TACA Announces Inaugural Recipients of The Donna Wilhelm Family New Works Fund Grants, 6/20

TACA is pleased to announce that three inaugural grants totaling $100,000 will be awarded from the first round of applications to the TACA Donna Wilhelm Family New Works Fund.

African-American Repertory Theater homeschooled by Jonathan Norton Award: $25,000 

Homeschooled tells the story of three African American mothers who are friends through their children. The women home school their children and take turns teaching different courses and supervising field trips. The question of the play stems from an argument between two of the mothers. The argument concerns an extremely graphic picture drawn by a five year old girl of a black man being lynched. The mother of the five year old is angry that the mother in charge of the class discussed lynching and other atrocities with children so young. The third mother ultimately takes a side, which reveals long hidden truths about the real reason they’ve chosen to home school, and the deeper, darker truths about how African Americans view themselves in the 21st century. This play aims to debunk the notion that there is one monolithic African American consciousness that governs communities, and was inspired by a conversation about how African Americans discuss their cultural history with their children. The play will also address recent “Black Flight” to the suburbs, and the fact that African American neighborhoods have been particularly hard hit by the foreclosure crisis, topics that have yet to be explored through plays. Anticipated public performance dates are September 6 – 29, 2013.

Cara Mia Theatre The Dreamers, Part 1 by David Lozano Awarded $25,000

The Dreamers, Part 1 is a collaboratively written play focusing on the story of three young women who travel by foot from El Salvador to within 30 miles of the US-Mexican border yet never reach their destination. This story reveals the hardships of thousands of Latinos who come from neighboring countries and arrive in Dallas. As immigrants from El Salvador travel north they face corrupt border officials at the Mexican-Guatemalan border that perpetrate human rights atrocities. As the journey continues, they face violent Mexican drug cartels. And they leave behind extreme poverty, rampant gang violence and reluctantly, loved ones and family members. Through the playwright and collaborative writers who will serve as actors for the play, stories will be gathered from immigrants in the area and compiled using scripted narrative and poetic imagery as well as video and music.

Development of this work will take place through March 2013. The goal is to present a world premiere in May of 2013 at the Latino Cultural Center. Performances will continue during the TCG National Conference to be held in Dallas in summer 2013.

Dallas Theater Center Stagger Lee by Will Power and Justin Ellington Awarded $50,000

Stagger Lee is a new musical from hip-hop artist Will Power and composer Justin Ellington that dramatizes three African American folk tales, based on true events that express the struggle of African American migration throughout the 20th Century. These folk tales are becoming lost as they dropped out of the African American experience in the 1970’s. The work resonates with diverse audiences of all ages as it thematically explores how the quest for the American Dream impacts those who achieve it and those for whom it is denied. Stagger Lee brings forward the tales and myths of the past, adds new relevance and meaning to them, and gives them a voice that will impact new generations. The story begins as its five characters arrive in St. Louis in 1895 seeking to leave behind the ways of the South and become Northerners. As they time travel through a century of social and musical change, the characters land in historically significant places and times, and the musical’s score shifts from ragtime to jazz, from blues to rock and roll.

Developmental activities, including two one-week workshops with readings for invited audiences and a four week staged workshop with presentation, will take place between June 2012 and July 2014.A full creative team will be selected in early 2014 and casting, rehearsal, technical development and productions as a world premiere in Dallas will take place in late 2014.

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