Curious about how artists develop their visions from blocks of clay to fully fired pieces of art? This spring, People's Light will host a two-week theatre lab for several groundbreaking artists developing new work. Spring/Summer Series subscribers have the opportunity to be the first to see these projects emerge in a series of readings, community conversations, and artist talks.
The Kiln is Invite-Only
Reservations are available on a first-come, first-served basis. Seating will be limited. If you have received an invitation as a subscriber or special guest, please contact the Box Office at 610.644.3500 or tickets@peopleslight.org to reserve your seats for sharings on April 7, 8, 14, and 15.
7:30pm
FUQs
Written by Daphne Rubin-Vega
The frequently unanswered questions (also known as the FUQs) is an autobiographical riot about death with songs. FUQs is a collection of memoir stories with music.
4:30pm
Song of the Exile
Written and directed by Seema Sueko, adapted from the novel by Kiana Davenport
In Song of the Exile, jazz and love propel Keo and Sunny from Honolulu, across Europe and Asia, and into the hysteria and horror of World War II. This epic tale begins in 1930s Hawaii Territory and culminates in the 1960s State of Hawaii. Lives and nations are transformed in this play with music, heartache, revenge, and renewal.
7:30pm
All Fall Down
Written by Lisa Ramirez
All Fall Down is a groundbreaking memory play with dance that begins on the day of the funeral of Bobby Vargas, a ballet dancer, and the youngest child and only son of Rose Hanley. Set in the (now abandoned) house they grew up in, two sisters, Jackie and Grace, struggle to maintain their versions of the past and the events that led to this loss. During the course of the play, they confront, in their own ways, the death of their brother, internalized racism, childhood secrets, and the cost of addiction.
7:30pm
Bones
Written and directed by Steve H. Broadnax III
During a passionate game of dominoes, aka bones, the brahs drink beer, make bets, laugh, and share stories. Then, dominoes fall, revealing unknown truths and challenging ideologies as a mysterious, menacing banging next door that goes bump in the night interrupts. Bones, a horror allegory, investigates masculinity, intimacy, and identity. It questions vulnerability and what it means to be a Black man.
1pm
New Latin American Musical Project
Created by Estefanía Fadul in collaboration with Jacinta Clusellas and Robi Hager
The New Latin American Musical Project explores the seeds of a new musical grounded in Latin American musical influences across a range of genres, including cumbia, boleros, folk, and more. The creators use family histories, folktales, and mythology as source material, as well as a desire to experiment with aesthetics and form in the creation of a large-scale spectacle event.
7:30pm
Edgardo or White Fire
Written by Carey Perloff
A seven-year-old Jewish Italian boy is abducted by the Pope in 1858 and raised to become a priest. Years later, he’s confronted by the Gestapo. Based on a real historical event, Edgardo or White Fire is a play about how the past is always present, as a mother and a son wrestle to find each other again after years of betrayal and loss.
(He/him) People's Light: Associate Artistic Director. Writer & Director: Bayard Rustin Inside Ashland, 20/20 Vision (digital short film). Director: America 2am, Mud Row, Skeleton Crew, The Mountaintop. Theatre Includes: Thoughts of a Colored Man on Broadway, Suzan-Lori Parks’ Sally and Tom at the Guthrie Theater (World Premiere) and the Geffen Playhouse, Katori Hall’s 2021 Pulitzer Prize Premiere The Hot Wing King at The Signature Theatre, Lee Edward Colston’s The First Deep Breath at Chicago’s Victory Garden Theatre (Premiere, Jeff Award for Best New Work) Dominique Morisseau’s Blood at the Root at the National Black Theatre (Kennedy Center's Hip Hop Theater Creator Award), William Jackson Harper’s Premiere Travisville at NYC Ensemble Studio. Broadnax is an Ensemble Studio Theatre member, and a professor of Theatre and co-head of MFA Directing at Penn State University.
