#Wookiees in the Wilderness

[writemarcus]

REVIEW: A One-Act Jamboree At The Black Theatre Troupe Of Upstate New York

By Jess Hoffman

To close out their season, Black Theatre Troupe of Upstate New York is producing a collection of one-acts, playfully titled One Act Jamboree. The one common thread among these plays is that they showcase, in one way or another, the Black experience. Many of these plays are by emerging local playwrights, and BTTUNY has taken on a commendable challenge producing such an eclectic collection of works.

As with most one-act festivals, the show is a mixed bag. There is no shortage of talent among the cast, crew, and writers; but some of the pieces come together much more successfully than others. As a White person I may not be the most qualified to speak to “the Black experience,” but as a theater and literature expert I am all too familiar with the novice playwright’s desire to take on big ideas when they would have more success diving deeply into something smaller and more familiar that hints at other, larger things at play. Ten or Twenty minutes is not enough time to thoroughly interrogate race relations in modern America; it’s barely enough to thoroughly interrogate a single moment or person. It is therefore unsurprising that the most successful pieces in this show are those that endeavor to encapsulate a brief slice of life (such as one fateful night in a segregated hospital or an awkward encounter between a Black deliveryman and a concerned White man outside a luxury apartment building) or those that take a cheeky sketch-comedy approach to one aspect of life as a Black person (such as the absolutely stellar “Natural Hair Helpline”).

Before the lights even go down, this show starts out strong with some excellent pre-show music courtesy of sound designer Chad Reid. The funky, upbeat pre-show soundtrack seems to promise the audience that they are in for a good time. But when the show opens, it is with the off-putting “No God in the Streets” which is a slam-poetry-adjacent, interpretive-dance-like piece that tries to express too many broad ideas in too short a time–and does so in a way that neither introduces a thought that any member of the audience hasn’t already had nor manages to evoke any emotion that any member of the audience hasn’t already felt. This off-putting beginning is immediately followed by a more cohesive piece about an interracial couple going to their school’s first integrated prom. While this seems like an excellent moment that could shed light on larger issues, the Black teen character Keshawn spends most of that play waxing philosophical and bemoaning his station in life in a way that is unnatural, jejune, and annoying; ultimately this makes him hard to listen to, even when his ideas and feelings make perfect sense. 

From there, we jump into what is more of an extended monologue than a play. But as the exceptionally talented Jocelyn Khoury tells the story of her brother’s premature birth in a segregated hospital, she takes the audience on a journey that evokes heartbreak and sympathy, and successfully touches on how the ripple-effects of segregation are still felt today (without having to lecture the audience about it, as the two previous plays were all too eager to do).

1 / 8

Scene from the One-Act Jamboree produced by the Black Theatre Troupe of Upstate New York in the Lauren and Harold Iselin Studio at Capital Repertory Theatre.

The fourth and fifth plays in the line-up finally bring in the energy that the lively pre-show music seemed to promise. “Nice Day” tells a humorous story about a delivery man struggling to get inside an apartment building to deliver groceries. Thanks to cleverly subverted expectations, a great ending, and very funny prop work with a carrot, “Nice Day” is a stand-out piece in this collection. “Wookies in the Wilderness” follows with what is probably the most compelling story of any of the one-acts, but it ultimately falls into the trap of trying to do too much in too little time. In the course of a two-man, one-act play, “Wookies in the Wilderness” tries to fit in backstory for both of its characters; an examination of emotional toll that a hate crime can have on surviving family and friends; a cultural critique of the way People of Color are represented in Science Fiction; and the overarching plot of one friend discovering another friend’s plan to carry out a revenge murder, grapple with the discovery, and decide whether or not to take part. I would love to see playwright Marcus Scott adapt “Wookies in the Wilderness” into a full length play so that all of his excellent ideas and well-written dialogue may have the time and attention they deserve; but as a one-act it is rushed and shallow.

After intermission, One Act Jamboree continues with a play about two former convicts at a dive bar discussing their place in the world and the unjust circumstances that led to their current lot in life. This play starts off strong with excellent stage presence from all its actors and some entertaining sass from Dawn Harris as Stella. But as Harris struggles with her lines and the other two actors begin monologuing to the audience rather than engaging with one another (despite their excellent chemistry when they do engage with one another) the intensity is lost and the play begins to drag.

One Act Jamboree ends on a high note with Kyora Wallace’s “Natural Hair Helpline,” a fun and energetic play about an employee at a call-in helpline for natural hair and a woman with particularly difficult hair in the midst of a hair emergency. Thanks in part to its script, but also to a talented cast and expert direction by Jean-Remy Monnay, “Natural Hair Helpline” is the strongest piece in this collection. If anyone is on the fence about whether or not to see One Act Jamboree I must recommend they come see the show if only to experience this truly excellent one-act play.

This collection of short playsis far from perfect, but its stand-out moments are well worth the ups and downs in quality that any collection of one-acts is bound to suffer. I was impressed with many of the playwrights showcased, many of the actors involved, and especially with Sheilah London-Miller, who handled the costumes, hair, makeup, sets, and props for the entire production. Anyone interested in Black theater, in local rising talent, or in the art of the one act play is encouraged to see One Act Jamboree and experience all of its high points and its problems for themselves.

Black Theatre Troupe of Upstate New York presents One Act Jamboree, featuring plays by Yetunde Babalola, Cris Eli Blak, Kathryn Grant, Matthew Sheridan, Marcus Scott, and Kyora Wallace; directed by Jean-Remy Monnay, Hettie Barnhill, Tony Pallone, Aaron Moore, and Hasson Harris Wilcher; runs from June 1-11, 2023, at the Rep, 251 North Pearl Street

Albany, NY 12207. Produced by Jean-Remy Monnay. Cast: Shannell West as Fula, Theo Rabii as Aham and Jill, Gabriel Fabian as Keshawn and Smokey, Aaliyah Al-Fuhaid as Martha, Jocelyn Khoury as Rita and Toya, Gregory Theodore Marsh as Black Man and Latrell, Chad Reid as White Man, Susan Katz as Old Woman, Luis Lowery as Bishop, Alvin Kershaw as Clive, Dawn Harris as Stella, Wisdom Johnson as Manager, and Earth O. Phoenix as Gia. Production Stage Manager: Jacqui Anscombe-Waring. Assistant Stage Managers: Q’ubilah Sales and Alexandra Walters. Lighting design by Maya Pomazal-Flanders. Sound design by Chad Reid. Lightboard operator: Willie David Short V. Costumes, hair and makeup, set decorations, and props by Sheilah London-Miller.

Performance dates are Thursday-Sunday, June 6-16. Thursday, Friday, and Saturday curtains are at 7:30pm and Sundays are at 4:00 pm. Tickets are $22.50; senior, military, and veteran tickets are $17.50; student tickets are $12. Runs approximately 2 hours and 15 minutes with a 10-minute intermission. Contains discussions of racism, incarceration, and hate crimes, and a gunshot. Recommended for ages 13+. Tickets are available online at https://attherep.org/, by phone at 518-346-6204, or at the door for any performance. For more information, visit https://www.blacktheatretroupeupstateny.org/, email BTTUNY518@gmail.com, or call 518-833-2621.

[rndyounghowze]

Young Howze Theatre Awards 2023 Nominees

Our Award Show is March 26 at 5PM EST. If you see your name here please email us at rndyounghowze@gmail.com You can support our work by donating on Venmo @rndyounghowze. We are still looking for ASL interpreters! If you know of any service that could help please let us know!

Solo Awards

"All By Myself Award" For Solo Performer Of The Year

Megan Quick in “And Toto Too”

Anabell Ramirez in “Book of Sirens” 

Timothy Mooney in “Man Cave” 

“Flying Solo” For Solo Show Of The Year

“And Toto Too” by Megan Quick 

“Book of Sirens” by Pro English Theatre

“Man Cave” by Timothy Mooney 

 “Good Adoptee” by Suzanne Bachner

"Campfire Award" For Storyteller of The Year

Daniel Kinch in “Story of the Falling Don”

Erika Eileen Wade in “Da Rhythm Da Blues”

Mina Liccione in “Growing Up Ringside”

Mind-Blowing Awards

"Mind-Blowing Stage" For Stage Writing Of The Year

“Monsters of American Cinema” by Christian St. Croix

“La Race” by Bleu Beckford-Burell 

“Sherlock Holmes Valley Of Fear” by Nick Lane

“Lavender Men” by Roger Q Mason

“Whickams Christmas at Pemberley” by Lauren Gunderson and Margot Melcon

"Mind-Blowing Shortie" For Short Form Writing Of The Year 

“Wookiee in The Wilderness” by Marcus Scott

“By The Way” by Lisa Rosetta Strum

“Faulty Lock” by AJ Maryn 

“Waterlillies” by Christine Hillary Lee

"Mind-Blowing Devising" For Devised Production Of The Year 

“From Number to Name”

“Posthumous”

“Afterlife Job Fair”

“Artemisias Intent”

Artists Of The Year

"Extensions" For Movement Artist Of The Year

Mita Ghosal for “Selected Fabrics”

Alicia Diaz for “Puerto Rico y Richmond”

Lena Adele Wolf and Clemence Debaig for “Discordance”

"Action" Award For Film Director Of The Year

Thomas Cote in “Memories of Over Development”

Yannis Sainte-Rose in “Tuff Guy”

Olivier Sagne in “Lovena”

Iida Valme in “Mirage”

"Dress Up" Award For Costume Designer Of The Year

Wendell Carmichael in  “Lavender Men”

X Hill in “Cymbeline Project”

Gail Russell “Wickhams: Christmas At Pemberley” 

"Mix It Up" Award For Sound Designer Of The Year

Adrian Bridges in “Artemesia’s Intent”

Stepy Kamei in “One Bad Day”

Leonie Bell in “Arrow Of Time”

"Maestro Award" For Outstanding Musical Composition

Diana Oh for “The Cymbeline Project” 

Nathan Leigh for “POV: You Are An AI Achieving Consciousness”

Maurice Soque Jr. for “Non Player Character” 

Director Of The Year

Taylor Reynolds in “La Race”

Lisa Scheps and Brian Cheslik in “Last Five Years”

Alex Borovenskiy in “Book Of Sirens” 

Nick Lane “Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hide”

Short Form Director Of The Year

Destiny Whitaker in “All Out Of Spoons”

Zhailon Levingston and Tracy Conyer Lee in “Fire This Time Festival 22”

Cayle Komara in “Waterlillies”

Creative Of The Year 

Christian St. Croix

Scarlett Kim

Roger Q. Mason

BIPOC Hero Award

TBA

“Magician” Award For Press Contact Of The Year

TBA

Shows/Festivals Of The Year

Festival Of The Year

“Fire This Time Festival”

“Frigid Fest”

“Talking It Out Fest”

"You Oughta Be In Pictures" For Film Of The Year

“Memories of Over Development” 

“Undine”

“Lovena”

"Billy Bard" For Digital Shakespeare Production Of The Year

“Rome-Oh No They Didn’t” 

“Romeo and Juliet” by Sister Shakes

“Breakneck Romeo and Juliet”

Show Of The Year

“Lavender Men”

“The Cymbeline Project”

“La Race”

“POV: You Are An AI Achieving Consciousness”

"360" Award For VR Show of The Year

“Queerskins” Ark”

“Anakwad”

“Non Player Character”

“Discordance”

"Free Fall” Award For Immersive Production Of The Year

“Section 230”

“Posthumous”

“POV: You Are An AI Achieving Consciousness”

“Afterlife Job Fair”

"Grace Notes Award" For Musical Production Of The Year

“Non Player Character”

“Lizard Boy”

“The Last Five Years”

"Can You Hear Me Now" For Audio Production Of The Year

“You’ve Reached Justin” By Christian St. Croix

“One Bad Day” By Stepy Kamei 

“Arrow Of Time” By Allyson Dwyer

Performers Of The Year

"More Than Merely Players" Award For Outstanding Dramatic Performer Of The Year

Krissy Lemon in "The Last Five Years"   

Mariah Freda in "Artemesia's Intent" 

Susannah Perkins in "Arrow Of Time"

Ben Holbrook in "Arrow Of Time" 

Blake Kubena in "Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde" 

"Fools These Mortals Be" Award For Outstanding Comedic Performer

Imani Waweru in “Wickhams: Christmas at Pemberley”

Monique "Momo" Holt in “The Cymbeline Project”

Cristofer Jean in “The Cymbeline Project”

Stacey Sargeant in “La Race”

Melanie Leon in “Afterlife Job Fair”

"Capture" Award For VR Performer Of The Year

Debbie Deer in “VR Christmas Carol” 

Brendan Bradley in “Non-Player Character”

Lena Adele Wolf in “Discordance” 

[itsharikrishna]

Ahsoka Season 1 Episode 1 Review: Master and Apprentice Unveiling the Force in a New Light

Dive into Ahsoka Season 1 Episode 1 Review Hey there, fellow Star Wars enthusiasts! Buckle up as we dive into the cosmic world of “Ahsoka,” the new series that’s making waves faster than a starship in hyperdrive. Now, I’m no Jedi, but I’ve got the scoop on this show that’s got everyone talking. From lightsabers to intergalactic adventures, we’re in for a ride that’s wilder than a Wookiee’s…

[mortallyclearwonderland]

Sentient species that are food in Star Wars

In the galaxy far far away food is like in most sci fi properties:

- some colorful fruits and vegetables

- soups and blobs with unrecognizable ingredients, sometimes disgusting and played for laughs

- regular food, like bread or milk

- regular food/dish but written/pronounced in a different way etc. (sandwich called sliders)

- regular food/dish but made of different ingredients/from a different animal, like bantha butter etc.

