February 2023 | Alliance Theatre

ALLIANCE THEATRE PODCAST: AN EXPLORATION OF THEATER AND THE PEOPLE WHO MAKE IT HAPPEN.

This episode of the Alliance Theatre podcast features director of the hit STARZ series P-Valley and Pulitzer Prize winning playwright Katori Hall. In directorial theater debut, Katori Hall brings the story of The Hot Wing King to the Alliance Theatre. We chat with Katori about what this show means for us all, where she draws her inspiration and so much more.

Memphis native Katori Hall is a Pulitzer Prize and Olivier Award-winning playwright and television creator/producer. A two-time Tony Award nominee, she won the 2021 Pulitzer Prize for Drama for her play, The Hot Wing King. Her other works include The Mountaintop, Our Lady of Kibeho, Saturday Night/Sunday Morning, The Blood Quilt, Tina: The Tina Turner Musical, and Hurt Village, which is being developed into a feature film. She’s also the executive producer and showrunner of “P-VALLEY,” the critically acclaimed and ground-breaking Starz drama based on her play Pussy Valley. Katori is an alumna of Columbia University, A.R.T. at Harvard University, and Juilliard. Katori has been published in publications such as The Boston Globe, The Guardian, and The New York Times. Katori’s other awards include the American Academy of Arts and Letters Award in Literature, the Susan Smith Blackburn Award, Lark Play Development Center Playwrights of New York (PONY) Fellowship, two Lecompte du Nouy Prizes from Lincoln Center, Fellowship of Southern Writers Bryan Family Award in Drama, NYFA Fellowship, the Columbia University John Jay Award for Distinguished Professional Achievement, National Black Theatre’s August Wilson Playwriting Award, and the Lorraine Hansberry Playwriting Award. She is a proud member of the Ron Brown Scholar Program and the Coca-Cola Scholar Program.

Learn more about The Hot Wing King and get tickets.

Learn more about the Alliance Theatre Podcast.

ALLIANCE THEATRE PODCAST: AN EXPLORATION OF THEATER AND THE PEOPLE WHO MAKE IT HAPPEN.

In this special episode Maya Lawrence and Aierelle Jacob discuss the importance of celebrating Black artists this month and every month.

Maya Lawrence (she/her) is the founding Allyship Program Director and a Resident Artist at the Alliance Theatre. She is a NYC born- Atlanta based artist and activist, specializing in theater, performance, and poetry. She uses her superpowers of creativity, curiosity, and compassion to develop the Allyship Program for youth and families, corporations, and organizations in pursuit of becoming the most authentic, empathetic versions of themselves. As a proud Spelman College alumna, Maya is on a mission to liberate the world through art using love to light the path.

Aierelle Jacob is a proud administrator in the Arts Education field and has been working at the Alliance Theatre for almost five years. She’s thrilled to have found a place where she can combine her passion for both theater and education. A former Pre-K and Kindergarten teacher, she has a fierce dedication to making sure every student, no matter their socioeconomic background, circumstances, or zip code, has access to high-quality arts education. Aierelle holds a Bachelor of Arts degree in Drama from Spelman College and a Master of Arts degree in Arts Administration from Savannah College of Art and Design. She is a proud wife and toddler mom.

Learn more about The Hot Wing King and get tickets.

Learn more about Alliance Theatre Allyship training.

Learn more about the Alliance Theatre Podcast.

If Stephen Brown could go back in time and change anything, he would go back to a few months ago when his wife was out of town and remember to water her plants.

“I definitely didn’t water them enough when she was out of town in August and I almost killed one of them and she burst into tears when she saw it and it was, like, the worst moment of my life,” Stephen says. “I would leave everything else the same. I’m one of those people who cherishes their mistakes and embarrassments and failures because they make you who you are. They also make great writing material if you happen to be a playwright… except for that plant-watering situation. Oh, man. I would definitely do that over.”

Stephen is the 2022/23 Alliance/Kendeda National Graduate Playwriting Competition Winner. His play, The Many Wondrous Realities of Jasmine Starr-Kidd, is an exploration of fate, second chances, and accepting what we can’t change. The titular character, Jasmine, is a twelve-year-old computer genius whom Stephen sees as almost his ideal child. He and his wife love to talk about what they think their kids will be like, when they eventually have them. “They always seem way smarter than us. Like we’ll always joke that they’ll be doing our taxes when they’re nine years old or teaching us how to invest in the stock market when they’re seven — but also be really annoyed at us for not knowing about investments yet.”

