Emerging Playwrights: Alex Drumm Jr.’s "How to Pimp a Butterfly"

Started in 2012 with funding from the Susan Kosoff Legacy Fund, the Emerging Playwrights Program is a Wheelock Family Theatre initiative that teaches teens playwriting skills as a vehicle for expressing their voices and ideas. This year's cohort of six students has been mentored by WFT teaching artists, has attended workshops by Boston's leading playwrights, and has had the opportunity of having their works brought to life by professional directors and actors. They have learned skills in critical analysis, communication, collaboration and creativity that will benefit them in the 21st century.

In this video we see Alex Drumm Jr.’s How to Pimp a Butterfly. This piece deals with some of the many stereotypes that young black men face throughout their daily lives and how preconceived notions can be an obstacle to making real human connections.

Content Warning: This video contains strong language and content.

NEW PLAYS 2014

Emerging Playwrights Program

New Play Staged Readings: Sunday December 14 at 7:00pm

Free and Open to the Public

Wheelock Family Theatre’s 34th season of high-quality theatre not only entertains young people but also challenges students to examine themselves, their relationships with others, and the world in which they live. WFT producer, Wendy Lement, teaches the Emerging Playwrights Program, a dynamic and exciting drama curriculum that develops playwriting skills, encourages dialogue, and promotes collaboration.

 

 

The Man Who Dreamed of Being God, by Max Wheeler (directed by Daniel Bolton) with Sam Lathrop and Christopher Spencer.

SISTERhood, by Joseph Rowland– (directed by Korinne T. Ritchey) with Alisha Jansky* and  Susan Lombardi-Verticelli*.

Mistakes, by Dinia Clairveaux  (directed by M. Lynda Robinson) with  Kimetra Thompson and Sonya Raye*.

Boots With The Fur, by Anastasia Lamothe (directed by Donna Sorbello) with Poornima Kirby and Alexandra Nader*.

THE BEST OF THEM, by Channtel Ravenell (directed by Fran Weinberg) with Anthony M. Mullin and Melissa Healey*.

We Don’t Like You, by Reid Merzbacher (directed by Adam Sanders) with Grace Trapnell and Simon Kiser.

*Members of Actors’ Equity Association

 

• Box Office: 617-879-2300; tickets@wheelock.edu
• Date and Time: Sunday December 14 at 7:00pm
• Tickets: Free!
• Website: www.WheelockFamilyTheatre.org
• Location: 180 The Riverway on the campus of Wheelock College in Boston’s Fenway district
• Parking: MASCO garage at 375 Longwood Avenue
• MBTA: Fenway or Longwood on Green Riverside Line (D train); CT busses to Beth Israel

Director's Notes - Andrew Barbato

Four years ago, I spent the summer locked away in the Stoneham Theatre basement with a small tribe of creatively charged young artists. We hung clip lights to the ceiling, hot glued costumes together, acquired a lovely old ladder from a sweet old man on craigslist, and thus, ALICE was born. The show has grown up quite a bit since then. ALICE had an award winning run in New York's Midtown International Theatre Festival and is now being brought to new heights by the professional artists at the Wheelock Family Theatre! But no matter how far this show sails, underneath the beautiful stage and behind the cellar door you will find that tiny tribe of young artists who spent the summer dragging a dream into reality. Nothing's Impossible.

David Henry Hwang at Wheelock Family Theatre!

Very exciting news! David Henry Hwang, a renowned playwright, will be at Wheelock Family Theatre on Saturday December 8 for an onstage interview with Jared Bowen. Mr. Hwang has recently been awardd a prestigious prize... http://artsbeat.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/08/22/david-henry-hwang-wins-200000-prize-for-playwriting/  and you can read all about it at the New York Times...

The onstage interview will be a kick-off to the Emerging Playwrights Initiative here at WFT.

Photo of David Henry Hwang by Lia Chang.