San Diego Rep’s new play-reading festival to celebrate Black voices

As part of its expanded inclusion and diversity efforts, San Diego Repertory Theatre will launch a new program this month, its inaugural San Diego Rep Black Voices 2021 Play Reading Series.

The four-week series — taking place live online at 5:30 p.m. Mondays, March 15 through April 5 — will feature works by four Black playwrights, directed by four Black directors and starring a combined 23 actors, 18 of whom are either Black or Asian American.

Each performance will include a live salon hosted by leading theater artists and scholars. The play series is being curated by director Delicia Turner Sonnenberg and Rep associate artistic director Danielle Ward, with additional curation by dramaturg Kimberly King and Rep development and artistic associate Ahmed K. Dents.

“Now, more than ever, attention must be paid, and minds and hearts must open wide to listen closely to these essential American voices,” Sam Woodhouse, San Diego Rep’s longtime artistic director, said in a statement.

Tickets will be “pay what you can,” with a suggested donation of $20. To register, visit sdrep.org. Here’s the series lineup:

March 15: “Polar Bears, Black Boys, and Prairie Fringed Orchids” by Vincent Terrell Durham (left), directed by Rondrell Mccormick. The play is about a cocktail party in Harlem where race and redemption in today’s America come up in conversation.

March 22: “Baton” by Deneen Reynolds-knott (left), directed by Dexter Singleton. A Black couple, whose date is interrupted by a news story about a Black man beaten by White police officers, debate police brutality and the Black Lives Matter and #Metoo movements.

March 29: “Mud Row” by Dominique Morriseau (left), directed by Patricia Mcgregor. Two generations of sisters protect and defy the legacy of their foremothers in a story of a family home, shared heritage, estrangement and hope.

April 5: “The Great Khan” by Michael Gene Sullivan (left), directed by Delicia Turner Sonnenberg. Two Black teen boys seek to define their identities when Genghis Khan shows up to challenge their ideas about their stories and who gets to tell them.