Artists News: Computers, Editing, Full Grants Database…

News from NEC Artists!

www.necartz.com

for 3-in-1 membership click here or DONATE button below:

Next meet dates Apr 3, May 1, June 5, NO July, Aug 7, Sept 4, Oct 2, Nov 6, Dec 4, 2010

Thanks to The Field and Patricia Burgess who spoke to artists at our last meeting.

Now we are offering artists an associate membership to The Field. Every Associate membership to The Field through NEC Artists Monthly Meet will contribute $20 for The NEC Monthly Meet  operating and program expenses. As you know, the monthly NEC  meets at Riverside Church are free, while artists get resources to forward their projects and arts careers!

Here are some features and benefits you get with your tax deductible, $45/year membership:

Access to: ————————- The Benefits

The Resource Center at the Field Laptops, Printer, Fax and Seated Work area	Use of office: printer, fax, laptops and arts library, see winning proposals, mentors help you book your venue or tour US or abroad, lists of festivals and organizations that help artists
Full Foundation Center Grants Database ($1295.00 value)	lists of those who give artists and organizations grant money, access to grants with your specifications, info on grant makers and grant winners, free lessons on grant writing and seeking are available  (at The Field’s Resource Center)
Mac and PC  Editing and other arts software	Edit videos, Adobe Photoshop for creating professional postcards, flyers and websites, Questia-online library 70,000 books 2 mill. articles
Materials for the Arts	Materials donated from companies to artists, like: equipment,curtains, clothes, costumes, food, household furnishings, etc
The Costume Collection	75,000 professionally designed costumes and accessories
Participation to FAR Residencies program	Weekly and Bi-weekly Field work sessions to get feedback on your writing, choreography and music, Low cost rehearsal space, show your work
Automatic Donation to support NEC Rep	Every $45/yr associate membership to The Field through NEC yields a $20 to help bring resources and free services to artists and arts professionals through the NEC Rep meetings, programs and www.necartz.com
Non-Profit Organization Rates and Discounts
Free Membership to Fractured Atlas	liability insurance, job center, PR services, subsidized consulting services, career workshops, and an online support forum.
Donate now and get your associate membership to The Field through NEC (Available through February 14, 2010)	Click “Continue” on bottom of page to Donate

All memberships last one year from approval allow 3-7days for activation
The Field is located at 161 Sixth Ave 14 th floor  www.thefield.org
Lotteries for Artward Bound not included in associate membership

Next NEC Rep Meeting Dates:
Feb 6, Mar 6, April , May 1, Jun 5, No July, Aug 7, Sept 4, Oct 2, Nov 6, Dec 4

More information and links about associate membership to The Field and Fractured Atlas in the email below.

New NEC Training Program Acting Workshops Start:

10 weeks  Actor’s Intensive on Mondays March 29 or

Beyond Shakespeare:Classical Acting in Living Color on Wednesdays April 14   7:00pm-10:00pm

Note from The Field about the 3-in-1 membership…

Here are Membership Benefits.  The only thing an affiliate is not allowed to participate in are lotteries for artward bound.  At this time you do not have to be a member to participate in FAR Residencies.   Member News   The Resource Center provides a place for artists to gather and work in an encouraging and focused environment equipped to meet their professional needs.  View current drop-in hours and learn more. Letters Confirming the Donation of Goods help to make it possible for donors to receive a tax-deduction on materials contributed towards your creative and professional activities. To request that a letter acknowledging the donation of goods, email audra@thefield.org and allow five business days notice for The Field to process your request. You will need to provide:

• Donor’s name and address
• Detailed information about the item donated (i.e. One Dell Inspiron 5100 Lap Top Computer)
• Please note that donations of services are not tax-deductible.

Non-profit Affiliation Letters confirm your affiliation with The Field, making you eligible for certain non-profit rates and discounts including access to subsidized rental rates with venues, organizations, and companies that offer discounts to nonprofit organizations. As a member of The Field you are eligible to receive this discount. To request a letter confirming your relationship with The Field, email patricia@thefield.org and allow five business days notice for The Field to process your request. You will need to provide:

• Name of the person to whom the letter should be addressed
• Company/venue/organization address, fax and phone numbers
• The purpose (i.e. rehearsal space rental)
• Please note that Field Members are not exempt from state sales tax.

Materials for the Arts helps arts organizations (and you as a member of The Field!) realize their visions by providing free materials to support creative programs and productions. Supplies are gathered from companies and individuals that no longer need them and redistributed to artists that do. In the process, hundreds of tons are removed from the waste stream every year and kept out of landfills, helping to sustain our environment and promote reuse and waste reduction while enhancing the cultural life of their city. To register for MFTA:

• Visit www.mfta.org and click on Recipients, and then Apply Now to submit an online application to MFTA.
• After you have completed the online application form, you will receive an email with a list of supporting documents that are required for processing, which includes documentation of your professional performance activities (i.e. programs and/or flyers). In response to this email from MFTA, you will send a formal request letter to use their services. In the letter include your mission statement or bio. The letter should also include a list of materials you are interested in obtaining from MFTA. You will send the formal request letter to MFTA along with supporting documents from recent events.
• After you have completed both steps of the MFTA application process, email patricia@thefield.org. The Field will confirm your application within the next four business days.
• Upon The Field’s confirmation MFTA then takes up to two weeks to process requests.
• Once you receive a contract from MFTA, you will be able to make an appointment to begin using their services.

