The Black Directors' Studio

A monthly reading series in Horse Trade’s Red Room created by a talented, up and coming director, LA Williams, to serve as an outlet for emerging, young, black directors of varying artistic styles to keep creatively stimulated in theater.

Brought into being by the overwhelming desire for new theatre by artists of African descent, The Black Directors’ Studio hopes to provide a platform for young, directing talents and encourage the development of relationships with playwrights, actors, designers and all other artists of the African Diaspora in the 21st century through constant creative collaboration.

This series which is free and open to the public will take place on every third Wednesday of every month. Plays selected to be in the series will be mostly new works. Plays chosen to be in the series may either be new plays that are still in the developmental phase and or plays that have been or that are ready to be produced. Inside the Directors Studio (IDS): will feature one on one interviews with various guest-artists from the black theater community in an audience setting. Directors, actors, producers, designers and other artists will be invited to be a part of Inside the Directors Studio as well. Please visit www.horsetrade.info for more information.

HOUSE OF DINAH (HOD) is a fantasy tale about a waitress in a diner who wants more out of life, the lady who seeks refuge therein from a harsh storm and the enslavement of both under three, older, vicious queens. All roles are played by black men. Part drag show using a Dinah Washington set list and part cabaret play - HOD trips through history, power and time. How much pain must one endure before one’s inner queen lashes out?

Jerome A. Parker is a playwright from NYC. His plays have been seen at the Old Vic, the Company of Angels, Celebration Theatre and the Cherry Lane amongst others. He is the 2008 winner of the Lorraine Hansberry Award, the 2009 winner of the Tim Robbins Playwriting Award, and a current member of the writers group at the Public Theater. Recently he graduated from UCLA’s School of Theater, Film and Television with a MFA in Playwriting and was a Citizen Theater Artist with Freedom Train Productions. Upcoming: Reading of a new play with music at the Public Theater.

Horse Trade presents

The Black Directors’ Studio