A monthly script reading and music club devoted to exploring works by artists who identify as BIPOC, LGBTQ+, disabled, female/femme, and/or non-binary.
December 2020 Reads & Listens: Abraham’s Daughters
By Emma Goldman-Sherman
Synopsis: Although Abraham is a Jew from Flushing, and he only has one daughter, Maxine, and her only daughter Racie is a lesbian, Abraham still believes he'll be the Father of Nations. He moves to Tel Aviv in search of his first love, Haajar. When he discovers Haajar's daughter has five Palestinian Muslim sons, he goes to Nablus in the midst of the first Intifada to claim them as his own. Abraham's Daughters is a mythic play about colonialism and identity.
Play: You can find the play on New Play Exchange. This is a subscription service where you can get access for a $10 annual fee.
Additional Resources:
November 2020 Reads & Listens: ZOMO THE RABBIT: A HIP-HOP CREATION MYTH
By Psalmayene 24
Music by Nick “tha 1da” Hernandez
Synopsis: Zomo- one hip-hoppity rabbit- is taking on Washington, DC. When Zomo is dissed and dismissed by the other tricksters in town, he turns to the Sky God for more power. The Sky God sends him on an impossible quest taking him from the breakdancing fish on the DC Waterfront, to the graffiti artist cow at the National Zoo, and finally to the DJ Leopard in Adams Morgan. Will Zomo find the power he’s seeking? Or will he wise up? This high-energy hip-hop adaptation of a Nigerian folktale, puts a DC spin and lots of silly humor on the global tradition of trickster tales.
Play & Music: We were given special access to this unpublished work by the playwright and his management, Gurman Agency LLC. If you would like to peruse this work, please contact the agency at assistant@gurmanagency.com.
Additional Resources:
October 2020 Reads & Listens: They Don’t Take Back by Frank Henry Kaash Katasse
Synopsis: In They Don’t Talk Back, a troubled teen from a broken home receives the culture shock of a lifetime when he is sent to live and work with his Tlingit grandparents in a remote fishing village in Alaska. This funny, heartfelt exploration of the meaning of family and life emerges in a contemporary coming-of-age story.
Play: You can find the play on New Play Exchange. This is a subscription service where you can get access for a $10 annual fee.
Music: We were joined by the composer from the original run of the show, Ed Littlefield. He shared music clips of his original Tlingit compositions. You can learn more about him and his music on his website.
Additional Resources:
September 2020 Reads & Listens: Love Person by Aditi Brennan Kapil
Synopsis: Love Person is a four part love story in Sanskrit, ASL and English in which love transcends sexual orientation, physical attraction, and social structure and rests instead on the ways in which we communicate and how communication bonds or breaks us. The play is structured around four Sanskrit love poems that influence and reflect the journeys of the characters. Free, a Deaf woman in a relationship with Maggie, accidentally falls into a deceptive email correspondence with her sister Vics love interest Ram, a Sanskrit professor. Free and Ram discover a connection, based largely on an affinity between their two languages. As a result of the deception, Vic and Ram also begin to fall in love. Meanwhile Free and Maggie’s relationship struggles to survive.
Play: It can be purchased from Semicolon Bookstore & Gallery, a Black female owned independent bookstore in Chicago.
If you would like to support other BIPOC owned bookstores in your local area, check for one here.
Music: This play is multi-lingual and full of the music (visually & aurally) of language.
Additional Resources: Click here
August 2020 Reads & Listens: El Grito del Bronx by Migdalia Cruz
Synopsis: El Grito del Bronx is a story about rage. It is set against the violent backdrop of a Bronx family tragedy in 1977 and the aftermath of those events 15 years later in a federal prison in Ohio and in a middle class apartment in Connecticut. The show explores how a gentle boy becomes a heartless killer and asks the question: “How different is that boy from everyone else?” Cruz’ plot transcends there-but-for-the-grace-of-god sentimentality and her dialogue authentically delves into how humans deal with grief, loss, fear and love. There is no fairy tale ending, but neither is there absolute destruction. Cruz’ answer is simply that we go on. It is a brave assertion that is both cathartic and compassionate.
Play: It can be purchased from Semicolon Bookstore & Gallery, a Black female owned independent bookstore in Chicago.
If you would like to support other BIPOC owned bookstores in your local area, check for one here.
Music: Click here for the Spotify playlist
Additional Resources: Click here
July 2020 Reads & Listens: The Bubbly Black Girl Sheds Her Chameleon Skin - A Musical by Kirsten Childs
Synopsis: What’s a black girl from sunny Southern California to do? White people are blowing up black girls in Birmingham churches. Black people are shouting “Black is beautiful” while straightening their hair and coveting light skin. Viveca Stanton’s answer: Slap on a bubbly smile and be as white as you can be! In a humorous and pointed coming-of-age story spanning the sixties through the nineties, Viveca blithely sails through the confusing worlds of racism, sexism and Broadway showbiz until she’s forced to face the devastating effect self-denial has had on her life.
Play: the play can be purchased from Dramatist Play Service
Music: The original cast album can be found on Spotify.
Additional Resources: Click here