NEW BRUNSWICK, N.J.: Theatres may be shut down worldwide, but a unique online experience will allow viewers to watch 10-minute plays from writers around the globe. Ricardo Khan and Marshall Jones, III—co-founders of the Tony-Award winning Crossroads Theatre Company—have combined forces to create Stream ON!, a Facebook Live event that will air live 10-minutes plays that span three continents this Friday, April 17, at 1 p.m. It is being produced in association with the World Theatre Lab, a multi-country collective of writers begun in 2005 by Ricardo Khan and based in cities around the world.
“This event allows artists all over the globe the opportunity to continue to create,” said Khan in a statement. “Because regardless of how much distance that might exist between us and how many seas there are that divide us, we’re all in it together. We’re a world trying to figure this whole thing out, and while we don’t have all the answers, we do have each other, and we still have art.”
Authors of the 10-minute plays include playwright/screenwriter Richard Wesley, Mahesh Dattani (India), Sibusiso Mamba (London), theatre artist Rick Sordelet, and NYU Dramatic Writing MFA candidates Sienna L. Jones and Alicia Louzoun-Heisler.
Untouchable, by Dattani, takes place in the year 2033 and follows as two lonely men from disparate social worlds meet up in the aftermath of pestilence.
Wesley’s Inevitability is a pressure-filled look at two nurses during their break;
Sordelet’s Miigwech is about a young student who conducts a Zoom interview with an elder from the Native community
Love Elsewhere, by Mamba, follows a couple coming to grips with an affair in the midst of an apocalypse.
On the Line… by Louzoun-Heisler is about a telephone representative having interesting conversations with her boss as well as a caller/
The final play will be What Do You Love, by Jones, which takes place sometime in a future where individuals are trapped in pods and long for human interaction.
“Connecting with people during these unprecedented times is a central theme of our inaugural Stream ON! presentation,” said Jones, III in a statement. “We are thrilled to provide this opportunity to artists the world over. If the public warrants, we are certainly considering offering more Stream ON! Sessions.”
Viewers can stream the show via Facebook Live at no cost but are welcome to make donations to provide financial relief for the artists involved using the initiative’s GoFundMe page.
