Tuesday, Oct 12th, 2010
… they were all at last night’s Blackboard! (how i survive by Angel Dillemuth) I don’t think Almeria and I had ever seen a room full of so many Black men before… at Blackboard I mean I think 95% of the audience was male! With that said, a BIG Congratulations to Angel Dillemuth for a very successful reading! The talk-back could have gone one for another half-hour, but people stayed, mingled and drank wine until the storm surpassed. It was beautiful evening!
But where have all the Black men gone?… Is it because Daryl Sledge, who also produced this particular reading is male and therefore, draws more men? Is it because Angel and the other actor involved were male…
There were also a number of white men in the audience and during the talk-back all the questions, aside from two were asked by men! Almeria was blown to the wall and I was just watching in almost disbelief. How can we attract more of these men – who for the most part came by themselves – a range of ages…
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One Week Later: Tuesday, October 19th, 2010
I am still in disbelief over last week and very thankful for the wonderful experience. This past week at the cell has been busy and challenging – so many events happening, I didn’t get to send my Thank you for Blackboard the next night, but sending it now. THANK YOU for such a wonderful reading!
Next Month will be a structured Community Night, where I will invite playwrights who have been submitting plays to do a 10 minutes / 10 pages of their work.
It should be an interesting night!
Stay Tuned!
-Garlia
Comments
I can’t say exactly why, but I would gather that the content of the play is of the sort that speaks to the experience of the man of color. Angel is a friend of mine and I’m sure along with Sledge’s help they were able to get the word out to their friends and colleagues whose interest was peaked and they spoke to their friends and colleagues to help bring together a very divers, affluent, and educated, audience of color and particularly male. It was my first time at the Cell and I thoroughly enjoyed my time and am very impressed with the space. I am a writer and would love to show my works there as I expressed to Garlia. Bravo Blackboard and the Cell
Ya – content is definitely it… so that is an idea… to make the content something that can speak to a particular audience – which is what we always aim to do – but this reading was an amazing example of that! Thanks for your response!
🙂
Garlia