The African American experience is not represented solely by one voice or one style. For the third year in a row Horse Trade Theater Group will present The Fire This Time Festival, providing a platform for talented early-career playwrights of African and African-American descent to explore new voices, styles, and challenging new directions for 21st century performing arts in order to move beyond common misconceptions of what's possible in "black theater." The festival's core production is a short play festival, presenting new work by featured playwrights. Other festival programming includes panel discussions, staged readings, and concert events. 

THE FIRE THIS TIME FESTIVAL was founded in 2009 by playwright Kelley Nicole Girod to provide rising playwrights of African and African American descent a platform to write and develop new work. The festival was conceived as an opportunity for playwrights to write and produce material that reflects diverse perspectives as 21st century theater artists. Past playwrights have included Katori Hall (The Mountaintop on Broadway), Radha Blank (The Public Theater’s Emerging Writers Group), Kelley Girod (2011 nytheatre.com Person of the Year), Deborah Asimwee, Derek Lee McPhatter (New York Theatre Workshop’s Emerging Playwright’s of Color Fellowship finalist), Geromono Toussaint ((L)imitations at the Lark Play Development Center), Pia Wilson (The Public Theater’s Emerging Writers Group), Jesse Cameron Alick (LaMaMa-Loped), Camille Darby (2011 finalist for the Van Lier Fellowship program at The Lark Play Development Center), Christine Jean Chambers, Marcus Gardley (2011 PEN/Laura Pels award for Mid-Career Playwright), Dominique Morisseau (The Public Theater’s Emerging Writers Group), and Yusef Miller (Made at Horse Trade).

The first season of the festival brought together over thirty collaborative performers, directors, and other collaborators to create an amazing evening of short one-act plays. Presented by Horse Trade Theater Group over a five- show run in February 2010, the first season of the festival sold out every presentation. Exploring themes from euthanasia, hero-worship, intergenerational conflict, and more, the inaugural season of the Fire This Time Festival presented a dynamic theatrical experience. 

Following the success of the first year, The Fire This Time Festival has continued to grow, with input from participating playwrights and other collaborators. The Festival has evolved into an annual January event, expanding upon its core short play presentations to offer panel discussions, staged readings, and other programs. With ongoing momentum, The Fire This Time Festival has quickly become a destination for diverse audiences, producers, and artists seeking new possibilities and opportunities in contemporary theater. www.firethistimefestival.com

Reservations for free events are highly recommended. Email rsvp@firethistimefestival.com with your name, performance date, and number of tickets requested.

The Fire This Time 10-Minute Play Festival
January 19, 20, 21 & 25 @ 8pm
The Kraine Theater $15

The Talk
Written by France-Luce Benson
Directed by Jamie Robinson 
Manu's little girl is all grown-up. Now it's her turn. But there's just one question: How does one ”rabbit”?

Four
Written by Jocelyn Bioh
Directed by Nicole Watson
It's a typical Friday night at Mansion Night Club: Sweet Thing is late, Saffronia is full of attitude, Peaches is preparing to perform and Aunt Sarah is keeping folks in line... as usual.  Inspired by a Nina Simone song (Four Women) Four imagines a world in which all of these women co-exist (and have plenty to say about it).

The Crisis of the Negro Intellectual: Dream One
Written by Kevin R. Free
Directed by Christopher Burris
An artist struggles with his present as he dreams of his future. This dream is the first scene of Kevin R. Free’s full-length play, The Crisis of the Negro Intellectual.

Little Louise
Written by Patricia Ione Lloyd
Directed by Donya K. Washington
The Madame of a whorehouse has tea with her inner child, while listening to the brand new Billie Holiday record. The games that little girls play are especially dangerous for grown black women. Little Louise, is the story of a biracial woman in the 1930’s, who understands the law of supply and demand in the business of love.

The Pitch
Written by Zoey Martinson
Directed by Brandon Gardner
The Pitch takes a comedic look at two young black writers trying to sell a modern Black movie to studio executives. See how far they are willing go and how much they are willing to sacrifice to get their movie made.

Vanna White Must Die
Written by Antoinette Nwandu
Directed by Dan Rogers 
With a pie in the oven and her boyfriend’s disapproving Mother in the next room, wallflower Seena needs to make a hit. Problem is, her best friend turned arch nemesis Vanna White has other plans. With wit and humor, Vanna White Must Die answers the question, what's a girl gotta do to keep her love alive? 

DIG
Written by Jerome Parker
Directed by LA Williams
Haunted by a case, a homicide detective blurs the lines between past, present, home and work in this gritty, street drama. 

Panel Discussion: Diversity in Contemporary Theatre: Casting and Typecasting
January 16 @ 8pm
The Red Room FREE

Staged Readings
The Red Room @ 8pm FREE

January 17: Paradise Blue by Dominique Morisseau
January 18: Lords Resistance by Camille Darby
January 22: thus have I heard: tales of the last bodhisattva by Jesse Cameron Alick 
January 23: Untitled by Yusef Miller 
January 24: One Quarter by Christine Jean Chambers