NYCPlaywrights May 18, 2024
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NYCPlaywrights
May 18, 2024, 5:01:48 PMMay 18
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Greetings NYCPlaywrights
*** FREE THEATER IN NYC ***
There is Always Sunshine on the Stage
In continuation of celebrating AANHPI Heritage Month, the Museum of Chinese in America is honored to collaborate with Playwright/Director Patrick Lee to present a staged reading of his play, There is Always Sunshine on the Stage. The plot follows the 'Sunshine Theater Group' on a quest for the perfect play to commemorate their 50th anniversary — possibly their final performance due to financial challenges. Life brings forth a variety of narratives from different individuals, yet their unique tales ultimately converge toward a collective story - “The People’s” story.
The staged reading of There is Always Sunshine on the Stage will be presented in English.
Saturday, June 8 · 2:30 - 5:30pm EDT
Museum of Chinese in America
215 Centre Street New York, NY 10013
https://www.eventbrite.com/e/moca-performs-there-is-always-sunshine-on-the-stage-tickets-895568759267?aff=ebdssbdestsearch
*** OPPORTUNITIES FOR PLAYWRIGHTS ***
BREAK A LEG PRODUCTIONS seeks plays up to 25 pages (no musicals) to be performed in our annual One Act Slam on September 28th at 2:00 pm at the Unity Center (213 West 58th Street.)
The Slam is a one act play competition. The audience votes for their favorite play, and the winning playwright receives a $100 cash prize
***
Nomad Theatre seeks new unproduced short plays to be a part of our upcoming season! Our mission is to provide an immersive theatre experience by exposing audience members to eclectic and moving stories, taking theatre outside of a traditional theatre space and into site-specific locations.
***
92NY’s Musical Theater Development Lab is seeking playwrights and composers specializing in Theater for Young Audiences (TYA). The Lab offers a unique platform designed to support and showcase works specifically tailored for young audiences, providing an invaluable opportunity for these pieces to undergo active exploration and development.
*** FOR MORE INFORMATION about these and other opportunities see the web site at https://www.nycplaywrights.org ***
*** PRIMARY TRUST ***
Primary Trust, Eboni Booth’s play that was given an Off Broadway staging by Roundabout Theatre Company last summer, won the 2024 Pulitzer Prize for Drama today.
The play was described by the Pulitzer board as “A simple and elegantly crafted story of an emotionally damaged man who finds a new job, new friends and a new sense of worth, illustrating how small acts of kindness can change a person’s life and enrich an entire community.”
The critically acclaimed play follows Kenneth, a 38-year-old bookstore worker who, in the words of Roundabout’s synopsis, “spends his evenings sipping mai tais at the local tiki bar. When he’s suddenly laid off, Kenneth finally begins to face a world he’s long avoided – with transformative and even comical results.”
More...
https://deadline.com/2024/05/pulitzer-drama-eboni-booth-primary-trust-1235905776/
***
Booth, 43, grew up in the Bronx and now lives in Queens; she had a previous play, “Paris,” staged in New York in 2020, and she has also worked as an actress. She talked about “Primary Trust” on Monday afternoon, shortly after learning that she had won the prestigious award.
For those of our readers who didn’t get to see it, what is “Primary Trust” about?
“Primary Trust” is about a lonely guy with an imaginary friend, and what happens when he loses his job.
You’re a city girl, but this play is firmly set in a small town in upstate New York. Why?
There’s something about the Northeast that really has captured my imagination. I really am interested in the weather, and what those towns look like, and, for “Primary Trust,” I was interested in a place where maybe its better days were behind it, so there’s this sense of loss that people have to live with all the time.
Loneliness seems to be a subject you’re interested in. Where does that come from?
I think I’m just a little mournful by nature, and a lot of my writing has been a way to understand people I’ve loved and lost, and it’s been a way to reckon with my anxiety about all that I’ll lose in the future. That sounds a little overheated, but I think it was my way of trying to understand some of my sadness and some of my hope.
