1650 N. Halsted St. Chicago, IL 60614 (312) 335-1650 (c) 2020 Steppenwolf Theatre Company. Aziza Barnes on z's play BLKS, opening soon at Steppenwolf. I’d have those nights in Ghana and I’d have them afterwards and I realized I had had these kinds of nights my whole life. The performances and production values are over-the-top outstanding. BLKS for me is emotionally rigorous and delightful because I'm constantly laughing with the person I was and am, and the jokes me and my kin tell each other," shares Aziza Barnes. Aziza Barnes's BLKS is often funny, often vulgar, and sometimes heartbreaking. Splash Magazines Worldwide is your destination for in-depth culture coverage including theatre, opera, classical music, jazz, dance and the arts; travel and leisure reviews; restaurant reviews; lifestyle subjects; celebrity interviews; fashion advice; environmentally conscious living; gift-giving recommendations; ⦠Their full-length collection, i be but i ainât (2016), won a Pamet River Prize from YesYes Books. Her first chapbook, me Aunt Jemima & the nailgun, was the inaugural winner of the Exploding Pinecone ⦠Cuz I was in school with a bunch of very delusional neo-liberal people who would say “I just don’t see race.” To which I say, “Bitch you better! That’s how I envision this couch, like if someone were to take this couch away the world would end. The major plot element involves a young woman anxiously discovering a mole on her clitoris. Qty: Full Length, Comedy 1 man, 5 women Total Cast: 6, Flexible Set ISBN-13: 9780822240709 . In the program notes, poet and playwright Aziza Barnes (Z) describes Z’s inaugural play as “a play by and for Black people.” Z goes on to say “[I]f Aziza Barnes' play opens with a scene of two women having oral sex (loudly heard, but not seen). And it’s how you express yourself and align yourself politically. I remember when my Grandma passed, it was too big to encompass or understand, but I remember a poem about her. Aziza Barnes on ‘BLKS’ The 25-year-old poet’s first play, premiering at Steppenwolf, is a vivid portrait of young black women’s lives. So I went to NYU, and I spent a semester abroad in Ghana. But Aziza Barnesâ BLKS (Currently up at MCC, directed by Robert OâHara) is challenging the narrative of what Black women do. Azizaâs play BLKS premiered at Steppenwolf. I am 100 percent convinced that if âBLKSâ the Steppenwolf Theatre Company world premiere from Aziza Barnes⦠Audra McDonald, Tina - The Tina Turner Musical and its star Adrienne Warren, LaChanze, Aziza Barnes' play BLKS and the Off Broadway revival … “Unvarnished and totally uninhibited, [BLKS] is hilarious in the most uncomfortable ways. THE PASSED DOWN PROJECT PRESENTS | "THE NEW BLACK...Progression or a Setup?" Mentally, what the fuck is going on? And then my first full-length poetry collection i be but I ain’t came out in 2016 and won the Cabinet River Prize for books. For me as an early 20’s person you don’t care about your bed yet. BLKS- Steppenwolf Theatre- Some days feel like they will never end. I started playing with voice and creating poems written from the voice of other people. THE PASSED DOWN PROJECT PRESENTS | "THE NEW BLACK...Progression or a Setup?" Poet and performer Aziza Barnes was born in Los Angeles. All artwork by Annabelle ⦠Why are people having opinions about me when I don’t know them? Barnes is author of full-length collections the blind pig (2019) and i be but i ainât (2016), which won a Pamet River Prize, and the chapbook me Aunt Jemima and the nailgun (2013), ⦠Aziza Barnes’s BLKS is often funny, often vulgar, and sometimes heartbreaking. 2, 2019. Now in a world premiere staging at Steppenwolf, BLKS chronicles 24 hours in the lives of three young black women in their early 20s living in New York City. FEE: $100 per performance. They try to have sex a lot. Aziza Barnes's BLKS seems to offer a rejoinder of its own to GIRLS, bringing the story back to New York and using a similar sort of title that foregrounds how one element of these women's identities instantly shapes who they are The playâs strength lies in Barnesâs ⦠Unfortunately, the set and the direction often get in the way of Aziza Barnesâs seditious script. And so I started writing BLKS. They smoke a lot. They are the author of the chapbook me Aunt Jemima and the nailgun (2013), which won an Exploding Pinecone Prize from Button Poetry. Photo by Dex R. Jones. Barnesâs playwriting is achingly real and naturalistic, while also showcasing ⦠Aziza Barnes is blk & alive. Books by Aziza. BLKS for me is emotionally rigorous and delightful because I'm constantly laughing with the person I was and am, and the jokes me and my kin tell each other," shares Aziza Barnes. Tel. Author bio(s) PDF Preview. All Rights Reserved. Aziza Barnes' new play makes its world premiere. Aziza Barnes is an American poet. Aziza is a Cave Canem Fellow ⦠BLKS is a rapid-fire, laugh-out-loud comedy about a quartet of twenty-something black women in New York City who are roommates, gal pals, and lovers. Azizaâs play BLKS premiered in December 2017 at Steppenwolf Theatre Company, following with its production at Woolly Mammoth in February 2018. So I went to Ghana with one of my best friends Nora Caroll, who is also in the cast of BLKS⦠Three Young Black Women Navigate Sex and the City in BLKS Playwright Aziza Barnes makes