Preserving the Past with t.tara turk-haynes and Joy Gregory
In this episode, hear from two talented writers, t.tara turk-haynes and Joy Gregory as they examine the writer’s responsibility to preserve and protect the past. Moderated by L. Trey Wilson.
This month:
Playwright t.tara turk-haynes reads two excerpts from her novel, LIGHTERS IN THE AIR.
Playwright & founding member of Lookingglass Theatre, Joy Gregory, reads from a one act based on true events that happened in her family.
t.tara and Joy discuss their acting backgrounds and the many unique pathways into writing
t.tara and joy share the influences and history behind the pieces they shared.
Both writers discuss how their pieces involve preservation of a time in history in an effort to honor or represent it.
t.tara talks about the Black Arts Movement of the 1960s and its influence on her work even now.
t.tara emphasizes the importance of building on the past and remembering the people who came before.
Both writers discuss the importance of “cross-fertilization” between different art forms, and how artists impact each other in real space vs. virtual space.
Joy discusses attending her friend's memorial service and grieving the destruction of something.
Joy discusses the origins of Lookingglass Theatre Company and how they began the conversation about segregation in the arts community in Chicago.
Joy & t.tara compare separating different groups of people in art & stories in a "respectful" way vs. coming together as humans with human experiences to bridge that divide.
t.tara discusses offering grace and empathy when it comes to educating people about EDI and racial divisions.
“There’s a reason why August: Osage County still makes me cry sometimes. There’s not a person in there that looks like me, but I still feel that story. And I will say a lot of audiences of color have gone through that...We have not seen ourselves on stage, but we still are emoting the same. So how come when our stories are on stage people don’t emote the same either?
”
Pieces Read
WITCH HUNT by Joy Gregory
One act play based on real letters written by Joy’s mother that tells a macabre story about actual events that happened to her family
Two excerpts from LIGHTERS IN THE AIR, a novel by t.tara turk-haynes
Joy Gregory
Writer, Founding Member of Lookingglass Theatre Company
Joy Gregory is a founding member of Chicago's Lookingglass Theatre Company, which shall return for its 32nd season, praise be. Joy is a playwright and writer/producer for series television. Previous plays include The Shaggs: Philosophy of the World at Playwrights Horizons and an adaptation of Studs Terkel’s Race: How Blacks and Whites Think & Feel About the American Obsession, with Lookingglass. Joy’s series writing credits include Madam Secretary, Joan of Arcadia, Switched At Birth, Felicity and Jericho. Her newest play, The Lonely Ape, was a semifinalist in this year’s National Playwrights Conference.
t.tara turk-haynes
Playwright, Screenwriter, Novelist
t.tara turk-haynes is a writer whose work has been featured in various stages and screens including Lower Depth Theatre, Rogue Machine, Company of Angels, the Hip Hop Theater Festival, the Actor's Studio, Ensemble Studio Theater, the Schomburg, and the Kennedy Center. She is a graduate of Lang College and Sarah Lawrence, receiving the Lipkin Playwrighting Award. She has been a Cycle of Violence Fellow at Lower Depth Ensemble, Van Lier Fellow at New York Theatre Workshop, a member of Cosby Screenwriting Program, the Producers Guild Diversity Workshop, the Underwood Theatre Writers Group with Julia Cho, Rinne Groff, and Theresa Rebeck, and Company of Angels Writers Group. Her screenplays range from shorts to full length. She won Best Screenplay at African American Women in Cinema and was an Urbanworld Screenplay Finalist. Also a producer, she has co-produced the webseries “Dinner at Lola” featuring Tracie Thoms, Yvette Nicole Brown, Bryan Fuller and Nelson Ellis among others. As a fiction writer, her shorts and novellas have been published in various publications. She was published in Signifyin Harlem, Obsidian Call & Response: Experiments in Joy, Reverie: Midwest American Literature, the international anthology “X:24”, African Voices and Stress magazine. She has just finished a novel and a TV pilot on the Harlem Renaissance. She is a founding member of the producing playwrights’ collective The Temblors and a member of the 2021 Geffen Writer’s Room.