The Costume Collection houses more than 75,000 professionally designed costumes and accessories. Nonprofit performing arts companies (and you as a member of The Field!) can rent these items at low cost. Most of the inventory is contributed by Broadway and Off Broadway productions and costume designers, which means that high quality, and sometimes even award-winning, designs are available. To access the Costume Collection:

• Email patricia@thefield.org with information on your event, including (1) the name of your production, (2) the size of your house/number of seats, (3) your performance dates, and (4) the names of up to three people authorized to sign out costumes under your membership.
• Allow up to four business days for The Field to set up a contract with the Costume Collection on your behalf.
• You will be responsible for dry-cleaning all costumes and returning them within 10 days of the close of the production.

Free Associate Membership at Fractured Atlas provides Field Members with access to low-cost health insurance and event liability insurance. Associate Membership also includes access to Fractured Atlas’ job center, PR services, subsidized consulting services, career workshops, and an online support forum. To activate your free Fractured Atlas Associate Membership please log-in to the Members Only area and click the featured Fractured Atlas link.   Best, Patricia

---

–
Marie McKinney
Negro Ensemble Co. Repertory
P.O. Box 521
New York, New York
347 560 3312
www.necartz.com

NECARTZ.COM resources for artist entrepreneurs: grants, events, artist service organizations. NEC Rep Monthly meet 1 Saturday 10a-1pm at Riverside Church multi-purpose room. Classes available in Acting, Script Analysis, Character Development, Dialects and Folk Arts for Audition contact necartz@gmail.com

Grants supporting Negro Ensemble Company from Foundation, Government and Corporate Supporters :

• The New York City Department of Cultural Affairs
• The New York State Council for the Arts
• Con Edison
• The Harold and Mimi Steinberg Charitable Trust

Backstage at NEC: Marie McKinney 28 Years Since Theatre 4 NYC

top l. Graham Brown, bottom l. Ester Rolle, l. center & bottom r. Rosalind Cash, bottom r. Gerald Krone

Marie McKinney l., Angela Bassett r. at National Black Theatre Festival, Winston Salem, NC 1994

Negro Ensemble Company was exciting in those days at Theatre 4! Marie McKinney was NEC’s wardrobe supervisor and her costume shop was above the big flag, up the stairs on the second floor between the men’s and women’s dressing rooms. The place where actors and tech congregated. This was the time when, Samuel L. Jackson was Sam Jackson,  Phylicia Rashad was Phylicia Ayers Allen (Debbie Allen’s sister), L Scott Caldwell was “Scottie” we had a Count in our midst ( Count Stovall !), Brad Brewer gave life to an 8 foot puppet made by Wardrobe Supervisor, Marie McKinney, that dangled in the lobby of The NEC Offices on Broadway for years. Brad Brewer went on to create the Crowtations for the Muppets TV show) and then there was Charlie Brown and Charles Weldon (NEC’s current Artistic Director)!!! Abiola Sinclair of the Amsterdam News reported on everything black. Mary B Davis of Audelco saw and supported all the black plays. Everyone including Laurence Fishburne, did play readings at Garland Lee Thompson’s Frank Silvera’s writers workshop on 125^th Street and 8^th Ave

Garland Lee Thompson Founding Director of Frank Silvera's Writer's Workshop

(which meets now on Monday nights at Harlem School of the Arts), a door or 2 down from where Popeye’s is now, up 2 flights of a steep stairway on Monday nights.

At Negro Ensemble Co, Lisa Watson did props. Wynn Anderson was House Manager. Jesse Wooden, Stephanie Hughley and Edward Bourke stage managed,while Marie McKinney (actor, singer dancer, writer) Judy Dearing (excellent dancer), Myrna Colley-Lee (then, wife of Morgan Freeman), Fontella Boone (later designer for Spike and other films) designed and produced costumes, Douglas Turner Ward (writer, director, co-founder of NEC and NEC Training Program) and Clinton Turner Davis directed and stage managed, Arnold Pinnix was box office, Malik Yoba (NAACP Image Award-winning American actor and occasional singer. and star of NY Under Cover) was  an usher, Leon Denmark, Douglas Turner Ward and Susan Watson managed in the office a few blocks away on Broadway on 50 something street..

