Authors Theatre

2021 -22

Performing Arts Center university at albany

State University of New York

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Performing Arts Center Music Program Theatre Program

(518) 442-3995 (518) 442-4187 (518) 442-4200

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Cover photo: Ashwini Ramaswamy by Ed Bock Photo this page: UAlbany Performing Arts Center by Patrick Ferlo

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Only 1.5 miles to University at Albany Minutes from I-87, 787, and I-90 Walking Distance to Crossgates Mall

Visit the Performing Arts Center website at

www.albany.edu/pac

Photo: Ashwini Ramaswamy’s Let the Crows Come by Jake Armour

for a full listing of this season’s events.

A Theatre Program Special Event Co-sponsored by the Jarka and Grayce Burian Endowment and the NYS Writers Institute AUTHORS THEATRE KUDZU CALLING

by Donnetta Lavinia Grays Donnetta Lavinia Grays (Playwright and Performer) is a Brooklyn-based playwright and actor from Columbia, South Carolina. Her plays include Where We Stand (WP Theater; Baltimore Center Stage), Last Night and the Night Before (Denver Center Theatre Company), Laid to Rest, and The Review or How to Eat Your Opposition. She has received The Whiting Award for Drama, The Helen Merrill Playwright Award, National Theatre Conference’s Barrie and Bernice Stavis Playwright Award, Lilly Award, Todd McNerney National Playwriting Award, and the Doric Wilson Independent Playwright Award; and commissions from Steppenwolf Theatre, Denver Center Theatre Company, Alabama Shakespeare Festival, WP Theater, and True Love Productions. Acting credits include Broadway’s In the Next Room (or The Vibrator Play) by Sarah Ruhl and Well by Lisa Kron, and numerous roles Off-Broadway that she has originated including the recent Off-Broadway/WP Theater debut of her solo show Where We Stand (Lortel Award Nominee, Drama League Award Nominee), in addition to performances on film and television. She is currently in rehearsal for Thornton Wilder’s The Skin of Our Teeth, opening on Broadway with Lincoln Center Theater in April. https://www.donnettagrays.com/

abigail jean-baptiste (Director) is a theater maker, director and writer born in New York City with roots in Haiti and the American South. Her work intersects with critical race theory and reimagines understandings of the past. Currently a Soho Rep Project Number One Artist and New Georges Affiliated Artist, she is also part of the Roundabout Director’s Group, Bushwick Starr Reading Series, Classic Stage Company Associate Board and The New Georges Jam. In 2020, she was named one of the “Powerhouse Women Directors Theatre Fans and Industry Pros Alike Need to Know” by Playbill. Most recently, she directed The House That Will Not Stand (Le Petit Theatre, New Orleans). Other directing projects include: Escapegoat by May Treuhaft-Ali (Theater Accident & Climate Change Theater Action); The Story of a Circle by David Ryan Smith (Soho Rep.); A Case for Black Girls Setting Central Park on Fire by Kori Alston (Clubbed Thumb, Reading Series); and the salt women by Audley Puglisi (Playwrights Realm, Reading Series). A Proud Lilly Award Winner. B.A. Princeton University. https://abigailjeanbaptiste.org/ Jean-Remy Monnay (Performer) was born in Haiti, and moved to New York in at the age of 18 to continue his education and acting career. Remy is an Associate Artist with Capital Repertory Theatre and Producing Artistic Director of the Black Theatre Troupe of Upstate New York, founded in 2009 with the mission to promote performances and theatrical pieces by and about artists of color, to foster a greater understanding, appreciation, and participation in the performing arts within communities of color. As an actor he has appeared in over 200 plays, films, commercials, and documentary voice overs. As a director and producer, his credits include The Light, Barbecue, Dead and Breathing, Ain’t Misbehavin’, A Lesson Before Dying, The Niceties, Mountaintop, Camp Logan, Fences, Eclipsed, Harriet Tubman Visits a Therapist, and many more. He became a SAG/AFTRA member in 2019, and recently retired after 30 years of service with New York State.

