Revolution NOW! Cohort Alums
Emily Waters
(they/she)
Emily Waters is a Brooklyn-based theater-maker, poet and educator. Emily helped to roll out #MeToo Curriculum with Girls for Gender Equity, focusing on joy and storytelling through theater. Emily has also co-created healing justice spaces and has facilitated workshops with Harriet’s Apothecary. Emily was an Emerge Fellow ’19, with Hemispheric Institute and was the headlining performer for the work in progress at Abrons Arts Center. They are also the recipient of the Peace and Social Change Fellow with Columbia University where she supervised research on the healing capacity of theater for survivors of gender based violence. In December 2019, Emily was awarded the Mount Tremper Arts Family Residency. Emily has been a collaborator and performer in works presented at The Shed and HERE Arts. She has also presented her original work at JACK, the Apollo, NYC’s Highline, In Solidarity Conference, Novo Foundation Grantmakers of Color Conference, and Judson Church. Emily is currently a Performance Project Fellow with University Settlement and was a selected writer in Billie Holiday Theater’s annual 50in50.
Aaron Moore
(he/him.)
Aaron Moore is an Actor, Director, playwright and Acting instructor. Aaron comes from Albany NY and always had a heart for the stage and screen. He trained in the Drama program at SUNY Potsdam (2014), where he earned a degree in theatre with a concentration in African American theatre. He continued his education at The Alvin and Ally dance company, and the Classical theatre of Harlem. Aaron has performed and worked with company’s such as Pendragon Theatre, Capital Repertory Theatre, Proctors theatre, the Roundtable theatre company, NBC, Showtime, The History Channel, and much more. In 2014 Aaron created his performance art education company Acting with Aaron. Its mission has been to provide Acting experiences to underserved communities.
Raven Cassel
(she/hers.)
Raven Cassell is a Liberian-American playwright and performer. Her work is a theatrical embodiment of African Diaspora and Sub Saharan African culture studies and travels, global black aesthetics and an experimental and investigative process. Indigenous African Drama is her current focus of study and she is thrilled about inviting these ancestral practices into her work as a writer and performer. Raven has been awarded artistic and teaching artist residencies at JAG Productions (Vermont, USA), The School of Making Thinking (NYC, USA), Dramatic Need (Rammulotsi, South Africa) and Thread Senegal (Sinthian, Senegal). She’s designed and facilitated the workshop Writing Her: Constructing Black Women Characters and the residency The Body of Water: Experimenting With Form in Playwriting. She holds a BFA in Dramatic Arts from The New School for Drama and is readying herself to continue her education in Drama. As her work continues to deepen and draw closer to center, Raven is thrilled to share For the Love of Jazz with Revolution Now!
Tristan Andre Parks.
(He/him)
Brother. Freedom(e) fighter. Light of the Sun. Frontline worker and leader of the underground. Tristan, an alum of the MFA Professional Actor Training Program at UNC-Chapel Hill, is a regional theatre and dance-maker, changemaker and member of my community.
Mikaela Berry
(they/she)
Mikaela Berry is a playwright, committed educator, empathetic creator, and deep thinker focused on creating spaces in which marginalized voices can be heard and encouraged. She has taught storytelling and theatrical expression to young women inmates at Riker’s Island in addition to facilitating workshops and conversations about the necessity of self-love and reflection, with an emphasis on uplifting and honoring the voices of Black queer women. She is deeply invested in fostering community and freedom through love and expression, with a focus on systems involved youth. Her writing energetically charges audiences but ultimately leaves them in a state of community, contemplation, and healing. She is a graduate of Fordham University’s Theatre Program.
A. Emmanuel Leadon
(he/him)
A. Emmanuel Leadon is a visual artist and writer from Dallas. His play CAVE CANEM was shortlisted for the Relentless Award, later received development at the Play Penn Conference and Great Plains Theater Conference, and was featured in the National New Play Network Showcase. He has been a Haas Fellow, a finalist for the Many Voices Fellowship, and a semifinalist for the Princess Grace Fellowship.
The Writing and Production Cohort
The Revolution NOW Writing and Production cohort is a seasonal intensive residency open to Black creatives. This program is designed to support Black writers who are interested in focusing their talents on the issues that disproportionately impact Black people. Cohort members receive professional development, a stipend, and audio production of their final projects.
The History
In 2015, BRTW collaboratively created REVOLUTION, a theatrical event that chronicled a revolution for Black liberation in response to escalating police brutality, white supremacist movements, and Donald Trump’s presidential campaign. Since then, REVOLUTION has toured the Northeast for college campuses, community organizations, and Off-Off Broadway audiences. We’ve partnered with educators, community organizers, and local nonprofits to use this show as a launching pad to connect audiences with advocacy resources.
But What Does the Revolution Look Like NOW?
