Zakiyyah Alexander
c/o New Dramatists
424 West 44th Street
New York, NY 10036
(212) 757-6960
(212) 265-4738 fax
Email:
newdramatists@newdramatists.org
Zakiyyah Alexander is a playwright, performer, and educator. She is the author of After the Show: A Play in Mask, Pralaya, Blurring Shine, (900), Elected, The Etymology of Bird, and SICK? Her work has been produced/developed at: Summer Play Festival (SPF) at Theatre Row, Greenwich Street Theatre, NY International Fringe Festival, La MaMa E.T.C., Pace Theatre, Ensemble Studio Theatre, Creative Place Theater, and The Producer’s Club. Readings include: Women’s Project, Actors Express, New Dramatists, The Vineyard Theatre, New Professional Theatre, a commission with GAle GAtes et al, among others. Current commissions: Mt. Holyoke. Awards and Fellowships: Dramatists Guild, Theodore Ward Prize, Jackson Phelan Award, Fellowship at New Dramatists, Drama League New Directors/New Works, New Professional Theatre Playwriting Award, Young Playwrights Inc. Her work is included in the latest edition of New Monologues for Women by Women. She is a resident member of New Dramatists, the Women’s Project Playwrights Lab, alum of EST’s Youngblood, and former resident at New Perspectives Theater. Education: M.F.A Yale School of Drama.
Two-act Comedy/ 80 minutes
5M
Flexible Set
Two long lost brothers reconnect. Luther, has taken the economically
savvy (and culturally devoid) route, while Shine has embraced the
hip-hop culture (and little else). Through deceit and the economic
machine of pop culture we find that brotherly love has a price, hip-hop
is a creation, and perception is a powerful tool. Is the ‘Average Black
Man’ simply a role to be played when it is economically fortuitous, or
is it more?
Staged reading at Actor’s Express
(2003). Produced at NY International Fringe Festival (2003).
Two-act Drama/ 115 minutes
1M, 5W
Flexible Set
What happens when three women from three different time periods meet and
find they have all been ‘disappeared?’ Africa, India, and America
collide as three young girls attempt to discover what unifies them.
Workshop production, Yale School
of Drama (2002). Staged reading, New Perspectives Theater (2003).
One-act Comedy/ 80 minutes
3M, 5W
Flexible Set
A young woman applies for a job in the phone sex industry and finds
herself caught up in a twisted, comedic oral-sex romp. While navigating
a dark world of golden showers, dominatrixes, and overly imaginative
callers who demand more than sex, we find that identity is fluid and
nothing is more ominous than the sound of a dial tone.
AFTER THE SHOW: A PLAY IN MASK
Three-act Comedy/Drama/ 140 minutes
8M, 7W
Flexible Set
In an unnamed Southern landscape, time has stopped, both Black and White
archetypal characters live together in segregated
pre-politically-correct harmony. Through the visitation of a modern day
minstrel show, and the influence of music and dance, it becomes evident
that change is long overdue; a sacrifice must be made. But who will
suffer the consequence of a history that continually repeats itself?
Workshop production, Yale School
of Drama (2000); workshop production, Pace University Theater (2002);
staged reading, New Professional Theater (2004). Winner of 2002 Drama
League New Directors/New Works grant. Winner of 2004 James Phelan Award.
One-act Drama/ 15 minutes
1M, 1W
Flexible Set
A middle-aged John and a fifteen-year old prostitute, who appear to have
nothing in common, find themselves in a moment of crisis where anything
can happen. Will they choose the status quo, or take a risk?
Staged reading, Ensemble Studio
Theatre (2003); Staged reading, Greenwich Street Theatre (2004).
Two-act Comedy/Drama/ 90 minutes
3M, 5W
Flexible Set
A sixteen-year old, tragically innocent suburbanite finds herself lured
into an urban world of sex, lies, and drugs. When identity becomes
flexible, and sex becomes something to be sold, is it possible to go
back to high school?
Staged reading, Ensemble Studio
Theatre (2004).