CURRENT Productions


 

HYMN

by Lolita Chakrabarti

Staged-Reading

2024

past Productions


 

Cycle of Poverty

Play Reading Festival

2023


Production photo of Safe Harbor. Cymya Wynne sits next to Sydney A. Mason.
 

Safe Harbor

by: Tira Palmquist

2019


Production photo of Pure Confidence
 

Pure Confidence

by: Carlyle Brown

2017


Br'er Cotton production photo
 

Br’er Cotton

By: Tearrance Arvelle Chisholm

2017


Dontrell, Who Kissed the Sea production
 

Dontrell, Who Kissed the Sea

by: nathan alan davis

2015


Bulrusher production
 

Bulrusher

by: eisa davis

2014


Elmina's Kitchen production

Elmina’s Kitchen

by: kwame kwei-armah

2012


Three Sisters After Chekhov production. The three sisters in their kitchen.

Three Sisters After Chekhov

by: Mustapha Matura

2010


 

Staged Readings & Playwright Workshops


In Depth Play Reading Series graphic

In Depth Series

This program pulls back the curtain on how we choose our work. In Depth started as a way to take the pulse of the cultural conversations the community wants to have. We open up the decision making process by engaging the audience in a post-reading discussion on interwoven social issues…

 

Breaking Ground New Play Workshop logo

Breaking Ground

In this 5- to 6-day immersion workshop we bring together actors, directors, playwright, and dramaturge to create the bones of new work, or to continue shaping a work in progress. A deep dive into the creative process, the workshop…

 

A white vintage style album cover with The Black Album and the Lower Depth Theatre logo on it.
A black vintage style album cover with The Black Album and the Lower Depth Theatre logo on it.

One Act Series

2019

A two-part series of one act staged readings.

 

Mehrnaz Mohammadi as Aminah in a Zoom reading of The Muhammad Sisters Were Here

The Muhammad Sisters Were Here

by: T. Tara Turk-haynes

2020

Part two of our “Cycle of Violence” Commissions Series.

 
 

commissions


Commission Fellowship Program

Our annual Playwright Commission Fellowship is designed to create and support a pipeline of BIPOC and/or women-identifying playwrights. Each year, selected fellows are paired with a mentor who will guide them as they finish a full-length play in an 11 month process, culminating in a reading festival at the end of the program.


“Cycle of Poverty” Commission Series

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.  


“Cycle of Violence” Commission Series

Our ‘Cycle of Violence’ Commission Series raises consciousness about the ways violence manifests in our world and the impact it has on the community. Featuring three commissions about sex trafficking, honor killings & women in prison.


Pandemic Plays

Graphic: 2020 Pandemic Plays. A 10 Minute short play festival.
 

Lower Depth brought together ten playwrights from across the country to create eleven brand new ten-minute short plays within two weeks. The new plays captured how the 2020 pandemic impacted and reshaped the lives of people across racial, ethnic, socio-economic, and gender boundaries.

 

The BIPOC Voting Plays

Graphic. THE BIPOC VOTING PLAYS: A Second Wave Pandemic Plays Short Festival
 

The “second wave” of our ‘Pandemic Plays’ series featured six brand new ten-minute plays that captured the tremendous power, hope, fear and suppression surrounding the “American vote.” This collection of thought-provoking, witty, and all-too-relevant plays merged the genre of science fiction with the imminence of the November 2020 election.


The Boll Weevil

 

Chester, a modern-day vigilante property bounty-hunter has found a way to take back what was stolen, one plot at a time. Finding his first clients, he reaches out to "Pooky" and his family to reclaim what a certain boll weevil has taken. And now, it's on.

 
 
 

past events


Juneteenth Jamboree art

Juneteenth Jamboree & Freedom Walk

Our annual Juneteenth celebration is a two-part journey and jamboree for the whole family honoring African American history, culture, and art.


Blood At the Doorstep screening. Jason and Yvonne Lee interview director Erik Ljung and Maria Hamilton.

Advocacy in Action

Through our Advocacy in Action initiative, Lower Depth has hosted two documentary screenings for "The Blood is at the Doorstep" and "I am Jane Doe."


A group of people sitting around a poker table and playing a game

Dealing 4 Lower Depth

Our annual poker fundraiser — Some win, some lose but it’s always a blast!


Poster. Yule Slam: A night of cheer and charity supporting Lower Depth Theatre

Yule Slam

Our virtual holiday party fundraiser, hosted by DJ Shammy Dee, featured three spoken word artists, a dance party, and many, many ugly sweaters.