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The Kennedy Center

Kennedy Center Announces 18th Annual Page-to-Stage New Play Festival

Originally Published by DC Metro Theater Arts on 08/02/2019 The John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts hosts its 18th annual Page-to-Stage New Play Festival from Saturday, August 30, 2019 through Monday, September 2,…

Originally Published by DC Metro Theater Arts on 08/02/2019

The John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts hosts its 18th annual
Page-to-Stage New Play Festival from Saturday, August 30, 2019 through Monday, September 2, 2019. The festival is a free three-day celebration of local playwrights featuring more than 65 theater companies from the D.C. metropolitan area. Theaters and artists participating in Page-to-Stage present open rehearsals, concert readings, and workshops of new plays that are still in the development phase.

Page-to-Stage reflects the dynamic theater landscape of the D.C.-area, through free performances and participatory interactions with audience members, such as a post-presentation book discussion with author Bassey Ikpi and Marc Bamuthi Joseph.

Participating theaters include the historic Ford’s Theatre, whose seasonal programming highlights the diversity of the American landscape; Mosaic Theater Company of DC, a company dedicated to producing socially relevant art; The Welders, a playwrights’ collective, currently transitioning into its third generation of theater-makers; African-American Collective Theater, dedicated to increasing visibility for the Black LGBTQ community; and many others.

This year, many of the participating theaters share the compelling stories of artists, social justice icons, innovators, and historical figures. Highlights include Monumental Theatre Company’s Montgomery, following the life of Claudette Colvin, the first African American woman to refuse to give up her seat on a bus in Montgomery, Alabama; and Huemanati Artist Collective’s Day Dream, a work about jazz artist Billy Strayhorn; among others.

Additional presentation spotlights include:

• Brave Soul Collective’s #BlackGayRage, An evening of performances which celebrate
black gay existence and many of the challenges faced by Black LGBTQ people
• Company Lambe-Lambe’s Son Titere, a fusion of street puppetry and Mexican folk music
• Project 2020’s The Last Battle of the American Revolution, a medley of scenes from
stage works that celebrate and relate events from the struggle for Women’s Voting Rights in the United States
• Voices Unbarred’s Dear America: A Disconnect Between Perception & Truth,
exploring the perception of inmates versus the reality, engage with real stories of our
participants, and help brainstorm potential solutions to the issues raised.

Below is the full roster of participating theaters. All family friendly shows take place Saturday morning and afternoon. For the schedule, please visit the festival website.

4615 Theatre
Adventure Theatre MTC
African-American Collective Theater (ACT)
Arts on the Horizon
ArtStream, Inc.
Baltimore Playwrights Festival
Best Medicine Rep
Bowie State University
Kent State University
Brave Soul Collective
Briar Road Productions
Catholic University of America
Company Lambe-Lambe
Conscience Drama Directive
Crash of Rhinos
D.R. Creative Collab
Dance and Bmore
Factory 449
Federal Theatre Project
Ford’s Theatre
FRESHH Inc.
Georgetown University
Guillotine TheatreCompany
Happy Theater
Huemanati Artist Collective
InterAct Story Theatre
Liberated Muse Arts Group
MetroStage
Monumental Theatre Company
Mosaic Theater Company
Naked Theatre Company
Nu Sass Productions
One Off Productions
Pinky Swear Productions
Pipeline Playwrights
Playwrights Collaborative
Playwrights Group of Baltimore
Project 2020
Radiator Productions
Rainbow Theatre Project
Reliant Theatre
Rep Stage
Safe Streets Arts Foundation
Scena Theatre
Seventh Street Playhouse
Sir Harvey Fitz Productions
Spooky Action Theater
Synetic Theater
The Highwood Theatre
The In Series
The Indian Ocean Theatre
Company
The Interrobang Theatre Company
The Law Theater Project
The Rose Theatre Co.
The Washington Rogues
The Welders
Theatre Prometheus
Theatre51
Three Princes Theatre
Tonic Theater Company
Too Much Damn (TMD) Theater
Transformation Theatre, Inc.
Unexpected Stage Company
Unknown Penguin
Venus TheatreCompany
Voices Unbarred
Washington Improv Theater
Washington Stage Guild
Washington Women in Theatre
Young Playwrights’ Theater (YPT)