Thursday, September 3, 2009

Oak Bluffs: Facts

Note: The fictional LeVays do not live in Oak Bluffs (a real town on Martha's Vineyard), which is home to Taylor's father (also fictional).

Oak Bluffs
settled in 1642 (originally part of Edgartown)
incorporated in 1880 as Cottage City
renamed Oak Bluffs in 1907

According to the 2000 U.S. Census:
3,713 total people
504 people/sq mile
4.3% African-American (160 total)
median age: 39
median household income: $42,044
per captia income: $23,829
8.4% of population living below poverty line
http://www.ci.oak-bluffs.ma.us/about-oakbluffs.shtml
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Thursday, August 13, 2009

Publications

Stick Fly: A Play (Paperback)
$15.00 Retail
Northwestern University Press, 2008
ISBN: 978-0-8101-2535-3

$13.50 at barnesandnoble.com

Stick Fly: Audiobook MP3
L.A. Theatre Works
Pub. Date: April 2008
ISBN-13: 9781580815499
File Size: 51 MB
Duration: 1 hour, 50 minutes

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Production Photos

Matrix Theatre (2009)



Contemporary American Theatre Festival (2008)



McCarter Theatre (2007)



Promotional Trailer available at:
http://www.mccarter.org/Trailers/viewtrailer.aspx?page_id=113
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Lydia's Bios

from MPAACT (2008)

Lydia Diamond’s plays include: The Gift Horse, The Goodman (Theodore Ward 1st Place, Kesselring Prize 2nd Place); The Bluest Eye, Steppenwolf (World Premiere, Black Arts Alliance Image Award – Best New Play), New Vic, Theatre Alliance, Plowshares, Playmakers Rep, Horizon Theatre Co., Freedom Theatre, Providence Black Rep, Lorraine Hansberry Theatre, Long Wharf/Hartford Stage, Company One (Elliot Norton – Best Fringe Production ’08 Nomination), and Jubilee Theatre; Voyeurs de Venus, Chicago Dramatists (’06 Joseph Jefferson Award – Best New Work, ‘06 Black Theatre Alliance Award – Best Writing), Company One (Fall, ’08); Stick Fly (’08 Susan Smith Blackburn Finalist), Congo Square (World Premiere, ’06 BTAA – Best Play, ’06 Joseph Jeff Nomination – Best New Work), True Colors, The McCarter, L.A. Theatre Works, and Contemporary American Theatre Festival; Harriet Jacobs, Steppenwolf (World Premiere), Staged Readings at Old Vic, U.K., and The Kennedy Center; Stage Black, Cincinnati Arts Consortium, MPAACT (‘09); and The Inside, MPAACT Theatre Co. and Nat’l Tour. Lydia is currently working on commissions for The McCarter, Victory Gardens/Humana, and Huntington Theatre Companies. The Bluest Eye, The Gift Horse, and Stage Black are published by Dramatic Publishing. The Gift Horse is anthologized in Northwestern University Press’ 7 Black Plays, ed. Chuck Smith. Stick Fly, published 2009, Northwestern University Press. Lydia holds a B.S. in Performance Studies from Northwestern University, is a resident playwright at Chicago Dramatists, a 2006-2007 Huntington Playwright Fellow, and an ’07/’08 TCG/NEA playwright in residence at The Steppenwolf, and is a TCG Board Member. Lydia Diamond has taught at Columbia College Chicago, DePaul University, Loyola, and is currently on faculty at Boston University.
http://www.mpaact.org/blog/2008/12/lydia-diamond-biography.php

from McCarter Theatre (2007)

Lydia R. Diamond is a Huntington Playwriting Fellow and a Resident Playwright at Chicago Dramatists. Her plays include: The Gift Horse (Goodman Theatre, Kesselring Prize-2nd Place), Stick Fly (Black Theatre Alliance Award - Best Play, Congo Square, True Colors Theatre Co.), Voyeurs de Venus (Joseph Jefferson Award - Best New Play, BTAA - Best Writing, World Premiere Chicago Dramatists), and an adaptation of Toni Morrison’s The Bluest Eye (Black Arts Alliance Image Award – Best New Play; Steppenwolf Theatre, The New Vic, NY, Playmakers Rep, Theatre Alliance, D.C., New Freedom Theatre, Plowshares, and upcoming at Long Wharf Theatre Co., Hartford Stage, Providence Black Rep, Lorraine Hansberry Theatre, and Company One, Boston.). Ms. Diamond’s newest play, Harriet Jacobs, received public readings at The Kennedy Center and London’s Old Vic, and will premiere at Steppenwolf in February, where Ms. Diamond is a TCG/NEA Playwright in Residence. The Gift Horse is published in 7 Black Plays, and The Bluest Eye, The Gift Horse, and Stage Black will all be available through Dramatic Publishing. Ms. Diamond is a graduate of Northwestern University and currently teaches at Boston University.
http://www.mccarter.org/ticketoffice/artistdetail.aspx?artist_id=99975509&event_id=3189
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Wednesday, August 12, 2009

