FUTURE CLASSICS
INFO • UPCOMING • PAST • SUBMIT
CTH asserts that a "Future Classic" is a play of social significance. It enlightens us on issues economic, political and cultural. A Future Classic play enables courageous open-minded examination of controversial and critical topics that are at the heart of society. A future classic play is an epic play; one that engages us beyond our own individual experiences.
CTH’s Future Classics Program promotes emerging playwrights of color whose work is persistently underrepresented on American stages. The program supports work in early stages of development through workshops with professional actors and directors. The program culminates with a free public reading at The Malcolm X & Dr. Betty Shabazz Memorial and Educational Center, giving playwrights a chance to hear their work theatrically and share the experience with a responsive audience.
Sponsored by:
UPCOMING READINGS:
There will be a drawing of 2 free tickets to see "Detroit '67" uptown at each reading event!
February 18, 2013
March 25, 2013
April 22, 2013
May 20, 2013
Stop by Coogan's after to fellowship, network, and talk about the pieces you've just heard!
Playwrights interested in participating in CTH’s Future Classics Program should email a cover letter and play description to CTH2011@gmail.com.
All readings will be held at The Malcolm X & Dr. Betty Shabazz Memorial and Education Center, which is located on 3940 Broadway between 164th and 165th Street.
CTH’s Future Classics Program is supported in part by Time Warner and the Jarvis & Constance Doctorow Family Foundation.
What is Future Classics?
CTH’s Future Classics Program promotes emerging playwrights, in particular African-American writers, whose work is persistently underrepresented on American stages. The program supports work in early stages of development through a series of workshops with the provision of professional actors and directors. The program culminates with a free public reading at The Malcolm X & Dr. Betty Shabazz Memorial and Educational Center, giving playwrights a chance to hear their work theatrically and share the experience with a responsive audience.
CTH is most interested in work that speaks to an expansive view of the classic, responds to classical subjects and themes, addresses the history of African-Americans, or focuses on the history, culture and community of Harlem.
Program Coordinator
Otis Ramsey-Zöe is pleased to join The Classical Theatre of Harlem as Future Classics Administrator. Additionally, he is a freelance dramaturg and Series Editor for NoPassport Press' Dreaming the Americas Series. As a dramaturg, he has developed new works with such organizations as The Sundance Institute, Kennedy Center, Arena Stage, Center Stage, White House Historical Association and Black Women Playwrights' Group and by such writers as Tarell McCraney, Noah Haidle, Kirsten Greenidge and Jerome Hairston. Previously, he was Literary Manager and First Look Coordinator at Center Stage and an Allen Lee Hughes Dramaturgy and Literary Senior Fellow at Arena Stage. Mr. Ramsey-Zöe holds an MA in Performance Studies from New York University and a BA from University of Notre Dame.
Past Successes
• Radha Blank's SEED read as a CTH Future Classic in 2009 and was produced by CTH in collaboration with The Hip Hop Theatre Festival in 2011.
• Bashi Rose’s Forteez Bluntz Chickenhedz read as a CTH Future Classic in 2006 and produced at the HipHop Theatre Festival in 2007.
• April Yvette Thompson’s Liberty City read as a CTH Future Classic in 2006 and produced at the New York Theatre Workshop in 2008.
• Petronia Paley's On the Way to Timbuktu read as a CTH Future Classic in 2007 and produced at the Ensemble Studio Theatre in 2008.
• Ty Jones’ Emancipation read as a CTH Future Classic in 2007 and produced at CTH in 2008.