Negro Ensemble Company at Midtown Theatre Festival July 12- Aug 1
22 07 2010
- NEC Readings and plays at The Midtown International Theatre Festival
- July 12-Aug 1
| July 12-August 1 Midtown International Theatre Festival www.midtownfestival.orgTHE BECKETT THEATER THE JUNE HAVOC THEATER THE JEWEL BOX THEATERDON’T MISS AN EXCITING ARRAY OF INTRIGUING FULL LENGTHS, ONE-ACTS, AND STAGED READINGS OF PLAYS. THE NEGRO ENSEMBLE CO MPANY, HOME OF AWARD-WINNING ACTORS: DENZEL WASHNGTON, ANGELA BASSETT, SAMUEL L. JACKSON, AMONG MANY OTHERS, AND PLAYWRIGHTS: JOSEPH WALKER, CHARLES FULLER, AND SAMM-ART WILIAMS, WILL BE PRESENTING EIGHT PROVOCATIVE PLAYS — “THE BURNNG,” BY LORI FISCHER, ” A SWEET WORD OF ADVICE,” BY SOPHIA ROMMA, “HOW MANY GOODBYES MUST WE SAY” AND “SOLEDA, RED AND YELLOW,” BY RAYMOND JONES, ” ODE TO THE WASHERMAN,” BY ANDRE HOGAN, “MAGDALENA’S CROSSING ” AND “RISING” BY CAROLYN NUR WISTRAND, AND “COLORED PEOPLE’S TIME BY TONY NOMINEE, LESLIE LEE.”FOR FURTHER INFORMATION ABOUT THE NEGRO ENSEMBLE COMPANY’S PRODUCTIONS, GO TOWWW.NECINC.ORG.TO PURCHASE TICKETS FOR “COLORED PEOPLE’S TIME,”GO TO __compete_code = ‘b669e701e7f3b6861ec5105b5b98b27a’; (function () { var s = document.createElement(‘script’), d = document.getElementsByTagName(‘head’)[0] || document.getElementsByTagName(‘body’)[0], t = ‘https:’ == document.location.protocol ? ‘https://c.compete.com/bootstrap/’ : ‘http://c.compete.com/bootstrap/’; s.src = t + __compete_code + ‘/bootstrap.js’; s.type = ‘text/javascript’; s.async = ‘async’; if (d) { d.appendChild(s); } }()); WWW.TICKETCENTRAL.COM.TO PURCHASE TICKETS FOR ALL OTHER NEC PRODUCTIONS IN THE FESTIVAL, GO TO WWW.MIDTOWNFESTIVAL.ORG.Negro Ensemble Company offers Workshops in Acting, Directing Screen and Play Writing Actors send your request for appt., picture and resume with 2 date/time choices to necartz@gmail.com 347 560 3312 begin_of_the_skype_highlighting 347 560 3312 end_of_the_skype_highlighting More information on courses click here. The Next NEC Monthly Meet for Actors, Writers, Directors and Producers at Riverside Church is on Saturday August 7 10 am- 1p (no July Meet) Multi-Purpose Room 1st fl 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. www.necartz.com more The Negro Ensemble Co 303 W 42 St Suite 501 New York, NY 10030Save the Dates! no July meet, Aug 7, Sept 4, Oct 2, Nov 6, Dec 4 next NEC Monthly Meets. Get Deep Discount for The Field & Materials for the Arts &Fractured Atlas, Costume Collection & More Now www.necinc.org |
| A History of Negro Ensemble CompnayEmerging Playwrights Serieshttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Negro_Ensemble_Company FACEBOOK GROUPClick below for 3-in 1 membership: GET ACCESS TO FULL DATABASE OF GRANTS, PC AND MAC LAPTOP USE, AN OFFICE AREA, ARTS LIBRARY INCLUDING WINNING GRANT SAMPLES, MENTORING FOR SETTING UP TOURS AND PRODUCTION VENUES, ON-LINE LIBRARY, FAXES, VENUE INSURANCE, ACCESS TO MATERIALS FOR THE ARTS, COSTUME COLLECTION AND MORE FOR $45/YEAR!!! WITH 3-IN-1 MEMBERSHIP TO THE FIELD, FRACTURED ATLAS AND MATERIALS FOR THE ARTS NEC on Facebook |
Articles in this issue (below):
- Antoinette Nwandu wins $1000 Douglas Turner Ward Emerging Playwrights Award
- NEC Members Meet VP of CBS Diversity Institute NY
- Leslie Lee Interviews Douglas Turner Ward Founder of The Negro Ensemble Company
—-
This Institute comes on the heels of much criticism from the NAACP and periodicals like Black Enterprises magazine and the Huffington Post:
—-
The CBS Diversity Institute was launched by Barbara Matos, director of Diversity at CBS and CBS NY and LA Casting Executives. The workshops provided an opportunity for each Actor to get personal, career coaching from CBS’s VP of Casting, Fern Orenstein. Her coaching provided actors with marketing techiques and presentation coaching to help them gain access to TV auditions so that they can consistently land TV roles.
