Arena Stage at the Mead Center for American Theater has announced that its 2020–2021 Season of Playwrights’ Arena will be presented in partnership with Georgetown and Howard Universities and will focus on six advanced students or recent alumni playwrights from the two schools.
The 2020–2021 season cohort, including Veronica Ray Carr, Rose Dallimore, Fatima Dyfan, Aiyaisha Peoples, Jade Scott, and Timmy Sutton, will work one-on-one with Arena Stage Dramaturg and Program Facilitator Jocelyn Clarke in an exploration of their artistry, providing support and guidance as they prepare for careers in the field.
Beginning in September, the writers will hone their voice in conversations with Clarke and gain access to playwrights and directors from Arena productions. The partnership between Arena Stage, Georgetown University, and Howard University will build upon and serve to strengthen a pipeline of diverse future theatre makers and playwrights.
“We re-imagined the Playwrights Arena program together for this moment, discovering how each institution can contribute and gain meaningfully from the generous mentoring of Arena’s internationally recognized Dramaturg Jocelyn Clarke and the diversity of students we’re bringing into creative community and mentored writing workshop, together,” says Georgetown University’s Davis Performing Arts Center Artistic Director Dr. Maya E. Roth. “It’s a plum opportunity for our students, helping to shape what kind of theatre, multiracial community, and writing for performance they—and we—want to seed for the future.”
"Collaborations such as the Playwrights’ Arena Artistic Initiative, which brings together an historic theatre with students from Howard and Georgetown Universities are edifying for all concerned, and a wonderful opportunity for talented and deserving students,” adds Howard University’s Division of Fine Arts Associate Dean Dr. Lisa Farrington. “Collective ventures of this kind are integral to a Howard Fine Arts education. Brava to all who have made this possible, in particular Howard's own Professor Denise Hart."
For more information about Playwrights’ Arena and the new cohorts, visit ArenaStage.org.
