Roundabout Theatre Company is presenting The Refocus Project, a multi-year project to elevate and restore marginalized plays to the American canon. The first series of Refocus play readings, presented in association with Black Theatre United, will spotlight twentieth-century Black plays and their playwrights: Angelina Weld Grimké, Shirley Graham Du Bois, Zora Neale Hurston, Alice Childress and Samm-Art Williams.
On Friday, April 30 the project will launch with Samm-Art Williams 90-minute drama HOME directed by Roundabout s Senior Resident Director Kenny Leon.
The HOME company includes Rob Demery (last seen in Leon s Tony nominated revival of A Soldier s Play), Joaquina Kalukango (Tony nominee for Slave Play), Brittany Inge (BET s Boomerang ) and Christina Sajous (Broadway s Spongebob Squarepants).
Roundabout & Black Theatre United Announce Plan to Elevate and Restore Marginalized Plays to the American Canon
The Refocus Project s year one artists include: Alice Childress, Shirley Graham Du Bois, Angelina Weld Grimké, Zora Neale Hurston, and Samm-Art Williams.by BWW News Desk
As a theater known for producing revivals, Roundabout Theatre Company is committed to embracing its responsibility to reshape and refocus the parameters of the American theatre canon. Roundabout has announced The Refocus Project, an annual program dedicated to elevating rarely produced and formerly marginalized theatrical voices from communities underrepresented or historically overlooked in the American theatre.
The Refocus Project will feature a robust selection of materials, available to industry professionals and the public. Beginning April 23, a resource library built to encourage and assist with future productions of each title will be available in addition to the launch of a weekly online play r