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Hola Arkansas
The Arkansas Repertory Theatre to honor Luis Valdez and Lynn Nottage during Voices at the River
¡Hola! Arkansas Staff Writers
LITTLE ROCK, AR -- Arkansas Repertory Theatre (The Rep) has announced that Lynn Nottage and Luis Valdez will be honored at an awards ceremony August 16, 2007, during The Rep’s inaugural Voices at the River. The playwrights’ residency program is designed to support Latino- and African-American playwrights nationally and in Arkansas. Plays to be developed during the residency include new works by Vanessa Garcia, Javon Johnson, Guillermo Reyes, and Ajene D. Washington. Free public readings will be held at Arkansas Repertory Theatre in Little Rock, AR, August 15 – 18, 2007. Honoree Lynn Nottage is the author of Intimate Apparel (produced at The Rep in 2006), Crumbs from the Table of Joy, Las Meninas, and Fabulation, or the Re-Education of Undine. She is a visiting lecturer at her alma mater, the Yale School of Drama, and is the recipient of an Obie Award for Playwriting, a New York Drama Critics’ Circle Award, an Outer Critic Circle Award, and Audelco Awards. Honoree Luis Valdez is the founder and artistic director of the groundbreaking and internationally renowned El Teatro Campesino, which prompted a national Chicano theater movement. A Presidential Medal for the Arts recipient, Valdez is perhaps best-known for the film La Bamba. He also wrote and directed Broadway’s Zoot Suit. A soiree to honor the participating playwrights will be held at the William J. Clinton Presidential Center in Little Rock on August 16. The following day, in partnership with the Clinton School of Public Service, Nottage and Valdez will discuss the instrumental role the arts can play in motivating social change. Free to the community, the discussion will be held at noon at the Clinton School’s Sturgis Hall. “These two playwrights have made significant contributions to the American canon of dramatic literature. It’s an honor to recognize their creative spirit and artistic tenacity,” said Rajendra Maharaj, project director for Voices at the River and artistic director of New York City’s Rebel Theatre Company. Four new works will be developed during the two-week residency, August 6 - 18:Parked, by Vanessa Garcia. Breathe, by Javon Johnson. We Lost it at the Movies (With a Special Appearance by Rock Hudson) by Guillermo Reyes. Almost September, by Ajene D. Washington,. “We are pleased to see so much good work submitted for Voices at the River,” said Robert Hupp, Arkansas Rep’s producing artistic director. “We’ve chosen to develop four plays that illustrate the breadth of contemporary dramatic literature being created across the nation.” A call for submissions in the spring of 2007 sought playwrights interested in refining new works during a two-week rehearsal and reading process with actors and directors. Directors include Erma Duricko, Rajendra Maharaj and Phillip E. Walker. Sybil Roberts and Elaine Romero son los are dramaturgs for the project. Artists and audiences interested in attending Voices at the River can find more information at www.therep.org. Voices at the River is underwritten by the Winthrop Rockefeller Foundation. Additional information about the Winthrop Rockefeller Foundation can be found on its website at www.wrfoundation.org.
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