DOMINIC TAYLOR- USING CULTURE TO CREATE PLAY STRUCTURE
Event Information
About this event
August Wilson claimed that his 4 B's- The Blues, Amiri Baraka, Romane Bearden, and Jorge Luis Borges were the 4 main influences on his aesthetic.
In this 2-hour workshop, Dominic Taylor will have you mine your cultured connections to come up with a scaffolding to make new provocative culturally connected work.
Knowledge of FOR COLORED GIRLS, THE COLORED MUSEUM, and MOJO AND THE SAYSO are helpful but not essential. Come with your imagination and desire to grow.
About DOMINIC TAYLOR
Dominic Taylor is a scholar of African-American theater and a writer-director whose work has been seen across the country. He is the former associate artistic director of Penumbra Theatre Company in St. Paul, Minn., one of the premiere African-American theaters in the country. There he utilized his unique culturally specific play development process called OKRA. Since his arrival at UCLA TFT, Taylor has reshaped the school's curriculum for African American theater with a cycle of courses that begin in 1619 and go through contemporary African American life. He is on the Faculty Advisory Committee for the Ralph J. Bunche Center for African American Studies and was a guest speaker at the "UCLA Institute of American Cultures Film Festival: Celebrating 50 Years of Ethnic Stories." In UCLA TFT's 2018-19 Theater Season, he directed Paula Vogel's play The Long Christmas Ride Home.His essay, "Don't Call African-American Theatre Black Theatre: It's Like Calling a Dog a Cat" was published by Massachusetts Review in September 2019. Previously, Taylor was an associate professor at the University of Minnesota, Twin Cities. He has also taught at Bard College and City University in New York; Columbia College of Chicago; Bennington College and Brown University.Taylor received his bachelor's and master of fine arts degree from Brown University and is an alumnus member of New Dramatists. He is also a member of the Dramatists Guild, and the Stage Directors and Choreographers Society; a board member of the Givens Foundation for African American Literature; and an associate artistic director of America-in-Play.
Organizer Black Lives, Black Words
Organizer of DOMINIC TAYLOR- USING CULTURE TO CREATE PLAY STRUCTURE
The Organization
Black Lives Black Words International Project, an artistic movement that spans across countries and continents.
Our mission is to empower artists of color and the communities they are a part of.
We empower artists of color to be activist and to transform their neighborhoods through art and leadership
About the Instructor
Reginald Edmund is currently the Founder and Managing Curating Producer for Black Lives Black Words International Project. Inspired by #blacklivesmatter, this project gives voice to some of the most contemporary political black writers from both the US, Canada, and the UK, asking them to explore the question 'Do black lives matter today? Reginald is a former Resident Playwright at Tamasha Theatre in London, England and an Alumni Resident Playwright at Chicago Dramatists Theatre, an Artistic Associate at Pegasus Theatre-Chicago, and an Artistic Patriot at Merrimack Repertory Theatre, he was also a '10-'11 Many Voice Fellow with the Playwrights' Center. His play Juneteenth Street was the 2018 winner of Black Theatre Alliance Award for Best New Play. His play Southbridge was runner up for the Kennedy Center's Lorraine Hansberry and Rosa Parks National Playwriting Awards, and most recently named the winner of the Southern Playwrights' Competition, the Black Theatre Alliance Award for Best New Play, and the Edgerton Foundation New American Play Award. His nine-play series titled 'The City of the Bayou Collection', include Southbridge, Juneteenth Street, The Last Cadillac, and All the Dying Voices were developed at esteemed theaters including Pegasus Theatre-Chicago, Deluxe Theatre, Actors Theatre of Charlotte, Bush Theatre (UK), Boston Court @ Theatre, the Landing Theatre, the Playwrights' Center, and The National Theatre (UK). Reginald Edmund received his BFA in Theatre-Performance from Texas Southern University and his MFA in Playwriting from Ohio University.
