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Sons
In partnership with The Hansberry Project
Written by Oni Faida Lampley
Directed by Valerie Curtis-Newton
Readings:
Fri, Mar 4, 2016 - 7:30pm
Sat, Mar 5, 2016 - 7:30pm
Sun, Mar 6, 2016 - 2:00pm
Sons is a slice-of-life story revolving around an African American family living in Brooklyn. The play centers on 17 year old Artest as he struggles to find his place in a world that offers limited choices for young black men.
The School of Drama New Play Workshop series is a celebration of new work and new voices in the American theatre. Each play in the series will be workshopped for 7-9 days with UW Drama students and guest artists. At the end of the process, each play will be presented in the form of a public reading.
About Oni Faida Lampley
Oni Faida Lampley (1959-2008), a playwright and actress, was raised in Oklahoma City. A lot of her work grew out of the comedy and the conflicts of growing up Black in the Midwest in the 70s. She was especially interested in taking a machete to the cliché of the “Strong Black Woman” (SBW), to expose the physical and spiritual exhaustion, the self-denigration, and authentic triumph underneath. Through it all, Lampley celebrated the spirit, language, and courage of people who are fighting for love, and survival. She received two Helen Hayes nominations, winning the first for Mixed Babies in 1991. The second nomination came for the Woolly Mammoth Theatre Company world premiere of The Dark Kalamazoo. The play is published in the TCG Anthology The Fire This Time. She won entrance into the 1998 Sundance Screenwriters Lab, and a commission from South Coast Repertory. As a member of Juilliard’s Playwriting Program, Lampley received The Lincoln Center LeComte du Nouy Award. She was a member of New Dramatists, The Actors Center and a Playwright-In-Residence with Mud/Bone Theatre Company. In 2005, Lampley was a Susan Smith Blackburn Award Finalist and in 2006 she was awarded a grant by the Boomerang Fund. As a response to Tough Titty, which was commissioned by South Coast Rep and produced at the Williamstown Theatre Festival in 2005, Lampley was awarded a three-week residency at the National Theatre in London. In 2007 she won a Helen Merrill Playwriting Award, and was under commission with the Children’s Theatre Company in Minneapolis through New Dramatists’ Playground Program. She taught acting to teens for Lincoln Center’s Education Program, and “Writing Out Loud,” a course she created that explores the synergy between acting and playwriting at various colleges and other venues.