Stephen dreamed up Jasmine and her story because he and his wife wanted better stories to share with their children. His wife is also a playwright, so stories are very important to them and their future family. Stephen grew up with movies like Armageddon and Back to the Future that made him feel understood “in a weird sort of way.”

Unfortunately, those movies also featured mostly white casts.

“My wife and I are an interracial couple,” he explains, “and I wanted to be able to show our future kids adventure stories that centered characters that looked like them. Jasmine Starr-Kidd really came from a place of wanting to create characters for our future kids to identify with, [and] with families that look like their family.”

Although Stephen isn’t a twelve-year-old computer genius, he relates to Jasmine in that his parents also got divorced when he was younger. He says that the divorce was a “super healthy choice — shout out to my awesome parents!” but, like Jasmine, he always wondered how different his life would be if he could somehow put them back together.

“There’s an ache that forms in the sudden absence of certain parents or family members and you kind of feel it all the time. I think deep down that’s something that Jasmine is going through in the play: This desire to put things back together and bring everyone home.”

Most of Stephen’s plays are filled with longing, Jasmine Starr-Kidd especially. “Longing for that person that’s not around as much as we wish they were,” Stephen says. “Longing for that person that doesn’t love us as much as we wish they did. Longing for things to be different. Yes, it’s a story that’s filled with a lot of fun adventures, mishaps, and humor, but underneath it all, it’s a story about this young girl with an incredible ache in her heart. Who hasn’t felt that before? Who hasn’t wanted to be able to change reality to the one that’s less painful than your current one?”

The Impact of the Kendeda Award

Speaking of Stephen’s other works, he’s a very busy man. He is developing new plays, working on a TV show, and serving as a fellow at the Juilliard School’s Lila Acheson Wallace American Playwrights Program. However, he thinks it’s the Alliance’s Kendeda program that stands out.

“There’s not a particularly long history of sci-fi adventure plays getting produced across the theatre landscape, [so] I don’t think there were any other theaters out there that were going to produce this play,” Stephen says, laughing. “I’m so grateful to the Alliance for taking a chance on me and this play I love so much. Not only is this production going to be just the coolest thing ever, it was this production and the Kendeda Award that also directly led to a lot of the other things [I have going on].”

“The truth is that a lot of playwrights are very talented, but they’re waiting for someone to come along and legitimize their work by giving them their first big production,” he adds. “Once that happens, it’s kind of like they’ve gotten a stamp of approval, which is when other theaters and companies start to take chances on them. This is the exact thing that the Kendeda Award does: It gives playwrights that first stamp of legitimacy and helps launch careers. This is true of so many Kendeda winners of the past and I will always be immensely grateful to be given the opportunity to work here at the Alliance.”

When asked what he would do if a future version of himself showed up to talk to him, he says he would quickly forget whatever was said. “First of all, [Future Me would] realize that I hadn’t sprayed my wife’s plants yet and would immediately help me out because there are 30 of them (yes, there are 30 plants in our apartment; shout out to my wife). And then after we were done spraying, we’d get distracted by sharing dog videos together. That would last for several hours. And then we’d probably geek out about how much fun we were having together and really just need to share that with one another. So, I really hope my future self doesn’t come back to save the world, because we would fail.”

L to R (top to bottom): Penny Schick, Dana Deveaux, Jeremy Aggers, Sydney Terry, Brandon Burditt, Joe Knezevich

The Alliance/Kendeda National Graduate Playwriting Competition continues to spotlight the best emerging playwrights with a full production for the competition winner and staged readings for four competition finalists. The 19th competition winner The Many Wondrous Realities of Jasmine Starr-Kidd is written by Stephen Brown, a fellow at The Juilliard School’s Lila Acheson Wallace American Playwrights Program, with direction by BOLD Associate Artistic Director, Tinashe Kajese-Bolden.

Jasmine Starr-Kidd will have its world premiere on the Hertz Stage at Alliance Theatre March 1 – April 1, 2023. Opening night is March 8, 2023.

Jasmine Starr-Kidd is a delightful story of second chances and accepting what we can’t change. A 12-year-old computer genius, Jasmine can hack into the AT&T mainframe, build an artificially intelligent friend named Grace, and convince the Department of Defense to send her high-powered lasers. But when she realizes that time travel is a lot easier to figure out than trying to convince her parents to get back together (no matter how many statistics she shows them), she decides to take matters into her own hands.

