Kayenta New Play Lab
Mama’s Dresses/A Dress For Mama
by Sarahjeen Francois (Valencia, CA)
Friday August 16th 7:30pm & Saturday August 17th 4:00pm
The Lorraine Boccardo Theater
We are thrilled to announce the return of the Kayenta New Play Lab, a unique opportunity for theater artists and audiences to converge to create and witness the development of new work. Six playwrights have been selected to participate by a panel of local and nationally-recognized experts. Following a 10-day development residency, each play will be presented as a staged reading for our summer audiences, followed by engaging discussions and opportunities to meet the artists. This dynamic New Play Lab fosters creativity, connection, and an unforgettable artistic journey. Join us in celebrating new, original work, full of inspiration and camaraderie!
About the Play:
Three sisters gather together to mourn the loss of their mother, and grow closer as they remember her life and memories.
About the Playwright:
Sarahjeen François is a Haitian-American Myth-maker whose creative work is a fusion of Afro-folkloric storytelling practices and her research on the use of code-switching/African-American linguistics. With the stage as her medium she works with a unique style of playwriting that she’s been developing called Code-Flow along with traditional elements such as a Djembe music and dance to help facilitate the movement of the play.
Sarahjeen’s inaugural work to debut her Code-Flow style, Sister, Braid My Hair, has received recognition and awards such as the Audience Choice Award for Best Ensemble in the 2022 Atlanta
Fringe Festival and the awards for Best Production and Best Direction in the 2023 SheLA Theater Arts Festival.
She creates in celebration of Black femme personification and all of its complexities. Her mission is to write stories that place Black women at the center of the arc and ultimately to tell stories that are nuanced in a voice that is so unique to her community.
An MFA Acting graduate from the CalArts School of Theater, Sarahjeen’s artistic endeavors have led her to work with The Playwrights’ Center, The Atlantic Center for the Arts, Castello San Basilio, Will Geer’s Theatricum Botanicum, CalArts Center for New Performance, Teatro Línea de Sombra, Horizon Theatre Company, Peach State Opera, and Out Front Theatre Company.
About the Team:
This reading of Mama’s Dresses/A Dress For Mama is directed by Donna Simone Johnson, and is performed by:
Daphne Gabriel
Latoya Cameron
Carene Rose Mekertichyan
This project is supported in part by the National Endowment for the Arts.
The Kayenta New Play Lab is sponsored by Douglas Caputo / Desert Dweller at Equity Real Estate