What's most unique about star wars is that it addresses that different species might mistake/see other species as a potential lunch.

Unlike our definition of cannibalism, which is also mentioned in star wars, one would be considered a cannibal not only for eating someone of their own kind, but also other sentient being.

You are not a cannibal because you ate a steak from a cow, despite what some vegetarians might say.

But what if someday we meet an alien species that looks like cows ? Obviously we wouldn't eat them, but if they saw themselves in creatures that we eat that would make future interactions awkward for both of us.

Now I'm going to list every instance of cannibalism (both types) in star wars that I know of. Also I'll try to guess which species eats others the most and which gets eaten the most. Feel free to add more if I missed any.

1. Bossk had cannibalistic tendencies. He ate his siblings before they hatched and later his father when he defeated him. He also likes to eat Zanibar and Wookiees. It's not really clear whether it's a norm for his kind or just Bossk being a ruthless killer. It's well established in legends and cannon that Trandoshans hunt sentient being for trophies, not so much for food. They also have a costume of eating their shed skin after a long post. Trandoshan liver is also apparently a delicacy for some people. Unless it's just a sick joke.

Those lizard are very versatile, they eat others, each other, themselves and can be eaten.

2. Previously mentioned Zanibar, their religion demanded frequent sacrifice of sentients. It was believed that the rituals involved a feast of their enemies' bodies to give their life forces as a sacrifice to their gods. Maybe it's better for everybody that they are one of Bossk's favorite miles.

3. Certain Hutts were known to eat their enemies. They are also fond of a drink made off Rodians. Maybe that's why Jabba got so many Rodian bounty hunters, if they died or failed him, he could just eat them.

4. Humans aren't much better. Dezono Qua who lived during the rise of the Galactic Empire, was a known cannibal; he purchased slaves at market and had his droid cook them. Resa Greenbark, a Nosaurian, was one of the unfortunate slaves bought for food. "She was something…special."- Dezono Qua

Certain Human cannibals were known to roam throughout the cities and wilderness of the planet Tatooine. Where else, am I right ?

5. The insectoid Colicoids were known cannibals, eating off-worlders who landed on their homeworld and sometimes capturing vessels which passed too close.

6. The Rakatan individual known as The One forced many species to revert to this practice.

7. Karkarodon are known for ripping apart their enemies with their teeth. They can also go on a feeding frenzy on sentient beings when hungry or in rage. Riff Tamson munched on Mon Calamari, Gungans, Quareen and Clone Troopers aka Mandalorians aka Humans.

8. Ewoks considered humanoid flesh a delicacy, they prepare fires in anticipation of eating Han, Luke and Chewbacca to absorb their power. They were about to eat some Stormtroopers/Humans but Leia and Han stopped them and gave them ration sticks instead. At least one member of the species wanted to eat a Nautolan and a Rodian.

9. Chewbacca, a Wookiee, was fed Han Solo, a human. Of course he didn't eat Han, but how long was he there and what was he eating till their meeting.

10. The reptilian Marits were traditionally cannibals, as well, though the Marits' only ate those who had already died, and did so as a means of disposing of the bodies in a way they deemed beneficial to the living.

I would say that Trandoshans and Hutts are the ones that eat other species the most. Going by how common both species are, how much Hutts eat and Trandoshans hunt.

The ones getting eaten the most are Humans and Rodians, because they are one of the most common species, are rather easy to kill and come up multiple times in my research.

[secret-engima]

Snippet of Storm-Touched

(oh look, here I am with yet another WIP. This was inspired/descended of the HCs that ran away with me from a prompt called Star Wars dumb thought by @bunny-loverxiv​. Anywho, I made a comment about Obi-Sith fitting the prompt at which point @north-peach​ dropped in with muse fuel and the rest spiraled into out of control history. Thus- this in progress fic, which is no longer Obi-Sith but still severely AU in which I take thirteen year old Obi-Wan, have him run away from the Order because he hates the thought of Agricorps that much, and yeet him headfirst into rewriting destiny via the Force, Mandalorians, and Obi-Wan Luck. Also he has what is basically a Force Fae/Kitsune/Entity for a teacher. Because Why Not™. Tagging @wolfsrainrules​ and @ravensilversea​ because this was partly the fault of Wolf’s wife and ravensilversea was interested in the HC version of this when I was doing that.)

     The claw-tipped fingers stopped just short of his clothes and she considered him with a heavy gaze. She dropped her hands with a huff, “Well. I suppose. You are strong in the Force, you just have no idea what to do with that connection do you?” She refolded her lower arms into her drooping sleeves, “Minor precognition?”

     Obi-Wan swallowed hard, nodded, “Yes. The … the instructors reminded me often to keep my mind of the present rather than letting it wander to the changing future.” Her face twisted briefly and now he was certain her eyes could change color, going from soft blue to blazing molten gold as the Force around them shivered with her anger before her expression settled and it was gone, “Yes,” she growled softly, “that sounds like them.” She shook her head, circled him with small, rapid steps, came to a stop in front of him again and nodded shortly, “Alright. I will teach you.”

     Obi-Wan’s heart jumped at the long-desired words, then dropped with dread —he didn’t even know this woman’s name—. She wasn’t finished speaking either. With a click of her tongue, she held up two fingers, “Two years. I will train you for two years, everything I know and everything you are capable of learning. But,” she added before Obi-Wan could say yes or no, “there will be a test. By the end of those two years, you must be able to tell me my true name. Will that be acceptable?”

     Obi-Wan looked over at Stars, the Wookiee dithered for a moment before rumbling, “The choice is yours, Little Soot. If you are afraid, we can leave and I will find you another teacher. But … she is the best. You will learn more from her in two years than you will learn from anyone else in a lifetime.”

     Obi-Wan wavered, glanced from the ship to the strange, alien planet around them and the nameless stranger he didn’t even know —who planned to test him by speaking her name when that didn’t relate to Force training at all as far as Obi-Wan could see—. Fear said to leave. Fear said to turn away and look for another teacher. Curiosity said to stay, learn and test himself against this woman Stars had chosen first and foremost from whatever list of potential teachers she had.

     Hope already clutched the woman’s words close —that he had potential, that she would teach him even when she didn’t yet know his name either— and thought of potential. Of new beginnings and strength and the ability to be free, finally free of the shadow of failure and disappointment and heartbreak that had followed him since fleeing Bandomeer.

     The Force whispered in the shell of his ear, for once so clear he could almost hear it in words. A flash of precognition stronger than anything he’d ever had outside of nightmares and meditation sessions in the temple as a small child. He blinked and saw himself, strong and calm, an adult that didn’t cower from anyone, didn’t hunch his shoulders in shame but instead danced through battle like the wind was his wings. He inhaled and tasted contentment so deep it felt like sunshine inside his bones. He listened, and in the space between times and spaces and lives he heard-.

     “My name is Obi-Wan, and I am not afraid of you.”

     He exhaled and the world settled back into place. Blue eyes watched him in triumph, like she already knew his answer before he bowed low and said, “I would be honored to learn from you, for however long you see fit, Master.”

     In the corner of his eye, Stars slumped just a bit —from disappointment or relief he couldn’t tell—. The woman who was now his teacher smiled, all fangs and satisfaction and danger, “Good. You may call me Noht-Ty, small one, not ‘master’ or any other nonsense title. I will be interested to see how far you can progress in two years.”

     Obi-Wan was never sure, afterward, what happened next. He thought that Noht-Ty must have insisted Stars leave, just as Stars had feared, because he remembered being hauled off his feet by a tight Wookiee hug and hearing her promise to come back, two years to the day, but everything other than that hug was … vague. Distant and blurred in his memory until the ship was gone and Obi-Wan had been left on a planet with no name and a woman who was to be his teacher.

     It was night when his senses —memory— came back to him. Huddled in his sleeping bag, staring up at the sky and the twin moons shining down from it. Noht-Ty sensed his returned attention from where she sat meditating, heedless of the cold air and the strange animal calls —Obi-Wan had never slept in a wilderness before, had only ever been to Coruscant and port towns and populated places—, “Small one.”

     “Yes, m- Noht-Ty?”

     She opened her eyes again and under the light of the twin moons he could see their gold sheen, intense and unreadable, “Since I am to be your teacher, will you give me your name, small one?”

     Obi-Wan did not think on the odd phrasing of that request at the time, riding too high on adrenaline as he was.

     Years later, Obi-Wan never did give his name away when asked by others, no matter who they were.

     He only had to learn that lesson once.

     But that was a lesson not yet learned, and so he guilelessly opened his mouth and answered, “My name is Obi-Wan Kenobi.”

     Fangs gleamed white under the light of the moons as something in the Force jolted all around him, paralyzed him in place and ripped something clear of his very self in a way that he hadn’t known could be touched or taken. “Obi-Wan Kenobi,” she hummed, and somehow his name from her lips felt like someone taking possession of a new and rare prize rather than a greeting, “Interesting.”

     Obi-Wan sat up sharply, breathing ragged from the feeling, “W-what- what did you just do?”

     “I took what you gave to me,” she hummed easily, “if you did not want to give it away, you should have said so. But that is a moot point, I take the names of all my students. Should you pass my test at the end of two years and return to me my name, then I shall give you yours.”

     Obi-Wan gaped, closed his mouth, choked out, “Noht-Ty isn’t your name?”

     An officious tail-twitch, “No. I said that you may call me Noht-Ty, I never said it was my actual name. My name was lost to me long ago, and you will find it for me and give it back.”

     Suddenly very cold and hyper aware that he was alone with this stranger, Obi-Wan whispered, “What happens if I can’t find it for you?”

     Gold eyes watched him with something akin to amusement, “Then I keep your name, and the life that is tied to it.”

     Obi-Wan scrambled out of his sleeping bag altogether, stood braced to run even though there was nowhere to run to, “You’re going to kill me?”

     A calm ear flick, “Only if you fail. Was that not obvious when I first told you my terms?”

     “No! No, it wasn’t!”

     Her gaze cooled, “If you did not know my price, why did you agree to pay it?” Obi-Wan stood speechless and Noht-Ty shook her head, “Lesson one, Obi-Wan Kenobi, there is always a price. Every choice, every action, no matter how outwardly small or large, comes with a price. That price might be time, or energy, it might be as small as a good night’s sleep. Or it might be as heavy as your life, the life of a family, a city, a planet, a star-system.”

     She raised her gaze again and soft blue looked at him with something like pity in her eyes, “Always make sure that the price for your actions is something you are willing to pay before you make your choice.”

[kakashibestie]

i’m watching esb and i LOVE han and leia but also i really want an au where “i’d just as soon kiss a wookiee” is leia very obtusely hinting to han that she has a crush on chewie

but also “i can arrange that” ???? han??????? that’s ur sentient married (though... the canon is very unclear on that front) friend, stop volunteering to kiss people without him having a say in it

like in legends han is in charge of a new republic task force (which he hates being in charge of) and he’s tracking down an imperial warlord guy and he catches the imperial warlord guy who, being an imperial warlord guy, is super space racist so han, to make him mad, is like “kiss my wookiee!” and. han. buddy. chewie is his own person. he chooses who he kisses. (chewie was there for this and i guess he’s just. used to it.)

i’m pretty sure (but not entirely sure) han says the “kiss my wookiee” thing twice to the same warlord, once in the book where leia gets a hot new boyfriend while she’s still dating han and han gets really jealous of said hot boyfriend who owns 63 planets so he goes out and wins a planet in a card game. the other time is in a book set just before that one and is the time i’m not sure actually happens

the more i hear about legends the wilder the Plotlines get and now im genuinely intrigued by the fact that there’s a book where leia gets a hot new boyfriend WHAT in the universe could get her to do that

[gffa]

If I say it every week, it’s still true every week: I am very much in utter love with STAR WARS fandom, it’s still filled with such talented and kind authors, there are still so many wonderful stories to read, and there are still some absolutely stellar stories being told here! There is so much to love in the movies and shows, but there’s always something special about a fandom who also really works with that and creates something magical–and that is exactly what SW fandom does every week! 