Mfoniso Udofia (Performer) is a New York-based, first generation Nigerian-American storyteller, actor, and educator whose work centers on African immigration in the United States. As an actor she recently appeared Off-Broadway in Ngozi Anyanwu's The Homecoming Queen. She’s also appeared in the feature film, Fred Won't Move Out. As a playwright, she is the recipient of the 2017 Helen Merrill Playwright Award and a McKnight National Residency, and is the author of the nine-play cycle entitled The Ufot Cycle. The Ufot Cycle follows a Nigerian immigrant family across generations navigating their lives and identities in America. Six of the nine plays have been produced in theaters across America, three untitled plays are still being developed and written. Family and generational differences appear throughout much of her work, in Her Portmanteau we see a Mother, Abasiama, and her two daughters attempting to reconcile with their different navigations of legacy.

In runboyrun, which recently premiered Off-Broadway at the New York Theatre Workshop, the story follows of how acts of survival are passed down through generations of a family lineage. https://www.mfonisoudofia.com Yetunde Babalola (Performer) is a senior at the UAlbany with a major in Political Science and minors in Theatre and English.

They performed in two FRESH ACTS productions in 2021, and are the author of Josephine that was produced in New Play Arena this fall. They are currently working on their play Stormy Weather, which will appear in FRESH ACTS 2022, and are very passionate about writing plays for underrepresented voices.

Ayele Brockington (Performer) is a Theatre/History major at UAlbany, and is currently playing Antonio in Twelfth Night. He has also appeared Theodore Prince in Mothman in New Work/New Ways in Fall 2020, and before that, Caesar in Our Country’s Good. Next up he will perform in FRESH ACTS this spring.

Donnie-Lee J. Frazier (Performer) is a junior at UAlbany, with a Theatre major and a Creative Writing minor. This fall was the first time he participated in a production, in the New Play Arena, and he is looking forward to performing in this spring’s FRESH ACTS. Samantha McLawrence (Performer) is a senior at UAlbany, with a major in Biology and a minor in Theatre. Originally from Brooklyn, Sam was shy and awkward growing up as an only child, but the arts became her outlet for expression. She is an artist, actress, dancer, stepper, and instrumentalist, currently looking forward to beginning rehearsal for the FRESH ACTS festival, where she will appear onstage later this month.

Authors Theatre Coordinator: Kate Walat, Associate Professor, Theatre Program Production Assistants: Michael Halkitis and Ken Reibman Special thanks to Jennifer Kowalski at the NYS Writers Institute.

Coming Soon FRESH ACTS April 20-23 Artistic Director Kate Walat The Theatre Program’s annual festival of play readings features works written, directed, and performed entirely by students.

See some of the freshest writing that UAlbany has to offer and be a part of the dynamic process of theatre being made, in the kind of creative collaborations at the heart of the American theatre.

PERFORMING ARTS CENTER HOUSE POLICIES Latecomers will be seated at the discretion of the management and its staff. .

The use of photographic or recording devices of any kind during this performance is strictly prohibited. .

There is no food or drink allowed in the theatres, nor is smoking allowed in UAlbany buildings. .

To avoid disrupting the performance, kindly disable any noise making electronic devices you may have with you. .

Please take time to note the location of the fire exits nearest to you. In the event of an emergency, please proceed to the nearest exit in an orderly fashion and follow the directions of our staff.

Created and produced by the University Art Museum, NYS Writers Institute and UAlbany Performing Arts Center in collaboration with WAMC Public Radio, this popular series features leading figures from a variety of artistic disciplines in conversation about their creative inspirations, their craft and their careers.

“Roundtable” host Joe Donahue conducts live on-stage interviews followed by a Q&A with the audience.

Dance

in

Albany 2021-22

Coming up next:

April 22 at The Egg

Garth Fagan Dance

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