AAPG NEWSLETTER FEATURE AAPG NEWS & VIEWS EVENTS OTHER INFORMATION Charlotte, NCaapgnewsletter@gmail.com Feature Story October/November 2024 African American Playwrights Group Elite playwright Melda Beaty’s play Coconut Cake is having a stellar run and is currently being produced on five different stages across the country, thanks to the Sylvia Sprinkle-Hamlin Rolling Premiere (SSHRP) Award. The SSHRP Award’s kick off was at the International Black Theatre Festival (IBTF) in August 2024. Beaty is the second recipient of the award and says the experience has been amazing!

Interview with Playwright Melda Beaty English Professor and elite playwright Melda Beaty’s award-winning play Coconut Cake has been a game changer for her stage career. Her play engages the audience in a McDonald’s where older men sit around, play chess and talk about their life experiences. A mysterious woman moves to town and entices the fellows into wanting a slice of her Coconut Cake. Little do they know she has other secrets hiding in her medicine cabinet. Captivating audiences in five different states, Coconut Cake has proven to be a sweet success!

Did you begin playwriting before you became an English professor? I teach at Olive Harvey Community College. It’s on the Southeast side of Chicago. It came before the Olive Harvey position, but I’ve been teaching before playwriting. The full-time tenure track was after playwriting. How did you get started in playwriting? The Sylvia Sprinkle-Hamlin Award must have been a game changer? Truly. It truly is a game changer. I say this because I’m still in the midst of it. I started writing plays in 2010 and I didn’t win this award until 2022. So, it was twelve years later. So, it’s been a journey of writing. I had a reading of it at the International Black Theatre Festival in 2015. So I wrote it somewhere around 2015. I had readings of it and hired actors to read and then had a reading of it with the Ensemble Theatre in Houston Texas in 2020 during the pandemic. It was my first virtual read. It was well received, but I did get feedback from people watching and things in the chat, and questions they had so, I went back to the drawing board on that for a while. It’s just been a lot of writing and rewriting and getting feedback. I’m still getting feedback. Feedback from the perspective as I seek production. Sometimes when I see something I might want to add that or might want to clean that up. Why did you write Coconut Cake? The emphasis started when my grandfather retired from the steel mill in Gary Indiana. Going to visit him with my mother she asked him how he spent his days now. He said, “Just me and the fellows meetin’ up at McDonald’s.” His wife would say, “They just go up there and lie.” That really stayed with me for years. So I decided to do a play as a compliment to the first play I wrote called “Front Porch Society.” “Front Porch Society” is about older black women in rural Mississippi on the night that President Obama is elected. These women are having their discussions and living their lives on the front porch talking about what’s happening and reliving some experiences, and I wanted a compliment to that; so I tried my hand at writing from a perspective of older black men. When I thought I would do that, my mind went back to that conversation between my mother and my grandfather, and my grandmother making that statement “You ain’t doing nothing but sittin’ around lyin’.” Somehow it came to me. Oh, I’m going to do it at McDonald’s. While doing some of the research that I did the characters were formed. I didn’t know if I wanted older black men. It was going out to McDonald’s in Chicago and listening to them and watching them and that’s how each character was formed. I had some uncles which both are deceased now, but they also played a role in how I shaped some of the dialogue into characters and in just how they talked too.

