Announcing the 1st Look Series!
1st Stage is delighted to announce our brand new 1st Look series, giving you a sneek peak into the brilliant new shows that the Commission of Solo Works artists are creating!
You’ll have the opportunity to see excerpts from these fascinating works-in-progress, and then to engage in a follow-up discussion with our incredible artists.
Our next 1st Look will feature Justin Weaks and Frank Britton.
This 1st Look will be on April 24, at 2:00 PM
These 1st Looks are entirely free, and will be livestreamed, via Zoom!
Justin Weaks is working on a piece called A Fine Madness, which will examine the concept of virus, of stigma and how to eradicate it, and on the experiences of living with diseases such as HIV. This piece will ultimately feature a visual component as well, including a short film which is currently in development.
Frank Britton is developing a semi-autobiographical work centered around an assault/robbery he suffered at the hands of four people in May 2014 that left him temporarily facially disfigured. The work will explore how the people in his life rallied, loved, and supported him following the attack and his recovery. It will also touch on post-recovery, survival, and how he has lived with everything since then.
1st Look Archives
Jasmin Cardenas will explore the voices of undocumented and low-wage factory workers in her new piece, Exploited and Disposable: Working People in America Have No Guarantees.This documentary theater solo piece will be developed through a series of interviews with workers about trying to survive in their working life and the ways systemic oppression impacts their quality of life. This work will compare and contrast the experiences of low-wage workers and day laborers with educated working professionals and explore the ways capitalism fails people at every level.
James. J. Johnson is creating a celebration of Black fatherhood, in a new work entitled The Drummer’s Sum, based on the stories that his father has shared with him over the years. Johnson’s father grew up in Fauquier County, Virginia, and was in high school when Fauquier underwent desegregation. In his younger years, he was a drummer who had the opportunity to play with many soul legends like the Chi-Lites and Stylistics when they would travel through Fauquier on the “chitlin circuit.” He also got involved with the wrong crowd and was notorious for carrying a gun. After being involved in a life of violence, being banned from school in the 10th grade and facing both fatherhood and marriage at 21, he underwent a supernatural conversion and has since lived his life as a minister. These stories of parenthood will be told in Johnson’s father’s own words, alongside humor and hip-hop.
Introducing Our Commission of Solo Work!
During this time away from the theatre, 1st Stage continues to drive towards creating diverse, modern work by leading playwrights and performers. The American Theatre community is a family, and we are doing what we can to support that family during this time of need. Despite the times in which we find ourselves, we delight in bringing you the same quality of beautiful, emotional, relatable stories that you could have otherwise seen on our stage. Over the coming months, a group of the nation’s most talented artists will generate individual pieces of solo work. We’ll keep you in the loop through workshops and readings along the way. One day, we hope you’ll see these pieces on our stage!
We’re looking forward to sharing work by:
Frank Britton (he/him/his) is a native of Washington, DC who has been a part of the DC theatre scene professionally for the past 18 years. He is a graduate and faculty member of the National Conservatory of Dramatic Arts, and has appeared in productions with many area theatres including Arena Stage, Studio Theatre, Imagination Stage, Round House Theatre, Washington Stage Guild, Avant Bard Theatre (Acting Company Member), Rorschach Theatre (Company Member), 1st Stage, NextStop Theatre Company, Theater Alliance, SCENA Theatre. He has appeared regionally with Cincinnati Playhouse in the Park, Milwaukee Repertory Theater, Firehouse Theatre (Richmond, VA), Baltimore Shakespeare Festival, Virginia Shakespeare Festival, Burning Coal Theatre Co. (Raleigh, NC), and off-off-Broadway at La MaMa ETC (NYC). In 2018, he earned the Helen Hayes Award (The Robert Prosky Award for Outstanding Lead Actor in a Play—Helen Production) for his performance in Stephen Adly Guirgis’s Jesus Hopped the ‘A’ Train with 1st Stage in Tysons, VA. Many, many thanks to Dee, Alex, and 1st Stage.