More...
https://www.nytimes.com/2024/05/06/theater/eboni-booth-drama-pulitzer.html
***
Maybe you’ve seen him tucked into the corner of a dive bar, muttering to himself now and then, empty glasses multiplying on his table. And perhaps you’ve thought — though, it’s just as likely you haven’t — What’s up with that guy?
In “Primary Trust,” the playwright Eboni Booth zooms in on one such man: He lives in a fictional suburb of Rochester, N.Y., where mai tais are his drink of choice at an unlikely tiki bar named Wally’s. He is alone and adrift in this tender, delicately detailed portrait, though surely he has not always been. Listen, and he’ll tell you about the moment he almost drowned and how he learned to keep his head above water.
“Primary Trust,” which opened at the Laura Pels Theater in Manhattan on Thursday, finds Kenneth (William Jackson Harper, of “The Good Place”) approaching 40 when the bookstore where he’s worked for 20 years closes shop. (The owner, played by Jay O. Sanders, needs cash for surgery.) But Kenneth has never found a job on his own; social workers helped him get his current one some years after he was orphaned.
More...
https://www.nytimes.com/2023/05/25/theater/primary-trust-review.html
***
Which is to say, Eboni Booth’s Primary Trust may not be set in a post-pandemic America (in fact, it’s set in an intentionally unspecified “time before smartphones”), and the series of traumas that have beset the life of its protagonist, Kenneth, may lean toward the individual rather the collective, but it still spoke to me of the emotional landscape of the moment in a way that felt all the more surprising for how gentle, even hopeful, the play feels. Booth doesn’t turn a blind eye to the darkness in Kenneth’s life, but the things that weigh him down are often the substrate, rather than the center, of what she’s choosing to focus on.
More...
https://exeuntnyc.com/reviews/review-primary-trust-at-the-laura-pels-theatre/
***
Primary Trust | A Conversation With the Cast and Creative Team
Meet Kenneth, a 38-year-old bookstore worker who spends his evenings sipping mai tais at the local tiki bar. When he’s suddenly laid off, Kenneth finally begins to face a world he's long avoided – with transformative and even comical results. Directed by Knud Adams, Eboni Booth’s Primary Trust is a touching and inventive world-premiere play about new beginnings, old friends, and seeing the world for the first time.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RyfS9gRTdhg
***
WLIW-FM is proud to partner with The WNET Group’s ALL ARTS for this special edition of WLIW-FM In Conversation.
https://www.wliw.org/radio/captivate-podcast/primary-trust-actor-william-jackson-harper-and-playwright-eboni-booth/
“Primary Trust” is a simple story from the mind of playwright Eboni Booth: 38-year-old Kenneth (William Jackson Harper) loses his long-time job at a bookstore, forcing him into a terrifying-but-electrifying cycle of change.
ALL ARTS facilitated a conversation between Booth and Harper about “Primary Trust,” their individual creative processes, collaborating to bring a story from script to stage and more. Listen to the conversation or read the transcript here.
https://www.allarts.org/2023/06/primary-trust-william-jackson-harper-eboni-booth-roundabout-theatre-company/
*** FREE THEATER IN NYC ***
There is Always Sunshine on the Stage
In continuation of celebrating AANHPI Heritage Month, the Museum of Chinese in America is honored to collaborate with Playwright/Director Patrick Lee to present a staged reading of his play, There is Always Sunshine on the Stage. The plot follows the 'Sunshine Theater Group' on a quest for the perfect play to commemorate their 50th anniversary — possibly their final performance due to financial challenges. Life brings forth a variety of narratives from different individuals, yet their unique tales ultimately converge toward a collective story - “The People’s” story.
The staged reading of There is Always Sunshine on the Stage will be presented in English.