Marie McKinney, The NEC Training Program’s Acting Instructor and Founder of The NEC Monthly Meet at Riverside, got her first job as NEC’s Wardrobe Supervisor. After 2 years of study with Philip Meister at National Shakespeare Company Conservatory, Philip Meister walked Marie McKinney from NSC’s 52 St and 9th Conservatory to the NEC office.  Doug Turner Ward (more on Douglas Turner Ward) met Marie McKinney. As fate would have it. Not long after, (a truly starving artist) she went to the Unbroken Chain Prayer Group at St Lukes Church on 46^th Street Between 8^th and 9^th Ave in NYC where Ben Harney, Olive Pointer-Harney, Noel Pointer, Ray and many of the Broadway and Off Broadway actors met, sang, eat, networked and prayed. It was a close group with a small, anointed, gospel/jazz flavor.Music and Arts HS and Juillaid, runs BAMSS Theatre and programs in Brooklyn now.

Marie McKinney confided: “Stephanie Hughley asked me if I had ever done costumes, I said yes (??), which meant: “I’ll do anything right now and, actors always says yes and figure it out later”.  I had worked as a  seamstress. I  had spent the summer sewing for designer Sara Mique.  Judy Dearing’s Brilliance bridged the gaps. I got to meet virtually all the greatest black actors, who would become famous within the decade.. I remember wishing the world experience the talents of Sam Jackson and Carol Maillard and Delroy Lindo and Keith David and Frances Foster… Black was not necessarily in, in the 80′s.  Denzel and Adolf Caesar were leaving to film Soldiers Story based on A Soldier’s Play which had just closed as I loaded in my first show there.  Puppet Play by Pearl Cleage with Seret Scott , Phylicia Ayers Allen (Rashad).and puppeteer Brad Brewer was directed by Clinton Turner Davis, who pioneered diversity in the arts as Co-Founder of Non-Traditional Casting Project in NYC . My designer, Judy Dearing.”

“I never told anyone ,that I had spent many of my weekends at my Aunt Juanita Poitier’s house, eating Fig Newtons from their cookie drawer, running passed the Oscars in the stairs in their great hall, with black and white tiles, over looking the ping pong table on their back porch.  I rode many hours on their bike to the main road and back at my Bahama cousin’s, Pleasantville, NY house.  Sydney Poitier’s fame was of little consequence to me.  As an 8 year old, I was more interested in cookies and running around the house’s secret passageways.

My cousin, Gina Poitier, my sister Margaret and I played “Operation”, eaves-dropped on Sherri Poitier and Pamela Poitier’ s girl talk, watched as they sewed dresses.  Jean and Aunt Juanita cooked African, peanut butter stew and spoke of their trips to Paris. We  listened to Guy Davis play the blues guitar and my brother Theo McKinney play the piano (self-trained virtuosos, the really talented ones).  We made up skits before we knew what the word improv mean’t,  in the living room.

Guy Davis Bluesman

Theo is a great artist, (yet humble to a fault) visual artist as well.  Sidney Poitier (when he came home)  taught the children, from his example, from his amazing, jaw-dropping presence, when we walked into a room.

Many celebrities like Cab Calloway family, Ruby Dee and Ossie Davis, Harry Belefonte ‘s family, The Manhattans.. always came to birthday’s, weddings, weekend happenings.

I learned early that I could not share the knowledge of my special cousin with everyone.  I was mocked and laughed at during 5^th grade  show and tell.

Sidney taught his children, at that time,  that they had to “make it” on their own first. .. I agreed.. Until years later.   I played Nellie Monk in Laurence Holder’s 3 character play called Monk ‘n’ Bud with Alvin Alexis and Tony Jackson at the National Black Theatre Festival in Winston Salem. Sidney Poitier was being honored that year.  Irene Gandy noticed when Aunt Juanita and the family were hugging me in the lobby. The next thing I knew, we were included in all the press conferences. We took the show to the Edinburgh Festival in Scotland, The Festival for Experimental Theatre in Cairo, Egypt and of course the premiere was at  Crystal Field’s and George Bartenieff’s Theatre for the New City in NYC.”

Alvin Alexis Marie McKinney Tony Jackson in Laurence Holder's Monk 'n' Bud directed by Jasper McGruder and Tom Ross

As wardrobe supervisor at NEC’s Theatre 4 ,  “I washed many dirty shirts and underwear, quick-changed and calmed many actors. Learned from the best costume designers and directors. Learned to run an arts business from over heard phone and after the show conversations with Epatha Merkerson Phyllicia Rashad and Carol  Maillard and Elain

l. to r.Alvin Alexis, Michele Shay, Samuel L. Jackson in NEC's WE plays

Graham and Michele Shay and Clinton Turner Davis…. I learned most importantly that humility and team work go along way when dealing with production staff. You fool yourself when you base your success on who you know and how well they think you are doing, instead of what you are doing, how you are making a difference. The ability to keep doing the next right thing with or without the agreement of others is key.  I have so much still to learn.”

