The summer Play Lab partners annually with a committee chosen Black LGBTQI identified writer. For a 6-week commitment, the program provides the selected artists an honorarium, round trip travel, housing, and ground transport to the residency site, along with a residency per diem. The writer commits to completing a work-in-progress commission while participating. The 2022 Writer-in-Residence is Nick Hadikwa Mwaluko.

The play lab for our writer-in-residence will be accompanied by the Black & Queer Storytelling F!RE!! Summer Playwriting Practicum, June 27 - July 31, 2022. This practicum is for emerging artists from HBCU's and those with theatrical interests ages 18-25. This practicum was developed to:

• Develop pathways for undergraduate theatre practitioners and other community members to cultivate relationships with Black queer theatre professionals in an immersive learning environment.

• Create opportunities for undergraduate theatre artists to engage in a rigorous play development process that will allow them to network and share their work with professionals in the field.

Practicum Elements

• F!RE!! Summer Play Lab: The F!RE!! Summer Playwriting Practicum participants will have the opportunity to engage with Mwaluko’s developed play, and observe the Play Lab process for our writer-in-residence, gaining exposure to the mechanics of producing a play

• Community Conversations: A reading of our guests, work followed by a Q&A & conversation hosted by the Museum of Contemporary African Diaspora Arts (MoCADA)

• Community Connections: Resources will be provided to participants to assist and facilitate building connections with stakeholders and safe spaces for creative work to be developed, broadening our participants options for their community art share

Practicum Focus

• Queer Artistic Visibility

• Community Art Sharing & Site Responsive Work

• Dramaturgical Activism

• Nurturing Conceived Ideas

• Expanding the Creative Process

• Play Analysis

• Playwriting