The Jamaica Center for Arts and Learning’s (JCAL) free theater series is set to return this November for its fifth season.
The Meet the Playwright series will span four months, from November to February 2025, beginning with its season premiere of WilleAnn Gissendanner’s “A House Full of Flies” on Thursday, Nov. 21.
Following the first performance, Meet the Playwright will present “Pansy Craze “by Nick Luis on Dec. 19, “A Step-By-Step Guide On How To Succeed In The Myth-Making Business” by Amalia Oliva Rojas on Jan. 30, and the finale, “Venus Rising” by Frank E. Robinson on Feb. 22.
All performances in the Meet the Playwright series are at JCAL’s Studio Theater, 161-04 Jamaica Ave. The series includes semi-staged readings of original works by BIIPOC (Black, Immigrant, Indigenous, People of Color) playwrights and Q and A dialogue sessions with creative teams.
Set in 1990s Georgia, “A House Full of Flies” tells the story of an African American widow in her fifties who is attempting to balance her tumultuous relationships with her two adult children.
“Panzy Craze” is a period piece following a love story during the 1920s ballroom scene, while “A Step-By-Step Guide On How To Succeed In the Myth-Making Business” follows a playwright who commits suicide who must decide how they want to be remembered.
On Dec. 19th, Meet the Playwright will present “Pansy Craze.” The period piece follows a love story during the 1920s NYC ballroom scene. Next in the series is “A Step-By-Step Guide On How To Succeed In The Myth-Making Business,” which chronicles how a struggling playwright chooses to be remembered after committing suicide.
The series finale, Venus Rising, follows a family whose only child returns home with a surprise after expecting an alien abduction.
This November, “Oud Player on the Tel,” a notable play that premiered in the last season of Meet the Playwright, was transferred to the HERE Arts Center in Manhattan as a result of the play’s presentation at JCAL. Created by Tom Block, “Oud Player on the Tel” is a controversial historical play that covers the Arab-Isreali conflict.
Founded in 2020, Meet the Playwright nurtures the writing talents of everyday people who live in southeast Queens. In a previous interview with QNS, Meet the Playwright’s project manager, Brenda Jones, described the writers as “midnight playwrights, the mail carrier during the day that at night they write because they love it.” she said. Jones is also the editor-in-chief at Three-Legged Elephant Publishing, an independent book publisher; she also works with theater and television actors on the intricacies of script studies and character development.
Meet the Playwright was the brainchild of JCAL’s Artistic Director Courtney Ffrench, who started the series as an online live play reading to engage the community during the start of the pandemic.
“I wanted to see, hear, and feel life, raucous, intimate theater in Jamaica, Queens,” said Ffrench. “The dream was to find playwrights that use their talents to explore the visceral intersection of life and art. Human relationships are about unique connections in unique moments. Meet The Playwright sets the stage for that discovery. I’m bursting with anticipation to see what glorious gems we uncover during the season.”
JCAL Executive Director Leonard Jacobs added that the four featured playwrights this season prove “beyond a shadow of a doubt that there are amazing BIIPOC playwrights in Queens and beyond for whom JCAL is a showcase and a launching pad.”
Meet the Playwright is made possible through principal support from Council Member Nantasha Williams. Additional support is provided by the Mellon Foundation, the Howard Gilman Foundation, the NYC Dept. of Cultural Affairs, the Office of Mayor Eric Adams, NYC Council Speaker Adrienne Adams, and Council Whip Selvena Brooks-Powers.