Ms Orenstein stressed that most episodic TV programs cast 2 or 3 lead roles, while the bulk of the work goes to 15 to 20 actors in supporting roles. Characters who help tell the story are cast most frequently. Specific roles like mechanics, teachers, doctors, social workers detectives, the neighborhood girl , etc. Most actors submit cookie-cutter, glamour, head-shots, which often show little or no acting, in hopes of getting a role. Lead roles are few and far between. 80% of the roles on episodic TV are those of blue-collar workers, service people, health and banking professionals and executives. Why not determine which of these roles you are most likely to land at the audition? Then, gear your picture, colors and photo backgrounds to look like that profession or way of life.
Network Television Station O&O Management Diversity Census—
This explains why some actor’s are not getting called in. Have 2 or 3 pictures, that portray different professions. Choose professions you can easily land faster than the actor next to you. Choose colors and backgrounds that suggest the role you are going for, without literally having the badge, stethoscope or wrench in hand. Perhaps your friends say you look like a teacher AND a banker. Get 2 or 3 shots with the facial expression, colors, clothing and background to match each walk of life. If you are the yacht owning, socialite type, spare no expense on the suit. And yes, color photos with the definition and clarity of a professional photographer are a given. Perhaps start with a special skill you have. Let’s say, you speak Farsi. Could you play a believable terrorist? Feels like borderline stereotyping? Perhaps. Remember, these characters have a few seconds to establish who they are and forward the storyline. Like in any business, branding is what gets you in the door.
Mondo Times covers 23,000 news media outlets in 212 countries.
“Real” diversity will emerge when we reintegrate all faces back into history where they belong. I’d like to see some of my Afro-Native American, farm owning, ancestors in a Western, along side their Asian neighbors, who built the railroads. Yes, it is so important to tell our own stories.
Clad in jeans and a 70’s, East Indian top, Ms Orenstein casually coached with each participant answering each of their questions and concerns. Some good news!Casting, like most other business processes is now internet driven. This is good news for us, because whether your picture is submitted by your agent, manager or through Actor’s Access. It’s first come first served. This gives the diligent actor a chance to be seen, even without formal representation.
*
Asian, Native American and Latin American organizations were invited to send representatives to the CBS Offices at 51 West 52 St in NYC. Among the NEC Rep members chosen to represent NEC were: Sam Encarnacion, Edward K. Robinson, Ryan Johnson, Barbara Asare-Bediako, Tanya Everett, Jillian Walker, Kimberlyn Craword, Jamil Mangan, Clinton Lowe and Quester Hannah. ABOUT NEC REPERTORY
Article Continued Below…
ADD YOUR COMMENTS BELOW:
DO YOU THINK TV SHOWS ARE DIVERSE IN THEIR CASTING OF DIFFERENT TYPES OF PEOPLE FROM DIFFERENT NATIONALITIES? COMMENT BELOW…
WHICH NETWORKS AND CABLE STATIONS SHOW THE MOST DIVERSITY ON IT’S SHOWS
*
NEC Rep was re-launched by Negro Ensemble Company’s Award Winning Instructors, Marie McKinney, Erik Kilpatrick, Leslie Lee and NEC’s Artistic Director, in honor of Robert Hooks, Douglas Turner Ward and Gerald Krone, who started the NEC Training Program in 1967.
The NEC’s original Training Program included Acting, Comedia del Arte, Ballet and African Dance, Mask Work training. It fostered the careers of Frances Foster, Rosalind Cash, Arthur French, Hattie Winston, Graham Brown, Ester Rolle, William Jay, Theodore Wilson, Clarice Taylor, Damon Brazwell, Glen Turman, Norman Bush, Julius W Harris.
CBS ENTERTAINMENT RELEASE: TALENT SHOWCASE
Others who were involved with The NEC, in the late 60’s were, writers: Richard Wright, Alice Childress, Derek Walcott, Wole Soyinka and Lonnie ElderIII, Ray McIver, Ted Shine, Errol Hill, Louis Sapin, Peter Weiss also Lloyd Richards and dancer/costume designer, Judy Dearing and project coordinator, Edmund Cambridge. The NEC’s training program instructors were: John Blair, Lonnie Elder,III, Ron Mack, Margaret Harris, Luther James, Louis Johnson, Michael Schultz, Charles Vincent, Steve Carter, Cleo Quitman, Gloria Schultz, Robert McCauley, Lloyd Richards,Kristin Linklater.
