The Fire This Time Festival was founded in 2009 by playwright Kelley Nicole Girod to provide a platform for early career playwrights of African and African-American descent. Since its founding, the Festival has produced the plays of dozens of emerging writers whose works explore a wide range of themes and perspectives. The Festival also supports actors, directors, and technical personnel to help seed the pipeline with diverse talent and amplify underrepresented voices in theater in New York and beyond.
The Fire This Time playwrights have gone on to have their plays produced in cities across the United States and work as writers in film and television. The Fire This Time Festival has evolved into an annual January event and continues to grow, expanding upon its core short play presentations to offer panel discussions, staged readings, a playwright’s lab and other programs. The Festival has become a destination for diverse audiences, producers, and artists seeking new possibilities and opportunities in contemporary theater.
The 2023 festival is presented by FRIGID New York and will feature the Ten-Minute Play Program along with a kickoff panel discussion and staged readings. Playwright and director Goldie E. Patrick will be helming the Ten-Minute Play Program, which includes seven new plays.
The 2023 Ten-Minute Play Program will feature the following works:
Tuff by Cris Eli Blak
College fraternity brothers Coach and Goose meet at a bar on the one year anniversary of the passing of Coach's teenage son, who was a student athlete. The conversation quickly turns to one of accountability, reflection, and shame when Goose implies that the death may have been caused by Coach's impossible parental expectations and problematic feelings on the necessity of masculinity when it comes to Black men.
He's the First by Phillip Gregory Burke
A random encounter at a library leaves two complete yet curious strangers from different academic worlds the chance to explore their similarities or judge their books by their covers.
Black Women in Tech by Zachariah Ezer
Two Black women struggle to be seen by each other and the racist smart home they are trapped inside of.
Houston by Andrea Frierson
It's 1971. Alexander and his wife Shirley, attractive, award-winning concert artists ostensibly headed to Houston, Texas, somehow end up on a rural southern farm in Alabama, causing questions to arise about emotional distance, physical proximity, and authentic partnership.
For the Dark-Skinned Movie Going People of the World by Steve Harper
Jasmine, a 20-something singer, goes undercover, posing as a maid to confront Karl, a filmmaker, in the hopes of convincing him to hire her. She engages him in a spirited debate about trends in black film casting and what makes a good actor in the hopes of impressing the stoic by-the-book director. For the Dark-Skinned Movie Going People of the World is an incisive comic drama about the serious business of creating art for the masses.
Tower by kl
At a small outpost of Tower Records, tickets are about to go on sale for the upcoming Prince and the Revolution Purple Rain tour. The Tower employees are all ready to open the store, welcome the crowd, and sell tickets, but their manager and the tickets themselves are nowhere to be found.
#Lakeisha Jefferson by Goldie E. Patrick
In the thick of the Black Lives Matter movement young LaKeisha Jefferson has discovered what she wants to be when she grows up...a hashtag. This chilling 10-minute play throws the complex reality of trying to grow up young, Black, and girl in a world that is determined to hunt you. Her family tries to explain to her the danger of her desire, but can't make sense of their explanation; because, in this world, her wish may make sense?
The Alumni Spotlight Presentation will feature a staged reading of four new short plays by TFTT season six playwright Julienne Hairston directed by Kevin R. Free.
The festival will also present a full-length reading of A Body of Water, written by Kelley Girod and directed by Andrew Block.
COVID-19 Safety Information:
Proof of vaccination required. Masks are optional but encouraged.
