@dramatistsguild

@TeresaCWash

It’s the first of March now and this article won’t be published until after the first DG PLAYWRIGHTS FORUM. As a result of our panel discussion in September 2012, several theatres, arts organizations, and individuals came together to create a platform for local Guild members to showcase their work and foster a sense of community.

Vicki Cheatwood

The first event was a collaboration with ScriptWorks (www.scriptworks.org) on March 4, 2013 at the Dallas Children’s Theatre, a reading of Missing The Mark by Gary Swaim, the 2011 Texas Poet Laureate teaching at Southern Methodist University in the Master of Liberal Studies Program.

Upcoming events include:

•  Vicki Cheatwood, Playwright - @ Kitchen Dog Theatre – 4/20/13, Time TBA

•  Eugene Lee, Texas State University Black and Latino Playwrights Festival – @ Jubilee Theatre, Ft. Worth – 8/24/13, Time TBA

•  Will Power, Dallas Theatre Center, Artist-in-Residence- @ Southern Methodist University – 10/6/13, 6PM

Vicki Caroline Cheatwood’s plays have been produced Off-Off-Broadway and throughout the country. Playwriting honors include Best New Play, Dallas Theater Critics Forum, and two Best New Play awards (Southwest Theater Association, Robert Bone Memorial Playwriting Award). She has been a finalist for the Heideman Award, the Julie Harris Playwright Award, and the Eileen Heckart Drama for Seniors. Her screenplay honors include Best Dramatic Short, Long Island Film Festival 2010 and an official selection of the 2010 Cannes Independent Film Festival; 10:10, Finalist for Best Screenplay in the Austin Film Festival; and recipient of Special Jury Gold Award for Short Film Dramatic Adaptation in the Houston WorldFest Film Festival. Vicki is a member of ScriptWorks, The Dramatists Guild, and The International Centre for Women Playwrights, and is an artistic company member at Kitchen Dog Theater.

Eugene Lee is the Artist in Residence and Artistic Director of the Texas State University Black and Latino Playwright’s Conference. His career spans over thirty years in the entertainment industry. Highlights include working with Denzel Washington and Samuel L. Jackson in the Pulitzer Prize-winning A Soldier’s Play by Charles Fuller at the Negro Ensemble Company, a Broadway appearance in August Wilson’s Gem of the Ocean, and being a company member for the Kennedy Center’s ten-play cycle tribute to August Wilson. Eugene has also enjoyed success as a playwright with works such as East Texas Hot Links, Fear Itself, Somebody Called: A Tale of Two Preachers, Killingsworth, The Rest of Me, the musical Twist and his most recent work, Lyin’ Ass, a look at one of the first black female Texas Rangers as she is about to retire.

As mentioned in a previous article, Will Power is an award-winning playwright and performer who won the Southern Methodist University Meadows Prize in 2010. Power is also the recent recipient of The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, a grant to support a three-year playwright residency as Dallas Theatre Center’s new Playwright-in-Residence. His full length script Stagger Lee is scheduled for production during DTC’s 2013/2014 season. As part of the artistic staff, Powers primary focus will be writing, but he also anticipates spending a considerable amount of time teaching and developing new works. In addition, Power will work with Artistic Director Kevin Moriarty on a new strategic initiative to reach out to two under-represented neighborhoods in Dallas, one affluent and one made up of low income households, and help DTC to forge relationships that will welcome audiences from both neighborhoods into the theater.

These events will be an opportunity to network, support, and share information. Check our DFW Dramatists Guild Members page on Facebook for details and updates.

twash@dramatistsguild.com