Production History

Congo Square Theatre Company
Duncan YMCA Chernin Center for the Arts
Chicago, Illinois
March 23-April 15, 2006

Director: Chuck Smith
Scenery: Dustin Efird
Costumes: Christine Pascual
Lights: Alex Seiler
Sound: Joe Plummer
Props: Joanna Iwanicka

Taylor: Ann Joseph
Kent: Daniel J. Bryant
Cheryl: Ericka Ratcliff
Flip: Aaron Todd Douglas
Dad: Phillip Edward Van Lear
Kimber: Anne Roche


True Colors Theatre Company
Balzer Theater
Atlanta, Georgia
May 19-June 3, 2007

Director: Derrick Sanders
Scenery: Rochelle Barker
Costumes: Shilla Benning
Lights: Jessica Coale
Sound: Chris Bartelski

Taylor: JeNie Fleming
Kent: Jahi Kearse
Cheryl: Ayesha Ngaujah
Flip: Javon Johnson
Dad: Greg Alan Williams
Kimber: Elizabeth Wells Berkes

McCarter Theatre Company
Berlind Theatre
Princeton, New Jersey
September 7-October 14, 2007

Director: Shirley Jo Finney
Scenery: Felix E. Chochren
Costumes: Karen Perry
Lights: Victor Tan
Sound: Darron L. West

Taylor: Michole Briana White
Kent: Kevin Carroll
Cheryl: Julie Pace Mitchell
Flip: Javon Johnson
Dad: John Wesley
Kimber: Monette Magrath

LA Theatre Works
Skirball Cultural Center
Los Angeles, California
November 14-18, 2007
Director: Shirley Jo Finney
This is the production with Justine Bateman as KIMBER that was audiorecorded and is available on a 2-CD set or by digital download as an Audiobook MP3.

Contemporary American Theatre Festival
Studio Theater at Sara Cree Hall
Shepherdstown, West Virginia
July 9-August 3, 2008

Director: Liesl Tommy
Scenery: Robert Klingelhoefer
Costumes: Reggie Ray

Taylor: Tijuana T. Ricks
Kent: Maduka Steady
Cheryl: Joniece Abbott-Pratt
Flip: Avery Glymph
Dad: David Emerson Toney
Kimber: Anne Marie Nest

Matrix Theatre
Los Angeles, California
April 10-May 31, 2009
Director: Shirley Jo Finney
Scenery: John Iacovelli
Costumes: Dana Woods
Lights: Christian Epps
Sound: Mitch Greenhill

Taylor: Michole Briana White
Kent: Chris Butler
Cheryl: Tinashe Kajese
Flip: Terrell Tilford
Dad: John Wesley
Kimber: Avery Clyde

Arena Stage
Washington, DC
January 1 – February 7, 2010
Director: Kenny Leon

Huntington Theatre Company
Boston, Massachusetts
February 19 – March 21, 2010
Director: Kenny Leon

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Tuesday, August 11, 2009

Questions for Lydia

Ages of Characters
David: In your "Characters" list, you note that DAD is 58-62 and CHERYL is 18-22. While I understand the symbolic significance of the four years regarding Dr. LeVay's awareness of his paternity (of CHERYL), I'm missing the practical meaning of this four-year age range for the two, particularly since CHERYL just graduated from high school. Have I overlooked something in my initial reading?

Lydia: The ages in the character descriptions are simply the range in which the actors could be cast. Not set in stone, not significant, and not a span of age through the show. Just an actor between 58-62 could play the role... which as you know, could mean anything.

Year of the Play
David: Is there a specific year setting for the play? Given that Blackberry was available (as DAD uses it) beginning in 2002, and given that Congo Square produced your play in 2006, may I conclude 2002 or perhaps 2003?

Lydia: I think you're about right, It's probably 2003 or so. Before the possibility of the Obama administration or it would certainly have figured heavily into their conversations.
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Cottages on Martha's Vineyard

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