✦ Coda by lilyconrad, obi-wan/anakin & padme/sabe & cast, nsfw, modern au, ballet au, 65.3k   Anakin is an up-and-coming first soloist for the New York City Ballet Company, a brash, confident dancer with a smoldering sensuality to his technique and an electric smile that makes fangirl toes curl and quite possibly his choreographer’s. ✦ The Apprenticeship by Nny11, ahsoka & yoda & anakin & cast, 31.4k wip   The doors only open when a Master opens them for their Padawan, a subtle reminder to them that a student needs a teacher’s guidance and that teachers must let them go. The force thinks it’s rather funny when it alters history by forcing Master Yoda to take on a very young Ahsoka Tano as his Padawan. ✦ Cataclasm by dendral, obi-wan & anakin & ahsoka & waxer & cast, 35.3k wip   For reasons unknown to all but himself, Obi-Wan Kenobi has left the Jedi Order in the midst of the Clone Wars, taking with him a single clone. ✦ untitled by fireflyfish, obi-wan/anakin/padme & luke & leia, 3k   Padme Amidala, Senator from the Chommel Sector, former Queen of Naboo and wife of retired Jedi General and Knight Anakin Skywalker looked up from where her son Luke was making snow angels to see her daughter, Leia, levitate a three foot in diameter ball of snow over her head. ✦ everything will glow for you by waterandsilver, obi-wan/anakin, NSFW, 2.4k   Sometimes when Anakin kisses, Obi-Wan has half a mind to remind him that he’s not in battle anymore. ✦ One of These Days by rogueleader, obi-wan/anakin & rex & cody & cast, 11.4k wip   In the middle of the Battle of Christophsis, Anakin and Obi-Wan’s forces are overwhelmed by the Separatists’ droid army, and their rescue ship is shot down. After crashing in the Christophsian wilderness, the Jedi must get themselves and their troops back to the city before the Separatists can catch up to them. ✦ Somewhere In Time by DonkerRood, obi-wan/anakin, NSFW, time travel, 25k wip   Anakin crashes on Tatooine and to his surprise finds Obi-Wan there. He learns he has travelled in time and ended up in a terrible future. ✦ hey there by retts, obi-wan/anakin, 4.6k   ‘Sick,’ says Anakin, stood in the doorway of Obi-Wan’s room aboard their ship. ‘You’re sick.’ ✦ Put That Thing Back Where It Came From by FireflyFish, obi-wan/anakin & cast, 1.6k wip   Anakin picked up something he really shouldn’t have and now he and Obi-Wan are on “medical leave”. ✦ Sun Kissed by Vee017, obi-wan/anakin & cast, nsfw, past sexual assault issues, 84.8k wip   Being on a world that supports slavery is one thing. Buying a slave and bringing him into Republic space is entirely another. ✦ untitled by darthcuddles, obi-wan/anakin, modern au, ~1k   There is something intoxicating about this place, and it’s not the whiskey or the music or the lights. It’s him. ✦ The Creche Master by avarand, obi-wan/anakin & cast, NSFW, 14.8k   Anakin is found at fourteen and trains at the Temple for a non-Jedi role. Surprising no one, he decides to be Creche Master. And there’s a certain Knight who hangs around but that can’t happen. Can it? ✦ The Nature of Fire by Phosphorescent, anakin/padme & cast, 6.2k wip   “One Jedi, then,” Padmé offered to the others. At least let me speak the truth to my love. At least. Please, she pleaded with them silently. “There is one Jedi—one whom I truly know all of us can trust absolutely …” Her voice trailed off into appalled silence when she realized that she wasn’t talking about Anakin. ✦ Lightly, Lightly by DraloreShimare, obi-wan & anakin & ahsoka, ~1k   Anakin may not be a Padawan anymore, but he could still use a lesson or two. full details + recs under the cut!