Saturday, June 8 · 2:30 - 5:30pm EDT
Museum of Chinese in America
215 Centre Street New York, NY 10013
https://www.eventbrite.com/e/moca-performs-there-is-always-sunshine-on-the-stage-tickets-895568759267?aff=ebdssbdestsearch
*** OPPORTUNITIES FOR PLAYWRIGHTS ***
BREAK A LEG PRODUCTIONS seeks plays up to 25 pages (no musicals) to be performed in our annual One Act Slam on September 28th at 2:00 pm at the Unity Center (213 West 58th Street.)
The Slam is a one act play competition. The audience votes for their favorite play, and the winning playwright receives a $100 cash prize
***
Nomad Theatre seeks new unproduced short plays to be a part of our upcoming season! Our mission is to provide an immersive theatre experience by exposing audience members to eclectic and moving stories, taking theatre outside of a traditional theatre space and into site-specific locations.
***
92NY’s Musical Theater Development Lab is seeking playwrights and composers specializing in Theater for Young Audiences (TYA). The Lab offers a unique platform designed to support and showcase works specifically tailored for young audiences, providing an invaluable opportunity for these pieces to undergo active exploration and development.
*** FOR MORE INFORMATION about these and other opportunities see the web site at https://www.nycplaywrights.org ***
*** PRIMARY TRUST ***
Primary Trust, Eboni Booth’s play that was given an Off Broadway staging by Roundabout Theatre Company last summer, won the 2024 Pulitzer Prize for Drama today.
The play was described by the Pulitzer board as “A simple and elegantly crafted story of an emotionally damaged man who finds a new job, new friends and a new sense of worth, illustrating how small acts of kindness can change a person’s life and enrich an entire community.”
The critically acclaimed play follows Kenneth, a 38-year-old bookstore worker who, in the words of Roundabout’s synopsis, “spends his evenings sipping mai tais at the local tiki bar. When he’s suddenly laid off, Kenneth finally begins to face a world he’s long avoided – with transformative and even comical results.”
More...
https://deadline.com/2024/05/pulitzer-drama-eboni-booth-primary-trust-1235905776/
***
Booth, 43, grew up in the Bronx and now lives in Queens; she had a previous play, “Paris,” staged in New York in 2020, and she has also worked as an actress. She talked about “Primary Trust” on Monday afternoon, shortly after learning that she had won the prestigious award.
For those of our readers who didn’t get to see it, what is “Primary Trust” about?
“Primary Trust” is about a lonely guy with an imaginary friend, and what happens when he loses his job.
You’re a city girl, but this play is firmly set in a small town in upstate New York. Why?
There’s something about the Northeast that really has captured my imagination. I really am interested in the weather, and what those towns look like, and, for “Primary Trust,” I was interested in a place where maybe its better days were behind it, so there’s this sense of loss that people have to live with all the time.
Loneliness seems to be a subject you’re interested in. Where does that come from?
I think I’m just a little mournful by nature, and a lot of my writing has been a way to understand people I’ve loved and lost, and it’s been a way to reckon with my anxiety about all that I’ll lose in the future. That sounds a little overheated, but I think it was my way of trying to understand some of my sadness and some of my hope.
More...
https://www.nytimes.com/2024/05/06/theater/eboni-booth-drama-pulitzer.html
***
Maybe you’ve seen him tucked into the corner of a dive bar, muttering to himself now and then, empty glasses multiplying on his table. And perhaps you’ve thought — though, it’s just as likely you haven’t — What’s up with that guy?
In “Primary Trust,” the playwright Eboni Booth zooms in on one such man: He lives in a fictional suburb of Rochester, N.Y., where mai tais are his drink of choice at an unlikely tiki bar named Wally’s. He is alone and adrift in this tender, delicately detailed portrait, though surely he has not always been. Listen, and he’ll tell you about the moment he almost drowned and how he learned to keep his head above water.
“Primary Trust,” which opened at the Laura Pels Theater in Manhattan on Thursday, finds Kenneth (William Jackson Harper, of “The Good Place”) approaching 40 when the bookstore where he’s worked for 20 years closes shop. (The owner, played by Jay O. Sanders, needs cash for surgery.) But Kenneth has never found a job on his own; social workers helped him get his current one some years after he was orphaned.
