Facing Our Truth: Ten-Minute Short Plays on Trayvon Race and Privilege
By Jael Lucina Dozier
The Network for Stage & Screen Artists presents Facing Our Truth: Ten-Minute Short Plays on Trayvon, Race and Privilege. Written by Dominique Morisseau, A. Rey Pamatmat, Winter Miller, and Dan O'Brien, with music by Quetzal Flores, Mona Mansour, Tala Manassah, and Marcus Gardley.
The Facing Our Truth series seeks to provoke thought, spark conversations, and challenge preconceived notions about race and privilege. Each play within the collection presents a unique perspective on the aftermath of Trayvon Martin's tragic death. Colored, The Ballad of George Zimmerman and No More Monsters Here explores the broader implications of racial profiling and systemic racism. Night Vision, Some Other Kid, and Dressing encourages audiences to confront uncomfortable truths and discuss the persistent racial disparities and injustices that plague society.
This Spring, The Network for Stage & Screen Artists is bringing a new cast and twist! They will return to the Studio Theatre for a second presentation of Facing Our Truth on Wednesday, April 10th at 7 pm and Thursday, April 11th at 3:30 pm. Directed by Ja-el-Lucina Dozier, this presentation will feature performances by Ashley Brown, Anik Banerji, Christian Toro, David Guallpa, Elise Pinnock-Toliver, Gwendelyn Acosta, Ijeoma Umelo, Janet Norquist-Gonzalez, Kadiatou Diallo, Kaitlyn Igartua, Leosha Bristow, Macarthur Varga, Meika Johnson, Mell Peña, Samuel Boucher, Serg Lockhart, TJ Barber and Jae Dozier. This production is supported by the Office of Campus Life at Lehman College and Lehman Stages.
In her search to find content that would resonate with the members of Stage & Screen, Ms. Dozier (President and Artistic Director) stumbled upon Facing Our Truth: Ten-Minute Short Plays on Trayvon, Race and Privilege. She learned that in 2013, The New Black Fest, an NYC-based organization dedicated to uplifting diverse voices in entertainment, commissioned seven highly accomplished playwrights to write six ten-minute plays inspired by the nationwide protests caused by the outrageous George Zimmerman acquittal. In this spirit of protest, Facing Our Truth was born. The messages held within this collection were nuanced, heartfelt, funny, gut-wrenching, and timeless. After two rounds of auditions and one year of planning, The Network for Stage & Screen Artists finally realized their dream. In the Studio Theatre, they performed to a sold-out audience on Friday, December 1st, 2023.
(12/01/23, The Green Room, Lehman College)
The Network for Stage & Screen Artists is a haven for creatives, artists, and storytellers. They welcome actors, directors, singers, writers, musicians, animators, dancers, videographers, poets, graphic designers, and all other artists who enjoy amplifying their work in the spirit of collaboration. The community is committed to creating various production opportunities for the members to build their network, maximize their visual storytelling skills, and gain valuable hands-on experience. If you are interested in film, theatre, music, television, photography, etc, then Stage & Screen is the perfect place! You can find them online at instagram.com/stagexscreenartists or contact them directly at stagexscreenartists@gmail.com.
“Just from reading the title, I thought I had an idea of what to expect. But these six plays, specifically, have such a unique take...and if you’re not paying attention, you don’t realize that such heavy topics are being handled in such an innovative and creative way. (For instance) with Colored and No More Monsters Here, it’s so crazy to think that racism can be handled in such a playful way. But that’s what makes these short plays so different. They’re telling stories about social issues in a way that’s not so in your face.” - Samuel Boucher
“I was shocked at how much my character, Greatest Grand, reminded me of some of my own family members that I grew up with. It’s been fun to infuse my own magic into my character and find ways to make her pop. For me, No More Monsters Here is very significant in its own way of addressing issues that we see every day and that we hear about very often.” - Meika Johnson
“I kind of relate to the Trayvon Martin character in The Ballad of George Zimmerman because I remember how people got upset when Zimmerman was acquitted. When that happened, my mom looked at me and said, ‘That could’ve been you.’ It could’ve been any of us. And these plays give me some ideas for future films that I want to work on.” - Elias Williams