Cycle of Poverty
Commission Play Reading Festival
Playwright Fellows: Sage Martin, DeLane McDuffie, Vasanti Saxena, Marlow Wyatt
Lower Depth Theatre proudly presents our “Cycle of Poverty” Reading Festival. Presented over two days, this festival is the culmination of our new Commission Fellowship Program and allows our 2022 cohort the opportunity to showcase the four new full-length plays they have developed under the program. Each of the plays explore the social and racial issues within the cycle of poverty through BIPOC perspectives.
Our Commission Fellowship Program supports the development of new plays by BIPOC and/or women-identifying playwrights by providing development and financial support to emerging playwrights.
Performance SCHEDULE
Saturday, Feb. 4 at 1:30 p.m.:
• Footsteps by Vasanti Saxena: Infused with fairy tales and fantasy, Footsteps illuminates the pivotal moments in the lives of two girls who grow up in poverty, yet find joy and solace in their friendship as they forge their way into adulthood.
Intermission
• Bread And Circus by Marlow Wyatt: An audience of salacious NIMBY’s peers into the lives of homeless 21-year-old Hope and her companion, wise and mysterious Charity, as the two fight against bureaucracy, indecency, capitalism and an unjust justice system.
Talk-back immediately following the second reading, moderated by Kermit Frazier, featuring our two playwrights and a special guest!
Sunday, Feb. 5 at 1:30 p.m.:
• Follow the Lady by Delane McDuffie: A seasoned grifter must choose between her get-rich con that milks communities of money and hope and the chance to guide her people to a better tomorrow.
Intermission
• Mine by Sage Martin: In this Appalachian ghost story about grief, greed, and getting even, revenge is brewing in the mountains.
Talk-back immediately following the second reading, moderated by Kermit Frazier, featuring our two playwrights and a special guest!
A Noise Within
3352 E Foothill Blvd.
Pasadena, CA 91107
Pay What You Choose with price options at $10, $15, $25, $50.
DIRECTORS
Denise Blasor - Footsteps
Susan Dalian - Mine
Susan Dalian - Bread And Circus
Jonathan Levit - Follow the Lady
cast
Patricia Belcher, LeShay Tomlinson Boyce, Chase Cargill, Rogelio Douglas III, Cherish Monique Duke, Bert Emmett, Danyé Evonne, Alexis Genya, Matthew Hancock, Veralyn Jones, Yvonne Huff Lee, Sydney A. Mason, Brendan Mulligan, Kalyn Rivers, Camille Spirlin, Paul David Story
PLAYWRIGHT MENTORS
Paula Cizmar - Mine
Kermit Frazier - Bread And Circus and Follow the Lady
Velina Hasu Houston - Footsteps
PRODUCTION TEAM
Drina Durazo - Producer
Hannah Herrera Greenspan - Dramaturg
Glenda Morgan Brown - Dialect Coach
Gabby Bruno - Stage Manager
Stage Directions Read By:
Rogelio Douglas III (Bread and Circus), Bert Emmett (Footsteps), and Sydney A. Mason (Mine)
about the playwrightS
Sage Martin - Mine
DeLane McDuffie - Follow the Lady
Vasanti Saxena - Footsteps
Marlow Wyatt - Bread And Circus
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
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.
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 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.
Cycle of Poverty: Part 1 podcast episode with Vasanti Saxena & Marlow Wyatt
In the first episode of a special two part series, get an exclusive first look at two of the in-development plays from our Commission Fellowship Program. Vasanti Saxena and Marlow Wyatt read from their new plays which explore poverty and homelessness through BIPOC perspectives. Followed by a conversation moderated by L. Trey Wilson.
Cycle of Poverty: Part 2 with Sage Martin & DeLane McDuffie
In the second and final episode of our special two-part “Cycle of Poverty” series, enjoy a “first listen” of two in-development plays from our Commission Fellowship Program. Sage Martin & DeLane McDuffie read from their new plays which explore poverty and homelessness through BIPOC perspectives. Followed by a conversation moderated by L. Trey Wilson.
