Press Release: Playwright Jacqueline E. Lawton Serves as Lead Artist at the National Civil War Project Conference co-hosted by Arena Stage and George Washington University
On April 21st and 22nd, Arena Stage and The George Washington University will host a national, two-day creative and scholarly conference at the Marvin Center on the campus of GW focused on exploring the American Civil War and its Aftermath, through presentations, panels, and performances. Workshops will focus on specific topics and issues of life during the War and its connection to the present, creating new theatrical, visual and movement-based work from these discoveries. Click here to review the agenda and reserve your tickets.
A goal of the conference is to bring scholars and artists together in dialogue about the significance of the Civil War and its resonances in our present lives. The participants will have the opportunity to explore aspects of Civil War history and how this history may reverberate in their own personal narratives, as the participants are invited to create expressive responses based on this collision of the personal and historic.
Playwright, dramaturg and teaching artist, Jacqueline E. Lawton will serve as lead artist alongside scholar and author, Carroll "C.R." Gibbs at the upcoming National Civil War Project Conference co-hosted by Arena Stage and George Washington University. This event is free and open to the public.
In this interactive workshop, entitled, Black, Copper, and Bright: A Fight for Freedom and Justice from Page to Stage, author and historian Carroll "C.R." Gibbs will share stories of African-American men and women who served the Union, enlisted in the only African American Civil War regiment raised in the nation's capital, fought for freedom for the enslaved, and worked to achieve civil rights right here in the nation’s capital. Then, playwright and dramaturg Jacqueline E. Lawton will lead participants though theatre games and storytelling techniques to help bring the stories of the First Regiment, United States Colored Troops to life.
The overarching goal of the National Civil War Project is to find ways to continually interweave performance and scholarship, crossing traditional boundaries by bringing together the perspectives and resources of the artistic and academic communities in a wide-ranging, humanities-based exploration of civil conflict.
Click here to learn more about the National Civil War Project.
A goal of the conference is to bring scholars and artists together in dialogue about the significance of the Civil War and its resonances in our present lives. The participants will have the opportunity to explore aspects of Civil War history and how this history may reverberate in their own personal narratives, as the participants are invited to create expressive responses based on this collision of the personal and historic.
Playwright, dramaturg and teaching artist, Jacqueline E. Lawton will serve as lead artist alongside scholar and author, Carroll "C.R." Gibbs at the upcoming National Civil War Project Conference co-hosted by Arena Stage and George Washington University. This event is free and open to the public.
In this interactive workshop, entitled, Black, Copper, and Bright: A Fight for Freedom and Justice from Page to Stage, author and historian Carroll "C.R." Gibbs will share stories of African-American men and women who served the Union, enlisted in the only African American Civil War regiment raised in the nation's capital, fought for freedom for the enslaved, and worked to achieve civil rights right here in the nation’s capital. Then, playwright and dramaturg Jacqueline E. Lawton will lead participants though theatre games and storytelling techniques to help bring the stories of the First Regiment, United States Colored Troops to life.
The overarching goal of the National Civil War Project is to find ways to continually interweave performance and scholarship, crossing traditional boundaries by bringing together the perspectives and resources of the artistic and academic communities in a wide-ranging, humanities-based exploration of civil conflict.
Click here to learn more about the National Civil War Project.
About the Workshop Leaders
Carroll "C.R." Gibbs is the author/co-author of six books and a frequent national and international lecturer on an array of topics. He has appeared on the History Channel, French and Belgian television, and wrote, researched, and narrated "Sketches In Color," a 13-part companion series to the acclaimed PBS series "The Civil War" for the Howard University television station. The Smithsonian Institution's Anacostia Community Museum features Mr. Gibbs among its scholars at the museum's Online Academy website. He is also a D.C. Humanities Council Scholar. In 1989, he founded the African History & Culture Lecture Series whose scholars continue to provide free presentations at libraries, churches, schools, and other locations in the Washington-Baltimore area. In 1997,he led 26 people across the continent of Africa. In 2002, Mr. Gibbs authored "Black, Copper, & Bright," the first book ever written on the District of Columbia's African American Civil War Regiment. He won the 2008 award for excellence in historic preservation public education given by the mayor of the District of Columbia. In 2009, the Congressional Black Caucus Veterans Braintrust honored Mr. Gibbs for his many years of articles and presentations on African Americans in the U.S. armed forces.He is also a member of the Company of Military Historians. In 2011, he appeared in an episode of the popular History Channel series,"How The States Got Their Shapes". On Sunday, October 16th, 2011, he provided historical commentary for WUSA,channel 9's coverage of the dedication of the King memorial with co-anchor Lesli Foster. In February, 2012, Mr. Gibbs was featured in a special Black History Month documentary produced by WDCW,Channel 50 TV entitled "The Dream Began Here." On April 16, 2012, he appeared on Channels 5 & 9 to discuss the historical significance of the 150th anniversary of DC Emancipation Day.
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 and a National New Play Network (NNPN) Playwright Alumna. A member of Arena Stage's Playwrights' Arena and the Dramatist Guild of America, Ms. Lawton currently resides in D.C.