“The first line in Stephen Brown’s competition-winning play is, ‘How many of you went to bed last night thinking about one thing you wish you had done differently that day?’ Whether our regret is as innocuous as accidentally popping a cashmere sweater in the dryer or as significant as not nurturing a marriage, we are wired to spend an inordinate amount of time pondering the ‘what if’s’ from the past, instead of the ‘what can be’s’ in the future,” said Line Producer and Alliance/Kendeda Competition director Amanda Watkins. “Spoiler alert… our heroine Jasmine invents a time machine and embarks on a journey to change the past. Every time Jasmine (often stubbornly) tries to change her past, she is shifting the molecules and stripping away what she thinks she knows to be true, creating a vessel that is ready for the lesson. The lesson that we can’t control others’ free will; that sometimes regret and mistakes aren’t problems to be solved, but instead (in the words of our brilliant playwright), are the building blocks of who we are.”

The cast of Jasmine Starr-Kidd features Jeremy Aggers (Alliance Theatre: Edward Foote, Darlin’ Cory) as Doug, Brandon Burditt (Alliance Theatre: Everybody, New Black Fest’s Hands Up) as Uncle Craig, Dana Deveaux as Kendra, Joe Knezevich (Alliance: A Christmas Carol, A Midsummer Night’s Dream) as Corporal Delmar/Todd, Penny Schick (Firefly Theatrical: Shrek the Musical) as Jasmine, and Sydney Terry as Older Jasmine/Grace. Understudies for Jasmine Starr-Kidd include Marissa Bondurant, Kenedi Deal, Brian Joseph, Chris Mayers, and Alia Shakira.

The creative team of Jasmine Starr-Kidd is led by Director Tinashe Kajese-Bolden and includes Shilla Benning (Costume Design), Christopher Darbassie (Sound Design), Caite Hevner (Scenic and Projection Design), and Ben Rawson (Lighting Design).

Additional production support is provided by Liz Campbell (Stage Manager), Amanda Perez (Stage Management Production Assistant and Young Performer Supervisor), Amanda Watkins (Line Producer), Raiyon Hunter (Assistant Line Producer), and Haylee Scott (COVID Coordinator).

The Alliance/Kendeda National Graduate Playwriting Competition solicits plays from the leading MFA graduate programs in the United States and then conducts a rigorous selection process to find four finalists and one winning play. The winner receives a full production as part of the Alliance Theatre regular season. The winner and four finalists also receive development opportunities for their works including staged readings with industry professionals. A one-of-a-kind opportunity for emerging playwrights, the Competition transitions student playwrights to the world of professional theatre.

Past winners of the Alliance/Kendeda National Graduate Playwriting Competition have become some of today’s most exciting playwrights and writers, including Tarell Alvin McCraney, whose play In Moonlight Black Boys Look Blue inspired the 2017 Academy Award-winning film for Best Picture, Moonlight; Susan Smith Blackburn Prize finalist Meg Miroshnik (The Fairytale Lives of Russian Girls); Mike Lew (Tiger Style!), 2018 winner of the PEN/Laura Pels International Foundation for Theater Award for an Emerging American Playwright; Madhuri Shekar (In Love and Warcraft), 2020 winner of the Lanford Wilson playwriting award and winner of a 2020 Audie Award for best original work for her Audible audio play Evil Eye (film now available to stream on Amazon Prime); and Jiréh Breon Holder, whose competition-winning play Too Heavy For Your Pocket opened off-Broadway in 2017.

“There’s not a particularly long history of sci-fi adventure plays getting produced across the theatre landscape,” said playwright Stephen Brown. “Which is why I’m so grateful to the Alliance for taking a chance on me and this play I love so much. Not only is this production going to be just the coolest thing ever, this production and the Alliance/Kendeda Award have directly led to more opportunities for me. Because the truth is that a lot of playwrights are very talented, but they’re waiting for someone to come along and legitimize their work by giving them their first big production. Once that happens, it’s kind of like they’ve gotten a stamp of approval, which is when other theaters and companies start to take chances on them. This is the exact thing that the Alliance/Kendeda Award does. It gives playwrights that first stamp of legitimacy and helps launch careers. I will always be immensely grateful to be given the opportunity to work here at the Alliance.”

Find more information about The Many Wondrous Realities of Jasmine Starr-Kidd here.

