It’s a new and different energy. I have to learn what works in this new space.

Why was it important for you to be a part of American Theatre Company’s 10 x 10 Festival? 
I’ve been following the incidents surrounding Ferguson closely since day one. I read everything I could find and watched the live feeds of the protest. With the Ferguson Moment, I joined the efforts of my colleagues Claudia Alick, Mica Cole, and Megan Sandberg-Zakian to support theatre artists in Ferguson and across the nation in organizing a national artistic response to all that was happening. Of course, understanding that national tragedies raise awareness around local issues, I knew it was important to create a space for dialogue in my new community. Three weeks after moving to Chapel Hill, I worked with Triangle theatre artists Jules Odendahl-James, Monet Marshall, Ana Radulescu, Jeri-Lynn Schulke, Devra Thomas, and Kathryn Hunter Williams to produce the New Black Fest’s Hands Up. In addition to the performance, we are hosting a series of town halls and will be working with members of the community to create a response to issues of social injustice and racial oppression happening right here. However, in the midst of all of this, I hadn’t created my own response until ATC asked me to take part. Through these two 5 minute plays, I was able to focus my anger, fear, and disappointment in a creative way.

Tell me about your plays. What do you hope the audience walks away thinking about after experiencing it?
My plays are called Black Lives, White Chalk and A New Sense, A New Direction. They feature two mothers; one is white and one is black. Neighbors, best friends from college, and mothers to teenaged sons, they are forced to face the harsh realities of racial difference and privilege. I hope that audience walk away encouraged to stay active, engaged and informed of these issues.

What role does theater have in advocacy work?
Theatre is a powerful tool for social justice and change. It’s a space that holds multiple truths and allows us to explore the human condition. By using theatre as a catalyst for discussion, we can create empathy, affirm experiences, raise awareness, hold folks accountable for action and inaction, and offer a way through. 

What next for you as a writer? Where can we follow your work?
Well, I'm fortunate to have a few things lined up. My adaptation of the Wonderful Wizard of Oz will receive a world premiere at Adventure Theatre-MTC (April 3 to May 25). A reading of Noms de Guerre will be presented by WAM Theatre on Sunday, June 14th at 3:00pm under the direction of Tony Award nominee Jayne Atkinson. Next season, Virginia Stage Company will produce the area premiere of The Hampton Years. I’m also working on a new play, AMONG THESE WILD THINGS, which explores the intersection of art, science and religion. ou can follow me at jacquelinelawton.com

JACQUELINE E. LAWTON was named one of 30 of the nation's leading black playwrights by Arena Stage’s American Voices New Play Institute. 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 (2013 semi-finalist for the Eugene O’Neill Theater Center’s National Playwrights Conference); Mad Breed; Noms de Guerre; and Our Man Beverly Snow. Ms. Lawton received her MFA in Playwriting from the University of Texas at Austin, where she was a James A. Michener Fellow. She is a 2012 TCG Young Leaders of Color award recipient, National New Play Network (NNPN) Playwright Alum, and member of Arena Stage's Playwrights' Arena. She is also a proud member of the Dramatist Guild of America.

10 outstanding playwrights tackle race, police brutality, and community in Ferguson, New York City, and around the world. 10 inspired directors bring their work to life. 

Join us on March 9 at 7:30pm for a uniquely challenging one-night-only engagement at the American Theater Company, as we are proud to present our annual short plays festival, 10x10. 

Tickets are free but seats will fill up fast. To make a reservation, send us an email at [email protected]. Due to high demand, we are only able to reserve up to two seats per request. 

At the door, we suggest a $10 donation to help us cover the cost of supporting the festival, though we welcome you to pay what you can.

This Year's Playwrights:
Jeff Augustin. Kristiana Rae Colón. Matthew-Lee Erlbach. Jacqueline E Lawton. Bonnie Metzgar. Dominique Morisseau. Lucas Neff. A Rey Pamatmat. Akin Salawu. Aurin Squire.

Our Directors:
Kaiser Ahmed. Grace Cannon. Amanda Delheimer Dimond. Matt Dominguez. Azar Kazemi. Reed Motz. Hutch Pimentel. Tlaloc Rivas. Samuel Roberson. Conner Wilson.

Jacqueline Lawton: Why did you decide to get into theatre? Was there someone or a particular show that inspired you?
Dominique Morisseau: It was always in my bones.  My mother exposed me to plays and performance art at a very young age.  Anytime dance companies or shows came to town, she took me.  I saw Stephanie Mills originate the role of Dorothy in The Wiz.  I’m sure that seeped in me.  I was hooked from youth.

