In its second programmatic year, Open Workshop is a free development workshop Freedom Train Productions offers to its entire audience community to provide a safe space for folks to create. Led by Director of New Play Development Aurin Squire, Participants of Open Workshop mine, discover, and develop new works of political theatre featuring black queer protagonists or main characters from 'othered' communities who are otherwise under-represented on stage.
Open Workshop Participants receive the same curriculum that Resident Playwrights receive but get focused attention to account for their varied background in theatre. Open Workshops begin in May and continue through October with one 4-5 hour workshop per month typically on Saturdays at The Audre Lorde Project in Fort Greene, Brooklyn. Due to workshop size capacity, attendance at all workshops is required. In October Freedom Train Productions will stage a performance featuring ten-minute plays from Open Workshop Participants.
The struggles within the new political theatre Freedom Train Productions develops have far-reaching impact and global connections. Nick Mwaluko's S/HE (Resident Playwright 2007) is a play about a transgender person’s transition struggle and it is also a story about self-acceptance and social intolerance. And as much as Sharon Bridgforth's delta dandi (Resident Playwright 2008) looks at the African American experience of grief, trauma, and healing -- there are, unfortunately, no limits to humanity's broad relationship to traumatic and post-traumatic experiences.
We expect that the work our Open Workshop Participants produce will offer no less social commentary or social justice questions.
Becoming an Open Workshop Participant
Interested audience community members should send a letter of introduction no later than Friday, May 15th, 2009 to openworkshop[AT]freedomtrainproductions.org. In the week after the deadline, we will either meet in person or have a phone conversation with each prospective participant and announce decisions shortly thereafter. There is no “skill-evaluation” for entrance into these workshops. There is only an evaluation based on commitment and workshop size capacity (6 Participants). Our goal is to have a diverse participant core in both the traditional diversity sense and also diverse in what all the new works/projects participants will be about.
Because of limited space/high interest, all interested folks who send in a letter but don't get invited in this year are encouraged to continue showing their spirit at performances and programs and of course trying again next year!
In the letter of introduction please answer these questions in no more than 1-2 pages:
1: Tell us about yourself. Race, gender, sexuality, class, of course, but give us a fuller picture of who you are too!
2: What would you like to get out of being a participant?
3: What’s been your experience in theatre as a writer/creator/producer/performer? (Every answer is a good answer!)
4: Have an project idea? Tell us about it!
What project would you be interested in exploring?
- or -
Don't have one? Talk to us about what's on your mind!
What questions you might want to focus on in your new work?
5: Are there any Saturdays in May through October that you aren't available? If so, which ones?
Questions? Don't hesitate to ask. Please email aurin[AT]freedomtrainproductions.org.
