Monologue Project celebrates Women of African Diaspora

Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

Voices will be raised Saturday in Pittsburgh, New York, Los Angeles and other cities nationwide to inaugurate The Monologue Project, an initiative aimed at celebrating Women of the African Diaspora and their impact on theater.

The Pittsburgh-based initiative invited writers nationwide to participate by creating audition-length monologues for the event, and Amy Evans, Pia Wilson, Charlayne Woodard, Dominique Morisseau, Mfoniso Udofia, Cori Thomas and Chisa Hutchinson were among 30 who answered the call.

Their contributions will be performed Saturday by professional and student actors, followed by a discussion and call to action. The monologues will then become available online at no cost.

Among the discussion topics are the two new plays by the only women writers represented on Broadway in the 2016-17 season — Lynn Nottage’s Pulitzer Prize-winning and Tony Award-nominated “Sweat” and Paula Vogel’s Tony-nominated “Indecent.”

The event is presented by The Monologue Project Advisory Committee: Siovhan Christensen, N’Jameh Camara, Ife Foy, Alexis Cash, Alesia Etinoff, Sara Williams, Dominique Brock and Dave Harris, working with Gab Cody, Pittsburgh regional representative for The Dramatists Guild; Reginald Douglas, artistic producer of City Theatre; Kyle Haden, Carnegie Mellon University director and assistant professor at CMU; and Teresa Coleman Wash of Bishop Arts Theatre Center in Dallas.

Performances here are 2 p.m. at the University of Pittsburgh’s Charity Randall Theatre. Seating is free, but attendees are asked to RSVP to gcody@dramatistsguild.com.