More...
https://www.nytimes.com/2023/05/25/theater/primary-trust-review.html
***
Which is to say, Eboni Booth’s Primary Trust may not be set in a post-pandemic America (in fact, it’s set in an intentionally unspecified “time before smartphones”), and the series of traumas that have beset the life of its protagonist, Kenneth, may lean toward the individual rather the collective, but it still spoke to me of the emotional landscape of the moment in a way that felt all the more surprising for how gentle, even hopeful, the play feels. Booth doesn’t turn a blind eye to the darkness in Kenneth’s life, but the things that weigh him down are often the substrate, rather than the center, of what she’s choosing to focus on.
More...
https://exeuntnyc.com/reviews/review-primary-trust-at-the-laura-pels-theatre/
***
Eboni Booth’s delicate, dream-quiet play is a character study in search of a character: thirty-eight-year-old Kenneth (William Jackson Harper, astonishing on the edge of tears) certainly has traits—such as his belief in an imaginary friend (Eric Berryman) and a dependence on a local tiki bar (where every waitstaff member is played by April Matthis)—but, in order to develop, Kenneth would need to make choices, which he’s too traumatized to do. Booth gives him time, though, and he eventually establishes a toehold on life, aided by kindly folk in his small town, including a warmhearted waitress (Matthis again) and his new boss (Jay O. Sanders). Booth and the director, Knud Adams, deploy various classic techniques (Kenneth recalls the stage manager in “Our Town”; the musician Luke Wygodny rings a call bell periodically, like a Buddhist mindfulness chime) to create a timeless mood.
More...
https://www.newyorker.com/goings-on-about-town/theatre/primary-trust-06-05-23
Eboni Booth’s delicate, dream-quiet play is a character study in search of a character: thirty-eight-year-old Kenneth (William Jackson Harper, astonishing on the edge of tears) certainly has traits—such as his belief in an imaginary friend (Eric Berryman) and a dependence on a local tiki bar (where every waitstaff member is played by April Matthis)—but, in order to develop, Kenneth would need to make choices, which he’s too traumatized to do. Booth gives him time, though, and he eventually establishes a toehold on life, aided by kindly folk in his small town, including a warmhearted waitress (Matthis again) and his new boss (Jay O. Sanders). Booth and the director, Knud Adams, deploy various classic techniques (Kenneth recalls the stage manager in “Our Town”; the musician Luke Wygodny rings a call bell periodically, like a Buddhist mindfulness chime) to create a timeless mood.
More...
https://www.newyorker.com/goings-on-about-town/theatre/primary-trust-06-05-23
***
Primary Trust | A Conversation With the Cast and Creative Team
Meet Kenneth, a 38-year-old bookstore worker who spends his evenings sipping mai tais at the local tiki bar. When he’s suddenly laid off, Kenneth finally begins to face a world he's long avoided – with transformative and even comical results. Directed by Knud Adams, Eboni Booth’s Primary Trust is a touching and inventive world-premiere play about new beginnings, old friends, and seeing the world for the first time.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RyfS9gRTdhg
***
WLIW-FM is proud to partner with The WNET Group’s ALL ARTS for this special edition of WLIW-FM In Conversation.
https://www.wliw.org/radio/captivate-podcast/primary-trust-actor-william-jackson-harper-and-playwright-eboni-booth/
“Primary Trust” is a simple story from the mind of playwright Eboni Booth: 38-year-old Kenneth (William Jackson Harper) loses his long-time job at a bookstore, forcing him into a terrifying-but-electrifying cycle of change.
ALL ARTS facilitated a conversation between Booth and Harper about “Primary Trust,” their individual creative processes, collaborating to bring a story from script to stage and more. Listen to the conversation or read the transcript here.
https://www.allarts.org/2023/06/primary-trust-william-jackson-harper-eboni-booth-roundabout-theatre-company/
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