JL: Next, tell me a little bit about your writing process. Do you have any writing rituals? Do you write in the same place or in different places?
DM: Music is always my ritual.  I find music that speaks to the world, the time period, or the mood of the piece.  It often gets used in the play itself.  But even if not, it evokes something in me.  But I write many different places.  My living room couch.  My kitchen counter while I’m standing.  My desk.  My bed.  A random coffee table at a shop.  The Lark Play Development Center Writers Room.  Those are some of my fav places to write.

JL: Why was it important for you to be a part of American Theatre Company’s 10 x 10 Festival? 
DM: If they hadn’t gotten to me first, I was sure someone would, and I would have to respond.  We write because we are trying to articulate something or make sense of the world around us.  It’s hard to make sense of our current system of injustice and social rage, but it’s important to give it voice and space.

JL: Tell me about your play. What do you hope the audience walks away thinking about after experiencing it?
DM: My play (there is just one for me) is called JEZELLE THE GAZELLE.  It is a one-woman piece about a little girl who is running a race on her block.  But it is really about her politics and how she sees the world from the point of view of being a girl/woman and what it means for her role in justice.

I hope they’ll take in the perspective of how the youth are impacted by these things, not just young Black men, but everyone who shares collective space and community with them.

JL: What role does theater have in advocacy work?
DM: Theater creates the emotional buy in to advocacy work. Without an emotional relationship to the work, the work doesn’t get completed.

JL: What next for you as a writer? Where can we follow your work?
DM: I’m working on a three-play cycle about my hometown of Detroit, called “The Detroit Projects”.  You can find the first of the series, DETROIT ‘67, in Atlanta or Minneapolis next.  The second play in the cycle, PARADISE BLUE, will be done at Williamstown Theatre this summer.  And be on the lookout for the last play in the cycle, SKELETON CREW, coming to NY later this year.  Outside of my 3-play cycle, my play SUNSET BABY will have it’s Chicago premiere at Timeline Theatre.  And you can follow me on Facebook or twitter: @domorisseau

Jacqueline Lawton: Why did you decide to get into theatre? Was there someone or a particular show that inspired you?
Jeff Augustin: I didn’t get into theater until college, where my professor Dr. Scott Cummings encouraged me to pursue playwriting. But what inspired me to take a theater class in the first place was Gus Edward’s play Lifetime on the Streets. I read it my senior year of High School, in the prologue he writes “these are the stories behind the faces we see, but never get to know, their hopes, loves, dreams and desires.” Growing up in a Haitian community, I never saw my mom’s story or my neighbors on TV. I think theater has the capability to bring us into the lives of people we don’t see in mainstream culture.

JL: Next, tell me a little bit about your writing process. Do you have any writing rituals? Do you write in the same place or in different places?
JA: I don’t really have any rituals. But if I stay home to write I’ll end up watching Netflix and taking long naps. So I mostly write in coffee shops.  I tend to write in one place for 2-3 hours and move to another. I’m very familiar with all the coffee shops in my neighborhood, and am very grateful to them if any baristas are reading!

JL: Why was it important for you to be a part of American Theatre Company’s 10 x 10 Festival? 
JA: Typically when you write about a current issue it can take time for a theater to read it and if you’re lucky if they produce it, by which point it usually feels dated. There was something empowering about being asked to respond to a current event, one that (unfortunately) speaks so directly to the experience of my brother and male cousins.

JL: Tell me about your plays. What do you hope the audience walks away thinking about after experiencing it?
JA: My pieces are Sidetrack and Stop & Frisk, which follow an interracial gay couple in Chicago. I want the audience to think about how events like Ferguson affect our personal relationships and how easy it is to get caught up in the sensationalism and forget what’s at stake.

JL: What role does theater have in advocacy work?
JA: I’m the Playwright-in-Residence at the Roundabout Theater and I’m involved in the Education Department. It has been important to me to have a connection with the students in the program because when I was growing up I didn’t know theater was available to people who look like me or grew up in places like Overtown, Miami. It’s by individual artists—particularly artists from minority backgrounds— serving our communities that theater really can have an affect, so I hope to do more of that throughout the rest of my career.

JL: What next for you as a writer? Where can we follow your work?
JA: I currently have a play, Little Children Dream of God, playing at the Roundabout Underground through April 5. I’m also a co-writer of That High Lonesome Sound, which is part of this years Humana Festival.

