About Our Works

We believe strongly in our mission to bring to the stage compelling stories about people with diverse histories and diverse perspectives. Rising Circle is committed to developing new works from within the collective, as well as nurturing emerging playwrights of color as they generate plays that show broader definitions of the American experience. Our works vary in nature, as some are inspired by source materials cultivated by interviews, while others are fantasies, comedies, dramas or experimental expressions by and about people of color. If you would like to know more about these plays or obtain rights for production, submit an e-mail to us at deepa@risingcircle.org

Refinery

Rising Circle’s Refinery is an initiative committed to furthering the development of plays workshopped in our INKtank lab for emerging playwrights of color. Rising Circle’s Refinery pairs our playwrights with minority directors and designers and allows them to bring their plays from the page to the stage through staged readings or barebones productions that serve as a crucial developmental step towards a full production. Our Refinery also illuminates the development process through pre- and post-show discussions with our audiences centered on the collaboration between theatre artists.

Muddy the Waters (2010)

Through the 2010 New York State Council on the Arts’ (NYSCA) Individual Artist’s Grant, Rising Circle will commission Collective member, Charity Henson-Ballard, to write her newest full-length play, Muddy the Waters, and develop it with the support of Rising Circle. Muddy the Waters is an exciting new piece that deconstructs common definitions of “world” and “environment” using the often-overlooked River Park Towers as its backdrop. Riddled with magical realism, science, politics, tenant testimonies, socio-economics, Hip-Hop and Biblical imagery, Muddy the Water’s fantastical and rhythmic discourse imagines the changes (and resistance) of a community after a mysterious ecological group moves into the basement of a forgotten housing project.

PlayRISE Salon

Goal:

The culminating event of the INKtank lab is the PlayRISE Summer Salon. PlayRISE is tri-fold in its mission: it is a spirited celebration, a showcasing of INKtank’s new drafts, and all the more, a testing ground with our most valuable asset: you – the audience. PlayRISE is not only designed to give the playwrights an opportunity to sit back, relax, celebrate and share their work, but also see how their scripts resonate before a live audience.

The Plays:

Each playwright who participates in the INKtank playwriting intensive for emerging writers of color is given a full cast of actors, a director, six hours of rehearsal and one staged reading of their play in front of a public audience.

Audience Inclusion:

Each evening of PlayRISE includes a pre-reading “Mix & Mingle”, complete with light fare and drinks. These pre-show festivities set a wonderful mood among attendees and allows the audience to interact with the playwrights and Rising Circle Collective members.

Audience inclusion is important to stress, as the audience plays a critical role in the future development of these scripts. Not only does Rising Circle seek to build a sense of audience inclusion through the pre-reading “Mix & Mingle”, but an electronic post-reading survey goes out to all attendees in order for the audience to provide our playwrights with constructive feedback about their work.

Past PlayRISE Plays

Veil’d by Monet Hurst-Mendoza (2010)

Not every fairy tale has sunshine. Dima is a 16-year old outcast with a rare skin allergy which causes her to hide behind her mother’s old burqa. Her best friend is a talking nurse shark named Speedo that she keeps hidden in her bedroom. Between Dima’s obsessive attachment to her burqa and her inability to step outside of the family’s New York apartment, Dima’s parents fear that she will never experience the world around her. That is, until she begins a secret friendship with her “Prince Charming” – a streetwise, hipster poet-boy named Elliot, who throws poems through her window. Rapunzel never had it this bad. Or this good. Originally developed in part with the support of Rising Circle Theater Collective at the 2010 INKtank Play Development Lab for Emerging Artists of Color. Directed by Catherine Jhung.

Say Something by Sevan Greene (2010)

Say Something is a side-splitting satirical black comedy about racial profiling and the notion of what a terrorist looks like. No one is safe when Joe gets on his moral soapbox and elicits the help of his “urban” cousin Thumper to make a mock-terrorist video that falls into the hands of Ms. B, their suspicious Jamaican landlord. When Homeland Security gets involved, not even strident volunteer lawyer Anna or booze-induced fashion maven Lyda will be spared from questioning. Originally developed in part with the support of Rising Circle Theater Collective at the 2010 INKtank Play Development Lab for Emerging Artists of Color. Directed by Kareem Fahmy.

