Providence, RI — Brown University Department of Theatre Arts and Performance Studies picked up three awards in the Drama category last week at the first annual Law And Order Party Awards, the Dorrys.
The awards recognized productions from the Brown University Theatre 2015-16 performance season. Recent alum Nikteha Salazar ’16 took home the award for Play of the Year for The Red Paint. Associate Professor Kym Moore won Director of the Year for The Road Weeps, The Well Runs Dry. The same show also fought off tough competition to win the award for Production of the Year.
The Dorrys honor the region’s best, most interesting art and culture. The awards were presented live on September 27th at Aurora Providence in downtown Providence. They were given out in several categories across a range of arts and cultural fields. The awards are organized by the Law And Order Party. Since 2015, Law And Order Party has delivered an email newsletter featuring seven things to do each week: art, music, books, movies, plays, performances, and more. One event per day, 365 days per year.
The Brown University Theatre 2015-16 performance season was produced by the Brown University Department of Theatre Arts and Performance Studies and by Sock & Buskin, a student-faculty collaborative board that has an unbroken record of producing theatre at Brown University for over 100 years. The 2015-16 performance season at Brown was noted for its all-women roster of directors, including Moore and Salazar.
The Red Paint is a new one-act play about breaking cycles of violence. The piece transcends time and space in an effort to explore the Chicano experience over many generations. The play centers on Xochitl, a young woman who seeks to understand her father and in the process learns her own history. Flowers are born out of pots. The world ends. The cycle stops. And then it doesn’t. The Red Paint was the Senior Slot show at Brown University Theatre for 2015. The Senior Slot show is reserved for a production proposed and directed by a Brown undergraduate senior student.
The Road Weeps, The Well Runs Dry is written by Marcus Gardley, a successful playwright and Assistant Professor in the Department of Theatre Arts and Performance Studies. This award-winning production was directed by Associate Professor Kym Moore. Surviving slavery, revolts, and the “Trail of Tears”, a community of self-proclaimed Black Native American Freedmen have incorporated the first all-black town in Wewoka, Oklahoma circa 1850. The foundations of the town are tried when a new religion comes head to head with tradition. When former enslavers attempt to seize the new town, the leader of the Freedmen springs into action. The Road Weeps, The Well Runs Dry is a myth based on historical events. The story is informed by the migration of Black Seminoles (African and Native American people) from Florida to Oklahoma. At its core, The Road Weeps, The Well Runs Dry is a story that explores what happens to a group of people whose faith and identity are put to the test when their water well runs dry.
The department was nominated for four other Dorry awards: Play of the Year (A Big House by Diane Exavier ’17 MFA); Performance of the Year, Lead (Crystal Kim ‘16 as Mary South in The Road Weeps, The Well Runs Dry); Production Team of the Year (Mr. Burns, A Post-Electric Play); and a second nomination in the category of Production of the Year (The Love of the Nightingale).
Professor Erik Ehn was also honored with the award for Drama Curveball of the Year for Island of Love by Tenderloin Opera Company. Ehn founded the Tenderloin Opera in the hopes of building community among the homeless and their advocates. Each week, Ehn hosts writing workshops for homeless members of the Providence community, their friends, and advocates. Together the company authors, writes music, and performs about two operas a year based on stories of homelessness, abuse, addiction, hope, love, and redemption.
The Brown University Theatre performance season for 2016-17 opened at the end of September and runs throughout the academic year. As part of ongoing conversations around diversity and inclusion on campus at Brown University, the Brown University Theatre 2016-17 season brings together diverse writers, writing, and performers that highlight the strengths and the challenges of making relevant performance in the modern world. More information on the 2016-17 season can be found at brown.edu/theatre. This season, Kym Moore is directing By The Way, Meet Vera Stark by Lynn Nottage ’86. The production plays in Leeds Theatre (83 Waterman Street, Providence, RI 02912) until October 9.
Tickets for this season’s productions are $15 (adults) / $12 (seniors) / $7 (students). For more information visit brown.edu/theatre. To book tickets, call (401) 863-2838, or visit the Box Office in the Leeds Theatre Lobby (83 Waterman Street, Providence, RI 02912), Tuesday–Friday from 12–4pm during the semester, or email boxoffice@brown.edu. To book online, visit: brown.edu/tickets.
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Department of Theatre Arts and Performance Studies press contact:
Paul Margrave
83 Waterman Street, Providence, RI 09212
401-863-2730
Download the Regional Award Ceremony Press Release (PDF)
Press Images:
TAPS 1 - Nikteha Salazar '16. Photo credit: Georgia Blue Photography (thanks to Law and Order Party).
TAPS 2 - Production shot from The Red Paint (ensemble shot). Photo credit: Mark Turek.
TAPS 3 - Production shot from The Road Weeps, the Well Runs Dry. Fernando Medina '19 as Trowbridge (L) and Javon Stephenson as Number Two (R). Photo credit: Erin X. Smithers.
