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A weekly look at creativity, arts, and culture in southwest Michigan, hosted by Zinta Aistars.Fridays in Morning Edition at 7:50am and at 4:20pm during All Things Considered.

Art Beat: Illuminating the voiceless

Write the story you needed when you were young, says Quincy Thomas, assistant professor of theatre arts at Kalamazoo College. Is there a short play in your desk drawer or saved on your laptop? Dig it up and send it in for the first ever Lumen Playwriting Competition. Deadline is just around the corner – January 1st, 2025. It is a competition giving voice to the too often voiceless.

A conversation with Quincy Thomas

“The competition stems from a desire from Farmer’s Alley Theatre and Kalamazoo College to see an increase in the kind of theatre and education that’s happening in schools, particularly for young audiences,” Thomas says. “What we’re looking for is people to write plays, 30 minutes or less, one-act pieces, that really speak to very particular things that we believe aren’t necessarily being covered or handled that could use more attention when we are talking about theatre and theatre education and theatre for young audiences.”

The competition is open to all entrants, and plays must address one of five topics: BIPOC; body image/self-acceptance; grief/depression; LGBTQIA2S+; or neurodivergence. Winners will be decided by a blind panel of accomplished playwrights and be eligible to receive cash prizes, with winning scripts given staged readings. Submissions must be entered on the Kalamazoo College website submission forms. Winners will be announced January 22, 2025.

First-place scripts will be given staged readings at Farmers Alley Theatre on February 10, at 7 p.m. Ranking plays will receive prize money: 1st Place: up to $1,000; 2nd Place: up to $500; 3rd Place: up to $250.

“If we can get young voices creating one-act plays, the long-lasting benefit of that are really incalculable,” Thomas says.

Thomas’s doctorate is in theatre and his performance studies certification are both from Bowling Green State University. His research centers on counter-storytelling; Black performativity in American culture; representations of the marginalized in popular culture; comedic and solo performance; and performative writing. He teaches directing, theatre history, playwriting, theatre, performance studies, and film. His courses address cultural marginalization and misrepresentation in the arts, specifically of racial and ethnic minorities, women, and members of the LGBTQ+ community.

Listen to WMUK's Art Beat every Friday at 7:50 a.m. and 4:20 p.m.

Zinta Aistars is our resident book expert. She started interviewing authors and artists for our Arts & More program in 2011.
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