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FILMS FOR THE PEOPLE
A CO-PRODUCTION WITH OREGON SHAKESPEARE FESTIVAL

Black Lives Black Words International Project, led by Simeilia Hodge Dallaway and Reginald Edmund, partners with OSF to produce “Films for the People,” featuring one-person short films by groundbreaking Black writers and creatives. Filmed in beloved Black-owned businesses in Houston and San Francisco/Bay Area, this unprecedented project connects Black arts and the communities they serve to celebrate the talent, resilience, and presence of Black artists, leaders and communities across America.


Join us for a first-look screening of 𝘽𝙤𝙩𝙩𝙡𝙚𝙙 𝙎𝙥𝙞𝙧𝙞𝙩𝙨, the first installment in the 𝙁𝙞𝙡𝙢𝙨 𝙛𝙤𝙧 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙋𝙚𝙤𝙥𝙡𝙚 series!

Films for the People, a series of solo short films by groundbreaking Black writers and creatives, is produced by Black Lives, Black Words International Project, led by Simeilia Hodge Dallaway and Reginald Edmund, in partnership with OSF. In Bottled Spirits, Louise—facing gentrification of her community of West Oakland and the weight of being Black in America—discovers that a door she has been banging on for years magically opens. An ancestor arrives through the doorway to help Louise battle her demons as she finds the path toward redemption.


After the screening, VIP ticket-holders can party at the "Bottled Spirits: The Cocktail Party." At this virtual after party, you'll make a cocktail with host Jasmine Williams and enjoy special appearances from writer Cat Brooks and director Elizabeth Carter, and more! VIP tickets include a complimentary gift from Black Lives, Black Words.


CO- PRODUCTION WITH WRITERS THEATRE

2021

RIDE SHARE

Presented by Black Lives, Black Words International Project and Writers Theatre
Written by Black Lives Black Words Co-Founder Reginald Edmund
Directed by Black Lives Black Words Co-Founder Simeilia Hodge-Dallaway


Starring Kamal Angelo Bolden


June 23- July 25, 2021


This co-production between Black Lives Black Words International Project and Writers Theatre is an exciting re-imagining of the smash hit online play RIDE SHARE presented by Black Lives Black Words in 2020.


Marcus has a new wife, a comfortable job and everything seems to be falling into place – until his honeymoon is interrupted by an email from work, laying him off. To make ends meet, he becomes a ride share driver, shuttling passengers from all walks of life to and from parties, brunches and meetings. The passengers range from silly, to seductive – to downright scary. But as long as Marcus keeps his radio on and his wits about him, there’s nothing he can’t handle…right?

2020

Join us for our virtual program of exciting new plays performed nightly and live-streamed to audiences' computers around the globe. 


Amidst the grief, despair and ongoing trauma in our communities, we are blessed to have artists who are able to speak on our behalf to provide comfort to our communities through art. During these challenging times, we recognise the power and importance of our BLBW artists to articulate our pain, frustration, anguish, and even, our need for escapism and laughter to get through the emotional heaviness and heartbreak of our circumstances. At BLBW, we recognise our role as a catalyst for change as we continue to provide a platform for our artists to speak when we simply do not have the words, to lean on when we are weary and to call for
action at times of distress.

Simeilia Hodge-Dallaway
Co-Founder / Executive Producer
Black Lives Black Words International Project

RIDE SHARE

by BLBW Co-Founder Reginald Edmund


Starring Kamal Angelo Bolden


July 8-12, 2020


'Ride Share' follows an young African American Uber Driver as a series of events begins to threaten his very humanity. Accompanied by his dark rider, a specter passenger that steers him forward as he drives in the late night hours. As the trips get farther, the hours grow longer, and the clients more vile, will he finally surrender the wheel to his dark passenger


Reginald Edmund is currently the Founder and Managing Curating Producer for Black Lives Black Words International Project. Inspired by #BlackLivesMatter, this project gives voice to some of the most contemporary political black writers from both the US, Canada, and the UK, asking them to explore the question 'Do Black Lives Matter today?'. In addition, he is a Resident Playwright at Tamasha Theatre in London, England and an Alumni Resident Playwright at Chicago Dramatists Theatre, an Artistic Associate at Pegasus Theatre-Chicago, and an Artistic Patriot at Merrimack Repertory Theatre, he was also a ‘10-‘11 Many Voice Fellow with the Playwrights’ Center. His play Southbridge was runner up for the Kennedy Center’s Lorraine Hansberry and Rosa Parks National Playwriting Awards, winner of the Southern Playwrights’ Competition, the Black Theatre Alliance Award for Best New Play, the Edgerton Foundation New American Play Award, and Kennedy Center's 2020 Citizen Artist Award.