As Wardrobe Supervisor, Marie was able to witness the great work of Samuel L Jackson (before film) when he, Delroy Lindo, Count Stovall, Graham Brown, Frances Foster, Arthur French, Keith David, Walter Allen Bennett, Bill Jay, Reuben Santiago Hudson, Carla Brothers, Alvin Alexis (who later was awarded and traveled  with her to Eqypt, N.C. and Scotland with Laurence Holder’s 3 character play Monk ‘n’ Bud)…. Charles McClennahan created that great set with the huge car coming out of the wall for District Line with Sam Jackson as the snake like character “Side Winder”. Says Marie, “I think the best performances while I was there were in: Trevor Rhone‘s Two Can Play with Hazel Medina and Sullivan Walker and Leslie Lee’s Colored People’s Time with Carol Maillard, Charles Weldon, L Scott Caldwell, Angela Bassett… I don’t know if Phylicia Rashad has ever forgiven me for putting her dress on backwards in one of my first  quick changes at Negro Ensemble Company. Yes I was an actor you learned to be a dresser in time..It was a little like being a child in a candy store on a vegetarian diet. It turned out it was a lot harder to find costumers and at that time. I learned so much from the actors about life and arts in NYC.”

Michele Shay included her in Arts and Essence Magazine events and PR at Michelle’s house, Hazel Medina took time to encourage and talk the artist in her, Malik Yoba talked of his many dreams of performing and and they would always promise each other that they would some day be on stage there or on TV. That happened, when she worked for several months as a waitress on TV show New York Undercover (many SAG hours were spent on that set.  She would go on to play Carmen the waitress in Carlotta’s Diner on ABC’s “One Life to Live” for 9 months). Sandra Reeves Phillips inspired Marie while she made costumes for Saundra’s travelling show Great Ladies of the Blues. Says Marie McKinney,“ Lisa Watson, Clinton Turner Davis, Count Stovall, Keith David, Charles Weldon, Charlie Brown, Ves Weaver, Frances Foster, Stephanie Hughley..  taught me so much about life and art and being black in NYC. I am very grateful.”

After the show Split Second in 1984 by Dennis McIntyre with Michelle Shay and John Donnell , Marie McKinney moved on to her acting career on stage, film and TV, with many great stories, as she watched the doors of NEC’s Theatre 4 close. Much of the memorabilia, plays and info from that time is housed in the Schomberg Center for Reseach in Black Culture’s NEC Archives on 135^th St And Malcolm X Blvd in Harlem with some holdings in an off site archive in NJ.

Marie McKinney began working to build NEC with O.L Duke and Robert Whaley in 2000 from the 42St and 8^th Avenue Theatre location at 303 W 42St;

O.L. Duke

marketing, costuming and writing for the play like Tea, Taxes and Shakespeare for young audiences, and she was incorporated into Lou Meyer’s A Little Bit of Something as a dancer, actor and on stage quick change costumer.

In 2003, Marie McKinney ran the NEC Arts-in Education Residency Program, including work with The Richard R Green Middle School’s: The Forward School for Creative Writing, which partnered with principal, Terry Ballard, to create a black box cafe in this public school, created original choreography, scripts and original music in parttnership with NYU Film School, which aired “The Skillet Show”on MNN Cable TV and initiated the schools Creative Writing Newspaper. As an Acting Instructor and the Co-Founder of the re-launch of what was called The Negro Ensemble Company Training Program, started in Robert Hook’s apartment in 1967, Marie McKinney, Erik Kilpatrick,  Leslie Lee, Beverly Summers and Laurence Holder now carry their accomplishments into the future with play writing and acting workshops. The NEC Monthly Meet, every first Saturday at Riverside provides resources and info to artists, writers, directors and tech, about the many service organizations and tools available for producing their work on stage and screen in the US and abroad.

Marie McKinney presents Laurence Holder with plaque, cast of NEC's Lost and Found: Classic Plays and Emerging Playwrights 2009 featuring Actors and Playwrights from NEC's Training Program

NEC Actor’s Training Program features acting, voice production, character, classics and style, dramaturgy, improvisation, accents and play writing workshops , a website providing information, articles, grants, events, opportunities and resources to artists, writers, directors and arts organizations called www.necartz.com and the The NEC  Monthly Meet (1^st Saturdays at Riverside Church home of Theatre of the Opressed Multi-Purpose Room) www.necartz.com/nec-rep/ ) gives arts professionals access to artist service orgainzations, small business resources, structures and teams to fulfill on their arts projects. Meets have featured staff from Arts Service Organizations, Film Producers and have covered Grants and Website development, career development, business planning and free business tools available for to grow arts businesses. The group is developing it’s mission statement as a team, planning and creating arts projects for the coming year at Riverside Church and other venues, building partnerships with The Field, Harlem Arts Alliance, Fractured Atlas,  and other Artist Service Organizations..

