Texas State hosts Black & Latino Playwrights Conference

By Kristina Kenney
University News Service
September 4, 2012

For the 10th consecutive year, the Texas State University-San Marcos Department of Theatre and Dance will host the Black and Latino Playwrights Conference Sept. 10-16.

Since 2002, the conference has attracted numerous professional guest artists, directors and actors to the university to work hands-on with theatre students, give panel discussions and showcase the work of black and Latino playwrights from across the country, all culminating into public staged readings at the end of the conference.

Tickets for the staged readings at the end of the conference are $5.

This year’s staged readings include “Tango Through the Revolution” by Adam Esquenazi Douglas and directed by Kinan Valdez, “Seven Sisters” by Bridgette Wimberly and directed by Melissa Maxwell and “Casket Sharp” by Rhada Blank and directed by Clinton Turner Davis. Guest actors will be Fran Dorn, Ruben Gonzales, Elizabeth Pena and Manuel Zarate. Playwright Gus Edwards will also present a tribute to this year’s conference honoree, playwright and director Douglas Turner Ward, who co-founded the historic Negro Ensemble Company in 1965.

The conference will also include play rehearsals throughout the week that will be open to the public, a Q&A panel with guest artists, a presentation of plays by African-American Texans and a presentation of the history of the Negro Ensemble Company.

For more information on the conference, please contact the Department of Theatre and Dance at (512) 245-2147 or visit www.theatreanddance.txstate.edu/blackandlatino/2012-Conference.html. To purchase tickets beginning Sept. 10, call the Texas State Box Office at (512) 245-2204.