✦ Coda by lilyconrad, obi-wan/anakin & padme/sabe & cast, nsfw, modern au, ballet au, 65.3k   Anakin is an up-and-coming first soloist for the New York City Ballet Company, a brash, confident dancer with a smoldering sensuality to his technique and an electric smile that makes fangirl toes curl and quite possibly his choreographer’s.   Chapter 14: This is a rec that will be balanced between the current chapter and the fic as a whole, as it’s the final chapter! There will be some mild spoilers, but nothing you couldn’t figure out on your own, imo. So often when I read a modern AU, it can be difficult to capture the sense of engagement and charisma, the addicting drama necessary to keep me interested while still not feeling too forced, that instead it has a natural flow to the plot and the pacing. But this fic does that beautifully–where it ends up is exactly where it felt like it was going since the very first chapter, that the author had a plan and maybe it expanded or swerved a few times, but that the base foundation of the story was always headed exactly right here. And that made the experience of reading this fic all the more satisfying, so that when terrible things happened, I could enjoy the emotional impact of them, but I had absolute trust that I knew what I was getting when I walked into this story–and that never makes it boring, it’s the journey there just as much as it is the destination. And that means an AU where Obi-Wan and Anakin are in a modern setting, but the spirit of them is mapped onto this universe so well, that Anakin’s issues are that he falls in love so fast and sohard, that he explodes when he doesn’t know what to do, that he gives everything of himself. That Obi-Wan is reserved, but still waters that run deep, that he loves so genuinely and struggles to do what’s best for Anakin, precisely because he cares for him so much.   But it’s also the setting of the piece, which is the world of ballet dancers and choreographers, that is so lovely and there’s such a satisfying dance in the final chapter, that it’s all happy emotion and passion, that these two people have spent almost a novel’s worth of time working through their relationship’s ups and downs, to end on this note that’s perfect for them. That the resolution of it is exactly in the spirit of the original canon, their choices are ones that I felt their characters would make, ported over to this modern version of themselves. It’s not that the fic is without angst, because there is, even in the final chapter, a lot of difficult situations to work through, but ones that are natural to the characters, ones they would struggle with, that these choices and complications they’re faced with are ones they would have to navigate with some trouble, rather than feeling like they were just thrown in for the sake of drama. I believe that Ben would struggle with leaving without Anakin, because he felt it would ruin what Anakin had. I believe that Anakin would give up everything he worked so hard for, for love. I believe that they would struggle to not be together, to balance their careers versus their private relationship. But it’s never too much, it never had me rolling my eyes and telling them to get over themselves, because either it was reasonable or else it was entirely in character and I love them for being themselves.   It’s a softer fic, it’s a modern AU fic, but there’s a kind of magic this story had, one that was so easy to get swept up in, to become invested in, right along with the characters. It’s sweet and almost domestic, but it was charming as hell, genuinely so, and there was such obvious love and affection and sharpness written into these characters, it’s such a great pull between these two characters that they couldn’t stay away from each other, that you can feel the sheer amount of affection the author has for them and their relationship. And it was an entirely satisfying experience to read this fic, to read this final chapter, where everything works out exactly as it was always going to work out, the most fitting ending I could ask for! ✦ The Apprenticeship by Nny11, ahsoka & yoda & anakin & cast, 31.4k wip   The doors only open when a Master opens them for their Padawan, a subtle reminder to them that a student needs a teacher’s guidance and that teachers must let them go. The force thinks it’s rather funny when it alters history by forcing Master Yoda to take on a very young Ahsoka Tano as his Padawan.   I do have the caveat ahead of time that this fic is more about summarizing events than showing direct action or dialogue (though, it’s very much interspersed with these things!) and that it’s not always clear about the timeline and that Ahsoka is far, far younger than canon here, which did distract me a few times, but I mention them because setting myself in the right frame of mind got me such a lovely fic here. It’s got all this really interesting and engaging bits of worldbuilding woven into pretty much everything here, every scene has details to fill out the world, every scene has character moments for Ahsoka or the Jedi or Yoda, how she struggles with her life there, but also she loves it, that there’s so much good there, that she’s a Togruta and has certain instincts that she uses in an absolutely adorable and perfect way with the other Jedi younglings, that her relationship with Yoda isn’t always perfect but there’s such deep care there and they clearly mean the galaxy to each other, that her friendship with Anakin is important as well, sometimes rocky and he doesn’t always understand the life she’s chosen, he’s volatile at times, but you can see why she cares deeply about him.   I think where the fic really won me over, as much as I appreciate the deeper stuff about Jedi workings, were the smaller moments, like when Ahsoka tussled with a Wookiee in the Temple and briefly got hurt and there was just so much care and helping them both to refocus their energies and it all worked out that I knew I was in love. But I also appreciated that her argument with Anakin showed that he didn’t really ever understand what people got out of being a Jedi, that I could see he meant well and I loved him very much, but Ahsoka’s frustration and hurt at the way he yelled was spot on. Or the way her horns itched and she went to ask Shaak Ti for help. Or the way Ahsoka struggled with the more boring parts of her duty or what she wanted to do with her life and what the Force was telling her, versus her vows and her duty. And that Yoda obviously cared very much about her and was listening to her! The structure is more tell (instead of show) than I usually read, but the sheer amount of thought and detail and care and clever little bits of worldbuilding the story was absolutely packed with and the spot-on characterization of Ahsoka and Yoda especially, but also Obi-Wan in the background, made this one of those fics that I eagerly read my entire way through in like a day and a half because it was just so incredibly solid in everything it was working to achieve! It’s such a great and engaging and sparkling read! ✦ Cataclasm by dendral, obi-wan & anakin & ahsoka & waxer & cast, 35.3k wip   For reasons unknown to all but himself, Obi-Wan Kenobi has left the Jedi Order in the midst of the Clone Wars, taking with him a single clone.   Chapter 8: This is an update rec and will focus on this chapter, rather than the fic as a whole. This chapter was a really fantastic read for Anakin’s character and the position he’s starting to understand that he’s in and that the people around him are in, that it’s a really lovely look at the anger issues he has and how much he’s trying to be better, that Obi-Wan’s having left forces a shift and a scramble that has things happening that might not have otherwise–including a really stellar conversation between Mace and Anakin that’s so good at the delicate line it needs to walk, to not be preachy but instead feel like these characters would have this discussion, to not throw anyone to the wolves narratively, but instead be entirely good-spirited about bringing people together. Like, that makes this fic so much more enjoyable and so much stronger as a story! But also it’s just really, really solidly good and, oh, Mace’s quiet explanation, the sheer exhaustion and tension that I felt running through that scene, was gorgeously done. It’s so spot on about the pressures and difficulties they all face that I just wanted to roll over and clutch my reader to my chest for awhile after reading it.   But the other half of this chapter that was so goddamned satisfying was Bant being unable to keep up with everything Obi-Wan had done and how that plays out with Anakin and the other Jedi and the fic doing this really deft, delicate dance to show the horrible position the war had put them all in, the sheer amount of amazing that is Obi-Wan Kenobi, and the sadness and anger from Anakin when he realizes just how much he never really realized. How much he’s been protected from, how much Obi-Wan didn’t want to speak of, how much there is that Anakin just never knew. And how much visions can really fucking suck in both some really neat world-building and theorizing about the Jedi and their connection to the Force and how they deal with it, but also tying it into the greater plot.   It’s also another chapter that does a fantastic job of how Obi-Wan and Anakin aren’t in the same scene at the same time, but that connection is so important, Anakin’s deep well of feelings about Obi-Wan, the anger and hurt this has stirred up, do my fannish heart good because of just what that says about how they care about each other. The way Anakin tries to understand what he’s doing, why he did it, and his sheer bullheaded determination to bring Obi-Wan back because he wants him back, like, oh, Anakin, but also I’m eating this up like you wouldn’t believe. It has such thought going into it and such a delicate touch with bringing so many things to light (like Obi-Wan being overworked and how that may change how Anakin sees things later, may change his view of certain people, how he’s seeing so much more of the Jedi’s exhaustion when they’re forced into this position with him, how his own anger issues are coming up to the surface and being looked at, rather than Anakin shoving them down, him learning that everyone is complicated, not just his own feelings! in a way that makes me love Anakin SO MUCH!) and all of this is wrapped up in so much good world-building and care for the characters and the galaxy and really lovely, fantastic writing. I love everyone in this bar, okay. ✦ untitled by fireflyfish, obi-wan/anakin/padme & luke & leia, 3k   Padme Amidala, Senator from the Chommel Sector, former Queen of Naboo and wife of retired Jedi General and Knight Anakin Skywalker looked up from where her son Luke was making snow angels to see her daughter, Leia, levitate a three foot in diameter ball of snow over her head.   THIS IS PURE JOY. It’s a happy universe where Anakin and Padme are getting into a snowball fight with their children and the three of them gang up on Padme, who is having the most warm-hearted, wonderful time and prepares to make her final stand, when some help arrives and of course Obi-Wan turns the tide and there are shifting alliances and everything absolutely sparkles and is adorable. It’s one of those fics that could have so easily gone into sappy territory, but it keeps a certain sharpness and charisma, there’s something that’s just the right amount of fluff combined with how I could see this as the happy version of these characters. I read it for the soul-soothing quality of it, but came away having enjoyed that it was really good and genuinely funny and sharp in amongst the softness! It’s a wonderful look at all these characters and THIS IS WHAT WE ALL DESERVED, this was so, so good. ✦ everything will glow for you by waterandsilver, obi-wan/anakin, NSFW, 2.4k   Sometimes when Anakin kisses, Obi-Wan has half a mind to remind him that he’s not in battle anymore.   Oh, this was a really lovely, really satisfying fic! It’s a fic about the attraction between these two, the way they can’t help but be drawn to each other, the way Obi-Wan watches Anakin, the way he admires him and the way he interacts with Anakin, the way Anakin is an amazing brat, the way he teases and needles, wanting a reaction, until Obi-Wan gives him one, his desire to put Anakin back in his place, in a loving but firm way, to fuck him into a compliant mess. And of course Anakin responds to that, something in him thrives on that, the way Obi-Wan pushes him back, teases him with his liips and tongue before opening Anakin up with his fingers and being patient enough to make Anakin whine and plead for it. There’s some light banter, some light d/s that they both really find satisfying, Obi-Wan enjoys taking Anakin apart this way, Anakin enjoys the attention and quiet that comes afterwards, and, oh, Obi-Wan teasing him with his fingers inside Anakin, making him say it, offering him the chance to back away, but Anakin is greedy for more of his Master, wants Obi-Wan to fuck him, is full of joy and so many other good things when Obi-Wan is finally in him, and it’s just this really fun piece, where they banter and enjoy this, where it’s lovely and satisfying sex, where it was a great read just when I needed it. ✦ One of These Days by rogueleader, obi-wan/anakin & rex & cody & cast, 11.4k wip   In the middle of the Battle of Christophsis, Anakin and Obi-Wan’s forces are overwhelmed by the Separatists’ droid army, and their rescue ship is shot down. After crashing in the Christophsian wilderness, the Jedi must get themselves and their troops back to the city before the Separatists can catch up to them.   There are only three chapters of this fic at the time of this rec, so not much has really gotten underway yet, but it’s paced well for what will hopefully be a fairly long story and it’s a fic where it’s not about Stuff Happening (at least not yet!) but that instead what I got out of it was some fun Anakin whump and some really delightful banter! Their ship crashes on Christophsis, they’re stranded about ten days away from the nearest city, and there’s a very long hike and a whole lot of fairly unknown terrain ahead of them. There’s a really nice sharpness to the writing and the characters here, it’s smooth and sails along really well, the dialogue is funny or intriguing, the way Obi-Wan and Anakin work together feels true to their dynamic, and I’m really enjoying the descriptions of the landscape, the use of their supplies, etc. It feels like a fleshed out fic, like an especially UST-laden professional novel that I could be reading! But also it has some genuinely funny moments, when they wake up on their first morning after the crash, there’s a scene with Anakin being Anakin that had me unable to stop smiling and softly giggling because it was just so charmingly funny and I’m enjoying whatever’s going on with Anakin and the way Obi-Wan is concerned about him, but also trying to respect his wishes, that there’s such weight to both characters here, they both have a strong presence, and I’m very much looking forward to the next chapter. ✦ Somewhere In Time by DonkerRood, obi-wan/anakin, NSFW, time travel, 25k wip   Anakin crashes on Tatooine and to his surprise finds Obi-Wan there. He learns he has travelled in time and ended up in a terrible future.   I picked up this fic recently and promptly got sucked into it and read it in such a flurry that now I’m not even sure where to start with this rec! It’s one of those fics that’s set against the backdrop of a bigger plot, but is ultimately a more intimate drama sort of piece, that the focus is on the feelings between these characters, as Anakin winds up on Tatooine, meeting Obi-Wan who is just a few months post-ROTS, and Anakin working to accept what’s happened, his feelings for Obi-Wan, and how to get back/fix all of this. It’s a story that uses all these fun elements as a catalyst to bring these two together and work on their relationship, to give them the space they both need to touch those feelings and let them come forward, for Anakin to accept what he’s capable of (knowing Darth Vader exists and is out there and what he did), for them both to work on understanding why this happened, since neither of them are sure. There are some lovely moments of Anakin/Padme as well (though, this is defintely more of an Obikin fic so far), it’s 25k of just pure feelings exploration of Obi-Wan getting Anakin back, even though he can’t keep him, of both of them finding a hope that they never thought possible again.   And, like, I’m always going to be here for that kind of thing, I’m going to be here for Anakin tripping over himself and Obi-Wan having to be the adult, Obi-Wan really seeing the cracked foundations of Anakin and realizing he needs more help than Obi-Wan thought, I’m always here for the characters getting the room to process this, when they had none of that in the canon, that they were all too crowded out by the war and Palpatine’s manipulations. I’m always going to be here for fic that takes about 20k of talking and arguing and taking an uneven, bumpy path towards fixing things, I’m always going to be here for the absolute embracing of just reveling in all these feelings, that it takes this amount of time to make sure that Obi-Wan’s not hurting Anakin with any of this, because he would never, not if he had a choice about it.   This is a fic for when you want some fun time travel setting that’s really about a cathartic working through of issues, that there’s a charm to the story that pulled me in, and hooked me, the kind of emotional drama that I just absolutely eat up! Plus, chapter 10 had some lovely sex, that they couldn’t do more than mutual blowjobs (which were very nice!) because there was no lube, but, oh, Obi-Wan wanted to just wrap Anakin’s legs around him and lift him up and fuck into him, but he’s still the Adult In The Room, even as Anakin pleads and whines for more, just so out of his mind with want that he doesn’t care, not really realizing what it would do to him. And I’m always here for that, too, I’m always here for Anakin being reduced to a total mess because he can just let everything go and out that way, he gets the attention he so desires and Obi-Wan gets to look after him, as he desires as well. To have Anakin filled up with something better than his usual storm of emotions is what I’m here for and they were so close, though, the blowjobs were lovely and so was Anakin cuddling up against Obi-Wan, who wrapped his arms around this person he loves so much, which I’m always going to be a sucker for. Give me emotional catharcis, Obi-Wan fucking the noise out of Anakin’s head, and cuddling, that’s everything I’m here for. ✦ hey there by retts, obi-wan/anakin, 4.6k   'Sick,’ says Anakin, stood in the doorway of Obi-Wan’s room aboard their ship. 'You’re sick.’   I’m a sucker for sick fic, too! And this one had some really fun, sharp banter between the characters, that Obi-Wan is a good balance of recognizing that he’s sick but still pushing through it, while Anakin hovers over him and tries to mother hen him, all wrapped up in their usual back-and-forth dynamic. I love how much deep care there was here from both characters, that there was such attraction and want from both of them, even as it was reasonable that they never quite acted on it here. It was a good balance of sweet (which is what I read sick fic for in the first place!) with something heavier, more weighty, that can’t be resolved here, but is gently touched on, so you know it’s there. But, really, it’s fun banter that’s sharp, hilarious, and shows how much these two care about each other, how it comes from both of them, that even when sick, Obi-Wan is still sharp and has a comment, that even when worried and kind of emotionally messy, Anakin definitely learned that from his Master. It was just really, really enjoyable to read! ✦ Put That Thing Back Where It Came From by FireflyFish, obi-wan/anakin & cast, 1.6k wip   Anakin picked up something he really shouldn’t have and now he and Obi-Wan are on “medical leave”.   I’ve read this first chapter over more than once and I laugh like wild every time, it’s so beautifully hilarious and has such a great sense of comedic timing and pulls off the crack-treated-semi-seriously element of it. I wanted “cursed to physically touch, only way to get out of it is ~resolution” fic for ages and now Fishy has granted us that! And it’s SO FUNNY, the kind of giggling where my face hurt afterwards! Every scene is beautifully done, from getting the news about how to break the curse to the other Jedi maybe kind of finding this hilarious to Obi-Wan and Anakin not entirely sure how to deal with each other and having to hold hands the entire time and every time, EVERY TIME the scene gets to Anakin’s friend being a little shit, to Obi-Wan’s genuinely scary threat, to Anakin’s irritated as hell reaction, I lose it all over again. It’s a really great use of little bits of world-building and just really, really funny lines and a great use of the premise, I LOVE THIS ONE SO MUCH. ✦ Sun Kissed by Vee017, obi-wan/anakin & cast, nsfw, past sexual assault issues, 84.8k wip   Being on a world that supports slavery is one thing. Buying a slave and bringing him into Republic space is entirely another.   Chapter 29: This is an update rec and will focus on this chapter, rather than the fic as a whole. It’s been awhile since this fic updated, but I had no trouble slipping right back into it and picking it up again! And I think what I liked best about this chapter, after everything that’s happened and the characters are having chances to react, is that Anakin’s reaction to Mace’s apology can be both justified and fairly unkind at the same time, that it was a messy and difficult situation they were in, so the aftermath is messy and difficult as well, that I came away feeling for both characters here. Which always makes a story stronger, when no character is perfect, but you can genuinely understand where both sides are coming from, that neither of them is just a strawman! (And I could read that the Jedi were going to work harder to petition the Senate, who were the ones that could actually say what they could or couldn’t do about bad things in the galaxy, since the Jedi didn’t have that legal authority themselves!) But also the chapter left me with such excitment, that there’s new stuff afoot and likely soon to be an Obi-Wan/Anakin reunion and possibly some stuff with Shmi and now the worst should be mostly over (assuming there’s not new terrible things) and there really is a warmth to this fic that I greatly enjoy and I was so delighted to see more of this one. ✦ untitled by darthcuddles, obi-wan/anakin, modern au, ~1k   There is something intoxicating about this place, and it’s not the whiskey or the music or the lights. It’s him.   Oh, man, this one was kind of designed to appeal to my id, I think, where it’s a sex club AU, with Anakin as this discerning, picky dancer there who, of course, takes a liking to Obi-Wan as a client. It’s short, but super fun and has some very lovely imagery (with that brief description of the lace Anakin wears and the lap dance he gives Obi-Wan) and was just a really, really pleasing read for me! ✦ The Creche Master by avarand, obi-wan/anakin & cast, NSFW, 14.8k   Anakin is found at fourteen and trains at the Temple for a non-Jedi role. Surprising no one, he decides to be Creche Master. And there’s a certain Knight who hangs around but that can’t happen. Can it?   This is such a cute, sweet, happy fic! It moves Anakin up about seven years and makes him fairly entirely emotionally stable, so it’s this soft, warm, fuzzy blanket that changes a lot things to make it one of those that was just fun to read. It’s not quite compatible with canon Jedi but it’s mostly good-spirited about everything that I found myself rolling with it pretty easily and the heart of what I was here for, the sheer affection there is in this fic, between the characters and for the pairing, was absolutely wonderful. When fic is kind, it just puts this absolute utter warm glow in me like I can’t even describe! This is one of those you pick up when you want something happy to read, when you want a bit of mutual pining and an Anakin who enjoys taking care of kids and a mildly slow burn Obi-Wan/Anakin pairing where they both work through what they want from life and it’s done with such cheer and softness and kindness to just about everyone (except Sheev, fuck that guy) and joyful embracing of all the fun tropes of such a thing that it just put a smile on my face. It’s also got a lovely bit of sex at the end, a nice capping of resolution to the fic that was just the right length and was just the right amount of satisfying. The pacing was just right, I picked this up and rolled right along with it, the whole way through, I had no trouble reading it one sitting because it sailed along and was just everything I hoped for! ✦ The Nature of Fire by Phosphorescent, anakin/padme & cast, 6.2k wip   “One Jedi, then,” Padmé offered to the others. At least let me speak the truth to my love. At least. Please, she pleaded with them silently. “There is one Jedi—one whom I truly know all of us can trust absolutely …” Her voice trailed off into appalled silence when she realized that she wasn’t talking about Anakin.   Chapter 2: This is an update rec and will focus on this chapter, rather than the fic as a whole! This continues to be a really fascinating, engaging, and well written fic for a Padme who takes a hard look at this relationship with her husband that’s so full of love, but also so full of some very worrisome things. That this entirely about Padme’s role in the story, her thoughts and feelings as everything seems to be crumbling around her, and the sheer amount of herself she’s pouring into trying to make better. Her conversation with Palpatine is simple on the surface of things, but how it feels so exhausting and infuriating is spot on, how her relationship with Anakin feels so tense and upsetting precisely because she cares about him but he’s become so angry and so unwilling to listen, how she’s struggling in this Herculean-feeling task at trying to save the things she cares about. She tries to be gentle in nudging Anakin to see what she’s talking about, the delicate line she has to walk with the other Senators and their distrust of the Jedi, how she has to be careful around Anakin who throws so much support to Palpatine blindly, how there’s something that burns in Padme, a fire that is stoked here, rather than smothered, and it’s so fascinating to read, it’s such a lovely fic for her character! ✦ Lightly, Lightly by DraloreShimare, obi-wan & anakin & ahsoka, ~1k   Anakin may not be a Padawan anymore, but he could still use a lesson or two.   This was a short but utterly delightful piece of the grand tradition of an apprentice roasting their Master whenever they get the chance and that Ahsoka is no different, which eggs Anakin on into taunting Obi-Wan and biting off more than he can chew. What I love about it is that Ahsoka is pure joy, that Obi-Wan is the guy you never want to mess with, and that Anakin is entirely beloved, that just because he’s a bit of a disaster, that doesn’t mean he’s any less talented, that there’s clear love for each and every character here individually to my mind, as there is for the dynamic as a whole. Plus it’s just really cute and I absolutely needed more cute! 