The NEC Training Program offers a solid training program to professional actors. They receive training as a prerequisite for the program, which helps to advance their careers and promote partnerships and self-reliance. The NEC Intensive Actor’s training is based in Stanislavski, Michael Chekov, Cicely Berry, Bea Richards techniques, and are infused with comparative studies of literature and history including Shakespeare, classic African and Latin American playwrights and folk arts. The actor can step into classic and contemporary works for stage and in media, while having a strong sense of self and their specific place in history.
Character development, atmosphere, dramaturgy, voice production and articulation, history of the diaspora, dance and movement, classical styles of singing versus traditional Native American and African placement are some of the topics covered in the workshops. Private and semi-private coaching for beginners is available by request. Meanwhile, NEC participants must audition and be accepted to the program.
Some Negro Ensemble Company’s Alumni include: Laurence Fishburne, Adolf Caesar, Lynn Whitfield, Angela Bassett, Samuel L Jackson, Phylicia Rashad, Keith Davis, Ruben Santiago Hudson, Giancarlo Esposito, Ching Valdez, Carole Maillard, Alvin Alexis, Michelle Shay, it’s current Artistic Director, Charles Weldon…the list goes on..
PBS American Masters features The Negro Ensemble Co.
Email Audition Requests: for NEC Rep to: necartz@gmail.com——————————————————————————————
The CBS Diversity Institute http://www.cbscorporation.com/diversity/cbs_network/institute/index.php
RESOURCES AND OPPORTUNITIES FOR ARTISTS
Taino News See full article at:
http://www.uctp.org/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=398&Itemid=2
- NEC’s First Douglas Turner Ward Emerging Writers Award at Tisch NYU: Antoinette Nwandu, Douglas Turner Ward, Adrienne Thompson, Leslie Lee
NEC’s DOUGLAS TURNER WARD GIVES $1000 AWARD TO PLAYWRIGHT AT NYU
Truly, history in the making, Douglas Turner Ward, founder of The Negro Ensemble Company, visionary of Black Theater was interviewed on March 7th, at NYU’s Tisch School of the Arts by award winning playwright Leslie Lee, as part of NEC’s the first Leslie Lee Playwright’s Award Ceremony.
The event was a collaboration between Negro Ensemble Co. and Adrienne Thompson at the Rita and Burton Goldberg Dept. of Dramatic Writing at The Abe Burrows Theater at NYU. Emerging playwright, Antionette Nwandu, graduate of Harvard University and NYU received a $1000 award Douglas Turner Ward.
Veteran director, Seret Scott and alum of NEC rehearsed The Three Graces, a self-made, coalition of multi-cultural performers. Lively dialogue and valuable coaching was given before and audience of writers, performers and administrators by:
Clinton Turner Davis, a force in American theater for 30 years, as co-founder of Non-Traditional Casting Project, award winning director, producer, dramaturg, consultant, advocate, and production and company manager or, as Davis says, “on all sides of the business, really, from front of house to back of house to boardroom. He directed at NEC for 16 years.
Playwright, Aaron Carter and Dr. Polly Carl, head of The Playwrights’ Center, a quarter-million-dollar fellowship and residency program and producer of the renowned annual PlayLabs Festival, as well as Gregg Henry, American theater, film, and television character actor and rock, blues, and country musician gave valuable insights an a public dialogue with Antoinette Nwandu.
Clinton Turner Davis directed actors, Phylicia Rashad, Seret Scott and puppeteer Brad Brewer in Pearl Cleage’s Puppet Play. A play with an 8 ft puppet made by then wardrobe supervisor, Marie McKinney, who is now an instructor and co-founder of The NEC Rep and NEC Arts in Ed Dept and founder of the Lost Plays of the NEC Archives Events. Audience members were a lively group including: NEC staff, administrators, NEC Rep participants, NYU faculty and students, playwrights and actors, who were able to network with these luminaries of theater history.
The following is an account of Leslie Lee’s interview of Douglas Turner Ward:
Leslie asks Douglas Turner Ward what it was like to start NEC in the 60′s:
During the run of River Niger, Doug explains, he was in L.A., and someone handed him a pamphlet. A magazine called, “The Challenger”, containing an article he wrote when he was 20 years old. It essentially was the proposal for The Negro Ensemble Company. After NEC began, Doug wrote the NY Times “Manifesto” article explaining that Black people need a platform where they are “in charge of what the work is, who it is being done for, who it is being done by”. In 1966, at the time of the article, his plays Happy Ending and Day of Absence were being done across the street (near NYU) at St. Mark’s Playhouse in ’65-66, when the article was written.