Kaye Dinero

Owner of I Love Food ATL

A lifelong foodie, Kaye shares her evolution from eater to food influencer when she realized her Instagram photos could help satiate hungry Atlantans. In this portrait, Kaye talks about the vital role her platform played to sustain local Black and queer-owned food establishments and food trucks during the COVID-19 pandemic.

“When someone cooks for me, that’s like the ultimate thing to do. It’s like a love language.” – Kaye Dinero

Alliance Theatre · Recipe of Love: Kaye

More About Kaye

Kaye Dinero, a Detroit Native, is the Founder of The I Love Food ATL Company. Since childhood, one of her favorite hobbies was eating specialty foods and trying exotic dishes. After graduating from Michigan State University, Kaye lived in various cities across the United States, trying new delicacies and working in corporate America. In 2021, Kaye decided to retire from corporate America to pursue her passion! Kaye has always been a supportive hub for her friends and family so she prides herself in giving back to the Community and keeping education at the forefront.  The I Love Food Brand is More Than Food, it’s a Lifestyle.

Find I Love Food ATL @ilovefood_atl and visit www.ilovefoodmedia.com.

Recipe of Love is a community portrait project that draws inspiration from The Hot Wing King to spotlight five Black and queer-owned restaurants, food trucks and food platforms in Atlanta, Georgia. The participants in this exhibit describe food as a language of love and as a binding agent for the Black and queer community. Each profile explores the way kitchens catalyze intimate, familial, and communal relationships that can reclaim history and self-worth to move our communities toward a more satiated feeling of belonging.

The exhibit pairs portraiture with audio interviews. It is available digitally and on display in the North Alcove Lobby in the Memorial Arts Building during the run of The Hot Wing King.

David Wilmott and Darnell Morgan

Co-Owners of Forks & Flavors Restaurant

David and Darnell compliment each other in and out of the restaurant they own and run in Kennesaw, GA. David, a professional chef, runs the kitchen, and Darnell, a former military nurse turned restaurateur, manages the bar. In this portrait, the pair describe how they navigated “too many cooks in a kitchen” issues to make it as a business, and as a couple, that works toward a joint passion for creating a space of celebration for the community.

“Food, like my husband stated, is the center of everything. Food is something that we can all agree on. Food is something that we all love. Food is something that we all enjoy. And when you have a group of people that are brought together at the table, and they’re sharing food and they’re sharing amongst each other, that’s where we get soul food from. Food for the soul.” – Chef David

Alliance Theatre · Recipe of Love: David and Darnell

More About David and Darnell

Forks & Flavors, owned by Chef David Wilmott and his husband Darnell, has been featured on several hit reality shows namely, Bravo’s Married to Medicine, VH1’s Ti and Tiny’s Family Hustle, and a recent appearance in The Food Network’s Restaurant Impossible.

Chef David Wilmott, owner and executive chef of Forks & Flavors, is an accountant turned restauranteur and entrepreneur from Atlanta, Georgia. He did personal catering for a number of years under the Forks & Flavors brand. In 2020, Forks & Flavors would plant in a quaint restaurant in Kennesaw, Georgia, where he & his husband run the day-to-day operations. Darnell, co-owner of Forks & Flavors, brings the FUN to the Mission & Vision for F&F. Darnell has always entertained in his daily life but F&F provides a foundation for his many antics and big personality. Darnell’s primary role with the restaurant is to manage the overall operation. His leadership stems from his time as a nurse and his service in the GA Army National Guard which he recently retired from. Darnell created many firsts in his career, but at F&F he was the first to create the “Black Owned Long Island” featuring Black Owned Liquors. F& F has the largest selection of Black Owned Spirits than any other restaurant in the world.

Find Forks & Flavors at @chefdavidwilmott, @forksandflavors and www.forksandflavors.com.

The exhibit pairs portraiture with audio interviews. It is available digitally and on display in the North Alcove Lobby in the Memorial Arts Building during the run of The Hot Wing King.

Juan and Gregory ‘Gee’ Smalls

Co-Owners of Virgil’s Gullah Kitchen and Bar

The dishes at Juan and Gee’s restaurant in College Park and West Midtown are located at the intersection of personal family history and American culinary history rooted in Gullah Geechee culture. In this portrait, the couple shares their love story and describes how their restaurant translates experiences of home and community into recipes, one plate at a time.