Is Coconut Cake still running? It is running. There are two more cities that are part of the rolling world premiere. St. Louis is next and that begins in February, but the award officially ends with the Ensemble Theatre in Houston, Texas and that’s in May. It’s playing in five theatres across the country. How do you juggle all of this? Well, the beauty of it is I just have to show up. That’s really it at this point. I’ve done the hard work and done my part writing and revising and getting it to a place where it won the award. So I just go to the openings. If I don’t make the openings, sometimes I go the second week. I go for the weekend just to see it like the audience and if I’m there when they are doing a talkback then I’m able to engage in the talkback. They’re not happening one on top of each other so there’s time. I have time in between. Does the cast change frequently? Yes. Each theatre is responsible for their own productions. They hire their own directors, cast, sound, lighting, costumes, set, scenes all of that. I think originally, and I just learned this when I was interviewed for The American Theatre Magazine because I am the second recipient of the award, but for the first recipient the idea for the award was to use the same set designer and the same behind the scenes production crew for every theatre, but they got away from that model. Each theatre is responsible for their own now. That’s part of the blessing as well. How were you selected for the award? So, they put a call out about the award unbeknownst to me I didn’t know about it. It was Mark Southers from the Pittsburgh Playwrights, he has a theatre in Pittsburgh, and he got in contact with me via Facebook and said, “Melda you should apply for this.” I knew about the festival, but I didn’t know about this award. Partially because Mrs. Sprinkle-Hamlin had recently passed. So, I was like, “Oh ok.” the catch was it had to be a play that was unproduced. At that time, I’d only written maybe two plays. I had a third, but it wasn’t quite done. With Coconut Cake I already had readings of it. So I looked at it again and I did the revisions of it, and I was like “Ok. Alright Lord, let’s send it.” Here’s the thing. The award said that they would notify the winner in early July. Now, that was the year of the International Black Theatre Festival. So, I had forgotten about it because they don’t tell you for months out and I looked at my calendar and then saw that they were advertising the festival. It was past early July and I hadn’t heard anything, so I assumed that I didn’t get it. Someone from the festival reached out to me and said, “Are we going to see you this year?” I said, “Oh no I’m not going to make it this year.” It was because I didn’t have a play that was going to be read. I didn’t find out until two weeks before the festival that I had won. That was in 2022.

Are there any other plays you've written or are currently working on that you'd like to see produced? Yes. I have to date a total of nine plays, and only three of them have been produced. The rest are in development. They’ve been written I’m just going through a process of development of them or just waiting for a theatre to pick them up. I started researching earlier this year for my next play, and then my brother passed unexpectantly, and I just pivoted. When I did get back into some of the groove of it, that’s when Coconut Cake started, and then it was Florida and the festival. Now I’m between times with Memphis and St Louis and ready to work on the next play. Would you like to bring this play to Broadway, or do you have other plans for its production? Ma’am, from your lips to God’s ears, Broadway has always been my goal. And what I found is that I hear people say there’s more to Broadway than what we think; And that whole behind the curtain thing like in the Wizard of Oz may not really be what you think it is. I say yes because it’s like the Superbowl for playwrights. I would love it if the right producer who respected my voice, my vision, and my writing would pick it up. But for me I would just want to get some of the larger and more professional black theatres. I want it to debut there first. Broadway is ideal. It’s like the epitome, but I am just as passionate about getting into some larger spaces here in the states and Coconut Cake is doing that. It’s getting into some theatres where they are debuting it. It’s getting into some large theatres and for me that’s a win. I was trying to get into some of those theatres and only one of them gave me an opportunity. I’m very proud to be a part of this rolling world premiere because it is five black theatres who have pulled their resources together and who have made a commitment to helping a playwright get on their way. They have done that. My hat is off to them for opening this up and for giving me a chance. I’m glad they see the merit and are worthy of doing and helping us get ahead. Me sending my work to a theatre that has no relationship with me, no one to vouch for me they may not quite understand what I’m doing. I don’t get anywhere with that. I’m just appreciative of this award and for the theatres giving me a chance. It’s amazing. What advice would you give to our members about playwrighting? Put your work out there to places where it makes sense. When I have a down moment or a free moment, I’m looking for play submissions and festivals, more so now for developmental programs, workshops and maybe fellowships. In 2021, I won the St. Louis Shakespeare Festival Fellowship for a play that I did. That was just because I was scouring the internet looking for play submissions and to see what was out there. When you write a play the first draft is just that. You got it all out of your mind, but it can always use some work. That’s why we have readings,