(She/her) Estefanía Fadul is a Colombian-American director and one of the incoming co-Artistic Directors at Ensemble Studio Theatre in NYC. Recent directing includes the world premieres of Eva Luna adapted by Caridad Svich from the novel by Isabel Allende (Repertorio Español), The Garbologists by Lindsay Joelle (Philadelphia Theatre Company), and the Drama League-nominated Carla’s Quince, a devised immersive experience to mobilize Latiné voters to the polls. She has developed new plays and musicals off-Broadway and regionally at the Public Theater, Chautauqua, Playwrights’ Realm, NYTW, Repertorio Español, Audible, Goodspeed, Long Wharf, Juilliard, and more. She is a member of the leadership circle of the Center for Performance and Civic Practice (CPCP), the Drama League Board of Directors, New Georges Affiliated Artist, Latinx Theatre Commons advisory committee, Lincoln Center Directors Lab, and SDC. B.A. Vassar College. www.estefaniafadul.com
(She/her) Carey Perloff is a director, playwright, producer and educator who served as Artistic Director of American Conservatory Theater from 1992-2018. At A.C.T., Perloff staged dozens of classical and contemporary plays and nurtured a three-decade collaboration with Harold Pinter and Tom Stoppard resulting in her new book PINTER AND STOPPARD: A DIRECTOR’S VIEW. As a playwright, Perloff’s work includes Vienna, Vienna, Vienna (Current Finalist, Jewish Plays Project), If God Were Blue (NYSF), Edgardo or White Fire (WTF commission), Higher (2011 Laurie Foundation Theater Visions Award), Luminescence Dating (Sloane Fnd. Commission, BATC Best Original Script), Kinship (Theatre de Paris w/ Isabelle Adjani, WTF w/ Cynthia Nixon) and The Fit (SF Playhouse). Perloff is the author of BEAUTIFUL CHAOS: A LIFE IN THE THEATER, and has created a digital theater platform, Tiny Theatricals, to share the creative process of exploring classical plays. Careyperloff.com.
(She/her) Lisa Ramirez is a mixed-race Latina writer and actor, whose work has been widely produced in the United States. Her play TO THE BONE had successful sold-out runs at the Cherry Lane Theatre in New York and the Oakland Theater Project. The play has garnered many awards (including the Helen Merrill Award) and is being taught in many Universities across the nation. Lisa’s work has appeared at prestigious institutions such as the Cherry Lane Theatre, Oakland Theater Project, TheatreWorks Silicon Valley, Playmakers Rep, Center Theatre Group, Working Theater and others. Plays include EXIT CUCKOO (nanny in motherland); Art of Memory; Pas de Deux (lost my shoe); TO THE BONE; In the Mountains; DOWN HERE BELOW; sAiNt jOaN (burn/burn/burn); Book of Sand (a fairytale) and ALL FALL DOWN. Lisa is currently working on several theater commissions and developing various projects for Television and film.
(She/her) Powerhouse singer/actor Daphne Rubin-Vega is best known for her Tony Award-nominated performance as Mimi in the original cast of Rent by Jonathan Larson from 1996-97. Since that iconic role, Daphne was also Tony-nominated in 2003 for her performance as Conchita in Anna in the Tropics. She starred with Phylicia Rashad in a musical version of Lorca's The House of Bernarda Alba at Lincoln Center in 2006 and played the role of Fantine in the 2006 Broadway revival of Les Miserables. In addition to many, many additional Broadway and off-Broadway stage credits, Daphne has been a featured performer in film and television, including most recently in the 2021 film version of Lin Manuel-Miranda and Quiara Alegria Hudes' In the Heights. She is a writer and executive producer on the upcoming "The Horror of Dolores Roach" on Amazon Prime coming this fall. Daphne is also a recording artist with Top Billboard 100 hits in Latin freestyle and Club music.
(She/her) Seema Sueko is a freelance artist and the 2022 recipient of the TCG Alan Schneider Director Award. She recently initiated Learning Circles in the theater community to study concepts and practices of Solidarity Economy (SE). She urges anyone unfamiliar with SE to research Time Banks, Community Fridges, and Tool Libraries and imagine how you can participate in building healthy communities. In addition, she is currently creating a theatrical adaptation of the novel SONG OF THE EXILE by Kiana Davenport and developing a new play by Pearl Cleage for The Ford’s Theatre Legacy Commissions. Seema serves on the Executive Board of Stage Directors and Choreographers Society (SDC) and the Board of Trustees of their Foundation (SDCF). More info about Seema’s work can be found at www.seemasueko.com.