THE BLACK ARTISTS IN TIMES OF UPRISING
Wednesday, Aug 13, 2020 4:00 PM
Join us for an exciting panel discussion on 'Black Arts in Times of Uprising', This panel will feature Sha Cage, Idris Goodwin, Dominic Taylor, Chisa Hutchinson, Wole Oguntokun, Katrina D. RiChard, and Pemon Rami. 

Hosted by Sheri Flanders.

PROOF OF LOVE 

By Chisa Hutchinson

Directed by Kyle Haden

Starring Deanna Reed Foster


Aug. 13-16, 2020


Constance Daley is a well-off black woman who learns some unpleasant things about her husband and, more importantly, about herself, after a horrific car accident leaves him comatose.


Chisa Hutchinson (B.A. Vassar; M.F.A NYU) has presented plays at such venues as the Lark Theater, Atlantic Theater Company, the National Black Theatre, Second Stage Theater and Arch 468 in London. Her most recent play, a radio drama called Proof of Love, can be found on Audible. Chisa has been a member of New Dramatists, a Dramatists Guild Fellow, a Lark Fellow, a NeoFuturist, and a staff writer for the Blue Man Group. She’s won a GLAAD Award, a Lilly Award, a Helen Merrill Award, and the Lanford Wilson Award. She is currently premiering her film, The Subject (starring Jason Biggs and Aujanue Ellis), and working on another for Disney.

BUTTAFLY PRECINCT 
written and directed by Sha Cage
Featuring Ashe Jafaaru, Ava Saunders, and Javari Horne

Aug. 20-23, 2020

Two young girls struggle to survive on the streets carrying a dark secret and a jar of butterflies across the city of Minneapolis on the eve of George Perry Floyd's murder. With the backdrop of the historic Uprising and in the blink of an eye, they discover truth, betrayal, and magic while coming of age on the streets that refuse to call them by their true names.


Shá Cage is a theater and film actress, director, and playwright who most recently directed African School Girls at the Jungle Theater. Her play titled Hidden Heroes, about the Black Women of NASA, premiered at Stages Theater in May 2019 and the Negro baseball documentary she’s co-producing, 39 Seconds, is released in late 2019. Additionally, she has written 6 plays collaboratively, 4 solo works, and is currently writing a new work about human trafficking in Minnesota. She was named a 2017 Artist of the Year by CP, a leading artist of her generation by Insight, a Changemaker by Women's Press, and a Mover and Maker by Mpls STP magazine. She is the ED of Catalyst Arts, a Creative Consultant with Tru Ruts and co-founded The Million Artist Movement, Mama Mosaic Theater, and the MN Spoken Word Association. Her work and activism has taken her across the U.S, to Japan, South Africa, England, France, the Netherlands, Mali, Canada and Croatia. 

CELL SURFACE

By Dominic Taylor

Directed by Jerrell Henderson

Featuring Keith Arthur Bolden and Kendra Holloway


Aug. 27-30, 2020


CELL SURFACE is a play about making a play in Zoom about two amazing African-American scientists,  Dr. E.E. Just and Dr. Roger Young. Ernest Everett Just was the first Black graduate of Dartmouth. His graduate assistant, while he was a professor at Howard University, was Dr. Roger Young. She was the first Black woman to get a Ph.D. in science from U Penn.

This play looks at two actors trying to show seven truncated years of a complex relationship. We look at the relationship of these historical figures, how we know them, and how we show them.