[mst3kproject]

1108: The Loves of Hercules

I kinda miss the shorts and the black and white films in the new series, but I was happy to see a Hercules movie in the lineup! It feels like MST3K getting back to its roots.  This is a particularly awful Hercules movie, too, short on feats of strength and long on romantic melodrama – and never once does Herc bend prison bars or pretend to drink a love potion!  Get with the program, movie.  Along with napping, those are his defining acts!

An encampment of some sort is attacked by the Ecalian army, who proceed to slaughter everybody there including Hercules' wife Megara.  Hercules naturally goes looking to have a few words with the King of Ecalia about this, but when he arrives at the city he learns that the man is already dead.  If he wants vengeance, it will have to be against the king's daughter, Deianira.  Obviously Herc's not gonna take revenge against a girl for something she didn't even do – instead, he immediately falls in love with her, only to learn a few days later that she's already promised to a man named Achillo.

Herc leaves Ecalia in a huff, and after slaying a hydra even cheaper than the dragon in The Magic Sword, he arrives in the land of the Amazons.  Their queen, Hippolyta, drinks a potion that makes her look like Deianira in order to win Hercules' heart.  He is surprisingly okay with this, and fully prepared to stay with her until she gets sick of him and turns him into a tree... but then he learns that the real Deianira is about to be forced to marry her father's killer.

Meanwhile, I'm sitting here going, “Megara?  The redhead who died in the opening scene?  Remember her?  Anybody?”  Apparently not.

When a female character is killed off so that her death can spur a male character to action, this is colloquially known as 'fridging', after the time Alexandra DeWitt was killed and stuffed into a fridge just to piss off her boyfriend, Green Lantern Kyle Rayner.  Among non-hack writers it is generally frowned upon as both sexist (implying that women's lives are important only insofar as they matter to men) and lazy (there are better, less cliché ways to motivate your character).  This movie's treatment of Megara is one of the purest examples I've ever seen.  She is introduced only so that she can be killed, and killed only to make Hercules go to Ecalia, where he promptly forgets all about her when he meets Deianira.  Megara has served her entire purpose in the first couple of minutes, and is never mentioned again.  One wonders why they bothered paying an actress to play the part.  If she's gonna be that irrelevant, why even show her on screen?

This movie claims be be about The Loves of Hercules, but the fact that it forgets about Megara the moment Hercules meets Deianira makes it seem doubtful that he actually loves either of them. If Megara were so dear to him, surely he would grieve for her a while, rather than immediately wanting to run off with her killer's daughter.  And if he didn't love Megara, to whom he had apparently been married for some time, why should we believe he loves Deianira? He barely knows Deianira... it seems like there's a lot more lust going on there than love, especially when he's so willing to accept Deianira's double in Hippolyta.  We get a Hercules who seems to blunder from woman to woman without a lasting attachment to any of them.

This is the biggest problem with The Loves of Hercules, but it's a long way from the only one.  There's also Mickey Hargitay. I've seen Mickey Hargitay in a couple of films before – besides this one, he was the detective in Lady Frankenstein and Anderson in Bloody Pit of Horror (god, I've seen a lot of terrible movies).  I kind of want to say he was better in those, but now that I think about it I'm pretty sure he was dubbed in both so it's actually quite hard to gague his performance. It's better than in the non-MST3K Loves of Hercules I watched, which was a re-dub in which all the characters were stoic and British.  He does a lot of Dull Surprise™ and postures like he's in a silent film.  His 'feats of strength' do not communicate impressive power – he just looks like a guy struggling to balance a prop tree.

Nor does it help that in comparison with Steve Reeves and Alan Steele, he makes for a relatively skinny and baby-faced Hercules.  Hargitay was 1955's Mr. Universe, and he's certainly in admirable shape, but he's just not up to 'demigod' levels.  He looks like the Hercules Ryan Gosling would have grown up into.  Apparently Hargitay got the role because the studio wanted Jayne Mansfield, and she would only agree to be in the movie if Hargitay, her husband, played Hercules.

Then there's the monsters.  Amusingly crummy monsters are stock-in-trade for a Hercules movie, usually realized by people in ridiculous costumes.  The Loves of Hercules is rather ambitious here.  Rather than giving us a distinctly un-threatening lion or a guy in a lizard-man suit who clearly can't see anything, we get a full-scale three-headed dragon standing in for the Lernaean Hydra!  It is significantly uglier and less mobile than its Russian cousin in The Sword and the Dragon, and looks kind of like one of the animatronics from Disney's Jungle Cruise ride.  It's laugh-out-loud obvious how careful the actors are being not to damage it.

These movies are never very faithful to the source material, so it shouldn't bother me that their 'hydra' bears only the faintest resemblance to its mythological inspiration... but it does.  The hydra is my favourite of Hercules' twelve labors – it's some kind of reptilian monster that Hercules tried to defeat by cutting off its head, only to find that multiple (usually three) heads grew back from each stump.  This makes it an excellent metaphor for a problem that needs to be addressed at its source rather than just having its symptoms brushed under the rug, but it also serves to make a point that most of these movies ignore: Hercules isn't stupid.

The hydra was a monster Hercules could not defeat by brute strength alone – he had to use his strength in a smart way.  In the myth, he burned the neck stumps so that they couldn't heal, then dipped his arrows in the hydra's venom to make them extra-deadly to all the monsters he'd have to fight later.  The Disney version actually kept the spirit of this idea even as they changed the ending.  Without a torch on hand, Hercules instead brings down a cliff on top of the hydra, trapping it under tons of rock that he can escape from, but it can't.  This is sort of the inverse of my point from a few reviews back about brains and hands: brains aren't much good without strength to do the work, but strength also isn't much good without a brain to direct it.  By making the hydra a creature Hercules can just stab to death, the episode loses all its meaning.

A lot is also lost from our impression of Hercules' intelligence, which wasn't exactly riding high anyway after he seems unable to remember more than one woman at a time.

Finally, of course, there's The Loves of Hercules' other monster and supreme What The Fuck moment, the Totally Random Sasquatch.  It was only on the second viewing that I realized this was supposed to be the 'monster Alcyone' the peasants mentioned rustling their cattle.  When describing him to Hercules and Deianira before the stampede, they call Alcyone a thief before they call him a monster, and use the word 'monster' in such a way that it seems like a metaphorical description of a human thug, rather than a literal one of Bigfoot.  With the cattle stampede and everything that follows to distract me, I'd forgotten all about Alcyone by the time we actually met him, and the sudden arrival of an ape-man seemed to come completely out of the blue.

In fact, even after realizing the connection, this is a weird, weird moment.  What is Alcyone even supposed to be?  The closest thing I can come up with to Bigfoot in standard Greek mythology is a satyr, but Alcyone is even less satyr-like than Torgo.  The writer Hanno the Navigator referred to a tribe of savage ape-men who supposedly lived around Sierra Leone, which he says the natives called gorillai (yes, this is where we get the word), but that's a long way from Greece and the story is fairly obscure.  As far as I can tell, Alcyone is exactly what Jonah and the bots first took him for: a totally random Sasquatch.  Between him, Cry Wilderness, Om the Caveman, and Gulfax the Poodle-Wookiee, I think we can officially dub Season 11 the Bigfoot Season.

As long as I'm here, 'Alcyone' is a girl's name in Greek.  It refers to a type of bird.

The Loves of Hercules is pretty competently made in most respects.  Even with some of the shortcomings in the casting, acting, and effects, it could have fallen into the 'hokey but charming' category, if only it hadn't forgotten about Megara.  The way she simply ceases to exist, as if women are like shirts and you can just pick a new one when you lose the old (or something similar if the one you originally wanted is no longer available), gives a very poor impression of both Hercules and the writers and makes it difficult to really get into the romances that follow.  In a film about the loves of Hercules, that's a fatal mistake.

[writemarcus]

Joshua Harmon Announced as Honorary Festival Playwright of Samuel French's Off Off Broadway Short Play Festival

The top 30 playwrights will be narrowed down to 10-12 finalists, from which six will be selected.

by Chloe Rabinowitz Jul. 28, 2022  

Samuel French's Off Off Broadway Short Play Festival has announced that Joshua Harmon (Prayer for the French Republic) is this year's honorary festival playwright.

The distinguished lineup of judges will include playwrights Dennis A. Allen II, Eboni Booth, Karen Hartman and Bryna Turner, along with Executive Director of National New Play Network Nan Barnett, dramaturg Ken Cerniglia, Artistic Director of New Dramatists Emily Morse, Artistic Director of City Theatre Miami Margaret M. Ledford, Artistic Director of Classic Stage Company Jill Rafson, Associate Artistic Director at Playwrights' Realm Alexis Williams, and Associate Artistic Director at Playwrights Horizons Natasha Sinha.

This year's top 30 playwrights were chosen from over 650 submissions around the world. They will present their plays during a week-long festival August 16-20 at the Peter Jay Sharp Theater in New York City (416 W 42nd St, 4th Floor). These will be narrowed down to 10-12 finalists, from which six will be selected to be licensed for future productions and published in an anthology of short plays that will become the 47th edition of the Off Off Broadway Festival Plays series.

Presale tickets are available through Sunday, August 14 at $20. Tickets will be available Monday, August 15 through Saturday, August 20 online and at the door for $25. The Festival will also be offering a $90 Festival Pass. This pass gains the holder access to the first four nights of the Festival, allowing them to see all 30 productions at a 55% discount. For tickets and a complete performance calendar, click here.

THE 47TH SAMUEL FRENCH OFF OFF BROADWAY SHORT PLAY FESTIVAL FINALISTS

Thank You, Porcupine by Aurora Behlke The Very Furious Kugel by Clare Fuyuko Bierman Duckass by Dan Caffrey SYZYGY by Rachael Carnes American Made by Christin Eve Cato Big Red Button by Jay Eddy Too Much Lesbian Drama: One Star by Jessie Field How My Grandparents Fell in Love by Cary Gitter Chemistry by Ben Holbrook Georgia Rose by Onyekachi Iwu Domestic Help by Julianne Jigour Blocked by Jay Koepke We Jump Broom by Mildred Inez Lewis f by Ignacio Lopez Validation by Daphne Macy Toxic Norse-culinity by Matthew McLachlan Leaf Hunters by Megan Chan Meinero Bugs by Alex Moon The Pros and Cons of Implosion by R. D. Murphy Shark Week by Erika Phoebus if all that You take from this is courage, then I've no regrets by Nicholas Pilapil Railroad Homes by Jackson Pounds We're All Girls Here by Roni Ragone Big Happy Days by Anya Richkind Wookiees in the Wilderness by Marcus Scott Beautiful People in a Living Room Doing Nothing by Alec Seymour You Will Neva Enter Our High Holy Land of Blackness-HIYA! by Cece Suazo Scary faces happy faces by Danny Tejera The Vagina Read by Amy Tofte The Black & White Minstrel Show by Wind Dell Woods

Originating in 1975, the OOB Festival is one of Samuel French/Concord Theatricals' primary initiatives to introduce the next wave of emerging playwrights. These include Audrey Cefaly, whose full-length version of her 40th OOB Festival-winning play The Gulf won 2018's Lambda Literary Award in the category of LGBTQ Drama, and Martyna Majok, whose play The Cost of Living (originally produced as part of 39th OOB Festival as John, Who's Here from Cambridge) won the 2018 Pulitzer Prize for Drama. Other notable past participants include Bekah Brunstetter, Gloria Calderón Kellett, Sheila Callaghan, khat knotahaiku, Gracie Gardner, Jeremy O. Harris, Shirley Lauro, Theresa Rebeck, Jen Silverman and Steve Yockey.