We welcome each cohort of Black artists to answer this question.
The fundamental truth of the matter is this: a vision of equity, justice, and joy that prioritizes and values Black lives is revolutionary. Knowing this, Black love, Black joy, Black dignity, Black success, Black opportunity, and Black power are all revolutionary.
We welcome Black artists to share their vision and insight, and we look forward to providing the space (and a little cash) to help them cultivate their ideas.
Application Cycle
The inaugural application cycle opened in June of 2020. Check back for the next cohort application cycle this winter.
How do I apply?
The By Us, For Us Checklist:
Before you fill out the form (it’s pretty self-explanatory) and attach your script, we invite you to consider the By Us, For Us checklist. If it doesn’t meet this criteria, maybe this isn’t the program for you at this juncture.
We’re looking for the following:
- Is it by a Black writer?
- Is it about 3-dimensional Black people?
- Is this piece in service of the Black community?
- Does this piece feature a call to action?
If you answered “yes!” to all of these, move onto the application content.
The Application Content
All in one PDF, Word doc, or Google doc, please and thank you!
Please submit 5-10 pages of your script with a brief treatment or outline. If you submit a treatment, it should be no more than 1 page. If you submit an outline, it should be no more than 2 pages.
We’re looking for the following:
- Writing quality
- World building (how has Covid-19, Trump, and continued state violence during a global pandemic impacted the world of your story?)
- A compelling story
- 3-dimensional Black characters
- What do you want from your audience?
NOTE: This does not have to be a traditional theatre, film, or audio drama script. It can be a long poem, a short story, a journal entry. Just give us some context, and make sure it adheres to the By Us, For Us checklist!
In Lieu of a Submission Fee
The movement for Black Lives takes several forms, and we strongly encourage you to invest however you can. Black Revolutionary Theatre Workshop is committed to Black artists, Black audiences, and advocating for Black equity in spaces where the implicit work of white supremacy must be undone. But we’re not a bail fund. We’re not a relief fund. But we partner with organizations who do those important things and need your support in this incredibly challenging time.
If you can, we can encourage you to donate what you would pay to submit your work to this project. If you can’t, please let us know if you’d like us to donate on your behalf in your application.
NO LONGER ACCEPTING APPLICATIONS
Families United Against Mandatory Minimums
In the last 28 years, more than half a million people have benefited from sentencing and prison reforms championed by FAMM. Your contribution helps FAMM to continue advocating better laws and policies that give families the chance they deserve. Please give today.
New York Legal Assistance Group
As New York prepares for a budget crisis and proposed spending cuts, the funding that NYLAG relies on to provide expert legal services to those who need them most is in jeopardy. This funding threat is happening as desperate calls to our NY COVID-19 Legal Resource Hotline are increasing, and once courts reopen, the need will only become even greater. We need your help to continue fighting alongside our clients with legal services at no cost to them. Can we count on you?
Brooklyn Defenders Services
The mission of Brooklyn Defender Services is to provide high quality legal representation and related services to people who cannot afford to retain an attorney.
Brooklyn Defender Services is a public defender organization that represents nearly 35,000 people each year who are too poor to afford an attorney. Our staff consists of specialized attorneys, social workers, investigators, paralegals and administrative staff who are experts in their individual fields.
Legal Services for Prisoners with Children (LSPC)
For over 41 years, Legal Services for Prisoners with Children (LSPC) has been building a movement to end mass incarceration. Join this movement today by making a contribution to support our legal, policy, and organizing work.
LSPC is a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization—all donations are tax-deductible.
Critical Resistance
Critical Resistance seeks to build an international movement to end the Prison Industrial Complex by challenging the belief that caging and controlling people makes us safe. We believe that basic necessities such as food, shelter, and freedom are what really make our communities secure. As such, our work is part of global struggles against inequality and powerlessness.
Critical Resistance seeks to build an international movement to end the Prison Industrial Complex by challenging the belief that caging and controlling people makes us safe. We believe that basic necessities such as food, shelter, and freedom are what really make our communities secure. As such, our work is part of global struggles against inequality and powerlessness.
Black Visions Collective
BVC is a Minnesota-based black, trans, and queer-led organization that believes in a future where all Black people have autonomy, safety is community-led, and we are in right relationship within our ecosystems.
BVC is a Minnesota-based black, trans, and queer-led organization that believes in a future where all Black people have autonomy, safety is community-led, and we are in right relationship within our ecosystems.
SUPPORT BRTW TODAY
BRTW exists to disrupt any and all oppressive systems that marginalize Black people using narrative and performance as a methodology to recenter Black people and experiences. With economic, social, educational, healthcare, housing, and political injustice facing our community, BRTW aims to tackle the issues that impact us while becoming a beacon for Black opportunity within the arts.