Atlanta winners of new monologue competition named

Laniyah Kelly of Dunwoody High School recently won the Atlanta Regional Finals of the Next Narrative Monologue Competition, a new national program for high school students in which they perform works

by a host of contemporary Black playwrights.

Orchestrated by Kenny Leon’s True Colors Theatre Company, the program replaces the troupe’s longtime August Wilson Monologue Competition. In launching the Next Narrative competition, True Colors Artistic Director Jamil Jude sought to help bring new works by Black playwrights to American stages. The contestants are drawing from a 2022 compendium that includes 41 monologues by

20 playwrights created especially for the competition.

Kelly won a $600 cash prize and an all-expenses paid trip to New York City for the Next Narrative National Finals to be held at the historic Apollo Theater on May 2. Also heading to the Apollo will be Atlanta Finals second-place finisher Zaria Williams, who attends New Manchester High School in Douglasville. Williams won a cash prize of $400. Third place and a cash prize of $200 went to Jayden Griffin from Atlanta Classical Academy.

“Along with our publishing partner Theatrical Rights Worldwide, our vision was to develop a new repertoire of theatrical expression grounded in the Black aesthetic,” Jude said, “but uniquely crafted and available to young thespians everywhere seeking age-suitable and relevant audition content.”

Additional regional finals are being held in Boston, Dallas, Detroit, Milwaukee, New York, Pittsburgh, Seattle, and New Haven, Connecticut. Some 18 students from across country are expected to compete in the inaugural national finals next month.