Jacqueline Lawton: Why did you decide to get into theatre? Was there someone or a particular show that inspired you?
Matthew-Lee Erlbach: Second City showed me you could make a career out of making people laugh. Then I found the theatre, really, in high school and undergrad. So, I had a lot of teachers and definitely my family inspiring me along the way.

The show that really did me in, however, was the Fiona Shaw/Deborah Warner MEDEA that toured from the UK. It was epic and intense. And expertly acted by Ms. Shaw. I’ll never forget that feeling of collective breathlessness—literally, the audience is at the edge of their seats: the light is this raw, stark, ugly, bare white; this loud siren or something is blaring; and she runs by with those limp, bloody kids under her arms like small dead animals. And then!  Blood just streaks across that sheet out of nowhere. We were all just like, “What the fuck just happened here?” And the audience, we’re all looking at each other, laughing uncomfortably, there’s some chatter, disbelief, joy (at this murder!), but really just an overall shock that we had witnessed this moment in time of pure theatricality and total realism. It was magical. I became a witness that night and have never turned back.

JL: Next, tell me a little bit about your writing process. Do you have any writing rituals? Do you write in the same place or in different places?
MLE: I work out and I meditate. And I write whenever and wherever I can because it takes me a while to break in. And when I do, I just go. My typical full day of writing will be 9a at this one particular coffee shop, then I need to leave there by 1p or 2p to go to another one for a change of pace, then I’ll go home and write in bed from about 5p-7p, if I can, and try not to spend any more time in front of a screen, which is hard because I am quick to fall into a Wikipedia or YouTube spiral.

JL: Why was it important for you to be a part of American Theatre Company’s 10 x 10 Festival? 
MLE: My whole reason for being an artist is to contribute to the conversation, affect it, move it forward, challenge it. So when the opportunity came up—and having had a great experience with the last one I did with ATC—it was a no-brainer. Also, I live in NYC now but I grew up in Rogers Park. Peterson and Maplewood. And it was a really diverse neighborhood. I mean, we had everybody. Just on our block, Peterson to Glenwood, were white families, black families, fresh-off-the-boat German, Swedish, Syrian, Filipino, Mexican, Pakistani, and Japanese families. We even had a cat lady. So right off the bat, the mythology I grew up with was one of multitudes and diversity. It was pretty incredible when I look back and really think about that because I don’t know if that still exists. Oh, and the kicker was, we all knew each other—we had block parties every summer. We were actually a community. I don’t mean to make it out to be a Utopia or anything but it bears mentioning because we have become so culturally isolated from one another. And we’ve lost that curiosity about one another. And with that lack of curiosity, we lose empathy. And with that lost empathy, we lose a fully dimensional representation of who we are as individuals and are instead rendered as flat groups: the Blacks, the Whites, the Jews, the Russians. We are having an existential crisis of cultural identity and kindness. So this festival is important because I deconstruct Representation in my play REPRESENTATION and I deconstruct Words in my play WORDS. Most importantly, I feel very strongly and have many ideas about what, exactly, Ferguson represents at this moment and in the arc of our national history and future.

JL: Tell me about your plays. What do you hope the audience walks away thinking about after experiencing it?
MLE: My plays are REPRESENTATION and WORDS. I hope audiences walk away with questions about representation and also words.

JL: What role does theater have in advocacy work?
MLE: Well, theatre, at its core, is a form of community organizing. In that same regard, theatre is a social utility. And anytime you bring a community together in this public utility, you are pollenating ideas, emotions, and sometimes actions—which is all a part of advocacy. The audience, then, become advocates for the characters—they want them to win—so on a technical level, when you buy your ticket and sit down at a theatre, you are already going to be an advocate, you just don’t know all the details of what you’ll be asked to do. So I think theatre has a really important role in advocacy work because like WAITING FOR LEFTY or ANGELS, there’s great opportunity to have that social intercourse with the community. That said, I worry about theatre in advocacy work because I tend to tune out if I feel I’m being preached to ideologically. I’m not always in the mood for that. And I don’t know audiences, on a broad scale are interested in that either. Some are, for sure. But I think theatre is at its best when those ideas, those angry, passionate ideas, are dealt with nuance. That said, NORMAL HEART on Broadway beat the shit out of me emotionally, so. You know. I go both ways.

