The City of Los Angeles Department of Cultural Affairs (DCA) Performing Arts Division (PERF) announces the launch of its Leimert Park Cultural Hub Festival of New Works. The initiative invites South Los Angeles artists to create short subject works in the disciplines of theater, dance, music, and film. The inaugural Leimert Park Cultural Hub Festival of New Works: Short Plays on Environmental Justice, challenges local playwrights to develop, write, and present a short subject stage play in the areas of Health, Air Quality, Open Space and/or Climate Change.
PERF is proud to announce Allison M Keating and Stephan Collins-Stepney as the commission winners, selected through a peer-panel-review process. The awardees were required to develop a new work, conduct a table read, re-writes, and rehearsals, all culminating in a staged reading of each work followed by a talkback with representatives from the City of Los Angeles’ Environmental Justice Policy team and Black Planners of Los Angeles. The 30-minute works are:
Climate Café by Allison M Keating
When the worst of climate change is being lived through, when our cousins are stranded on shrinking islands, when our families are scattered climate refugees, when the fires burn and we live our lives in cooling centers, how do our souls survive? Like any war, in community. A Climate Cafe is a gathering where we share stories and feel comforted through the collective emotional toll of enduring Climate Change. This play explores three Climate Cafe’s offering hope through community resilience, imagination, and care.
Deadly Gangs by Stephan Collins-Stepney
Zenobia, a Black woman, has leaders of three of the deadliest gangs tied up in her home: Boil, Defot, and Stocky. She tells them that they need to take accountability for what they’ve done to poor Black and Brown communities. Through their discussion, questions are answered. Who are the real villains? Who is responsible for solving the problem? What can be done to improve this community issue?
We hope you will come out and support this creative effort that is sure to educate, uplift and entertain!