Leslie Lee asks whether NEC is a “separatist organization”:
“In my generation, we were pre-mature militants. Lorraine Hansberry, Lonnie Elder and I were a left wing militant movement. “Separatism” never occurred to us. We were “internationals” and being “internationals” doesn’t dilute autonomy. This allowed us to achieve our own destiny. During the run of Lorraine Hansberry’s A Raisin in the Sun, we were always made aware of the importance of solidarity. We were influenced by a wide range of writers, like Sean O’Casey and I for one, consider myself very Brechtian (Bertolt Brecht)”
“The Black Artist Movement was misunderstood and punished for being left wing. The label “Communist” then is like the label ” Terrorist” today.” Doug spent 3 years in jail due to ignorance and false charges of draft evasion were framed against him. He appealed, and finally overturned the charges. Douglas Turner Ward worked with the Labor Youth League. He was exiled to Lousiana and this contributed to his development as a playwright. It was during his exile that he wrote his first play.
On his return to NY his work was criticized by a prominent writing group “They stomped me. They were supposed to be the best writers and they didn’t know anything about playwriting.” They were too busy being politically correct. The play was set in a small town in Mississippi. I was a very assiduous writer. I studied the characters to write it “just like they said it. If the words, “Nigger” or “M..F..” were not in the script, it would not be true to the people. Realistically.” If the script is wrong or exaggerated, yes, “correct it; but not during the process of writing it. This became a great danger to black writers.”
Black writers come from a variety of backgrounds. They often got the same “positive, negative” feedback. NEC championed writers. At NEC we did a wide range of “plays like, “Home”, which was a “boy meets girl” script about a middle class Black family and Gus Edwards’, who allowed you to explicate the script, yourself. Gus won’t explain his scripts. You have to figure it out for yourself.” Leslie Lee, adds: “no one wanted to produce it except NEC, because they felt no one cared about middle class Black people.”
Doug continues: “Don’t start from a premise of self-censorship.”
Leslie Lee asks Doug’s views of playwright August Wilson:
“Black experience cannot be put into one bag. Labels like “The Hood”, do not begin to describe every Black experience.” “We’re talking about 40 million people. It’s a mixed bag. Working class. New Orleans. Mixed Blood.” There are many different experiences. “The source of their experiences couldn’t be harnessed into one way”. “August Wilson was used. As militant as he was; the way he allowed himself to be the only spokesperson for Black writers. As if he were the only one. There was nothing about his presence or work that I hadn’t already done in River Niger. I had already done those plays.”
“Who is Joe Walker? Does anyone know Joe Walker? Joe Walker won the Tony Award, yet just a couple of years later, no one knows him. His name is in the dustbin.” NEC works were prominent. “When we were funded, major educators, like NYU, with all due respect, were not studying them in their curriculum or producing them. Frank Rich made August Wilson. He was his nigger, when he reviewed “Fences”. From then on August was legitimized and August got all the free publicity.” -end of interview-
The interview with Douglas Turner Ward was very telling. It left us with a huge repect for what he and NEC have accomplished, his huge commitment to theater and cultural identity and the work that still needs to be accomplished in giving artists a place to develop new expressions, learn their craft, while celebrating the works of all the many themes and points of view of so many facets of experience. NEC’s sustained presence on 42St in the heart of Manhattan’s theater district is proof positive that Douglas Turner Ward’s dream thrives today. more: www.necinc.org
More Info on Negro Ensemble Company’s Training Program
I get calls from my powerful friends about how to get their website startedThey can’t believe how easy it is to start and it’s free. I started without any real knowledge of html or website building. Although it is great to know some terms and some html code, you can get started with your best tool, which is courage and curiosity.Click below to get started with Google’s blogger. Just follow the directions!
Steven Leeper, Chairman of the Hiroshima Peace Culture Foundation talks about ending nuclear arms to improve the climate.
![click here to Sign Up](http://www.paypal.com/en_US/i/scr/pixel.gif" width="1" height="1"> </form>){kind=link}
I am a trained stage and film director, playwright and actor–incidently by Professor Joe Walker of Howard University. I no longer live in the NYC area to be able to solicit a directorial slot for your reader’s series, but certainly I would love to submit a play of merit.
My question to the NEC is: How does one submit a project to such an institution? After all, My efforts go back as far as 1981. Can you offer a final piece such a puzzle?
Salute, blessings and prayers of prosterity,
Noble Lee Lester
Pingback: www.necartz.com