NEC Rep’s: Lost and Found 2

Lost and Found 2 flyer(2) 12 10 09

December 7, 2009.  An over-capacity crowd bombarded Negro Ensemble Company Repertory’s last production Lost and Found.  On December 10-11^th Lost and Found 2 exposes more of the brilliant plays from the NEC archives! From 1967 to the 90’s, Negro Ensemble Company, the second oldest black theater company in the world, was the best place for black playwrights to sent their plays for production. When the company closed temporarily, in the 80’s, boxes of scripts and memorabilia unaccounted for. Excerpts from six of the hundreds of archived works re-discovered at the Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture are returning to the stage.

Alysia Joy Powell, emerging playwright/actress/singer and new NEC Rep member, will debute her play, NANA B’S CONDO BLDG, as part of NEC Repertory’s: Lost and Found 2 is on December 10 and 11^th at 8pm Where Eagles Dare Theatre 347 W 36 St 13fl in New York,

NY. Featured Artists include: Callistus Oniyuke, Kubbi, Chrystal Asbury, Omar Bah, Charles Pernell Simpson, Jackie Lowe, Teresa Lasley Alysia Joy Powell and Malikia Causey

“Astounding work!says NEC Training Program Instructor and Facilitator and NEC Alum, ..”I see  a young Denzel, Sam Jackson, L Scott Caldwell, Frances Foster on this stage. Negro Ensemble Company’s Savannah Black & Blue

Negro Ensemble Co : Clinton Lowe held by Ciera Payton and Jamie Patton in Savannah Black & Blue by Raymond Jones to Sold Out Performances at Shetler Theatre NYC Theatre

by Raymond Jones, which played to several weeks of SOLD OUT audiences was developed in Leslie Lee’s Play Writing Workshop at NEC Rep. NEC is extending the play in the next few weeks. NEC is giving unpresidented opportunities to new artists. Stellar performances by NEC Training Program participants: Ciera Payton, Kimberlyn Crawford, Ohene Cornelius, Tomike Ogugua and Clinton Lowe insured Savannah Black & Blue’s huge box office success. NEC’s new partnership with Riverside Church’s Theatre of the Oppressed began with monthly meets. The meets offer free information and resources to artists and an opportunity to share in a fiscal sponsorship with NEC, while having access to low cost space and artist discounts. The group meets 10am -1pm every first Saturday at Manhattan’s Riverside Church’s Multi-Purpose Room in partnership with Jeremiah Drake’s Theatre of the Oppressed. In August 10 NEC Rep members were invited to meet one-to-one with CBS VP Fern Orenstein, Josie J. Thomas CBS SVP Diversity Casting and and CBS NY’s Manager, Diversity, Barbara Matos.

“These artists give us hope for Black Theatre’s future.”says The NEC Actor’s Training Program instructor, Marie McKinney. “And now audiences will witness an important historic find! Audiences and actors get access to this extraordinary, unknown material.” In addition, emerging playwright Alysia Joy Powell will premiere scenes from her original works for veteran writers like Laurence Holder and Leslie Lee and directors like NEC’s Artistic Director and NEC alum, Charles Weldon.

NEC Rep: l to r Quester Hannah, Charles Weldon, Leslie Lee, Jeanette Bookhard, Douglas O. Walker, Laurence Holder

Emerging actor/playwright Quester Hannah, honored at Lost and Found in July 2009, went on to star in Susan Lori-Park’s Top Dog Underdog in Pittsburgh and Barbara Asare Bediako is producing her one-woman show.

The forty-two year tradition of The NEC’s Training Program’s, LOST AND FOUND 2 continues to  support emerging actors who have completed NEC’s rigorous training program. NEC’s training  combines solid groundwork in character technique, script analysis and voice production with ethnic culture.  “We use the time-honored work of masters such as Michael Chekhov and Stella Adler as a foundation and bring it into an African American cultural context,” says McKinney.”  According to Charles Weldon, NEC’s Artistic Director, “We get calls all the times from actors who have graduated from big schools who are hungry for information about their own culture.” Auditions are held by appt.  Contact necartz@gmail.com.

LOST AND FOUND boasts scenes from brilliant vintage plays by unknown playwrights, and famed writers like Alice Childress and Derek Walcott, representing a unique portfolio of African American life  The program features pieces from the NEC archives and Music: Alice Childress’ String, Derek Walcott’s Upon This Rock or The Isle of Noises, Charles Fuller’s In the Deepest Part of Sleep, Laurence Holder’s Monk ‘n’ Bud, Ron Milner’s Don’t Get God Started

About Negro Ensemble Company:

