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TRUE COLORS THEATRE COMPANY ANNOUNCES NEW NATIONAL MONOLOGUE COMPETITION
ATLANTA (JULY 19th, 2021) – Kenny Leon’s True Colors Theatre Company today announced the Next Narrative Monologue CompetitionSM, a new, national program for high school students that will feature the works of a host of contemporary African-American playwrights.
The competition will launch in the Fall of 2021, with potential partner organizations in a number of cities including Triad Stage, Greensboro, N.C.; Milwaukee Rep, Milwaukee; and LEAP, New York City.
“The Next Narrative Monologue CompetitionSM will give high school students across the country and the broader public exposure to some of the country’s most notable contemporary Black playwrights,” said True Colors’ Managing Director Chandra Stephens-Albright. “After many years of incredible success in producing a national monologue competition for high school students, we are expanding the scope to create direct engagement with living playwrights for education and inspiration.”
A number of well-known Black playwrights, including Robert O’Hara, Candrice Jones, Josh Wilder and James Tyler, have agreed to provide monologues for the competition. “What excites me about this new competition is that it will expand the canon of storytelling beyond traditional narratives and allow young people to explore language and voices that look, feel and sound like them,” said O’Hara. “Black playwriting is vast and varied and deserves to be celebrated and witnessed.”
The Next Narrative Monologue CompetitionSM is one of the initial steps on a new path toward the future for True Colors Theatre Company.
“We have had a remarkable journey becoming a vibrant, successful regional theater company driven by our incredible founder, Kenny Leon. Now is the time to become a nationally acknowledged, leading Black theater company,” said True Colors’ Artistic Director Jamil Jude. “One of our goals is to become the standard bearer for contemporary and next generation Black theater and the Next Narrative Monologue CompetitionSM is a great start toward that goal.”
About Kenny Leon’s True Colors Theatre Company
Kenny Leon’s True Colors Theatre Company is a nonprofit regional theater company based in Atlanta, GA. True Colors Theatre Company’s mission is to celebrate the rich tradition of Black storytelling while giving voice to bold artists from all cultures. We add dimension and relevance to our work on the stage through community events and education programming. The vision of Artistic Director Jamil Jude is for the company to “thrive at the intersection of artistic excellence and civic engagement.” For more information on True Colors, visit www.truecolorstheatre.org.
