As a part of JCAL's Building Equity for BIIPOC Artists, we're thrilled to present Conch Shell Productions’ New Works Reading Series. The play reading series will feature 3 new one-act works written by members of Conch Shell Productions’ Artist Collective - Magaly Colimon-Christopher, Tanya Perez, and Gretchen Suárez-Peña. These Caribbean-American playwrights explore a number of themes that inspire social change (including self-empowerment, identity, sexism, trauma, and sexuality).
The three readings will take place in Miller Gallery on Saturday, November 12th - performance times are 3pm EST; 5pm EST; and 7pm EST.
Each play reading will be followed by an artist q&a led by Jasmeene Francois (Conch Shell Production’s resident dramaturg).
Please note the content warnings for each production.
ABOUT THE PLAYS & THE WRITERS
WELCOME TO CLOWNTOWN
Written by Tanya Perez
Directed by Tara Ochs
A solo performance that dives into the bizarre and cantankerous mind of Pixie the Clown. Part birthday party, part therapy session, this live show shares the trials and tribulations of gig life in America. (Audience participation)
Content warnings: Adult humor and content; Adult language
Reading start time: 3pm EST
Playwright Bio:
Tanya Perez is an NYC Latinx performer, writer & clown specializing in short-form comedy. Perez has excelled as a creator on both stage and screen and her stand-out work has received many awards and mentions. Notable TV credits include Evil, Orange Is the New Black & Jessica Jones. Stage credits include performances at Laguna Playhouse, Seattle Rep, Carnegie Hall, Lincoln Center, and touring throughout Italy. Her film, Peep Show, was a finalist at the Women in Comedy HBO Insider Competition. With over 22 screenings globally, her film, Veronica, won ‘Best Actress’ at SISFA, ‘Best Screenplay’ at OutlantaCon, and ‘Best Latinx Short’ at IndieFest. Perez also received an Audioverse Award recognition for her audio play, Rincon. Winner of New Circle Theatre Company's L.B. Williams Playwriting Festival. She is a featured writer for The Light Ahead podcast, a Greenhouse Lab artist with The Orchard Project, a spotlight artist with Conch Shell Productions, and a proud member of the Latinx Playwrights Circle.
ICEBREAKER
Written & directed by Magaly Colimon-Christopher
When three financially strapped strangers come together to take part in a paid focus group, their coronavirus pandemic-influenced anxieties turn the session into a battle ground as they struggle with the challenges of redefining social interaction and identity. Can they overcome their pandemic traumas in order to “go back to normal” and form new human connections?
Please be advised: Pandemic experiences of isolation; adult humor and content
Reading start time: 5pm
Playwright bio:
Magaly Colimon-Christopher - is a first-generation Haitian American actress/playwright/director/producer & the Artistic Director/Founder of Conch Shell Productions. Her acting credits include Grand Army (Netflix); Blue Bloods (CBS); Law & Order (NBC); Law & Order SVU(NBC), as well as film and theatre credits.. Magaly founded Conch Shell Productions to create a platform for new works by Caribbean Diaspora & Caribbean playwrights and screenwriters who have an expanded view of reality and a passion for innovative storytelling that inspire social change. A native New Yorker, Magaly received a B.A. from Columbia University, an MBA in Arts Administration from Binghamton University, and an MFA in Acting from Geffen School of Drama at Yale (formerly known as Yale School of Drama). She is a member of SAG/AFTRA, ART/NY, Fractured Atlas, The Actor’s Studio Playwright and Directors Unit, The Actor’s Center, The Dramatist Guild, Latinx Consortium, and JCAL Building Equity Advisory Council. To learn more about Magaly go to www.magalycolimon.com
THE SAGA OF PEACHES AND THE BLACK KING
Written & directed by Gretchen Suárez-Peña
When a wife chooses polyamory, can she keep her world together and find joy when her husband's cancer returns?
Content warnings: Adult humor and content; sexual situations; adult language
Playwright bio:
Gretchen Suárez-Peña (she/her) is a Puerto Rican playwright based in Central Florida. She is an MFA candidate in the Dramatic Writing program at Carnegie Mellon University School of Drama (Class of 2024). She is a frequent collaborator with New Generation Theatrical (FL) and is part of the 2022 Conch Shell Productions (NY) Artists Collective of writers. She frequently works with Just Write! Lakeland (FL), the Latinx Playwright Circle (NY), and the Latiné Musical Theatre Lab (NY). Her musical, Melina: A Steampunk Musical Tragedy was an official selection of the 2020 Atlanta Musical Theatre Festival. Other successes include winning the writer's grant and best play at the 2019 Be Original Festival for her play, Trafficked. Also, winning best full-length play at the 2018 Tampa Bay Theatre Festival for her show Conversations in the Car, and first prize for her short play, Dry Spell, at the 30 by Ninety Theatre’s 2018 Night of One Acts Competition. Her short play, The Arithmetic of Memory, has been produced across the country and was published in the Stonecoast Review where it was nominated for a Pushcart Award in Drama (2021). A portion of her work is available to be read on the New Play Exchange and she is a proud member of the Dramatist Guild. gretchensuarezpena.com
ABOUT THE SPONSOR OF THIS EVENT
This event is also made possible with the support of Jamaica Center for Arts and Learning Building Equity for BIIPOC Artist - an initiative sponsored by New York Community Trust
ABOUT CONCH SHELL PRODUCTIONS
Conch Shell Productions’ mission is to infuse new Caribbean Diaspora & Caribbean voices in the American theater and film industry by developing, showcasing and producing new plays and screenplays.
