Locally Grown: Community Supported Art 
From Our Own Garden

Theater J's new festival focusing on the
thriving Washington DC playwright scene

This robust new initiative is inspired in part by the “locovore” and Community Supported Agriculture movements which focus on cultivating, appreciating and utilizing local resources for local consumption. Theater J’s dynamic new initiative translates these principles to DC’s burgeoning theatre scene, fostering the talent of DC playwrights through four mini-commissions, round-table discussions and readings throughout the summer and fall, culminating in staged readings throughout January and February. Artistic Director Ari Roth comments on the festival’s ambitions to “place value on that which has taken root within our community, and to invest in our own artists and their professional development and then export that talent to the rest of the nation."

The 2012 Community Supported Art: Locally Grown festival will feature works from area writers at every stage of development, and incorporates three main components:  

• The world premiere of  THE RELIGION THING, a new play by emerging playwright Renee Calarco
  
  
• Workshop presentations of THE PROSTATE DIALOGUES, a new solo performance piece by established artist Jon Spelman
  
  
• And four readings of new works by local playwrights Jacqueline Lawton, Stephen Spotswood, Gwydion Suilebhan, and performance artist Laura Zam
  

 

  Funded in part by the DC Commission on the Arts and Humanities, an agency supported in part by the National Endowment for the Arts.  

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MARRIED SEX by Laura Zam

Tuesday, January 10th at 7:30 pm and Monday, February 13th at 7:30pm (Presented in rep with The Prostate Dialogues) 

$10 or purchase a festival pass for $30

A one-woman show exploring a woman’s quest to understand her body and her past.  Describing her play, Zam writes, “In my play, I look at trauma healing, comprehensively.  Therefore, I hope my audience comes away with a greater understanding about the long-term effects of different kinds of trauma as well as what measures individuals may take to heal themselves.  Because my play also deals with the aftermath of sexual abuse, I hope to encourage people to speak openly about these matters. Indeed, my aim is to offer new ways to have this conversation--ways that allow for laughter as well as anger, ways that focus on effects as well as prevention, and ways that encourage men to see themselves as healers not just perpetrators or would-be perpetrators.”

 

THE HAMPTON YEARS by Jacqueline Lawton

Monday, January 16 at 7:30 pm

$10 or purchase a festival pass for $30

 
The Hampton Years explores the relationship between art professor Viktor Lowenfeld and his students, John Biggers and Samella Lewis. Lowenfeld joined the Hampton Institute in Virginia in 1939 as assistant professor of Industrial Arts and studio art teacher. He was later appointed as Chairman of the Art Department and in 1945, he was named curator of the distinguished collection of Black African Art at the Hampton Institute. Burgeoning artist John Biggers, who went on to become an internationally acclaimed painter, sculptor, teacher and philosopher, was his student. As was Samella Lewis, artist, printmaker and educator, with whom Lowenfeld had a contentious, but respectful relationship. The Hampton Years examines the impact of World War II on Jewish immigrants living in the United States and their role in shaping the lives and careers of African American students in the segregated south.

 

COLD NOVEMBER LIGHT by Stephen Spotswood

Monday, January 23 at 7:30 pm

$10 or purchase a festival pass for $30

A portrait of two artists whose personal tragedies have left them isolated from the rest of humanity, and who help each other find a place in the world. Harry has spent his entire life retreating from society and immersing himself in his paintings. His talent is only equaled by his intense social coarseness and his dislike of people. Gwen, Harry’s latest model, lost the use of her legs as a child. Newly arrived in the city, this is her first attempt to create an autonomous life in what she is finding to be a hostile world. From their last meeting to their first, this play follows Harry and Gwen as they form a surprising relationship.

 

HOT AND COLD by Gwydion Suilebhan 

Monday, February 6 at 7:30 pm

$10 or purchase a festival pass for $30

HOT & COLD probes the horror of disease that lives beneath the surface of reality by juxtaposing the hot zone of a Biohazard Lab and the cold chill of a seemingly ordinary kitchen on Christmas morning. In the lab, what appear to be a pair of scientists — accidentally exposed to a rare virus and subsequently quarantined — struggle to remain rational.  In the kitchen, meanwhile,  what appears to be an out-of-her-depth Jewish mother tries her best to prepare and serve an authentic Christmas dinner for her hapless son, his Catholic fiancé, and her family — while they all negotiate the terms of the children’s interfaith wedding ceremony. The play explores viruses of both the body and of the mind, where nothing is quite what it appears to be. 