Jasmin Cardenas (she/her/hers) is a Chicago Actress, Director, published Storyteller, Deviser and Activist who uses the mediums of story and theater to move human hearts towards compassion and action. Recognized for her arts & civic engagement work she was awarded a 2020-2021 LAB Fellowship by The Laboratory for Global Performance and Politics at Georgetown University. Daughter to Colombian immigrants Jasmin uses teatro and play in joyful resistance to the status quo. Working with low-wage temp workers she co-founded Workers Resistance Theater, fighting for workers rights using Theater of the Oppressed, a powerful tool for collective action, critical thinking, solution finding and healing. Her first solo show ¿Niña Buena? directed by Coya Paz was produced by Links Hall and toured the midwest and to the Susana Alexander International Theater Festiva in Puebla, Mexico. Coming up she will be a featured New Voice at the 2021 National Storytelling Festival in Jonesborough, Tennessee.
Gary-Kayi Fletcher (he/him/his) is a professional stage and screen artist who was last seen at 1st Stage in its production of The Brothers Size. A Helen Hayes Award winner (Outstanding Lead Performer in a Play – Hayes) for his performance as Ogun Size in that production, he has performed regionally at Arena Stage, The John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, Baltimore Center Stage, Mosaic Theater Company of D.C., Everyman Theatre, Rep Stage, Tantrum Theater, Franklin Stage Company, Meadow Brook Theatre and more. Film/TV credits include work in F.S. Key: After the Song, America’s Most Wanted, The 6th Degree and the critically acclaimed web series Casters and Mythos. Gary-Kayi is a proud member of Actors’ Equity Association and SAG-AFTRA. www.itsgarykayi.com
Khanisha Foster (she/her/hers) as a 2017 Fox Fellow, completed a two-year study of the multiracial voice and code-switching on page, stage, and screen. Her writing, along with her life experience of being the daughter of a Black Panther father and a mother whose family invented Bubble Wrap, landed her a writing gig with K&L Productions (Kay Cannon & Laverne McKinnon). She has also written for Probably Monsters, the video game company founded by the creators of Halo and Destiny, and the story game Episodes by Pocket Gems. Her solo show Joy Rebel, directed by Obie Award winner Lou Bellamy, received critical acclaim and was chosen as a DC Metro Staff favorite for 2019. Foster was a featured storyteller on NPR’s The Dinner Party. Along with Lena Waithe, she was named one of 18 Black Women We Think Are Phenomenal by Mater Mea Magazine. American Theatre Magazine named her in their Role Call series as one of the 6 Theatre Workers You Should Know. Broadway World named her Best Director for The Bluest Eye, which also won Best Production. Her film acting debut, Chicago Boricua, was an official selection of the Tribeca Film Festival. Foster hosted and produced the podcast How I Wrote That, where she interviewed the top women writing for tv and film. Some featured guests include Kate Gersten (The Good Place), Valerie Woods (Queen Sugar), and Tanya Saracho (Vida). The podcast can be found at: www.howiwrotethat.com.
Jeremy Keith Hunter (he/him/his) is one of the dopest artists you’ll ever meet. Hailing out of the DMV; Jeremy is a multidisciplinary artist with a strong focus in theatre and film acting, writing, and graphic design. As an emerging artist, his talents stretch far as a lyricist and rapper, director, event planner and organizer. Jeremy received his formal training in the arts while attending the College of Southern Maryland and has performed with academic institutions all around the DMV; including Howard University, Bowie State University, Georgetown University, and American University. Jeremy is a 2-time Helen Hayes award nominee and proud member of the Actor’s Equity Association. Regional credits include: Everyman Theatre (Proof); Lyric Repertory Company (A Raisin in the Sun, Clybourne Park, The Great Society); Mosaic Theatre Company (Les Deux Noirs, Hooded or Being Black for Dummies, Milk Like Sugar, When January Feels Like Summer); WSC Avant Bard (Topdog/Underdog); MetroStage (The Painted Rocks at Revolver Creek); Studio Theatre (The Effect u/s, Chimerica u/s); 1st Stage* (The Farnsworth Invention); Imagination Stage (Charlotte’s Web u/s); Ally Theatre Company (Rabbit Summer); Theatre Alliance (Word Becomes Flesh u/s); and Constellation Theatre (Arabian Nights). As a great hip-hop enthusiast; Jeremy is also known musically under the alias ‘Mercury’, his most current project, “gourmet”, is an awe-inspiring food themed hiphop mix that promotes and encourages good, healthy eating.