JL: What next for you as a writer? Where can we follow your work?
MLE: My play SEX OF THE BABY, a comedy, will be going up Off-Bway this year, directed by Michele Bossy. Beyond that, I’m working on a tragicomic peoples’ history of the American Revolution in verse with original music, called KING GEORGE III, which will have a workshop at Ars Nova. And finally, my play THE DOPPELGÄNGER, this farce about the division of a copper mine in the Central African Republic is in development with Moritz Von Stuelpnagel right now. If there’s any one play I write that I could get kidnapped for, I’m really hoping it’s this one.

Jacqueline Lawton: Why did you decide to get into theatre? Was there someone or a particular show that inspired you?
Lucas Neff: I got into theatre because my university misprocessed my application and put me in the wrong department.  I just stuck with it because I hate paperwork, and my mom said something along the lines of “You’re a loudmouth, fuck it, give it a go.” She’ll say she didn’t swear, but she’s probably lying.

JL: Next, tell me a little bit about your writing process. Do you have any writing rituals? Do you write in the same place or in different places?
LN: I write wherever.  But I only like to write on my computer because of my super sweet lightning fast typographic skills. Thank you, seventh grade computer processing class. I have no rituals.  I’m not a big believer in rituals.  I think they have the potential to narrow us into predictability and repetitiveness. Embrace neuroplasticity, I say.  Mix it up.  Surprise yourself.  Write in a new way.  Maybe you’ll have a different kind of idea.  I dunno.
 
JL: Why was it important for you to be a part of American Theatre Company’s 10 x 10 Festival? 
LN: I was excited to be asked to lend a voice to a conversation that I think is deeply relevant and necessary.  I don’t know how necessary or relevant my voice is in that conversation.  But I’m thrilled to be a part of it.  And I hope I contribute rather than detract. 

JL: Tell me about your plays. What do you hope the audience walks away thinking about after experiencing it?
LN: How To Make A Black Boy Disappear and Respectability Politics are just attempts to try and focus the conversation on what I think are some of the root ills of our racial woes in this county.  We love to discuss symptoms and specifics, but often we overlook the more personally confronting ugly truths that function as origin and cause for these social sicknesses.  We are the problem.  There is unchecked inherent bias at play and it needs to be torn down. I hope you walk thinking “I am a racist. What can I do to not be one?”

JL: What role does theater have in advocacy work?
LN: Every social space has a need for active advocacy.  Theatre is generally a more acknowledged home for advocacy because it is almost entirely a form of social theorizing.  The depiction and dissection of a world through the lens of its author. We expect these conversations there.  But they should be everywhere.

JL: What next for you as a writer? Where can we follow your work?
LN: What’s next? Oh boy, the whole goshdarn world awaits, doesn’t it?  Um.  I’m writing a book right now.  The Autobiography of a Small Bird.  I hope there are people who will enjoy reading it as much I’m enjoying writing it.  There’s lots of death in it.  And wondering.

Jacqueline Lawton: Why did you decide to get into theatre? Was there someone or a particular show that inspired you?
Bonnie Metzgar:  I grew up in a town with a dinner theater.  The first show I ever saw there was SHOWBOAT.   It was exciting, and kind of scary.  Mostly, I loved the music.  That’s how I came into the theater – I played saxophone in the pit band of musicals. 

JL: Next, tell me a little bit about your writing process. Do you have any writing rituals? Do you write in the same place or in different places?
BM:  I like to write in cafes.  I choose a place and stick with it for the whole play.   Right now, I’m working on two writing projects so I split my writing time between the Coffee Studio in Andersonville and Reno in Logan Square.

JL: Why was it important for you to be a part of American Theatre Company’s 10 x 10 Festival? 
BM: As a white ally who also identifies as LGBTQ, I am committed to showing up for this movement to stop race-based police violence as a supporter in the streets, or as an artist creating cultural dialogue, as in ATC’s 10 x 10.

JL: Tell me about your plays I’m SO HUNGRY and I CAN’T BREATHE. What do you hope the audience walks away thinking about after experiencing it?
BM: That the gun pointed at a black man in America never goes away.  It is always there every time a black man speaks to a white man, even if they are friends drinking a beer on a Friday night.  White folks just doesn’t see it.

JL: What role does theater have in advocacy work?
BM: Theater gets bodies into rooms together.  That’s the first step in creating change -- get us to look into each other’s eyes.  Creating live work that sparks debate and outrage (and sometimes laughter) has been the aim of theater artists for centuries who are interested in social justice.  Theater also can give a voice to those traditionally excluded from the mainstream media, and put them center stage.

JL: What next for you as a writer? Where can we follow your work?
BM: I will have a reading of a new play this summer at the Goodman Theater, along with the other members of the resident playwrights unit.