New York, NY – FRIGID New York has announced the full schedule of performances for the 15th annual The Fire This Time Festival at The Wild Project (195 E 3rd St, New York, NY 10009), January 15-28. Admission is pay-what-you-can and tickets may be purchased in advance at www.frigid.nyc.
The Ten-Minute Play Program will include a guest performance by the emerging vocalist and poet Nailah Carrie who will perform a brief set at each presentation of the Ten-Minute Plays. The festival will also include a panel discussion, “Thriving in the Theater,” which focuses on what it takes to succeed and thrive as a playwright.
This year’s performances of The Fire This Time Festival will once again be filmed by ALL ARTS, the free streaming platform and channel dedicated to the arts, created by The WNET Group – the community-supported home of New York’s PBS stations. Audiences can enjoy past seasons of The Fire This Time Festival on the free ALL ARTS app and website at www.AllArts.org/FireThisTimeFestival. To celebrate this year’s festival, ALL ARTS will premiere seven performances from the 2023 Festival on January 9 at 9 p.m. ET on ALL ARTS TV, the free app and website.
Cezar Williams, Producing Artistic Director of The Fire This Time Festival was recently awarded a Support for Artists Grant from the New York State Council on the Arts (NYSCA) to support his creative work. This award will go toward funding the 2024 festival.
Full Performance Schedule
(* denotes Dramatists Guild member)
The 15th Annual TFTT Ten-Minute Play Program
Thurs 1/18, Fri 1/19, Sat 1/20, Fri 1/26, Sat 1/27 at 7:30pm; Sun 1/28 at 3pm
The cast of the Ten-Minute Play acting company includes Marinda Anderson (“Merry Me,” “You Will Get Sick,” "sandblasted," "The Cake"), Danielle Covington (Limes at Hudson Guild), Benton Greene (“Power: Book II,” “Pretty Little Liars: Original Sin,” “Sweat”), Larry Powell ("The Christians," "Seared," "Father Comes Home From the Wars"), and Shayvawn Webster ("Law & Order," "FBI").
It’s Karen B****!
Written by Taylor Blackman
The King Family is the "perfect" black family, with the "perfect" black life. Both parents in the household, one "successful" child, upper-middle class wealth, very liberal affirming values and mindsets, and everyone is in therapy. What more could you ask for?! But the world turns awry in black paradise when the only child of the family reveals a huge secret that turns everything and everyone on its head.
Mamas and Papas
Written by Kamilah Bush
Sixteen years ago Charles fathered a child who he left with his mother to raise. After his mother’s passing, his daughter has come to live with him and two people with full and beautiful, but complex, lives attempt to find a new way through grief and family together.
What’s Love Got To Do With It?
Written by Leelee Jackson
What’s Love Got To Do With It? centers an intimate bedroom conversation between A Woman and Her Man, a good man who fails to meet the standards of a good woman. This play is a fabulation of A Woman who prioritizes her desires above the complacent desire someone has for her.
The Mural
Written by Monique Pappas-Williams
Nia, a once carefree artist, now an activist painter, is confronted by her ex-partner Riz, freshly released from prison. As they reconnect and rehash their past, Nia struggles with her identity as an artist and activist, and Riz challenges her work's authenticity. Amidst tension and unresolved emotions, they find a cathartic release in creative collaboration, leading to self-discovery and healing.
Why Jamira Gotta Do All Da Werk?
Written by Nia Akilah Robinson*
Jamira and Kiana, two party friends, discover what keeps them stuck from their friendship progressing beyond the club and face uncomfortable revelations which slowly begin to unravel under the guise of self-hatred.
Ethel & Ethel
Written by Joël Rene Scoville
It's their two-year anniversary and all Ethel Williams wants to do is have a romantic night with her secret love, Ethel Waters. But when they keep getting interrupted by a gentleman caller, the two women must decide if they still have something to celebrate.
Thriving in the Theater: A Panel Discussion
Moderated by TFTT founder and Executive Director Kelley Girod
Monday, January 22 at 7pm
You just have to write the play. Then you just have to get it produced. Ok, now you just have to get an agent. Ok, NOW you just have to get your agent’s attention. Actually, maybe you should move to Los Angeles to write for TV/film…If you feel like the target for what it takes to be a successful writer keeps changing, you are not alone. Since our founding fifteen years ago the creative landscape for playwrights has shifted drastically, seemingly creating more opportunities across platforms for artists, but some of the obstacles have remained the same. In this panel discussion we speak with leading Black theatermakers including Keith Josef Adkins* (New Black Fest), Garlia Jones* (Harlem9, Blackboard Playreading Series, Black Motherhood & Parenting New Play Festival) and Goldie Patrick* (Dramatists Guild Foundation) for a candid conversation to demystify what it takes to succeed and survive in the arts.
The Fire This Time Festival was founded in 2009 by Kelley Girod to provide a platform for playwrights of African and African-American descent to write and produce evocative material for diverse audiences. Since the debut of the first 10-minute play program in 2010, presented in collaboration with FRIGID New York, The Fire This Time Festival has has produced and developed the work of more than 100 playwrights including Katori Hall, Dominique Morisseau, Radha Blank, Antoinette Nwandu*, Jocelyn Bioh*, korde arrington tuttle, Stacey Rose*, Aziza Barnes, C.A. Johnson*, Kevin R. Free, Charly Evon Simpson*, Angelica Cheri*, James Anthony Tyler*, Jordan E. Cooper, Eliana Pipes*, Cynthia Grace Robinson*, York Walker, Cyrus Aaron, and Nathan Yungerberg*.
The Fire This Time’s first anthology, 25 Plays from The Fire This Time Festival: A Decade of Recognition, Resistance, Rebirth, and Black Theater edited by Kelley Girod was published by Bloomsbury in 2022. The anthology includes plays by Dominique Morisseau, Charly Evon Simpson, Angelica Cheri, Derek Lee McPhatter*, Deneen Reynolds-Knott*, Tracey Conyer Lee*, and others. www.firethistimefestival.com
FRIGID New York’s mission is to provide both emerging and established artists the opportunity to create and produce original work of varied content, form, and style, and to amplify their diverse voices. We do this by presenting an array of monthly programming, mainstage productions, an artist residency, and eight annual theater festivals that create an environment of collaboration, resourcefulness, and innovation. Founded in 1998, the aim was and is to form a structure, allowing multiple artists to focus on creating and staging new work and providing affordable rental space to scores of independent artists. Now in our third decade we have produced a massive quantity of stimulating downtown theater. www.frigid.nyc
ALL ARTS is the premier destination for inspiration, creativity and art of all forms. This New York Emmy-winning arts and culture hub is created by The WNET Group, the community-supported home of New York’s PBS stations. ALL ARTS’ Webby-winning programming — from digital shorts and feature films to news and written interviews — is available through AllArts.org, the free ALL ARTS app on all major streaming platforms and @AllArtsTV on YouTube, Facebook, Instagram, X (formerly Twitter) and Tiktok. Viewers can also watch ALL ARTS TV, the 24/7 broadcast channel available in the New York area, and tune into ALL ARTS Radio Hour. For all the ways to watch, visit www.AllArts.org/Everywhere