 

 

The Prostate Dialogues by Jon Spelman

Tuesday, January 10 at 7:30 pm
Tuesday, January 24 at 7:30 pm
Sunday, February 12 at 5:00 pm
Sunday, February 19 at 5:00 pm

$10 or purchase a festival pass for $30

Throughout January and February, Theater J will collaborate with local storyteller and performance artist Jon Spelman on several workshop presentations of his newest work-in-development: THE PROSTATE DIALOGUES. This one-of-a-kind solo piece is also set in the DC metro area, and the material is drawn from Spelman’s experience with prostate cancer and his recovery from a radical prostatectomy in 2009. Spelman is currently cancer-free, but he is still coping with the surgery’s effects on both his physiology and relationships. In the piece, Spelman includes scenes of other cancer survivors, exploring the impact that their illness and treatment has had on their sexuality and relationships.  

 

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RENEE CALARCO  

Renee Calarco’s history at Theater J began with a July 2010 Tea@2 new play reading of an early draft of THE RELIGION THING, initially titled Good Counsel. She has also been a frequent contributor to the ‘5x5 Playwrights Respond’ post-performance reading series which produces five five-minute works by local artists responding to a mainstage production. Her play Short Order Stories received the 2007 Charles MacArthur Award for Outstanding New Play. Other plays include Keepers of the Western Door and a one-act play, The Mating of Angela Weiss.

 MORE ABOUT RENEE CALARCO

 

JON SPELMAN 

Throughout January and February, Theater J will collaborate with local storyteller and performance artist Jon Spelman on several workshop presentations of his newest work-in-development: THE PROSTATE DIALOGUES. This one-of-a-kind solo piece is also set in the DC metro area, and the material is drawn from Spelman’s experience with prostate cancer and his recovery from a radical prostatectomy in 2009. Spelman is currently cancer-free, but he is still coping with the surgery’s effects on both his physiology and relationships. In the piece, Spelman includes scenes of other cancer survivors, exploring the impact that their illness and treatment has had on their sexuality and relationships. Mr. Spellman will perform the piece on Tuesday, January 24th at 7:30pm

$10 or purchase a festival pass for $30

MORE ABOUT JON SPELMAN

JACQUELINE E LAWTON 

I grew up in East Texas, in a conservative, mostly white farming community. My parents were retired military and we were very poor. My father is a seeker and as a result, I’ve studied/practiced many different religions. I was even Mormon for four years. This was in the late ‘80s when the Mormons were working to improve/repair their relationship with African Americans. My first day with the Latter Day Saints will forever be emblazoned in my memory. After a hearty Bible Study, I was put in the children’s choir. I didn’t know the song that had been selected, so I sang one that I knew, “Have a Little Talk With Jesus.” And I sang it as loud as I possibly could and had a big smile on my face. I just knew my Mama would hear me and be proud! A few lyrics in, someone walked me out of the choir box, and I was never asked to sing again.

I am now a deeply spiritual person without any particular religious affiliation. However, I can say unequivocally that theater is my faith. When questioning the world around me and feeling quite lost to the violence, poverty, and lack of human dignity faced by so many, I write. With a play, I am able to lay out all sides of the story, hear all of the voices, and portray a myriad of responses to the varied situations people face in life. In doing so, I am able to make sense of the world in order to find it livable again.
 
I wanted to be a part of the Locally Grown Festival, because Theater J is a space where I feel safe to sing the wrong song loudly. However, instead of being ushered out the back door, I know that I’ll be guided to find the right words, perfect framework, and exact tone that serve the story I am trying to tell. This is a uniquely rare and beautiful thing. What’s more, Theater J is a place where challenging issues are discussed thoroughly and out in the open, and not in hushed tones or behind closed doors. With The Hampton Years, I am dramatizing the complex relationship between art historian Viktor Lowenfeld and his African American students, artists John Biggers and Samella Lewis. I am honored to have been selected as one of the local playwrights participating this year.

