December 4, 2024
The Fire This Time Festival Highlights Emerging Black Playwrights, Honors James Baldwin
The Fire This Time Festival returns to ALL ARTS, providing a bigger forum for emerging Black playwrights.
The Fire This Time Festival continues to shine a spotlight on emerging Black playwrights while honoring the legacy of the late writer and civil rights icon James Baldwin.
For the third year in a row, the arts-dedicated streaming platform ALL ARTS highlighted last month’s festival, premiering six 10-minute plays from rising playwrights, all directed by Cezar Williams.
The plays were written by Joël René Scoville, Kamilah Bush, LeeLee Jackson, Monique Pappas-Williams, Nia Akilah Robinson, and Taylor A. Blackman.
The plays’ streamed after they were filmed at The Wild Project in New York City on Jan. 20, 2024. In addition to streaming on the ALL ARTS site and app, two web-only musical performances by Nailah Carrie and Julian Apter were featured.
“We are thrilled to be home to the broadcast and streaming premieres of these plays by emerging voices in Black theater and are proud of our partnership with The Fire This Time Festival,” said James King, senior artistic director of ALL ARTS.
Founded in 2009 by playwright Kelley Nicole Girod, The Fire This Time Festival aims to provide a platform for early career playwrights of African and African-American descent.
This year’s festival showcased a range of diverse narratives and introduced rising theater talent, including Scoville’s Ethel and Ethel, starring Danielle Covington and Marinda Anderson as Ethel Williams and Ethel Waters, a couple celebrating their two-year anniversary—only to face interruptions that challenge their relationship.
Bush’s Mamas & Papas starred Shayvawn Webster, Benton Greene, and Larry Powell. The plays explores the journey of a daughter moving in with her father after her mother’s death. Meanwhile, Jackson’s What’s Love Got to Do With It? featured Covington and Greene in a gripping, intimate bedroom conversation that delves into the woman’s desires and standards.
Pappas-Williams’ The Mural featured Webster and Powell as Nia, an artist, and her ex-partner, Riz, who confronts her after his release from prison. Meanwhile, Robinson’s Why Jamira Gotta Do All Da Werk? explores the dynamic between party friends Jamira and Kiana, played by Anderson and Webster, as they confront uncomfortable truths that challenge the future of their friendship.
Finally, Blackman’s It’s Karen B**! starred Anderson, Greene, and Covington in a story about a seemingly perfect family that gets shaken after their daughter returns from school with a shocking secret.
Viewers can watch past seasons of The Fire This Time Festival on the ALL ARTS app, YouTube, and website at AllArts.org/FireThisTimeFestival.
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