so you can hear it and you can get people to ask you questions. So, I would say write and submit to programs that can help you to hone your skill and maybe they can offer you some dramaturgical work. They can offer you a reading. You can work in cohorts and groups to try to make it better. Most of these theatres are not going to take your work because you think it’s good. When somebody asks me “What other plays do you have?” I say they are in development. I never wanted to be in a position where someone asked me what else do you have, and I don’t have anything. I always wanted to have other pieces ready to go so that they didn’t have to sit around and wait even if it’s still in development, but I do have something. That’s kind of how Coconut Cake came about. After the success of my first play, it was kind of quiet. No one asked me to write Coconut Cake I wasn’t commissioned. It was nothing like that. I had an idea and nothing else was going on at that time and I wrote it. I try to stay actively writing, working on something so that I can present if someone asks. Would you like to add anything else? I would like to say that AAPG has been a great source of support. It really has. I love our community, and I wish more writers would join communities like this. You can network and share insights and learn. Even though I’m further than I’ve ever been in my playwriting career, I still want a community; I still want a writing community. A huge thanks to Ms. Beaty in taking the time out of her busy schedule to talk to AAPG about her award-winning play Coconut Cake and her journey as a playwright. She is such an inspiration, and we wish her continued success.

GALLERY Clydes The Cast of Clydes AAPG was there!

Midnight & Indigo, Online Playwriting as Activism for Black Women Writers. This workshop explains how to use playwriting for activism. The workshop is led by playwright Reginald Edmund. October 9-30, 2024. This online platform offers other resources and workshops for black women writers. American Theatre Magazine, New York, NY (A hard copy of the magazine is available or read it online) This national magazine is dedicated to everything theatre. Covering events, theatre trends, playwright interviews, and other information. It’s also global. AAPG member elite playwright Melda Beaty was featured in the September 12, 2024, issue. Congratulations Melda! The American Theatre Wing, New York, NY The American Theatre Wing established the Tony Awards in 1947, to honor distinguished achievements in American theatre. In addition to the award, they collaborate with other organizations to provide grants and other resources. Check it out. Pulitzer Prize, New York, NY Submissions are open for this prize in drama “...for a distinguished play by an American author.” The play must have been produced from January 2024 to December 2024. Deadline is December 31, 2024. Congratulations to elite Playwright TaMara Goode on her winning submission of her monologue Eddie was never content into the PlayGround Experiment (PGE) Faces of America Festival. Festival date is November 23, 2024, in New York City. Congratulations to elite playwright Rory Sheriff for being recognized in the Charlotte Observer Newspaper in the month of September. Mr. Sheriff is noted for his tenacity in playwriting and producing numerous plays through his production company BNS Productions. Congratulations to elite playwright Crystal Joseph for making the top 10 in Roadmap’s 2024 Write Start Manuscript Competition for her book Christian Vampire. She also was selected by the Religion Faith International Film Festival 2025, the Afrofuturist Femmes Film Festival 2024 and the Depth of Field International Film Festival 2024 for her episodic series Super Sheros. Crystal also has a published book: Who’s That Woman In My Bed?CHECK OUT NEWS, OPPORTUNITES AND INFORMATION AAPG NEWS & VIEWS

Open Auditions: The Gift, Charlotte, NC Written and produced by elite playwright and AAPG founder Vickie L. Evans. Auditions will be held at University City Library on October 10, 2024. Marriage The Musical, Augusta, GA An inspirational play produced by elite playwright Tracie Bonnick’s Moving4word productions. Performance is at The Grover C. Maxwell Performing Arts Center on October 12, 2024. Preach, Preacher Newark, NJ A play written by elite playwright Tracie Morrison. The performance is at the Newark Arts Festival, October 11-12, 2024. Boys to Baghdad, Charlotte, NC Written by elite playwright Rory Sheriff and produced through BNS productions. The show runs November 8-10, 2024, (Veteran’s Day weekend) at CPCC’s Parr Center Theater. Tickets are on sale now.EVENTS COLLABORATION OVER COMPETITION

OTHER INFORMATIONTo all of our elite playwrights born in the months of October and November Happy Birthday! If you would like to submit photos, events, name and contact information for your production company and other information to share, email it to aapgnewsletter@gmail.com And...Happy Veteran’s Day! November 11, 2024