To stay up to date with all Festival information, follow @OOBFestival on Twitter, facebook.com/oobfestival, and #OOBFestival on all social platforms.

BIOGRAPHIES

SAMUEL FRENCH is proud to have served as a leader in theatrical publishing and licensing for over 180 years. Its catalog features some of the most acclaimed work ever written for the stage and titles by writers at the forefront of contemporary drama. In December 2018, Samuel French became part of Concord Theatricals. With a growing staff of unparalleled experts, Concord Theatricals continues to support and expand Samuel French's ethos of championing playwrights, innovating in the industry, and celebrating all those who create theatre around the world.

Concord Theatricals is the world's most significant theatrical company, comprising the catalogs of R&H Theatricals, Samuel French, Tams-Witmark and The Andrew Lloyd Webber Collection, plus dozens of new signings each year. Our unparalleled roster includes the work of Irving Berlin, Agatha Christie, George & Ira Gershwin, Marvin Hamlisch, Lorraine Hansberry, Kander & Ebb, Ken Ludwig, Lin-Manuel Miranda, Dominique Morisseau, Cole Porter, Rodgers & Hammerstein, Thornton Wilder and August Wilson. We are the only firm providing truly comprehensive services to the creators and producers of plays and musicals, including theatrical licensing, music publishing, script publishing, cast recording and first-class production. concordtheatricals.com

Joshua Harmon's plays include Bad Jews, Significant Other, Admissions, Skintight, and Prayer for the French Republic. His plays have been produced on Broadway and the West End; Off-Broadway at Roundabout Theatre Company, Lincoln Center Theater and Manhattan Theater Club; across the country at Geffen Playhouse, Speakeasy, Studio Theatre, Theater Wit, About Face, Actor's Express, and The Magic, among others; and internationally in a dozen countries. He is a two-time MacDowell fellow and an Associate Artist at Roundabout. Graduate of Juilliard.

[spynotebook]

Images: Disney/Lucasfilm

Three years ago, the “Journey to The Force Awakens” gave us our first tentative steps into fertile new ground for Disney’s Star Wars canon: the three-decade period between Return of the Jedi and the time of the new sequel trilogy. Three years later, with The Last Jedi mere weeks away, we know so much more.

A litany of books, comics, games, and other information have slowly but surely began to fill in one of the most fascinating and important eras in Star Wars history that haven’t gotten a movie (yet). There’s still so much left undiscovered—especially thanks to the fact that much of the information released so far falls into two camps: The period immediately after Return of the Jedi, chronicling the continued fall of the Empire, and the events which set up the galaxy we see in The Force Awakens, over a handful of years before the events of the movie.

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But if you’ve not been keeping up with the utter behemoth that’s the tie-in universe of Star Wars media, there’s an awful lot to dig through. Here’s everything you need to know about the major events of Star Wars’ post-Return of the Jedi history, as well the source material that covered those events, in case you want to explore them for yourselves.

Note: For simplicity’s sake, we’ll be using the standard Star Wars “BBY/ABY” calendar, which simply refers to “Before the Battle of Yavin/After the Battle of Yavin”—a.k.a the events of A New Hope. Return of the Jedi is set four years after A New Hope, so it took place in 4 ABY, The Force Awakens occurred in 34 ABY, and so on.

Image: Disney/Lucasfilm

4 ABY: The Galactic Empire Falls

After staging a distraction over the Imperial-occupied planet of Sullust, the Rebel Fleet gathers over the forest moon of Endor, successfully destroying the under-construction Death Star II. Both Emperor Palpatine and his enforcer Darth Vader perish in the ensuing battle, dealing a mortal blow to the Empire’s order of rule across key star systems. (MOVIE: Star Wars Episode VI: Return of the Jedi)

In the celebratory aftermath of victory on Endor, Princess Leia Organa and Alliance General Han Solo are married in a private ceremony. (NOVEL: Aftermath: Life Debt, NOVEL: Aftermath: Empire’s End)

Luke Skywalker travels to the planet Pillio in search of artifacts held in secret observatories by Palpatine. Encountering Inferno Squad agent Del Meeko, Luke recovers a compass from Palpatine’s observatory on the planet. (GAME: Battlefront II)

Image: EA/DICE

Palpatine’s death activates a contingency plan among remaining Imperial admirals known as Operation: Cinder, targeting key worlds—including Naboo, Vardos, Commenor, and more—with climate-disrupting satellite weaponry designed to ravage worlds and instill fear among Imperial citizens. After Cinder’s successful implementation on Vardos, Inferno Squadron members Iden Versio and Del Meeko defect to the Rebel Alliance, helping to defeat Operation: Cinder above Naboo alongside Princess Leia Organa. (Battlefront II, COMIC: Shattered Empire)

The Rebel Alliance dissolves, formally reorganizing itself into the New Republic. (NOVEL: Aftermath)

Governer Adelhard of the Anoat Sector instigates the Iron Blockade, locking down transport in and out of the system and cracking down on the dissemination of outside information. Discontent insurgents on the worlds within the sector begin open rebellion. (GAME: Uprising)

The planets of Akiva, Sterdic IV, Bespin, and Malastare are liberated from Imperial rule. Riots that broke out following the Emperor’s death on Coruscant flourish into a planetary civil war. (Aftermath)

The Galactic Senate is restored on the planet Chandrila, and Mon Mothma is elected Chancellor. Mothma announces her plans to relinquish the emergency powers granted to the Chancellor’s office during the outbreak of the Clone Wars nearly three decades earlier, as well as moves to reduce the size of the New Republic military by 90 percent in the aftermath of the Galactic Civil War. (Aftermath)

Image: Marvel. Shattered Empire #4 art by Marco Checchetto.

5 ABY: The New Republic Era

On a mission to the planet Vetine, Luke Skywalker and Shara Bey recover two fragments of the Great Tree that once sat at the heart of the Jedi Temple on Coruscant from a secret Imperial facility. One fragment is kept by Skywalker, and the second is offered as a gift to Bey and her husband, Kes Dameron, who plant it on Yavin IV after retiring from the New Republic military to raise their young son, Poe. (Shattered Empire)

A force of smugglers and bounty hunters recruited by Han Solo and Chewbacca, along with assistance from Rebel operatives and the New Republic Fleet, successfully liberate the Wookiee homeworld of Kashyyyk from the Empire’s rule. His life debt to Solo fulfilled, Chewbacca retires to Kashyyyk with his family. (Aftermath: Life Debt)

Peace talks between the Empire and the New Republic on Chandrila disintegrate when former Imperial prisoners, unknowing sleeper agents controlled by secret implants, open fire on Imperial and New Republic ambassadors, killing and wounding several. The Galactic Senate temporarily relocates to the planet Nakadia in the aftermath. (Aftermath: Life Debt)

Image: EA/DICE

The Imperial Remnant gathers its military forces over the desert world of Jakku under the command of Gallius Rax and Moff Randd. After voting to take military action, the Galactic Senate sends New Republic forces to engage the Remnant fleet. Vastly outnumbered in the wake of a string of crushing losses across the galaxy, the Empire is totally defeated in the skies and on the ground at Jakku, losing multiple ships and the Super Star Destroyer Ravager, their derelict hulls left to decay after crashing down into on the surface, creating a region on the planet that would come to be known as the Starship Graveyard. (GAME: Battlefront, Battlefront II, NOVEL: Lost Stars, Aftermath: Empire’s End)

After being extracted out of conflict zones on Coruscant, Imperial Grand Vizier Mas Amedda contacts Mon Mothma and sues for peace, initiating talks that culminate in the signing of the Galactic Concordance. The Empire relinquishes several worlds to the New Republic, including Coruscant, and is given strict borders for its own territories. According to the Imperial Articles of Surrender, the recruitment and mobilization of Imperial armed forces is ended, and the Imperial Government at large is dissolved, leading to the creation of an internal Government within the Empire’s newly-established territories. The Galactic Civil War concludes, five years after it officially began at the Battle of Scarif. (Aftermath: Empire’s End, Lost Stars, BOOK: Star Wars: The Force Awakens Visual Dictionary)

Ben Solo, the son of General Leia Organa and Han Solo, is born on Chandrila. (Aftermath: Empire’s End)

Surviving Imperial forces lead by Admiral Rae Sloane continue to engage the New Republic in various holdouts on Jakku, before retreating into the Unknown Regions on the deathbed orders of Gallius Rax. She helps to slowly but surely rebuild the Empire in secret, an entity that eventually renames itself the First Order. (Aftermath: Empire’s End, Star Wars: The Force Awakens Visual Dictionary)

Image: Del Rey

The Wilderness Years

11 ABY: Finn is born, and soon separated from his family to be raised under the designation FN-2187 by the First Order. (Star Wars: The Force Awakens Visual Dictionary)

Approximately between 13-19 ABY: First Order General Brendol Hux crashlands on the low-tech world of Parnassos, encountering a warrior of the Scyre tribe named Phasma. Phasma helps Hux leave Parnassos, joining him as a member of the First Order’s leadership. (NOVEL: Phasma)

15 ABY: Rey is born. (Star Wars: The Force Awakens Visual Dictionary)

21 ABY: Working in secret with a political subgroup within the Galactic Senate, the First Order reaches out to criminal cartels and the mercenary group known as the Amaxine Warriors to begin securing funding to rebuild its Navy. (NOVEL: Bloodline)

Approximately between 23-28 ABY: After sensing the potential lure of the Dark Side of the Force in her son, Leia Organa sends Ben to train in the ways of the Force with her brother and his fledgling next generation of Jedi Knights. (Bloodline)

Image: Del Rey.

28 ABY: The Rise of the First Order

The Galactic Senate begins discussions to create the office of the “First Senator” to replace the Chancellor’s role and heal growing divides between two emergent factions within the Senate: The Populists, who are advocating for New Republic member worlds to maintain their sovereignty, and the Centrists, who want a strong centralized government and an increased military force in the wake of Mon Mothma’s demilitarization pact. (Bloodline)

The Amaxine Warriors, led by a former Imperial, launch several terrorist attacks against the Senate, targeting Populist leaders. Senators Leia Organa and Ransolm Casterfo are tasked with investigating the group. (Bloodline)

Acting on information provided by Centrist senator Carise Sindian, Casterfo publicly exposes Leia Organa as the daughter of Darth Vader, to the shock and dismay of the Galactic Senate. In light of the revelations about her parentage, Leia exits the election to become First Senator and resigns from the Senate. (Bloodline)

Shortly after her resignation, Leia Organa officially forms a paramilitary group dubbed the Resistance alongside former New Republic Admiral Gial Ackbar to combat the threat of the Empire’s return when the New Republic will not. (Bloodline)

Carise Sindian reveals plans for Centrist Senators to formally secede from the New Republic, joining with First Order military forces in the Unknown Regions. (Bloodline)

Approximately between 28-34 ABY: Ben Solo falls to the Dark Side, betraying his uncle, destroying the emerging new Jedi Order, and taking the name Kylo Ren before joining the First Order. Horrified by the slaughter, Luke Skywalker goes into exile, in search of the location of the first Jedi Temple. (Bloodline, Star Wars: The Force Awakens)

Image: Disney. Before the Awakening art by Phil Noto.