Pete the Girl by Charity Henson-Ballard (2010)

Petrice Kincaide, an inner-city, troubled and androgynous teen finds a promising future in world domination when she teams up with Vera, a brilliant and disillusioned scientist living in her housing project. Vera offers her scientific genius, while Pete sacrifices her body to fulfill “the prophesied shaming of the machine” by secretly creating softball techniques such as the base-stealing “sonic leap”, and “the perfect swing” for grand slam home runs. The only obstacles standing in the way of Pete and Vera’s guaranteed financial success and political power: Vera and Pete. Inspired by the on-going Caster Semenya controversy. Originally developed in part with the support of Rising Circle Theater Collective at the 2010 INKtank Play Development Lab for Emerging Artists of Color. Directed by Donya Washington.

Grace by Sanjit De Silva and Deepa Purohit (2009-2010)

Grace is based on real-life transcribed interviews. The story interweaves the lives of four very different people hailing from different backgrounds. These individuals cross paths while journeying in and out of the Great Lakes Region of Africa, an area historically disparaged by conflict. Directed by Nandita Shenoy.

• May 25, 2010: Public staged reading as a part of Epic Theater’s Passion Coalition, a collaboration with Epic Theater Center, Rising Circle Theater Collective, the Center for Human Rights at John Jay College, the Culture Project and the Lark Play Development Center.
• July 8-12, 2009: Workshop presentation at NYU’s Studio Tisch.

How to Find My Inner Asian by Nancy Kim (2008-2010)

How to Find my Inner Asian is a satiric and personal solo show inspired by real self-help books for Asians and Nancy Kim’s own struggle with growing up as an Asian-American woman. Directed by Catherine Jhung.

• Presented at Queens Theatre in the Park in February 2010 to launch Q Up.

Bloodlines – American Family Project by Rising Circle Theater Collective. Lead writers: Deepa Purohit and Sanjit De Silva (2007-2008)

Bloodlines follows the stories of five Americans of color whose upbringings reflect the ever-changing American family structure. Bloodlines uses real-life interviews, coupled with movement and choreography, to tell the stories of these five unique individuals. Directed by Sanjit De Silva and Deepa Purohit.

• Launched the 2008 Nassau County Multicultural Advisory Committee and the Nassau County Department of Mental Health Chemical Dependency and Developmental Disabilities Services Fifth Annual Cultural Competence Conference.
• 2007 production supported by the Lower Manhattan Cultural Council (LMCC) Creative Communities grant.

Pulling the Lever by Rising Circle Theater Collective. Lead writers: Deepa Purohit and Sanjit De Silva (2004)

Pulling the Lever is an original play created by Rising Circle Theater Collective. The piece is based on real interviews with a diverse cross-section of Americans. These characters openly ponder that pivotal time in our country’s history during the 2004 election and Iraq war. Pulling the Lever unravels the intersections between our personal lives and the politics that affect us to reveal how Americans really felt at that time about pulling the voting lever. Directed by Rod Bowen.

• Winner of the 2005 New York Innovative Theatre Awards prize for Outstanding Ensemble.
• Received five additional nominations in 2005 for ensemble, writing, set design, lighting design, costume design.
• Published in New York Theatre Experience’s Plays & Playwrights (2006) Anthology.
• Produced at the Wings Theatre, November 2004.

Sketch Works and Benefit Performances

	The 24th Hour (2005)An evening of sketch comedy and laughs to benefit Rising Circle. The 24th Hour was written by: A-men Rasheed in collaboration with Debargo Sanyal, Rick Younger, Sanjit De Silva and Deepa Purohit. Director: Sanjit De Silva.
	The Color of Laughter II (2004)An evening of stand-up comedy to benefit Rising Circle, starring four talented and electric comedians of color.
	Hall Pass Reunion Tour (2004)An 80′s comedy cabaret to benefit Rising Circle. Hall Pass was written by and featured Rising Circle Theater Collective as members of a high school 80′s cover band reuniting a decade after their senior year break-up. Directed by Samrat Chakrabarti.
	The Color of Laughter I (2003)An evening of comedy starring four comedians of color: Steve Byrne, Karith Foster, Vijai Nathan, and Rick Younger. The Color of Laughter also included the comedic improv of Rising Circle Theater Collective.
	Minds on the Mend (2002)An exploration of the psychology of the mind. This showcase of work featured the talents of over 20 artists of color, all collaborating to produce an evening of provocative interpretations of new and published works.
	Readings and Rhythms (2001)In November 2001, Rising Circle put together an afternoon of readings of new works by individual members of the Collective. Rising Circle workshopped the pieces with the audience as a part of the ManhattanTheatreSource’s Flophouse Reading Series.
	New Beginnings (2001)Rising Circle’s first ever one-night theater showcase performed by members of Rising Circle Theater Collective with Affiliated Artists. This showcase of work featured the talents of over 25 artists of color, all collaborating to produce an evening of provocative interpretations of new and published work.