Horse Trade Theater Group Presents THE FIRE THIS TIME FESTIVAL 1/17-30/2011

By: Sep. 28, 2010
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The African American experience is not represented solely by one voice or one style. THE FIRE THIS TIME FESTIVAL provides a platform for talented early-career playwrights of African-American descent to explore these new voices, styles and challenging new directions for 21st century performing arts, and move beyond common ideas of what is possible in "black theater." The festival's core production is a short play festival, presenting 6-7 new works by the featured playwrights over two weekends. Other programming includes panel discussions, staged readings, and concert events throughout the year, totaling 16 planned public events. Confirmed playwrights for the 2011 festival include Jesse Cameron Alick, Christine Chambers, Camille Darby, Marcus Gardley, Yusef Miller and Dominique Morisseau.

THE FIRE THIS TIME FESTIVAL was founded in 2009 by Kelley Nicole Girod, and presented its first sold out festival in February 2010. Playwrights featured included Deborah Asiimwe, Rhada Blank, Kelley Nicole Girod, Katori Hall, Derek Lee McPhatter, Germono Toussaint and Pia Wilson.

The festival, presented by Horse Trade Theater Group will play at The Red Room (85 East 4th Street between 2nd Ave and Bowery). January 17-30, 2011. Tickets ($15) are available by calling Smarttix at 212-868-4444 or online at www.horseTRADE.info.

KELLY NICOLE GIROD (Founding Playwright/Executive Producer) is a 2008 graduate of Columbia's MFA playwriting program where she was named the Stein and Liberace scholar as well as the John Golden fellow for her artistic merit. Kelley hails from Louisiana where she attended Louisiana State University and works extensively with the artistic community of Baton Rouge, most recently serving as a panel judge for Louisiana's artist in residency program. She has had plays produced in Los Angeles, New York, New Orleans, and Columbus, Ohio and has had readings at Primary Stages, the Labyrinth studio and Horse Trade Theater Group, who produced her play Parabolas as part of their downtown theatre festival and where she serves as resident playwright, teaching artist and founding producer of The Fire This Time Festival.

DEREK LEE McPHATTER (Executive Producer/2010 Playwright) Originally from Pickerington Ohio, Derek has lived in Atlanta and Osaka, Japan and currently calls Harlem home. His most recent play, Citizen Jane, was featured in the inaugural Fire This Time Festival. Derek was a 2009 resident playwright with Freedom TRain Productions, developing a new music-theatre dramedy: Bring the Beat Back. He is part of the leadership team for Under the Spell Productions, and co-author of the company's signature show, It Goes Unsaid, which has been produced at Harlem's Poets Den, the University of California, and London's Institute of Contemporary Arts. Derek was a finalist for the New York Theatre Workshop's Emerging Playwright's of Color Fellowship in 2007. He has publications in the journals Anamesa, Flash Fantastic, and the Encyclopedia of African American Culture and History. He is a member of the Harlem Arts Alliance and the Speculative Literature Foundation and holds degrees from Morehouse College and NYU, where he completed his master's thesis-Let the Kids Say Amen: Black Gay Spaces and the Hybridity of Gospel House Music. By days, Derek works at the Apollo Theater and hosts the Apollo Salon Series; a works-in-development program presented every weekend in October.

GERMONO TOUSSAINT (Executive Producer/2010 Playwright) is a playwright, composer, arranger and lyricist. In 2005 Toussaint wrote the book, music, and lyrics for his original musical Caged, based on interviews he conducted with thirteen women at a halfway house. Caged premiered at the Broadway Theater Center in Milwaukee and was featured in the Not for Broadway Theater Festival in New York City in 2006. Toussaint's play The Anointed, based on interviews with church leaders, was featured in The Fire This Time Festival last year, and was co-produced by Freedom TRain Productions. As an active composer/arranger he has arranged music for such artists as Nhojj, Kenya Sollas and Chante Brown. He has transcribed original music for Katori Hall Inc, Common Thread Theater and was the arranger/producer of the Verve concert series with The Well Entertainment Group. Toussaint has also composed music for Skylight Opera Theatre, Handful Players, Fishgrease Productions, Diversity Players of Harlem, New Dramatist's Nocturnal Commissions, Tripping: The Musical and productions of The Pied Piper, Hansel and Gretel, The Laramie Project and Love Rides the Rails. Toussaint has a BFA in composition and has received grants and awards from The National Alliance for Musical Theatre, The Wisconsin Arts Board, The Helen Bader Foundation, The Community Chorale for Christ, The Center for Performance and Excellence of Music, and Cardinal Stritch University.

HORSE TRADE THEATER GROUP is a self-sustaining theater development group; with a focus on new work, it has produced a massive quantity of stimulating downtown theater. Horse Trade's Resident Artist Program offers a home to a select group of Independent Theater artists, pooling together a great deal of talent and energy. It is also the home of FRIGID New York - the first and only festival of its kind in New York City.



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