34 ABY: A New War

Following altercations with First Order forces at Suraz and OR-Kappa-2722, New Republic Commander Poe Dameron defects to the Resistance alongside members of his X-Wing team, Rapier Squadron. (NOVEL: Before the Awakening)

Captured by First Order forces, former New Republic soldier Del Meeko is tortured at Kylo Ren’s hands, and reveals that the explorer Lor San Tekka took a fragment of a map leading to Luke Skywalker’s location to the planet Bayora. Meeko is killed shortly after. (Battlefront II)

On a mission to the planet Taul to gain information about captured Resistance Admiral Gial Ackbar, C-3PO loses his left arm, replacing it with a red one scavenged from a First Order droid. (COMIC: C-3PO: The Phantom Limb)

General Leia Organa tasks Poe Dameron with searching for Lor San Tekka and the map to her brother. Dameron forms the ace pilot team known as Black Squadron for the operation. (COMIC: Poe Dameron)

Image: Disney/Lucasfilm

Resistance forces secure part of a map leading to the location of exiled Jedi Master Luke Skywalker from Lor San Tekka, and a cold war turns hot as the First Order, striking from the hidden planetary weapon known as Starkiller Base, eradicates the New Republic Senate on Hosnian Prime. Former Alliance hero Han Solo is killed during a Resistance mission to cripple Starkiller, and Rey sets out to the planet of Ahch-To to learn the ways of the Force. (Star Wars: The Force Awakens)

Escaping the destruction of Starkiller Base, Captain Phasma tracks down and executes First Order Lieutenant Sol Rivas for treason and allowing the planetary shield around Starkiller to be lowered, covering her own involvement in the assault, before retreating into First Order space. (COMIC: Captain Phasma)

Rey encounters Luke Skywalker, returning his father’s lightsaber to him. The Resistance, fearing retaliation after the destruction of Starkiller Base, flees its formerly-hidden base on D’Qar. With the New Republic’s seat of power turned to ash, the First Order emerges from out of the Unknown Regions of the galaxy to enter open war with the remnants of the New Republic, and the forces that would resist its complete dominance. As for the rest... well, you’ll have to wait till December 15 to find out, won’t you? (MOVIE: Star Wars: The Last Jedi)

[writemarcus]

Review: After a Too-Long Absence, The Fire This Time Festival Reignites

July 08, 2022

The Fire This Time Festival: Season 13: Ten-Minute Plays

Plays by Fedna Jacquet, Marcus Scott, Phillip Christian Smith, Lisa Rosetta Strum, Rachel Herron, and Agyeiwaa Asante

Directed by Zhailon Levingston and Tracey Conyer Lee

Presented by FRIGID New York

at The Kraine Theater85 E 4th St., Manhattan, NYCJuly 7-10, 2022

The annual The Fire This Time Festival, after a two-year absence from the stage, including a postponement from its usual winter slot to early July, has returned to in-person performance with its thirteenth season, bringing six new short plays from early-career playwrights of African and African American descent to The Kraine Theater. The Ten-Minute Play Program offers both in-person and livestreaming options, and this year, audiences can also complement their theatergoing experience by picking up a copy of 25 Plays from the Fire This Time Festival, which collects plays from TFTT's first eleven seasons, edited by TFTT founder and Executive Director Kelley Nicole Girod and organized into thematic groupings from policing to gentrification to Black love. If further volumes are forthcoming, any of this year's thoughtful, funny, provocative, compassionate offerings would be a worthy addition. Meanwhile, just get thee to the Kraine!

First up is Fedna Jacquet's Girlfriend, which sees longtime friends Lea (played by Jacquet) and Tonya (Denise Manning) having drinks together for the first time in a long time, a fact related to Tonya's now-defunct romantic relationship. Talking about the reason for Tonya's break-up (spurred, it's worth noting, by a visit to the theater) leads the two women into a consideration of how attempts to police their identities and define their experiences come not only from the expected quarters. A moment when Lea (rightly) calls out Tonya feels (also rightly) like a short, sharp shock amidst the humorous, supportive interplay between the two women. Friendships anchor several of this year's plays, and Marcus Scott's Wookiees in the Wilderness follows Girlfriend's female pairing with a pair of close male friends. High-schooler Smokey (Anthony Goss) needs more practice in archery and riflery in order to pass the Eagle Scouts' Wilderness Survival Test before he sets off for college, and, to that end, he meets Bishop (Ricardy Fabre) in the wilderness near the Lake of the Ozarks. At first, the two vividly drawn and portrayed friends fall into a debate about race and Star Wars that includes Bishop's memorable claim that "Chewbacca might as well be a Somali pirate in space" (and yes, there are lightsabers). When their talk turns to an incident with more than a passing resemblance to the murder of Ahmaud Arbery, Bishop's early declaration that there is more to sci fi than just Star Wars looks like foreshadowing of the profound decision that Smokey puts before Bishop about alternate modes of action (or perhaps of rebellion, in Star Wars parlance) and whether they are justified and effective.

The third play, Phillip Christian Smith's Mount Sinai, is more (straightforwardly) uplifting, despite its friends being fellow cancer patients. Gladys (Marjorie Johnson) says that she has always been a "good girl," having worked her way up to a successful career and raised successful children, while Minerva (Patricia R. Floyd) characterizes herself as a "card" and, in a small echo of the identity issues raised in Girlfriend, has never been able to get anyone to call her by her given name rather than a nickname. Among other topics, the women, in lived-in performances by Johnson and Floyd, touch on the pandemic (Minerva observes that "essential workers" means "Black people") and its losses, but ultimately the play suggests that, despite challenges including aging and illness, there is always more to enjoy in life. The pandemic frames a more urgent search for happiness in Lisa Rosetta Strum's By the way…, which checks in on two close friends (Fenda Jacquet and Ricardy Fabre) who have been quarantined together for a month in 2020. Quarantining of course involves drinking and game playing, which come together here for a confessional game. That game brings a revelation which challenges both the preconceptions of one of the duo (again, about identity) as well as the status quo of their relationship, as Jacquet and Fabre skillfully trade tipsy fun for unvarnished intensity.

The very funny and slightly dark Red Red Wine, by Rachel Herron, shifts the confessions to a work environment. Mel (Denise Manning) is working for Somm (Patricia R. Floyd) in the latter's wine shop while being mentored as a potential Master Sommelier. Mel would be the first Black woman to achieve this rank, but only because Somm quit while practicing for the exam. After Mel reveals some things about herself that recall the issues raised in the previous play, she wants Somm to explain in exchange why she quit; and Somm's answer puts before Mel a decision that is not unlike the one that Bishop has to make in Wookiees in the Wilderness. Wrapping up this year's program is Agyeiwaa Asante's Wildest Dreams, in which the ghosts of the past are literal. Spirits Maybelle (Marjorie Johnson) and Jimmy Dale (Anthony Goss) have not yet moved on from the plantation where they died of unnatural causes 187 years ago, a location now used for events such as weddings or, on this day, a graduation. A sign held by a Black graduate reading "I am my ancestors' wildest dreams" prompts some soul-searching, so to speak, for the pair and ultimately asks when one person has done enough–how much right does someone have to personal peace when the unfinished business is social progress? Wildest Dreams closes these questions–and the evening–on a hauntingly ambiguous note. The 13th season of The Fire This Time finds the festival's programming as strong as ever. With 6 compelling shows brought to life by 6 talented actors, The Fire This Time Festival proves that 13 is not an unlucky number. -John R. Ziegler and Leah Richards

[writemarcus]

Downtown Urban Arts Festival Announces 19th Season Finalist

Playwrights selected include Allison Whittenberg - Choice, Robin Rothstein - Grassroots, Elijah Vasquez - Teeter and more.

by BWW News Desk

Jan. 11, 2021  

   The Downtown Urban Arts Festival is planning a return to the stage in spiring/summer 2021 for its much anticipated 19th Annual season with Tony-nominee Reg E. Gaines back as its Artistic Director. From over 100 submissions received from across the nation, DUAF has selected the following emerging playwrights for its 2021 season.

Short

Allison Whittenberg - Choice Robin Rothstein - Grassroots Elijah Vasquez - Teeter Marcus Scott - Wookies in the Wilderness Mel Nieves - TGIF Can't Get Here Soon Enough Sarah Congress - COVID-19 Bachelore Number 5 Marcus Scott - Sundown Town Mary E. Weems - A Conversation in an Elevator Cris Eli Blak - Breakz J. Lois Diamond - I Feel Good! Alano P. Baez - Los Lolitas Chima Chikazunga - The Detention Hours Rollin Jewett - The Big Dream Sheldon Shaw - Jailbird Audrey Lang - Lily Ineffable Rajendra Ramoon Maharaj - a sudanese mother... a mexican mother...

Full

Kieran Carroll - The Youthful Adventures of Damon Dukirk Andy Boyd - Coney Island Baby Mallory Jane Weiss - A & Z's Escapes in Moonstruck City Nattalie Gordon - Rice and Roundworm Antionette Ellis - Williams - Scarf Diaries Carmel Lotan - Smartphone Love Juan Ramirez Jr. - Say Less Kwik Jones - Memphis Bound LaDarrion Williams - Umoja Mehrnaz Tiv - Threads Phil Blechman - Murderabilia Brian Quirk - Morrow Sheila Duane - The Loom Tommy Jamerson - Murderous Innocent Malique Guinn - Gang Sines Lawrence DuKore - Sunshine

In 2001, DUAF was founded with the purpose to build a repertoire of new American theatre that echoes the true spirit of urban life and speaks to a whole new generation whole lives defy categorizing along conventional lies. That purpose has been realized many times over, as more than 100 writers have created and refined their work for the stage and thousands of inspired audience members have applauded their performances. DUAF inaugurated the festival in 2002 at HERE in SoHo to help revitalize the NYC downtown arts scene, which, at the time, was experiencing a severe downturn due to the WTC disaster. It has been recognized as one of the world's best festivals for new works and described as not only prestigious, but a slice of heaven for playwrights who want the chance to freely express themselves. (Lisa Mulcahy, Theater Festivals, Allworth Press, 2005).

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Zhailon Levingston Will Direct 2022 Fire This Time Festival in NYC

The festival will feature world premieres of six 10-minute plays, each written by Black artists.

BY DAN MEYER

OCT 27, 2021 

The lineup for the 13th annual The Fire This Time Festival, inspired by James Baldwin and his novel The Fire This Time, has been revealed. Zhailon Levingston (Chicken & Biscuits) will direct six world premiere short plays written by Agyeiwaa Asante, Rachel Herron, Fedna Jacquet, Marcus Scott, Phillip Christian Smith, and Lisa Rosetta Strum.

Presented by Frigid New York at The Kraine Theatre, The Fire This Time will run January 17–February 6, 2022, with performances also available to live stream. The festival was founded in 2009 by Kelley Girod to provide a platform for playwrights of African and African-American descent to write and produce evocative material for diverse audiences.

READ: Get to Know the Obie-Winning The Fire This Time Festival

Check out the lineup below. Casting and more information will be announced at a later date.

Wildest Dreams by Agyeiwaa Asante For over 187 years Maybelle and Jimmy Dale have haunted the Mason plantation, a now popular tourist attraction and event venue. Tired of their time on this plane, they wonder what it'll take to get them to the other side.

Red Red Wine by Rachel Herron Somm was well on her way to becoming the first Black female Master Sommelier in the world, but she gave it all up to produce her own wine label. Now she's enlisted the help of her mentee, Mel, to help grow the brand; the only question is whether Mel will still be on board once she learns the secret ingredient in their bestselling red.

Gurlfriend (Black is Black) by Fedna Jacquet Two black girls drinking wine and living their best lives. #BlackGurlMagic #UnapologeticAF. We get to see them—jokes and bruises on display. By leaving the world outside, these best friends are able to bond in a fresh and delightful way...until the ever-shrinking classification of blackness threatens to exclude one of them.

Wookiees in The Wilderness by Marcus Scott Bishop and Smokey are best pals. Smokey will do anything for Bishop, who is in the midst of recovering from a recent trauma. Bishop will do anything for Smokey including going out to the mountainside wilderness of the Lake of the Ozarks to prepare him for his upcoming Wilderness Survival test for the Eagle Scouts. But as the sundown begins and night falls upon them, the boys are reminded to truly be prepared for anything.

Mount Sinai by Phillip Christian Smith Gladys and Minerva, casual chemo friends, discuss life, the south, children, and the handsome cancer patient in Room A.

By the way... by Lisa Rosetta Strum Two best friends have been quarantined for the past month. When one of the friends reveals their true feelings for the other, perceptions, prejudices and fears get exposed and a friendship could be changed forever.

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Joshua Harmon Named Samuel French Honorary Off Off Broadway Short Play Festival Playwright; Finalists Announced

The 2022 competition, the festival's 47th, will be held in August.

BY LOGAN CULWELL-BLOCK

JULY 28, 2022

Significant Other, Bad Jews, and Prayer for the French Republic writer Joshua Harmon has been named honorary festival playwright for the 47th Annual Samuel French Off Off Broadway Short Play Festival, presented by Concord Theatricals.

The festival, set for August 16-20 at the Peter Jay Sharp Theater in NYC, will see short works from 30 finalist playwrights compete for six winning spots. The winning works will be published in an anthology of short plays and licensed by Concord's Samuel French imprint.

Judging this year's entries will be playwrights Dennis A. Allen II, Eboni Booth, Karen Hartman, and Bryna Turner, along with National New Play Network Executive Director Nan Barnett, dramaturg Ken Cerniglia, New Dramatists Artistic Director Emily Morse, City Theatre Miami Artistic Director Margaret M. Ledford, Classic Stage Company Artistic Director Jill Rafson, Playwrights’ Realm Associate Artistic Director Alexis Williams, and Playwrights Horizons Associate Artistic Director Natasha Sinha.

Tickets for the festival, which is open to the public, are available at OOBFestival.com.