Caleen Sinnette Jennings (she/her/hers) is an actor, director, playwright, and a founding member of The Welders, a D.C. Playwrights’ Collective. Dramatic Publishing Company has published eight of her plays, and her work has appeared in seven play anthologies. She was recently commissioned by Arena Stage to write for their inaugural covid-driven ‘May 22, 2020’ project. She was also commissioned by Roundhouse Theatre to write an episode of their covid-driven series ‘Homebound’. In 2017, her adaptation of the Darius & Twig, for the Kennedy Center did a national tour after playing at the Kennedy Center Family Theatre. From 2015-2020, her Queens Girl Trilogy plays have been commissioned and produced by Theatre J, Mosaic Theatre and Everyman Theatre. Caleen has received five nominations for outstanding new play from the Helen Hayes Awards and play writing awards from the Kennedy Center and The Actor’s Theatre of Louisville. She is a Professor of Theatre, Emerita in the Department of Performing Arts at American University in Washington, D.C. where she taught for 31 years. In 2019, she received A.U.’s inaugural award for Excellence in Diversity, Equity and Inclusion. In 2003, she received the university’s Scholar/Teacher of the Year Award. She has been a faculty member of the Folger Shakespeare Library’s Teaching Shakespeare Institute since 1994 and she was Project Manager on a 2016 NEH grant to the Folger entitled Crosstalk: D.C. Reflects on Identity and Difference. Jennings graduated from Bennington College with a B.A. in Drama, and received her M.F.A. in Acting from NYU Tisch School of the Arts.
James J. Johnson (he/him/his) was last onstage as “Wynton” in 1st Stage’s co-production of The Royale (with Olney Theatre Center). Other regional theatre credits include: Les Deux Noirs: Notes on Notes of a Native Son (Mosaic Theatre Company); Ruined (Arena Stage); Hero’s Welcome (1st Stage); Stick Fly (UVA Department of Theatre); Our Suburb (Theater J); The Member of the Wedding (Ford’s Theatre); The Unmentionables (Woolly Mammoth Theatre); Kingdom, Wedding Dance, Buffalo Hair (African Continuum Theatre Co.); Twelfth Night, Taming of the Shrew (Shakespeare Project of Frederick); Stonewall Country, Macbeth (Theatre at Lime Kiln); Anna Lucasta (Rep Stage); Jungle Book (Adventure Theatre MTC); Zomo the Rabbit, P. Nokio, Lyle the Crocodile (Imagination Stage); Homer P. Figg (Kennedy Center). FILM: Too Saved, Nocturnal Agony and The Henchman’s War. EDUCATION: BFA, Virginia Commonwealth University. J. J. is also a founding member of Galvanize DC, a support network for Black DMV theatre artists.
Natsu Onoda Power (she/her/hers)specializes in adapting non-dramatic texts into new works of visual theatre, but sometimes also directs plays. Original works (writing/ adapting/ directing) include Thumbelina at Imagination Stage; The Lathe of Heaven at Spooky Action Theater; Alice in Wonderland with National Players; Wind Me Up, Maria!: A Go-go Musical at Georgetown University; Astro Boy and the God of Comics at the Studio Theater and Company One Theater, Boston. Other directing credits include Provincetown Tennessee Williams Festival; Olney Theater Center; the Studio Theatre; Baltimore CenterStage; Mosaic Theater, Synetic Theater, and Theater J. She is the recipient of two Elliot Norton Awards (for Outstanding Direction and Production Design), two Helen Hayes Awards (Outstanding New Adaptation and Outstanding Set Design), as well as a DC Commission in the Arts Fellowship. Onoda Power holds a Ph.D. from Northwestern University, and is the author of God of Comics: Osamu Tezuka and the Creation of Post- World War II Manga (The University Press of Mississippi, 2009). She is a Professor of Theater and Performance Studies at Georgetown University.
