WASHINGTON, D.C.: Arena Stage at the Mead Center for American Theater has announced a partnership with Georgetown and Howard Universities that will see Arena Stage’s 2020-21 season of Playwrights’ Arena reimagined to focus on six students or recent alumni playwrights from the two universities. The cohort will work one-on-one with Arena Stage dramaturg and program facilitator Jocelyn Clarke in an exploration of their artistry, while also receiving support and guidance as they prepare for careers in the field.
“We reimagined the Playwrights Arena program together for this moment,” said Georgetown University’s Davis Performing Arts Center artistic director Maya E. Roth in a statement, “discovering how each institution can contribute and gain meaningfully from the generous mentoring of Arena’s internationally recognized dramaturg Jocelyn Clarke and the diversity of students we’re bringing into creative community and mentored writing workshop, together. It’s a plum opportunity for our students, helping to shape what kind of theater, multiracial community, and writing for performance they—and we—want to seed for the future.”
The 2020-21 cohort will include Veronica Ray Carr, Rose Dallimore, Fatima Dyfan, Aiyaisha Peoples, Jade Scott, and Timmy Sutton. Beginning in September, the cohort will participated in focused conversations with Clarke while also gaining access to playwrights and directors from Arena productions.
Veronica Ray Carr is a junior at Howard University from Atlanta, Ga. She is currently studying TV and film production with a minor in playwriting. She hopes to write and direct her own films and plays in the future. In addition to this, Veronica enjoys reviewing films, reading, and listening to music in her free time.
Rose Dallimore is a member of the Georgetown School of Foreign Service’s class of 2022, studying international politics and theology. Rose is originally from New York City, but she has since lived in North Georgia and Chattanooga, Tenn. She is now happy to call Washington, D.C. home. She has worked as a teacher, researcher, and writer. In her free time, she is involved in satire, opinion, and poetry writing, campus international relations and pride organizations, and enjoying D.C.’s restaurant scene. Her love for the absurdity and joy of spaces of human convergence–like gas stations, dating apps, places of worship, and Waffle Houses–informs much of her work.
Fatima Dyfan is a senior at Georgetown University majoring in Government and African American studies with a minor in theatre & performance studies. A Black radical feminist in the making, Fatima hopes to pursue mixed medium writing that illuminates the nuisance of the Black experience. She is the executive producer to GU’s Black Theatre Ensemble, for whom she directed for coloured girls… She is currently working on a senior thesis creative project for the TPST and BTE Home Seasons, tentatively titled Sunbath, that remixes memoir, prayer, music and community while engaging black girlhood. Fatima expands her notions of performance by being a cheerleader for Georgetown and resident of Black House.
Aiyaisha Peoples is a fourth-year biology major and a double minor in playwriting and chemistry minor at the illustrious Howard University. Born in Tallahassee, Fla. and raised in Stone Mountain, Ga.; her passions stem from her Southern roots to always portray the beauty of storytelling. Peoples received a regional award with Scholastic allowing her the opportunity to write, direct, and act in her own play. She plans to continue her talents in playwriting utilizing those skills to give back to her community.
Jade Scott is a senior Theatre Technology major, Playwriting minor from Tampa, Fla. She is a writer and producer who received her formal training at the illustrious Howard University (BFA ’21). She is the founder of WGC Productions and she hosts the podcast On Their Way.
Timmy Sutton is a 2020 Georgetown graduate (Government & English) and writer of theatre and poetry. A three-time finalist in the Donn B. Murphy One Acts Festival, his work holds its center of gravity in youth, class, and place. You can find some of his pieces in the Voice, Taco Bell Quarterly, Bossier, and in video form on the Button Poetry YouTube channel. He founded a Spoken Word Group while at Georgetown which catalyzed cross-disciplinary community. You can find him in Mokena, Ill. with his parents and two brothers, whom he loves more than anyone on Earth, searching for the best gas station ICEE and sunsets behind old Taco Bells.