The Negro Ensemble Company and NEC Training Program were first started by Robert Hooks, Douglas Turner Ward and Gerald Krone in 1967. Robert Hooks broke down the walls of his apartment and taught acting to a young Hattie Winston. Rosalind Cash, Frances Foster, Graham Brown and Bill Jay, among the original company members. This Pultizer Prize-winning company, with 200 productions on its roster, boasts a long list of notable alumni, such as Laurence Fishburne, Angela Bassett, Adolf Caesar,  Phylicia Rashad, Samuel L Jackson, Roscoe Lee Brown, and many more. NEC  looks forward to another extended run of Savannah Black & Blue by Raymond Jones with hilarious writing and brilliant ensemble work.   NEC received 11 Audelco Award Nominations for its plays last year. The company awarded $1000 to emerging playwright, Antoinette Nwandu, this spring at Tisch NYU.  The current NEC REP program is successfully fostering a new generation of performing artists and writers, who have, in the last year, played on HBO’s The Wire, Law and Order, NEC’s Zooman, Manhattan Theatre Club, Theatre Row, NY Comedy Club, New Federal Theatre, Washington Square Shakespeare Theatre, Gala Hispanic Theatre, Atlantic Theatre, Targit Margin Theatre, Sonya Sanchez’s The Bronx is Next, Susan Lori-Parks Top Dog Underdog,, Theatre of the Oppressed,, Wooly mm  New Heritage Theater, La Mama, Hip Hop Monologues, Commercials and 3 NEC members are invited participants of Harvard’s  Advanced Training Program: Moscow.

Award winning, NEC resident playwright, Leslie Lee continues momentum with The Emerging and Classic Playwrights Series in the fall ,also at Where Eagles Dare Theatre. Charles Weldon became the current Artistic Director 5 years ago and stars in August Wilson’s Radio Golf. Charles started performing with NEC in 1970 and now returns as an alumnus of The Negro Ensemble Company and active board member, expanding its fiscal standing and ushering the company into the new millennium.

NEC’s Monthly Meets  now offers $45/yr associate memberships to The Field, Fractured Atlas and Materials for the Arts  (a $100/yr value) www.thefield.org . NEC offers information, resources and opportunities to produce arts projects and outreach programs with NEC  team support.

NEC’s Actor’s Training Program  is holding auditions and interviews for its ongoing classes for professional actor’s and playwrights. Email picture and resume to necartz@gmail.com for audition appointment, and semi-private ongoing classes. more about The Negro Ensemble Company’s Training  Program

Lost and Found 2 Reservations  necartz@gmail.com 347 560 3312 tickets $10 leave your name, phone and number of tickets.

NEC’s Monthly Meet December 5 10am-1pm at Riverside Church

MORE ABOUT NEC REP

Negro Ensemble Company and www.necartz.com provides grant information, resources, small business and arts training and mentoring opportunities to artists and arts organizations..

Negro Ensemble Company’s Actors Training Program allows artists the opportunity to:

• share in the benefits of fiscal sponsorship
• work in teams to fulfill their artistic and quality of life goals
• get low cost rehearsal space.
• find out about artist service organizations through the website and meets
• find out about tools that small businesses use for little or no money
• come out of isolation, partner, and find out what’s available to them

Thank you for all the work you do as artists and community leaders!
Marie McKinney

NEC Repertory Facilitator

MORE ABOUT NEC REPERTORY PROGRAM

The NEC  Monthly Meet at Riverside Church Saturday December 5th, 10 am- 1p Multi-Purpose Room 1st fl with Special Guest Patricia Burgess from The Field and Special Guests

NEC Monthly Meet at Riverside Church Multi-Purpose Room every 1st Saturday of the month. Upcoming Dates: Dec 5, (no Jan), Feb 6 , Mar 6 Apr 3 , May 1…on going and free Get resources and information for artist services, tools for producing your art projects, low cost rehearsal space. Find out how you can team up with one of the oldest most respected Theatre Companies in the World to do your art.    NEC Rep www.necartz.com for more The Negro Ensemble Co 303 W 42 St Suite 501 New York, NY 10030         Info on NEC Rep Program Union Actors benefits see Members Benefits Page of Actor’s Equity Assoc website

The NEC Monthly Meet at Riverside Church Multi-Purpose Room every 1st Saturday of the month. Upcoming Dates: Dec 5, (no Jan), Feb 6 , Mar 6 Apr 3 , May 1…on going and free!!

Get resources and information for artist services, tools for producing your art projects. Find out how you can team up with one of the oldest most respected Theatre Companies in the World to do your art.    NEC Monthly Meet and Training Programs www.necartz.com for more info

NEC Rep: Renowned Black Theatre Honors Playwrights to Over-Capacity Crowds

l to r: Jeanette Bookhard, Laurence Holder winner NEC Rep Award for "Excellence and Prolific Commitment", Marie McKinney, Ginger Spencer, Barbara Asare-Bediako

July 10, 2009. An over-capacity crowd bombarded Negro Ensemble Company Repertory’s Lost and Found, Friday. .From 1967 to the 90′s, Negro Ensemble Company, the second oldest black theater company in the world, was the best place for black playwrights to sent their plays for production. When the company closed temporarily, in the 80′s, boxes of scripts and memorabilia unaccounted for. Excerpts from six of the hundreds of archived works re-discovered at the Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture returned to the stage. New plays and original

Actor/ Writer :My Brother's Keeper NEC Rep member

works by Actor/Writers, Barbara Asare-Bediako and Actor/Writer/Rapper, Quester Hannah; Ryan Johnson, actor/comic and singer/songwriter, heart throb, Jillian Walker ignited the stage . “Excelllence and Prolific writing for the Theatre.” read NEC Rep citations awarded vereran writers, Laurence Holder and Leslie Lee. An interview followed. NEC Repertory presented “LOST AND FOUND: NEC Honors Classic Plays and Emerging Playwrights” on  July 10 at 8pm at Where Eagles Dare Theatre in New York, NY.