Brian Quijada (he/him/his) is actor, playwright, composer, and Artistic Director of The Wild Wind Performance Lab for New Play Development at Texas Tech University. Quijada has spent most of his career acting in Off-Broadway and Regional Theaters including The Public Theater, Roundabout Theatre Company, Playwright’s Realm, Ensemble Studio Theatre, Victory Gardens, and Actors Theatre of Louisville. As a playwright/composer, Brian’s plays and musicals have been developed at Pittsburgh CLO’s Spark Festival, Victory Garden’s Ignition Festival, Ars Nova’s Ant Fest, New York Stage and Film’s Powerhouse Festival, The Kennedy Center’s Page-to-Stage, and The O’Neill’s National Musical Theatre Conference. Commissioning institutions include Seattle Repertory Theater, A.R.T., and The Kennedy Center. His play Kid Prince and Pablo, recently received its World Premiere at The Kennedy Center Fall of 2019. His critically-acclaimed multi Jeff award-winning, multi Drama Desk nominated show Where Did We Sit in the Bus? has toured all over the country.
Juan Francisco Villa (he/him/his) is a New York City 1st generation Colombian-American. He is an artistic creator focusing on Acting, Directing, Writing, and Teaching Artist. He is looking forward to developing his solo play Finding Pancho which traces his relationship with his father who disappeared deep into Colombia while exploring his role of fatherhood. Recent work with 1st Stage includes Helen Hayes nominations for Directing with columbinus and Jesus Hopped The A-Train both co-directed with Artistic Director, Alex Levy. His solo play, Empanada for a Dream, directed by Alex Levy, chronicles his life growing up in The Lower East Side of NYC. It was recently part of the inaugural Logan Festival at 1st Stage. It has been presented in NYC, Chicago, and LA along with cracking ‘The Top Ten Shows To See’ for the Chicago Tribune, Chicago Reader and Los Angeles Times. His ensemble play Don Chipotle World Premiered at the Chicago DCASE Storefront Theater presented by terraNOVA Collective and The Playground Theater. Juan partook in the Maria Irene Fornes Playwriting Workshop in Chicago led by Migdalia Cruz. He has partaken in writing workshops led by MacArthur Geniuses Luis Alfaro and Han Ong along with Erin Courtney, John Jesurun, Zakiyyah Abdul-Rahim Alexander and April Yvette-Thompson. He is a 4-time recipient of the Chicago DCASE grant, PBS Latino New Media Finalist. Juan has been a Guest Teaching Artist with California State University- Monterrey Bay, Depaul University, Syracuse University, Le Moyne College, numerous high schools, and with the Chicago Cook County Juvenile Detention Center. Acting Off Broadway: The Public Theater, Cherry Lane, Collaboration Town, 59E59, Mabou Mines, INTAR. Chicago Credits: Chicago Shakespeare, Victory Gardens, Goodman, Steppenwolf, Teatro Vista. Regional Credits: Pittsburgh City Theater, Rochester Geva Theater, Los Angeles Theater Center, LA Celebration Theater, and LA Geffen Theater. TV Credits: Madame Secretary (CBS), Chicago PD (NBC), Betrayal (ABC), Blacklist: Redemption (NBC) Juan is a Maggie Flanigan Studio grad, Improv Olympic (IO) grad, and a Le Moyne College grad. He is finishing up his MFA TV/Film Writing in LA through Stephens College. Juanfranciscovilla.com.
Justin Weaks (he/him/his) is proud to be a part of 1st Stage’s Inaugural Solo Work Cohort. He last appeared in 1st Stage’s production of Lobby Hero in 2016, directed by Artistic Director Alex Levy. A Charlotte, NC native, he has been appearing on Washington DC stages since 2015 working with theatres such as The Kennedy Center, Woolly Mammoth Theater Company, Ford’s Theatre, Studio Theatre and many more. Pre-pandemic, he was working with Theater Alliance (This Bitter Earth) and Studio Theater (Pipeline). Additional regional and New York credits include work with Round House Theatre, Ensemble Studio Theater, New York Theatre Workshop, Cincinnati Playhouse in the Park, Shakespeare & Company and Barter Theatre. A two-time Helen Hayes Award recipient and five-time nominee, Justin is a teaching artist in the DMV area and a company member of the Woolly Mammoth Theater Company. Education: BA in Theatre from Greensboro College. Instagram: @keithweaks.
1st Stage is grateful to Development Dynamics Coaching & Consulting, LLC, Ted Gold and Margaret Gering, Thomas G. Goodwin and Cheryl Matheis, Holly Hassett, Bootsie and Humo Humenansky, Deborah Kahn and Harris Miller, Kathy Maher, Doug and Diana Pinkham, Barry Sullivan and Alan Scott, and Stuart Teach for their generous gifts in support of the Commissions.
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