...home for creative emerging black playwrights

Mark R. Green is a fourth year member of Liberation Theater’s Writer’s group. He received his B.A. in English from Howard University and his M.F.A. from NYU's Tisch School of the Arts. He's studied with Tony Kushner, John Guare, Eve Ensler, and Maria Irene Fornes to name a few. He's had short and full-length plays performed at the National Black Theater Company, Soho Rep, Circle in the Square Theater Downtown, and Joe's Pub. He's had had several workshop readings.

Jeffrey Harmon Smith received an undergraduate degree in Politics, Economics, Rhetoric and Law from The University of Chicago and a law degree from Georgetown. Since retiring from law practice in the entertainment industry, he has pursued a career as an actor, vocalist and playwright. Two one-act plays from Jeffrey’s series “Date-O-Rama” were produced off-off Broadway by Around The Block Productions.

A truly memorable voice on the jazz scene, with a refreshing combination of beauty, sophistication and talent, Ife Basim has often been referred to as a “complete package. “Her rich vocals and unique phrasing take you back to the days of the classic jazz divas. Her sultry smooth voice invokes shades of Sarah Vaughn and hints at the daring of Billie Holiday.

Desiree Rucker is a playwright who obtained a MFA in Creative Writing  from LIU Brooklyn in 2015. Her one act play, Thirteen was read as part of the LIU Brooklyn MFA Playwriting Class Production.  Her short stories have been published in such literary journals as Brooklyn Paramount, Downtown Brooklyn and Under the Overpass. Her memoir, Relativity, is soon to be published.

Cassandra Medley has had numerous plays produced in the U.S. from 1982 to the present.

Devonne Heyward is a school psychologist and writer based in Brooklyn. Having recently finished four years of graduate study, she is excited to have more time to develop her creative work. In her work this year, she would like to explore what it means to cross boundaries such as poverty/higher-income, here/thereafter and sanity/madness.

Naomi Harris is a recent college graduate and has a B.A. in African American Studies and Theater for Social Change. She is a National Theatre Institute Alum and recently completed a playwriting class at the New York Theatre Workshop under Kate Ryan. Her first full length play, Wounded Skyes, received a staged reading at the National Black Theatre last year as part of their Keeping Soul Alive Series. She is currently working one her second full length, her first musical and a one woman show.