2012 Featured Readings July – December Playwrights Bios

André Richardson Hogan II is a playwright, screenwriter, poet, essayist, visual artist, and theater critic. His plays have received stage readings and productions in numerous theaters which include the American Theater Company, Black Ensemble Theater, Chicago Dramatists, Dramatists Personae, the Field Museum of Natural History, Magnified Gift Theater and Dance Company, Negro Ensemble Company, Prop Thtr, and Red Harlem Readers. The Chicago Chronicles, Volume 1, a docudrama of Logan Square residents, was produced as a commissioned work for American Theater Company. An Ode to the Washermen, a short work in one act, was produced by Negro Ensemble Company in association with the Midwest International Theater Festival (NYC) in the summer of 2010. It was also nominated for Outstanding Production of a Short Subject. Several poems have been published such as in Many Mountains Moving and Segue. Strangers, a collection of poetry, was published by Xlibris in 2009. Sugar for Coffee, a full length drama, will be presented and produced by Blue Collar Theater Company and Gorilla Tango Theatre in June of 2012. Hogan is currently a writer for an upcoming documentary, produced by Driven Entertainment and Four Features. Son’s House, a screen adaptation based on the life of the Delta blues legend Son House, will also be produced by Driven Entertainment and Four Features. In 2001, Hogan received a B.F.A. in Liberal Arts from Columbia College, Chicago. He was a resident playwright at Magnified Gift Theater and Dance Company and Timber Lake Playhouse Playwrights Colony in Mt. Carroll, IL., and is currently a member of Da’Right Productions, Driven Entertainment, Four Features, Hyde Park Community Players (HPCP), and of HPCP’s Writers Initiative. He resides at Hyde Park in Chicago.

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James Anthony Tyler – After receiving his B.A. in Mass Communications and a minor in business from Central State University, James Anthony Tyler moved to Los Angeles, where he worked in television/film production, before entering and completing the MFA Film Program at Howard University. After many short films and feature scripts, James wrote and directed The Numb an allegory on contemporary mass media that targets the African American audience and the destruction it causes. He just completed the MFA Dramatic Writing Program at New York University where he was a playwright concentrate. Theater Masters produced his 10-minute play Some Old Black Man in Aspen, CO and New York City (Arthur French starred in the play). He has adapted the 10-minute play Some Old Black Man into a full length. Other plays are; Slum Beautiful, To Make Your Dream, and Ain’t Ain’t a Word.

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Monday, September 10, 2012

Nathan Yungerberg is a Brooklyn based playwright, originally from Minneapolis. Nathan is currently making a transition into theater after twenty years of working as a professional photographer. His play, The Son of Dawn, had a members reading at the Playwrights’ Center. Nathan has also participated in the Classical Theater of Harlem’s Playwright’s Playground reading series.

Her full-length play, THE FLOWER THIEF, was an August 2012 co-production between Horse Trade Theater Group and The Fire This Time play festival. Her play, GENERATION T, was featured in The Classical Theatre of Harlem’s Future Classics reading series in June 2012. Her full-length drama, RED ROOSTER, was likewise a part of the Future Classics reading series as well as the Emerging Writers Spotlight Series at The Public Theater in 2009. ALL THE PRETTY GIRLS was featured in The Looking Glass Theatre’s Spring 2009 Writer/Director Forum. THE RIVER PURE FOR HEALING was part of the 2008 Resilience of the Spirit play festival. Her play, TREE OF LIFE, received a 2007 workshop production at The Red Room Theater.

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Monday, November 12, 2012

Adrienne Dawes’ plays include Am I White, You Are Pretty, Jesus Loves Good Christians, edgewater stoner and Heritage, Her-i-tage and Hair-i-tage.
Her work has been produced by American Repertory Theatre of London, Live Girls Theatre!, Little Fish Theatre Company, New Jersey Repertory Company, Hyde Park Theater, St Idiot Collective, and American Theater Company (Chicago, IL). Her plays have been published by Playscripts, Smith & Kraus, Heuer Publishing and Vintage Books.Adrienne is the recipient of the 2004 Stanley and Evelyn Lipkin Prize for Playwriting, a Marchbanks Family Foundation Grant, a Fringe Festival Commission Award, Seed Support Grant, and Finer Point Funding Grant from Scriptworks. She was named a semifinalist for the 2003 Mildred and Albert Panowski Playwriting Award and 2012 Risk is THIS Festival (Cutting Ball Theatre). Most recently, her play Am I White was recognized as a finalist for the 2012 O’Neill National Playwrights Conference and 2012 Bay Area Playwrights Festival.

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Monday, December 10, 2012

Louis Johnson’s one act play, VALDOSTA, was featured in “Dramatic Shout-outs ‘02”, a production of Our Place Theater Company and ACT/Roxbury Consortium held at Boston’s Roxbury Community College’s Media Arts Center in June 2002. It was also presented as a staged reading at the African-American Meeting House in Boston, Massachusetts in February 2002 as part of its’ Black History Month festivities.“THE RETURN OF CICERO WALKER”-a love story involving two ex-convicts-is a full-length play written under the mentorship of the renowned African-American playwright Ed Bullins. The play was presented at a staged reading at the John D. O’Bryant Center at Northeastern University by Jacqui Parker’s Our Place Theater Company in March 2003. In October 2003, an excerpt from “CICERO”-directed by Akiba Abaka-tied for first place at Another Country Productions’ Boston PlaySlam held at the Boston Playwright’s Theater.His full-length play, “PLAIN BROWN (W)RAPPER” received a staged reading at Our Place Theater Company in May 2004. The play has been picked up by Crystal Field’s “Theater for the New City” in Manhattan for a future production. In July 2009, Mr. Johnson’s play, “Oh, the LIES we’ve told”-the story of a President-elect who decides that due to the LIES that he’s told to get elected, no longer wants the job-premiered at Thespian Production Company’s One-Act Showcase held at the Alliance for the Arts in Fort Myers, Florida to rave reviews.In March 2010, his one-act play, “Oh, the LIES we’ve told”, was featured in the “10x10x2 Festival of Short Plays” a production of staged play readings by the People Branch Theater Company at Belmont College’s Troutt BlackBox Theater in Nashville, Tn. In April ’11, “Oh, the LIES we’ve told” was featured in the Shop-Workshop for Artist’s Play Festival at The Tank in Hell’s Kitchen, NYC. In April 2012, his play, “Old Man Clean His Gun” was featured in the Red Harlem Reader’s Series Program at the Indian Cafe in New York City. In May 2012, his play “Old Man Cleans His Gun” will be featured in Identity Theatre Company’s Self-Esteem Reading Festival in NYC. Louis is a Resident Playwright at New African Company Theater, the oldest Black theater company, in Boston.

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Monday, January 14, 2013

Danielle recently completed her MFA in Dramatic Writing at New York University’s Tisch School of the Arts. She is the founder of an online magazine, AffluentMag.com, a publication that features literature, film, theatre, dance, music and visual arts as well as thought-provoking articles.Danielle has an intense passion for the arts and is well-rounded in all aspects. She loves the theatre and has written several stageplays that have had successful readings. In addition to her passion for the stage, she has written several feature films, short films and a TV pilot. She has worked as developer, director/assistant director and cinematographer on various collaborative projects.Contact Danielle Eliska Lyle for collaborative, freelance and commission opportunities as well as information on upcoming projects.