Take a look at this year's finalists, selected from more than 650 submissions worldwide:

Thank You, Porcupine by Aurora Behlke The Very Furious Kugel by Clare Fuyuko Bierman Duckass by Dan Caffrey SYZYGY by Rachael Carnes American Made by Christin Eve Cato Big Red Button by Jay Eddy Too Much Lesbian Drama: One Star by Jessie Field How My Grandparents Fell in Love by Cary Gitter Chemistry by Ben Holbrook Georgia Rose by Onyekachi Iwu Domestic Help by Julianne Jigour Blocked by Jay Koepke We Jump Broom by Mildred Inez Lewis f by Ignacio Lopez Validation by Daphne Macy Toxic Norse-culinity by Matthew McLachlan Leaf Hunters by Megan Chan Meinero Bugs by Alex Moon The Pros and Cons of Implosion by R. D. Murphy Shark Week by Erika Phoebus if all that You take from this is courage, then I've no regrets by Nicholas Pilapil Railroad Homes by Jackson Pounds We're All Girls Here by Roni Ragone Big Happy Days by Anya Richkind Wookiees in the Wilderness by Marcus Scott Beautiful People in a Living Room Doing Nothing by Alec Seymour You Will Neva Enter Our High Holy Land of Blackness-HIYA! by Cece Suazo Scary faces happy faces by Danny Tejera The Vagina Read by Amy Tofte The Black & White Minstrel Show by Wind Dell Woods

Established in 1975, the Off Off Broadway Short Play Festival aims to introduce the next generation of great playwrights. Writers internationally are invited to submit short works, which are traditionally performed in rep at an Off-Broadway venue—last year's festival was adjudicated via online readings due to the pandemic. Past participants include Audrey Cefaly, Martyna Majok, Bekah Brunstetter, Gloria Calderón Kellett, Sheila Callaghan, khat knotahaiku, Gracie Gardner, Jeremy O. Harris, Shirley Lauro, Theresa Rebeck, Jen Silverman, and Steve Yockey.

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13th Annual The Fire This Time Festival To Play The Kraine Theater in July

Performances will also be available to livestream from home.

by Stephi Wild May. 17, 2022  

FRIGID New York will present the 13th Annual The Fire This Time Festival at The Kraine Theater (85 East 4th Street between 2nd Avenue and Bowery), July 7-10 with performances on Thursday, July 7 at 7pm, Friday, July 8 at 7pm, Saturday, July 9th at 2pm, Saturday, July 9th at 7pm, and Sunday, July 10th at 3pm. Performances will also be available to livestream from home. The World Premiere 10-minute plays will be co-directed by Zhailon Levingston (Chicken & Biscuits on Broadway; Patience) and actor, writer, director and TFTT alum Tracey Conyer Lee.

The 2022 festival, which was postponed due to Covid, was originally scheduled to run January 17-February 6, 2022. Full length play readings will be presented in September 2022. The full cast and creative team for the 10-minute plays will be announced in June.

Wildest Dreams by Agyeiwaa Asante

For over 187 years Maybelle and Jimmy Dale have haunted the Mason plantation, a now popular tourist attraction and event venue. Tired of their time on this plane, they wonder what it'll take to get them to the other side.

Red Red Wine by Rachel Herron

Somm was well on her way to becoming the first Black female Master Sommelier in the world, but she gave it all up to produce her own wine label. Now she's enlisted the help of her mentee, Mel, to help grow the brand; the only question is will Mel still be on board once she learns the secret ingredient in their best selling red?

Gurlfriend (Black is Black) by Fedna Jacquet

Two black girls drinking wine and living their best lives. #BlackGurlMagic #UnapologeticAF. We get to see THEM-jokes and bruises on display. By leaving the world outside, these best friends are able to bond in a fresh and delightful way...but what happens when the ever-shrinking classification of blackness threatens to exclude one of them? We ride the bold and excruciatingly confusing rollercoaster of identity, friendship, and regret to a new destination unknown to both Lea and Tonya. #Drama

Wookiees in the Wilderness by Marcus Scott

Bishop and Smokey are best pals. Smokey will do anything for Bishop, who is in the midst of recovering from a recent trauma. Bishop will do anything for Smokey including going out to the mountainside wilderness of the Lake of the Ozarks to prep him for his upcoming Wilderness Survival test for the Eagle Scouts. But as the sun down begins and night falls upon them, the boys are reminded to truly be prepared for anything. Wookiees in the Wilderness is a buddy drama about race, class, wasted potential, retaliation, Star Wars, and equal opportunity in Trump's America.

Mt. Sinai by Phillip Christian Smith

Gladys and Minerva, casual chemo friends, discuss life, the south, children, and the handsome cancer patient in Room A. Has Gladys finally fallen in with the bad girls in her twilight years?

By The Way by Lisa Rosetta Strum

Two best friends have been quarantined for the past month. When one of the friends reveals their true feelings for the other, perceptions, prejudices and fears get exposed and a friendship could be changed forever.

Zhailon Levingston is a Louisiana-raised storyteller, director, and activist.

He is a Board Member and Creative Director for the Broadway Advocacy Coalition, which he co-created, and teaches the Theatre of Change course at Columbia University. He is a Music Mentor Fellow and has done work with Idina Menzel's A Broader Way Foundation. His directing credits include: Neptune (Dixon Place; Brooklyn Museum), The Years That Went Wrong (Lark; MCC), The Exonerated (Columbia Law School), Chariot Part 2 (Soho Rep/The Movement Theatre Company), Mother of Pearl (LaGuardia Performing Arts Center). He is the associate director of Primer for a Failed Superpower with Tony Award-winner Rachel Chavkin, and Runaways at The Public Theater with Sam Pinkleton. Most recently. he directed Chicken and Biscuits, which premiered on Broadway this past fall. Zhailon is also the resident director at Tina: The Tina Turner Musical on Broadway and the associate director of Hadestown in South Korea.

Tracey Conyer Lee is the director and choreographer of the reimagined return of Sistas! The Musical, currently running Off-Broadway. As a playwright her plays have been produced in NYC, Chicago, DC, Boston and Nashville. As an actor she has performed around the globe, yielding Carbonell, NAACP and Barrymore Awards. She's a proud member of the 2019 Tony Award winning choir, Broadway Inspirational Voices and currently recurs as Detective Ross in seasons 3 & 4 of "FBI" on CBS. This summer she will star in the US premiere of Serving Elizabeth directed by Cezar Williams and her 6th production of Lady Day At Emerson's Bar & Grill directed by Kevin R. Free. Lee is an audiobook narrator for Black authors of both fiction and non and the co-founder of Be Ready, which takes the professional presence training she teaches in corporate America and offers it free for Black youth preparing for higher education or the workforce.

The Fire This Time Festival was founded in 2009 by Kelley Girod to provide a platform for playwrights of African and African-American descent to write and produce evocative material for diverse audiences. Since the debut of the first 10-minute play program in 2010, presented in collaboration with FRIGID New York, The Fire This Time Festival has produced and developed the work of more than 80 playwrights including Katori Hall, Dominique Morisseau, Radha Blank, Antoinette Nwandu, Jocelyn Bioh, korde arrington tuttle, Stacey Rose, Aziza Barnes, C.A. Johnson, Kevin R. Free, Charly Evon Simpson, Angelica Cheri, James Anthony Tyler, Jordan Cooper and Nathan Yungerberg. In 2022 Bloomsbury books released the anthology 25 Plays From The Fire This Time Festival: A Decade of Recognition, Resistance, Resilience, Rebirth and Black Theater which includes 25 ten-minute plays that were produced by The Fire This Festival over the past 11 seasons. The Fire This Time Festival collaborated with Center Theatre Group and Watts Village Theater Company to launch the initiative "Not A Moment, But A Movement" to amplify Black artists through three virtual events that pair playwrights, visual artists and musicians during 2021. www.firethistimefestival.com

FRIGID New York's mission is to provide both emerging and established artists the opportunity to create and produce original work without limit to content, form, or style, and to amplify their diverse voices. We do this by presenting an array of monthly programming, mainstage productions, an artist residency, and seven annual theater festivals that create an environment of collaboration, resourcefulness, and innovation. Founded in 1998, the aim was and is to form a structure, allowing multiple artists to focus on creating and staging new work and providing affordable rental space to scores of Independent artists. Now in our third decade we have produced a massive quantity of stimulating downtown theater. www.frigid.nyc

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Performance Schedule Announced for 2022 The Fire This Time Festival

The festival will kick-off on Monday, January 17th with a panel discussion with director Zhailon Levingston and the Broadway Advocacy Group.

by Chloe Rabinowitz

Dec. 6, 2021  

FRIGID New York will present the 13th Annual The Fire This Time Festival at The Kraine Theater (85 East 4th Street between 2nd Avenue and Bowery), January 17-February 6, 2022. Performances will also be available to livestream from home. Tickets ($20) are available for advance purchase at www.frigid.nyc.

The festival will kick-off on Monday, January 17th with a panel discussion with director Zhailon Levingston and the Broadway Advocacy Group.

The World Premiere 10-minute plays directed by Zhailon Levingston (Chicken and Biscuits on Broadway) will be presented on Thursday, January 20 at 7pm, Friday, January 21 at 7pm, Saturday, January 22 at 7pm, Friday, January 28 at 7pm, Saturday, January 29 at 7pm, Sunday, January 30 at 3pm, Friday, February 4 at 7pm, Saturday, February 5 at 7pm, and Sunday, February 6 at 3pm and will feature:

Wildest Dreams by Agyeiwaa Asante

For over 187 years Maybelle and Jimmy Dale have haunted the Mason plantation, a now popular tourist attraction and event venue. Tired of their time on this plane, they wonder what it'll take to get them to the other side.

Red Red Wine by Rachel Herron

Somm was well on her way to becoming the first Black female Master Sommelier in the world, but she gave it all up to produce her own wine label. Now she's enlisted the help of her mentee, Mel, to help grow the brand; the only question is will Mel still be on board once she learns the secret ingredient in their bestselling red?

Gurlfriend (Black is Black) by Fedna Jacquet

Two black girls drinking wine and living their best lives. #BlackGurlMagic #UnapologeticAF. We get to see THEM--jokes and bruises on display. By leaving the world outside, these best friends are able to bond in a fresh and delightful way...but what happens when the ever-shrinking classification of blackness threatens to exclude one of them? We ride the bold and excruciatingly confusing rollercoaster of identity, friendship, and regret to a new destination unknown to both Lea and Tonya. #Drama

Wookiees in The Wilderness by Marcus Scott

Bishop and Smokey are best pals. Smokey will do anything for Bishop, who is in the midst of recovering from a recent trauma. Bishop will do anything for Smokey including go out to the mountainside wilderness of the Lake of the Ozarks to prep him for his upcoming Wilderness Survival test for the Eagle Scouts. But as the sundown begins and night falls upon them, the boys are reminded to truly be prepared for anything. Wookiees in the Wilderness is a buddy drama about race, class, wasted potential, retaliation, Star Wars, and equal opportunity in Trump's America.

Mount Sinai by Phillip Christian Smith

Gladys and Minerva, casual chemo friends, discuss life, the south, children, and the handsome cancer patient in Room A. Has Gladys finally fallen in with the bad girls in her twilight years?

By the way... by Lisa Rosetta Strum

Two best friends have been quarantined for the past month. When one of the friends reveals their true feelings for the other, perceptions, prejudices and fears get exposed and a friendship could be changed forever.

The festival will also feature full length readings from Season 11 playwrights on Sunday, January 23 at 2pm, Tuesday, January 25 at 7pm, Wednesday, January 26 at 7pm, Thursday, January 27 at 7pm, Tuesday, February 1 at 7pm, and Wednesday, February 2 at 7pm.

The OBIE Award winning The Fire This Time Festival was founded in 2009 by Kelley Girod to provide a platform for playwrights of African and African-American descent to write and produce evocative material for diverse audiences. Since the debut of the first 10-minute play program in 2010, presented in collaboration with FRIGID New York, The Fire This Time Festival has produced and developed the work of more than 80 playwrights including Katori Hall, Dominique Morisseau, Radha Blank, Antoinette Nwandu, Jocelyn Bioh, korde arrington tuttle, Stacey Rose, Aziza Barnes, C.A. Johnson, Kevin R. Free, Charly Evon Simpson, Angelica Cheri, James Anthony Tyler, Jordan Cooper and Nathan Yungerberg. The Fire This Time Festival recently collaborated with Center Theatre Group and Watts Village Theater Company to launch the initiative "It's Not A Moment, But A Movement" to amplify Black artists through three virtual events which paired playwrights, visual artists and musicians during 2021. www.firethistimefestival.com