Dominic Taylor is a writer-director and scholar of African-American theater and whose work has been seen around the world. The Goodman Theatre, Steppenwolf Theatre, Ensemble Studio Theatre and New York Theatre Workshop have all commissioned him. His play, ’I Wish You Love’, premiered at Penumbra Theatre, and was produced at both The Kennedy Center and Hartford Stage. His published plays include ‘Hype Hero’, ‘Wedding Dance’, ‘Personal History’, and ‘Upcity Service(s)’. His essay “Don’t Call African American Theatre Black Theatre: It’s Like Calling a Dog a Cat” was published by the Massachusetts Review. Taylor is an alumnus member of New Dramatists. He received his bachelor's and master of fine arts degree from Brown University and is a member of Stage Directors and Choreographers Society and the Dramatists Guild. He is the Interim Chair of Theater at the UCLA School of Theater, Film and Television.

THE IMMORTAL GOATS

by Idris Goodwin

Directed by Tiffany Nichole Green

Featuring Kimberly Michelle Vaugh and Aaron Todd Douglas


Sept. 24-27, 2020


Thanks to the colonial removal act of 2000&Now more than 90% of the statues have been taken down. A council of discerning black folk have been assembled to determine some of the replacements.  But the caveat, they only have the time span of this play to reach consensus. A biting comedy about  who deserves to live forever.


Idris Goodwin is a multidisciplinary arts leader and creative community builder. Across two decades he’s forged a multi-faceted career as an award-winning playwright, Break Beat poet, director, educator, and organizer. He is the new Director of The Colorado Springs Fine Arts Center at Colorado College.


CALL FOR THE WAILING WOMEN 

by Katrina D. RiChard

Directed by Valerie Curtis-Newton

Featuring Bianca Laverne Jones and Allyson Lee Brown


Oct. 22-25,  2020


Two Mothers meet, they both are fighting for their sons in different ways and for different reasons, but they fight nonetheless. They both need to win the fight but can they? Is winning even possible?


Katrina D. RiChard is a theater artist that has performed on stages across the city of Chicago and the Chicagoland area as well as worked behind the scenes as a writer, producer, and director.   Having been born and bred on the South Side of Chicago, the city continues to hold a special place in her heart and one of the primary places she writes about in her plays. Katrina served Chicago Public Schools for over a decade teaching High School Social Science and uses her history background in her writing as well . She is currently working on her MFA in Dramatic Writing at the University of Southern California (USC) where she was recently awarded the Joan Beber Playwriting Award. Her mission is to illuminate marginalized voices, tell stories that have never been told before, and to tell classic stories with fresh perspective. 

The Emancipation of Yankee Oluwale

 By Wole Oguntokun

Directed by Harry Waters Jr.


Nov. 19-22, 2020


David Oluwale was a Nigerian who stowed away on a ship bound to the UK from Lagos in 1949, when he was only 19. Nicknamed “Yankee” on account of his love for all things American, he fell on hard times after a while and soon came to be an inmate of Armley Prison as well as the secure ward of a mental hospital. In 1968 while living in the shop fronts of the high streets of Leeds, he became the frequent target of two senior police officers who took pleasure in making his life a physical, mental and emotional misery. They would beat him, urinate on him, and sometimes forcefully evict him from the city limits. One day, his body was pulled out of the River Aire in Leeds. A young police officer testified against his senior colleagues on the systematic dehumanisation of David and the two were convicted on a series of assaults on the mentally-ill Oluwale. Manslaughter charges were dismissed on account of a lack of direct evidence and we will never be sure if the pair were the uniformed men observed chasing a black man down the bank of the River Aire a week before his body was found. Based on a True Story. 


Wole Oguntokun is a Nigerian playwright, stage and film director, as well as a theatre administrator and newspaper columnist. Wole has produced and directed plays by many of Nigeria’s best-known playwrights including Soyinka’s (Kongi’s Harvest, Madmen & Specialists, The Lion and the Jewel, The Swamp Dwellers, Death and the King’s Horseman, The Strong Breed, Childe Internationale, Camwood on the Leaves, The Jero Plays); Osofisan’s Morountodun, Once Upon Four Robbers, The Engagement, The Inspector and the Hero; Professor Ola Rotimi’s The Gods Are Not To Blame; Zulu Sofola’s King Emene, Wedlock of the Gods, Wizard of Law, as well as Athol Fugard’s Sizwe Banzi is Dead.

Oguntokun was official consultant to the British Council/Lagos and the crew of the National Theatre in London for the purpose of that National Theatre’s production of Wole Soyinka’s play Death and the King’s Horseman in April and May 2009.