PlaySpace is a new-work development program for wildly imaginative theatrical pieces. The program lends personalized support to the core artists with the aim of bringing their ambitious theatre project closer to being production-ready.
The purpose of this five-month residency as an opportunity for bold experimentation and rigorous investigation of concept, space, design, text, form, and performance.
In our inaugural year of launching PlaySpace, we’re so grateful to have received so many bold and imaginative applications. After a rigorous process, we’ve selected our 2 PlaySpace projects. We can’t wait to dive into their development, and we are thrilled to announce that the PlaySpace artists’ productions will be presented at PlayFest, Pipeline’s new-works theatre festival in June 2020.
Meet our 2 playwrights who will receive Pipeline’s support to transform their bold work!
KAREEM M. LUCAS
Bio: Kareem M. Lucas is a Brooklyn born and Harlem based Actor/Writer/Producer/Director. His solo pieces include “The Maturation of an Inconvenient Negro (or iNEGRO)”, “Black Is Beautiful, But It Ain’t Always Pretty”, “RATED BLACK: An American Requiem”, “From Brooklyn With Love”, “A Boy & His Bow”, and “A Warm Winter”. He has performed his solo work at The Greene Space, Aaron Davis Hall at City College, The Town Hall, Fire This Time Festival, IRT Theater, The Slipper Room, The Brick, Teatro Circulo, Judson Arts Wednesdays, Hi-ARTS, AFO Theater, JACK, HERE Arts Center, New York Theatre Workshop, The Public Theater, among others. He is currently an Archive Residency artist at the New Ohio Theatre, and his residency will culminate with the world premiere of “Black Is Beautiful, But It Ain’t Always Pretty” in Spring 2021 at the New Ohio. He’s also an inaugural Jerome Hill Artist Fellow and a NYTW 2050 Playwriting Fellow. MFA: NYU Graduate Acting Program. For more info you can visit www.KareemMLucas.com or follow him on Instagram @KareemMLucas
About the Project: In RATED BLACK: An American Requiem, a young Black man hosts his own Homegoing (funeral), using original poetry, songs, and music to celebrate life, and heal the pain from violence against Black bodies in America.
MAR HWA WEI
Bio: Mar Hwa Wei is an interdisciplinary artist, board-certified psychiatrist, certified yoga teacher, and author of the Harvard Medical School Guide to Yoga. Inspired by her background and research in philosophy, ethics, aesthetics, and mindfulness, her work explores existential questions of mortality, loss and memorialization, the search for a meaningful life, and authenticity of the self. She has performed at Dusklit interactive art festival and art galleries in New York City. Mar is a graduate of Yale College, Yale Medical School, and Yale Law School, where she was senior editor of the Yale Law Journal and the Yale Journal of Health Policy, Law, and Ethics. She is a graduate of Harvard’s Massachusetts General Hospital / McLean Hospital psychiatry program where she was chief resident and is the recipient of the Anne Alonso Award for Psychotherapy. She is a contributing writer for Psychology Today (with over 2.5 million views), Harvard Health, and Huffington Post. She has a private practice specializing in holistic psychiatry in Manhattan. Websites: www.marhwa.com / www.marlynnweimd.com
About the Project: ELIXIR: Digital Immortality is an interactive, immersive, multimedia play based on a fictitious AI tech startup (www.elixirforever.com). Using neural network technology, Elixir creates digital selves that can live online forever.
What we’re providing:
- A development process/residency designed around the unique needs of each project
- Financial support towards materials and collaborators
- Organizational support from Pipeline and its artistic and producorial staff
- Two workshop performances over a weekend in June 2020