Thinking Theater NYC

The Fire This Time Festival With plays by Preston Crowder , Donathan Walters, Teniia Micazia Brown, Mo Holmes, Naomi Lorrain , and DeLane McDuffie Directed by Ken-Matt Martin Presented by FRIGID New York and The Apollo at the Jonelle Procope Theater at The Apollo Stages at The Victoria 233 West 125th Street, Manhattan, NYC January 23-31, 2026 Malik Childs (foreground), Naomi Lorrain, and Victor Musoni in Goose . Photo by Maya Jackson. The Fire This Time Producing Artistic Director Cezar Williams ended his preface to the performance of the festival's annual 10-Minute Play Program that we attended with James Baldwin's assertion, "There is something terribly radical about believing that one's own experience and images are important enough to speak about, much less to write about and to perform." As the current federal government openly suppresses and attempts to disappear certain types of representation, Baldwin's words hold as true as ever, and work like that ...

The 16th Annual The Fire This Time Festival Ten-Minute Play Program Out , written by FELISPEAKS Pound Cake , written by Brittany Fisher Security Watch , written by TyLie Shider Immanentize the Eschaton , written by Garrett Turner Just One Good Day , written by Jeanette W. Hill …But Not Forgotten , written by D.L. Patrick Directed by Kimille Howard Presented in collaboration with  FRIGID New York at wild project 195 E. 3rd St., Manhattan, NYC January 23-February 2, 2025 Anita Welch-Smith and LaDonna Burns in Out . Photo by Dante Crichlow The time has arrived once again for one of our most anticipated annual theatrical events, The Fire This Time Festival Ten-Minute Play Program. In its 16th season, the Obie Award-winning Fire This Time Festival, which provides a platform for playwrights of African and African-American descent, has adopted the theme of "Taking Space" and has put the Ten-Minute part of things into quotation marks, loosening the time restriction to allow each ...

The Fire This Time Festival : Season 15: Ten-Minute Plays Ethel & Ethel , by Joël René Scoville; Mamas & Papas , by Kamilah Bush; What's Love Got to Do With It? , by LeeLee Jackson; Why Jamira Gotta Do All Da Werk? , by Nia Akilah Robinson; It's Karen B****! , by Taylor A. Blackman; The Mural , by Monique Pappas-Williams Directed by Cezar Williams Presented in collaboration with FRIGID New York at the wild project 195 E. 3rd St., Manhattan, NYC January 15-28, 2024 Marinda Anderson and Danielle Covington in Ethel & Ethel . Photo by Garlia Jones 2024 marks not only the fifteenth year of The Fire This Time Festival, which showcases "early career playwrights of African and African-American descent," but also a move south and east from the festival's longtime home at the Kraine Theater to the wild project, where audiences can experience an exhibition of paintings by multidisciplinary artist Moses Harper in the lobby prior to the show (or the festival...

The Fire This Time Festival : Season 14: Ten-Minute Plays Plays by Andrea Frierson, Cris Eli Blak, kl, Zachariah Ezer, Steve Harper, Phillip Gregory Burke, and Goldie E. Patrick Directed by Goldie E. Patrick Presented by FRIGID New York at The Kraine Theater 85 E 4th St., Manhattan, NYC January 16-29, 2023 Darell J. Hunt, Monique A. Robinson, Malikha Mallette, & Broderick Clavery in Tower . Photo by Danté Crichlow In its 14th year, the annual The Fire This Time Festival continues to bolster its status as a must-see event on NYC's theatrical calendar. The Festival's program of ten-minute plays provides a showcase for early-career playwrights of African and African American descent, and this year's fantastic selections, under the accomplished direction of Goldie E. Patrick and realized by an outstanding cast, stand out even among the high-quality work of previous years. The Festival also features two different staged readings , the first of short plays by The Fire This T...

The Fire This Time Festival : Season 13: Ten-Minute Plays Plays by Fedna Jacquet, Marcus Scott, Phillip Christian Smith, Lisa Rosetta Strum, Rachel Herron, and Agyeiwaa Asante Directed by Zhailon Levingston and Tracey Conyer Lee Presented by FRIGID New York at The Kraine Theater 85 E 4th St., Manhattan, NYC July 7-10, 2022 Anthony Goss & Ricardy Fabre in Wookiees in the Wilderness.  Photo by Garlia Jones The annual The Fire This Time Festival, after a two-year absence from the stage, including a postponement from its usual winter slot to early July, has returned to in-person performance with its thirteenth season, bringing six new short plays from early-career playwrights of African and African American descent to The Kraine Theater. The Ten-Minute Play Program offers both in-person and livestreaming options, and this year, audiences can also complement their theatergoing experience by picking up a copy of 25 Plays from the Fire This Time Festival , which collects plays from T...

Updated Jan. 6, 2022: Due to the recent resurgence of Covid-19, FRIGID New York will regrettably be postponing the 13th Annual The Fire This Time Festival until July 2022. Information on the new performance dates will be announced in the coming months. "Sadly, due to the recent surge of the Covid-19 virus and out of an abundance of caution and an unwavering desire to protect the health and safety of our cast and crew, we are postponing this year's festival,” said Artistic Director, Cezar Williams. “It is our intention to remount the festival this summer. Please stand by for more details as they become available.” Original post:  FRIGID New York will present the 13th Annual The Fire This Time Festival at The Kraine Theater (85 East 4th Street between 2nd Avenue and Bowery), January 17-February 6, 2022. Performances will also be available to livestream from home. Tickets ($20) are available for advance purchase at www.frigid.nyc . The festival will kick-off on Monday, January 1...

  On February 10, 2022 New York City’s Obie Award-winning The Fire This Time Festival will release an anthology entitled 25 Plays from The Fire This Time Festival: A Decade of Recognition, Resistance, Resilience, Rebirth and Black Theatre . The book, published by Methuen Drama , an imprint of Bloomsbury Publishing, contains 25 10-minute plays originally produced by the eponymous festival, which has become the destination for emerging and early career playwrights from the African diaspora. While the past decade proved to be some of the most tumultuous times in modern US history, the resilience and will of the Black community has continually pushed forward by opening up dialogues and sustaining advocacy. Nowhere has this been more apparent than at the Obie Award-winning The Fire This Time Festival in New York City. From inequality in education and healthcare, skewed and negative images of Black people in mainstream media, racism in policing, widespread gentrification and its effects ...

The Fire This Time Alumni Spotlight: Roger Q. Mason Presented by The Fire This Time Festival in collaboration with FRIGID New York via Facebook and YouTube Live November 24, 2020 live, and recording streaming on YouTube This Thanksgiving week, when we are supposed to be thinking about what we are grateful for, and ideally also about the dark undersides of our national mythology, seems like a particularly fitting time for the first annual The Fire This Time Festival Alumni Spotlight. The Fire This Time (TFTT), founded in 2009, amplifies Black voices by showcasing the work of writers of the African diaspora through short plays, staged readings, and more. As well as a richly deserved celebration of Roger Q. Mason and his artistry, this inaugural Alumni Spotlight also acted as a fundraiser for TFTT: donations can be made via TFTT's website . In addition to a sampling of Mason's corpus, the Spotlight featured reflections from a selection of other theater artists. TFTT Artistic Di...