In addition to writing The Hampton Years, I am also working on a new play, Love Brothers Serenade, which explores the negative impact of gentrification on inner city communities. This hiphop infused drama, follows Reynaldo and Ricardo as they struggle for survival in DC's inner city ghettos. Adapted from Giuseppe Verdi's Un Ballo in Maschera, this play investigates the honor code, loyalty, and rites of passage at the heart of this volatile community. Love Brothers Serenade reveals that the bond of brotherhood has just as much strength to destroy as it does to unite. 

STEPHEN SPOTSWOOD 

After three years of volunteering as literary assistant and occasional dramaturg (New Jerusalem, The Chosen) at Theater J, I’m delighted to finally get to work with them as a playwright. I’ve been fortunate to keep very busy the last few years creating new plays, including Miranda is Morning (Catholic University), 7 Lessons on Suicide (Zero Hour Theatre), The Resurrectionist King (Active Cultures Theatre), Eulogy and Off a Broken Road (both produced as part of Imagination Stage’s New Works Performing Ensemble).

For the most part, my work tends to stray far from naturalism. I enjoy creating highly theatrical stories that still contain a solid, emotional center. I just closed Sisters of Ellery Hollow: a tall tale –a very simple, storytelling piece about two girls trying to survive in a small town—at this year’s Capital Fringe Festival. After seeing the show, one audience member said that, while the play was very personal and specific, it felt very mythic. I’m still working on turning that into a personal tagline.

That said, the play I’m working on for Theater J, Cold November Light, will probably be the most stylistically conservative piece I’ve ever created. It’s a single-set play about two people: a painter whose talent is overshadowed by his inability to interact with other human beings, and a model who is trying to create an independent life for herself despite being confined to a wheelchair. It is, in some ways, a personal challenge to see how much fun I can have playing with big, emotional themes in such a small space.

In the meantime, I’m also working with Bright Alchemy Theatre, a company of local theatre artists dedicated to creating new work through a devised theatre process. We premiered our first play, Gilgamesh who saw the deep, at CapFringe in 2008, and our second play, A Cre@tion Story for Naomi, was produced last January at the DC Arts Center. Our latest project, When The Stars Go Out, began as an examination of apocalypse stories and asked the question: Why are we compelled to tell stories about our own destruction? I’ve been blogging the devising process at www.2amtheatre.com.

The workshop production of the piece—a rough draft, director’s-cut version—will be featured as part of this year’s Mead Theatre Lab Program with performances September 23, 24, and 25 at Flashpoint. It’s pay-what-you-can and everyone is invited. That includes you.

 

GWYDION SUILEBHAN 

I’m Gwydion. I’ve written a few plays you might have seen here in the area—Let X, Abstract Nude, The Faithkiller, Reals, and The Constellation—and a few other plays that have only been produced elsewhere. Though I do work with theaters all over the country, I couldn’t be any more proud of the fact that I live and write in DC. I’m the resident playwright of the Taffety Punk Theatre Company, and I’m thrilled to be able to deepen my relationship with Theater J. I’ve been a big fan for a long time.

Of late, I’ve begun to do almost as much writing about the stage as I do for the stage. Most of my work is on my own blog, Suilebhan.com, but I also write for HowlRound, 2am Theatre, TheatreFace, and Stage Directions magazine. I like having a platform on which I can collaboratively think about theater with diverse practitioners all over the world. So much of that conversation is happening now on Twitter; if you like, you can follow me, and I’ll happily show you around.

Of course, nothing beats a real human voice, and I’ve also been traveling and speaking (about theater, theater and technology, theater and secular humanism) quite a bit lately, too. Not long ago I gave a TED talk at TEDxMichiganAve, which was a singularly terrific experience. I’ve also spoken in the last few years at venues as diverse as the Ethical Society of St. Louis and George Mason University. Soon  I’ll be lecturing here in DC at the Center for Inquiry, and I hope to see you there.

LAURA ZAM 

Laura Zam is an award-winning writer, speaker, performer, trainer, and coach, who has created seven one-person plays; she’s performed these at the Kennedy Center, The National Theatre, Off-Broadway, and others venues around the world. Her work has been described by The Washington Post as “smart,” “beautiful,” and “funny.” She’s been featured on NPR, ABC-TV, and in a host of publications. As an extension of her art, Laura does recovery work with post-trauma populations, including teens from the Middle East, wounded soldiers returning from combat, and sexual abuse survivors. She holds an MFA in Creative Writing from Brown University, and she’s been published extensively in the US and abroad.

MORE ABOUT LAURA ZAM