Linda Parris-Bailey, executive/artistic director of The Carpetbag Theatre
and author of the play, ''Dark Cowgirls and Prairie Queens,'' will speak
to the Knoxville Writers’ Guild on Thursday, Aug. 6.
The meeting will be at 7 p.m. at the Laurel Theater at the corner of
Laurel Avenue and 16th Streets in Forth Sanders and is open to the public.
A $1 donation is requested at the door. The building is handicapped
accessible.
Parris-Bailey, who has been with the Carpetbag Theatre for 35 years, will
talk about playwriting and working in an ensemble, story-based theatre.
She will reveal how the African-American rooted theatre goes about its
mission of giving voice to diverse communities.
“We start with being an African American voice in terms of perspective.
But we work with disempowered disfranchised communities of all kinds – we
look for hidden voices,” she said, adding that these recently have
included Southeast Asian and Latino perspectives.
Parris-Bailey has received national renown for her plays, including “Dark
Cowgirls and Prairie Queens,” which is about black women’s contributions
to the Old West. She also is credited with establishing a high bar of
professionalism for Knoxville’s acclaimed Carpetbag Theatre, which she
joined in 1974.
Founded in 1970, Carpetbag Theatre is a community based, non-profit,
professional theatre company. One of the few tenured African-American
professional theatre companies in the South, it has consistently produced
original work by young artists.
Parris-Bailey has written touring works which include "Cric? Crac!"; "Ce
Nitram Sacul"; and "Nothin’ Nice." Her work, "Between a Ballad and a
Blues", which celebrates the life and stories of African American
string-band musician Howard “Louie Bluie” Armstrong, was performed at the
University of Tennessee’s Ula Love Doughty Carousel Theatre in November,
2008.
Parris-Bailey has served as the program director of the Summer Youth
Workshop at the Highlander Research and Education Center. She has worked
in communities across the U.S. conducting residencies with diverse
communities using creative drama techniques to help people tell their own
stories. Her projects have received support of notable funding groups such
as the Ford Foundation, Appalshop, the Rockefeller Multi-Arts Production
Fund, and the W.K. Kellogg Foundation.
"Between a Ballad and a Blues" has toured to Durham, N.C., Atlanta, and
Seattle, WA since its premiere.
The Knoxville Writers’ Guild offers monthly meetings, writers’ groups and
periodic workshops for local writers. It receives the support of WUOT 91.9
FM. Visit www.knoxvillewritersguild.org.
For more information, please contact:
Kelly Norrell
Publicity Chair
Knoxville Writers’ Guild
806-0132
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