“Astounding work!..I see  a young Denzel, Sam Jackson, L Scott Caldwell, Frances Foster on this stage….Judi Ann Mason passed. A huge loss, and yet these new artists give us hope for Black Theatre’s future.” NEC Repertory Acting instructor, Marie McKinney, says “What an important historic find!A new generation of actors get access to this extraordinary, unknown material.” In addition, emerging playwrights Quester Hannah and Barbara Asare-Bediako premiered scenes from their original works for veteran writers, Laurence Holder and Leslie Lee, honored that night. Continuing the forty-two year traditions of NEC Rep, LOST AND FOUND continues to  support emerging actors who have completed NEC’s rigorous training program. NEC Rep combines solid groundwork in character technique, script analysis and voice production with ethnic culture.  “We use the time-honored work of masters such as Michael Chekhov and Stella Adler as a foundation and bring it into an African American cultural context,” says McKinney.”  According to Charles Weldon, NEC’s Artistic Director, “We get calls all the times from actors who have graduated from big schools who are hungry for information about their own culture.” Auditions are held by appt.  Contact necartz@gmail.com.

Charles Weldon lauds young playwrights and actors, honorees: Leslie Lee and Laurence Holder interviewed by Marie McKinney; and regretfully announces the passing of Judy Ann Mason

LOST AND FOUND boasts scenes from brilliant vintage plays by unknown playwrights, and famed writers like Alice Childress and Ed Bullins, representing a unique portfolio of African American life  The program features Gail Davis’ The Night of the Wizard, Daniel W. Owens’ La Grima del Diallo, Trevor Rhone’s Two Can Play, Gus Edwards’ Weep Not For Me, Laurence Holder’s Monk ‘n’ Bud, Leslie Lee’s Sundown Names and Night-Gone Things. New plays include Quester Hannah’s My Brother’s Keeper, and Barbara Asare-Bediako’s stirring one-person show, sharing the horrors of working in hospitals where medical experimentation on the poor takes place and her play exposing Ma Rainey’s seduction of Lillian in Secret Mist of Blue .

Barbara Asare Bediako Actor/Writer of One Woman Show "Removing the Mask" and "Secret Mist of Blue" NEC Rep member

Quester Hannah,  Barbara Asare-Bediako, Douglas O. Walker, Ginger Spencer, Ed Robinson, Cassandra Johnson, Jillian Walker, Malikia Causey, Jeanette Bookhard, and Ryan Johnson are among the performers on the July 10 production.

Leslie Lee Award Winning Writer Playwright in Residence/NEC Rep Instructor

About Negro Ensemble Company:

The Negro Ensemble Company and NEC Training Program were first started by Robert Hooks, Douglas Turner Ward and Gerald Krone in 1967. Robert Hooks broke down the walls of his apartment and taught acting to a young Hattie Winston. Rosalind Cash, Frances Foster, Graham Brown and Bill Jay, among the original company members. This Pultizer Prize-winning company, with 200 productions on its roster, boasts a long list of notable alumni, such as Laurence Fishburne, Angela Bassett, Adolf Caesar,  Phylicia Rashad, Samuel L Jackson, Roscoe Lee Brown, and many more. NEC  looks forward to another extended run of Sundown Names and Night-Gone Things by Leslie Lee with brilliant ensemble work   NEC has received 11 Audelco Award Nominations for its plays in the year. The company awarded $1000 to emerging playwright, Antoinette Nwandu, this spring at Tisch NYU.  The current NEC REP program is successfully fostering a new generation of performing artists and writers, who have, in the last year, played on HBO’s The Wire, Law and Order, NEC’s Zooman, Manhattan Theatre Club, Theatre Row, NY Comedy Club, New Heritage Theater, La Mama, Hip Hop Monologues, Commercials and 3 NEC REP members are invited participants of Harvard’s  Advanced Training Program: Moscow.

Award winning, NEC resident playwright, Leslie Lee continues momentum with The Emerging and Classic Playwrights Series in the fall ,also at Where Eagles Dare Theatre. Charles Weldon became the current Artistic Director 5 years ago and stars in August Wilson’s Radio Golf. Charles started performing with NEC in 1970 and now returns as an alumnus of the NEC Repertory Company and active board member, expanding its fiscal standing and ushering the company into the new millennium.