“Food is communication without speaking. When I’m cooking, I’m very intentional with every knife stroke, with every sprinkle of the seasoning. It takes me sometimes a couple of hours just to cook a simple meal just because I’m involved and connected to every piece of the process.” – Chef Juan

Alliance Theatre · Recipe of Love: Juan and Gee

More About Juan and Gee

Juan and Gee Smalls are a successful Atlanta-based couple that met in 2008. Since then, they have worked together to become Entrepreneurs, Restauranteurs, Certified Relationship and Life Coaches, Philanthropists, Authors and Media Personalities. In addition to television appearances, their expertise and unique perspectives on life, love and business have been solicited by a diverse group of clients including major corporations, public institutions, government agencies, community members and philanthropic organizations.

Since 2010, Juan and Gee have dedicated their careers to helping the underserved LGBTQ community by blogging, speaking, coaching, interviewing and working to inspire others to experience their best lives. Juan and Gee’s passion for improving the lives of the forgotten and disenfranchised within their community led to the creation of LoveWorks, an organization with a mission to help all people find the love that works for them.

In 2011, Juan and Gee created “The Gentlemen’s Ball,” an annual black tie fundraising Gala and Awards program that celebrates the accomplishments of LGBTQ people of color who have made significant contributions in the community. The event has grown from seventy-five attendees to over six hundred- all coming from across the nation and abroad. In 2014, the annual fundraiser expanded with “The Gentlemen’s Foundation” whose mission is to promote the holistic development (mental, physical, emotional, social, economic and spiritual growth) of Black men in the Same Gender Loving (SGL) and LGBTQ community. The foundation has awarded scholarships, established mentorships, and advocated health and wellness through media outreach and support groups. The scope and effectiveness of the nonprofit foundation has attracted corporate sponsors and partnerships from organizations such as UPS, Mercedes Benz, Nissan, AARP, New York Life Insurance, Home Depot, and Gilead.

In 2019, the couple became Restaurateurs and opened Virgil’s Gullah Kitchen & Bar. Creating all the recipes from his family’s inspiration, Gee also officially became an Executive Chef. Named after his father, the first location opened in Historic College Park, with its 2nd location in West Midtown, and the 3rd opening in Old Town Conyers, Spring 2023. The duo also co-own The Breakfast Boys in College Park. Either or both establishments have been featured on Good Morning America, Fox 5, 11Alive, BET, Atlanta Magazine and more.

Juan and Gee have been awarded a number of community service awards, along with being included amongst Business Equality Magazine’s “40 LGBTQ Leaders Under 40.” The couple live in Midtown Atlanta, with their son Gregory Jr.

Find Juan and Gee Smalls @juanandgee and Virgil’s Gullah Kitchen & Bar @virgilsgullahkitchen or visit www.virgilsgullahkitchen.com. Learn more about their foundation @thegentlemensfoundation.

The exhibit pairs portraiture with audio interviews. It is available digitally and on display in the North Alcove Lobby in the Memorial Arts Building during the run of The Hot Wing King.

Chef Branden and Chef Jada

Co-Owners of WhatCha Cookin Baby

In 2019, brother-and-sister team Branden and Jada started their food truck WhatCha Cookin Baby at a pivotal time in their life. In this portrait, Chef Branden talks about his struggle to make it outside of his community in New Orleans and how he eventually discovered his worth and joy in providing comforting meals to others. Chef Jada talks about her move to Atlanta and the sustenance the city has afforded her personally, as a trans woman, and professionally, as a small-business owner.

“Once we found our purpose, we started saving up for the food truck and navigating that. And that was our 30th birthday gift, no fancy cars, no, none of that. Just something that helped me take my life, my legacy, my family, dollar, and generation to the next level. And that’s what we did.” – Chef Branden

Alliance Theatre · Recipe of Love: Branden and Jada

More About Branden and Jada

What Cha Cookin’ Baby is a family owned and operated food truck which means their core values have been passed down from their late Grandma Betsy, as well as dishes they serve. They are constantly focused on creativity, improving their brand and exceeding customer expectations. As New Orleans natives, they are passionate about greeting a cajun/creole atmosphere and ensuring their customers enjoy their traditional recipes. To them, you’re family, and they are out to prove that every time time you visit.

Find WhatCha Cookin Baby @whatchacookinbaby and visit www.whatchacookinbaby.com.

The exhibit pairs portraiture with audio interviews. It is available digitally and on display in the North Alcove Lobby in the Memorial Arts Building during the run of The Hot Wing King.