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 residency is an opportunity for bold experimentation and rigorous investigation of concept, space, design, text, form, and performance.
We are thrilled to announce that the PlaySpace artists’ productions will be presented at TheatreRow in on May 15th. 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: BabySteps
This is a play about how Black folks have always found ways to document their existence despite systems designed to erase them. It’s about the stories we tell ourselves to survive. It’s about how technology both preserves and distorts our truths. And ultimately, it’s about how baby steps – small, uncertain movements forward – accumulate into the revolutionary act of simply continuing to exist, to create, to laugh in a world that too often denies us those possibilities.
BabySteps asks us: How do we move forward when weighed down by what came before? How do the small steps we take today echo across generations? And what happens when we finally understand our place in a lineage both beautiful and broken?
BabySteps invites you to witness a family’s journey across time – where a father’s confession, a daughter’s comedy, and an ancestor’s song combine to form a chorus that transcends generations.
CLICK HERE TO RSVP– presentations on 5/15 at 2pm & 7pm
DARIUS WRIGHT
Bio:
Darius Wright is a New York City–based playwright, actor, and real estate professional originally from Houston, Texas. He studied Musical Theatre at Oklahoma City University and is a veteran of the stage, having performed in 7 Broadway productions. His work explores the intersection of identity, morality, and survival, often centering characters navigating the tension between personal truth and societal expectation. Through intimate, character-driven storytelling, Wright examines how concepts like safety, freedom, and belonging shape the choices we make—and the lives we build.
Websites: www.dariuswright.com
About the Project: Earl’s Shoeshine
In the charged atmosphere of the 2024 election, Earl Rowland’s grip on stability begins to unravel when his youngest child comes out as a trans woman—forcing a reckoning between the safety he’s built and a truth he can’t control.
CLICK HERE TO RSVP– presentations on 5/15 at 4:30pm
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
- Full industry presentation of the work