Programming

Personal stories, global cultures.

— We triumph the stories that skirt mainstream consciousness, that challenge our identities and individual narratives, and that tell a collective story of humanity as interwoven, activated, and empowered.

Mainstage Production: Pure Confidence

Gregg T. Daniel, Marya Mazor

Yumarie Morales

Cymya Johnson

Jason Delane Lee, Sydney A. Mason

COMMUNITY

Opening up the conversation

— Something transformative happens when people sit in our seats. They connect with a specific experience of the African diaspora. They explore the stories, themes, and issues that affect both our immediate neighborhoods and the world at large. And they feel it in their bones – which can be challenging, revelatory, and healing. The power of theatre makes this happen. 

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COMMISSIONS

“Cycle of Poverty” Commission Fellowship

In 2022, Lower Depth Theatre launched our Playwright Commission Fellowship with a cohort of four diverse and early to mid career playwrights. The program is designed to address the inequity of female and BIPOC voices in the new play space by creating and supporting a pipeline of BIPOC and/or women-identifying playwrights. Selected fellows will finish a full-length play during the 11-month process, culminating in a reading festival in 2023. All participants of the program are paired with a mentor who is best suited to serve each playwright’s unique needs.

The 2022 theme is “the Cycle of Poverty”, a systemic social and racial issue that our marginalized communities face here in the United States. We hope to generate narratives within the Commission Fellowship that will elevate consciousness, deepen our understanding of a moral and social issue while triggering a call to activism.  

DeLane McDuffie

DeLane McDuffie is a LA-based writer, cinephile, jazz head, and bookworm. A Southern transplant from the Carolina marshlands, he’s a screenwriter, playwright, and poet. He graduated from Morehouse College with BA in English; attended Royal Holloway, University of London; and earned an MFA in film from the University of Miami. His most recent original plays have been produced or slated for production in Los Angeles, Houston, and Seoul, South Korea.

Find him at delanemcduffie.com.

Sage Martin

Sage Martin (She/Her/Mx) is an actor and writer devoted to human rights, Southern folklore, and ghost stories. She graduated from Paul McCartney’s Institute for Performing Arts (Liverpool, UK), performed at the Sam Wanamaker Festival (The Globe, London), and recently joined the Radical Hospitality Team at Actor's Theater of Louisville. She has had the distinct honors of presenting at the StateraArts National Conference, testifying in Washington D.C. for survivors of abuse, and speaking on tour with Senator Bernie Sanders. Sage's work is fueled by late nights, Moonpies, and the people she is fortunate/tasked/blessed to know.  www.Sage-Martin.com

Vasanti Saxena

Vasanti Saxena is a writer whose work explores the fissures of family and relationships, memory, and historical legacy. Her plays have been produced/developed at Ensemble Studio Theatre, New York Theatre Workshop, Chicago Dramatists, Silk Road Rising, Chalk Rep, Company of Angels, East West Players, The Road Theatre Company, and Santa Monica Rep. Her play Sun Sisters was the winner of East West Players Pacific Century Playwriting Competition, a finalist for Chicago Dramatists Many Voices Project, and a semi-finalist for both the O’Neill National Playwrights Conference and the Princess Grace Award. It is published in Contemporary Plays by Women of Color (London, UK: Routledge 2017). Fellowships and commissions include: 2017 Outfest Screenwriting Lab (with the screen adaptation of Sun Sisters), NYTW Emerging Artist of Color Fellowship, and an EST/Sloan commission.

Marlow Wyatt

Marlow Wyatt received her BFA (magna cum laude) from Howard University College of Fine Arts. Selected works include SHE (CTG/HUMANITAS finalist, Long Beach Playhouse New Works Winner) Robbin, from the Hood (2021 Eugene O’Neill semi-finalist, 2021 Support Black Theater New Works Pipeline), Red Ribbons (2022 Voices for Victory Reading Series, 2021 Headwaters New Play finalist), Mourning of the Sons (LACMA-Theater At The Museum), Sweetie's Confession (Fade to Black, NESONA Festivals) and Say Something (AWOT Festival, Moving Arts). Marlow is a 2021 NEXT Commission Artist (Antaeus Theater), Support Black Theatre’s 2021 As We Grow We Sow Awardee and New Works Pipeline Artist and a CTG/Humanitas Playwrights Prize finalist.