NEC REP is holding auditions and interviews for its ongoing classes for professional actor’s and playwrights. Email necartz@gmail.com for audition appointment, and semi-private ongoing classes. 212 862 4625

Grants, Resources, Events for Artists and Nonprofits

in this issue: Want to Apply for The Edinburgh Fringe Festival, Scotland.. Find out how.. Your Submissions Today to: The Movement Events Click this image for Sundown Names and Night Gone Things Trailer => graphics by Kimberlyn Crawford    www.ticketcentral.com The Negro Ensemble Co., Inc Fundraiser Sunday, June 7 Final Matinee Performance NEC The Castillo Theatre Sunday, June 7 from 3:00 pm to 7:00 pm Sun Down Names and Night-gone Things by Leslie Lee May 27 – June 7 at Castillo Theatre 543 W 42ndEVE SHOWS 7:30PM Last 4 Performances!!! Friday 7:30pm Saturday 2:00pm & 7:30pm Sunday 3:00pm Directed by Woodie King Tomorrow June 6 Free!!! Louis Mofsie, Tom Pearson, Donna Ahmadi in Mesa 2.0 at NMAI ANNUAL THUNDERBIRD POW WOW JULY 24-26 at Queens County Farm Museum 73-50 Little Neck Pkwy Floral Park, NY NE POW WOW SCHEDULE AICH: American Indian Community House Harlem Week mid-AUG 90.3 FM WHCR RADIO: THE VOICE OF HARLEM www.gospeluptown.com National Black Arts Festival-Winston Salem, NC 1190AM WLIB National Black Theater Festival, Atlanta, GA SEMINARS AT PAN ASIAN REP Nuyorican Poet’s Cafe Poetry Slams and more… www.backstage.com/FindTalent to: NY CALL AUG 23 EISENHOWER PARK Create a Company Profile to showcase your credits, links, and logo, NO CHARGE Discount Broadway tickets: Lynn Notage’s Ruined Operation Spiritual Thunder 100 preachers on 100 corners in Harlem July 25 10a til 3p Resources for Artists New York Foundation for the Arts Now Hosts Regular Podcasts! There are many Artist Service Organizations who are ready and willing to help you with: writing for original work, find venues, planning your budget, you’re a fiscal sponsorship so you can apply for nonprofit funding, even props and curtains! GET CURRENTS FACTS AND STATS FOR YOUR GRANT PROPOSALS! Free Podcast Seminars for Musicians and the Music Business! Need Space? Lower Manhattan Community Council’s Swing Space Subsidized Space for Performers at Battery Dance Space and Supplies for Visual Artists- Women’s Studio Workshop Author: Marie McKinney Co-Founder of NEC Rep and Acting Instructor, Founder of NEC Arts-in Ed, Alum of NEC:  Puppet Play through Split Second, Lifetime Member of Thunderbirds. CEO Native Horizon.. Honor to pioneers of O.L. Duke, Douglas Turner Ward, Robert Hooks, Gerald Krone, Charles Weldon, Beverly Summers, Leslie Lee, Anthony Jones, Erik Kilpatrick, Marie McKinney Frieda Nerangis… Interview with NEC’s Artistic Director Charles Weldon and NEC Rep’s Marie McKinney on WHRC’s Soul Lounge NEC Rep Program and Rep Members Page

Creative Entrepreneurs! Performing and Visual Artists Nonprofits! Get your multi-cultural Arts projects done! Network with arts partners! Find service organizations, cultural resources and outlets, grants and organizations that will help you apply! African, Latin, Native, Asian American ..  Multi-Cultural… Events! Become a http://www.necartz.com subscriber or just write http://www.necartz.com on your wall or bulletin board!GRANTS FOR ARTISTS Emergency Funds for Artist and Writers Arts Funding Current Info!!: Creative Captial/Warhol gives $$$, More Funds for Dance in NY Grants for Documentaries Artist Residencies Photography Grant Arts-in-Ed Grants Swing Space project based Residencies NYFA Jobs and Opportunities.. GRANTS FOR ARTISTS Free Nonprofit Webinars Grant Writing Workshops New Grants For Writers Page! Grant Listings for: space, projects, ideas, residencies, education Dance Theater Workshop’s Outer/Space Creative Residency for Artists- Request for Proposals Foundation Center offers five plan levels with more than 1,100 distinct search terms indexed to help you find funders by subject areas and fields of interest. Search geographically by state, county, city, metro area, congressional district, ZIP code, and geographic focus of the funder Expert panelists discuss the best social networks for developing a buzz for your products and services – Facebook, Twitter, LinkIn, MySpace, UTube and more. Audience Q&A at Thypin Oltchick Institute@FEGS Free GRANTS FOR EDUCATION Create your website with ease and little experience! Film and Writing Contests SAG and AFTRA agree on new commercials contract three-year increase in payments to performers totaling an estimated $36 million. Cultural Organizations NEC’s DOUGLAS TURNER WARD shares his interview with Leslie Lee and GIVES $1000 AWARD TO PLAYWRIGHT AT NYU . What’s new from NYFA more Artist Services Organization Want to Help you with Props, Rehearsal Space, Opportunites!!! more See the Negro Ensemble Company’s website: www.necinc.com for more NEC NEWS