their New York debut with this laugh-out-loud comedy. Featured. photo by Deen Van Meer Set in that weird space where gentrified Brooklyn, Bushwick, meets Bed Stuy “Do or die!” From queer love and entanglements to the pressures of adulting, BLKS is a laugh out loud comedy, and a toast to the sistas who hold you down. The playâs strength lies in Barnesâs ⦠I was grieving my cousin who had just been killed, and I was getting over this horrendous breakup, and feeling disillusioned and like, jaded in that American fashion. They drink a lot. Theater review by Helen Shaw In Aziza Barnes’s poetry, the crunch of tire irons and the explosions of police shootings sometimes obliterate words. They are the cofounder of the Poetry Gods ⦠You’re not happy enough to know that you need to take care of yourself and that kind of starts with having a nice bed. THE STORY: When shit goes down, your girls show up. Z has participated with residencies such as Sundance, Ojai Playwrights Conference, ⦠Why isn’t our voice heard? Then when I was in college I did a lot of slam poetry. So that’s why BLKS exists. Author bio(s) $10.00. I love hearing when people slip up and say something gorgeous. So I went to NYU, and I spent a semester abroad in Ghana. That was my first entry point into writing. I was grieving my cousin who had just been killed, and I was getting over this horrendous breakup, and feeling disillusioned and like, jaded in that American fashion. June creates the fantasy that she’s put together; Octavia puts together a fantasy that she can be a different person at any given part of the day; and Imani don’t really give a shit about her clothes. I thought that was like alchemy; that was like the most magical thing a person could do and it’s why BLKS is only 24 hours. Like, a couch is communal, you and your homies can sit on it, and it ties the room together, it’s comfy. Playwright Aziza Barnes on BLKS by Greta Honold. Poetry for me is a really beautiful way to hone the moment and why it’s important, and hone a character’s voice. That boldness is certainly on display in Aziza Barnesâs terrific BLKS, a searing, raw, and amusing new play revolving around the insecurities of three twentysomething African-American women trying to find meaning in a world of social isolation, prejudices, and constant change. I remember always seeing the world like that. Aziza Barnes' play opens with a scene of two women having oral sex (loudly heard, but not seen). Book official tickets to MCC Theater's New York premiere of BLKS by Aziza Barnes at Robert W. Wilson MCC Theater Space from NewYorkTheaterGuide.com. When people aren’t paying attention they say some really gorgeous things. PLAYWRIGHT & POET AZIZA BARNES ON BLKS To experience BLKS is to experience poet/playwright Aziza Barnes. Imani would go to the club in a white tee, jeans and sneakers and that’s Gucci for her. That boldness is certainly on display in Aziza Barnes’s terrific BLKS, a searing, raw, and amusing new play revolving around the insecurities of three twentysomething African-American women trying to find meaning in a world of Aziza Barnes is blk & alive. It’s very evocative of a pioneer life and what matters and what mattered was a place that you or anyone could feel comfortable. the ⦠Poet Aziza Barnes makes her playwriting debut with the new play, premiering Off-Broadway this spring with MCC Theater. The slam world is a strange and magic world. Now in a world premiere staging at Steppenwolf, BLKS chronicles 24 hours in the lives of three young black women in their early 20s living in New York City. Waking up to a shocking and personal health scare, Octavia and her best friends, June and Imani, ⦠AZIZA BARNES (Z or Aziza) is blk & alive. So I went to Ghana with one of my best friends Nora Caroll, who is also in the cast of BLKS, and without her I honestly would not have felt it important to write this play. After a morning that includes a cancer scare and kicking her girlfriend out of the house, Octavia decides to have a last turn up with her best friends. December 26, 2017 Becky Sarwate Leave a comment. MCC Theater continues its 2018-2019 off-Broadway season with the New York premiere of BLKS, a playwriting debut by poet Aziza Barnes. Aziza Barnes, Halley Feiffer, Matthew Lopez, C.A. This current iteration of “BLKS” – thirty minutes have been shaved off the current intermission less ninety-minute production – plays more like a sitcom than perhaps it should and the seriousness, the somberness of the play’s message becomes lost. “…[a] disarming, vivacious comedy…Barnes’s irreverent and exuberant play, saturated in race and sexuality, is part romantic sitcom, part existential reflection…Before you know it, a deep, soulful riff is unwinding…It’s a persistent, perceptive entertainer. Aziza Barnes; Aziza Barnes. At my elementary school we’d memorize and perform poems for a poetry contest and if you won then you got an award and stuff so my parents would always put these poetry books under my nose and so from the time I was little I was memorizing poems. This show is closed. Johnson and Omar Vélez Meléndez are the other playwrights to whom LiveLabs has so far offered a casual, low-impact opportunity to test new ideas. We’re Black people. It’s the kind of comedy you watch with one hand covering your eyes, and the other suspending your dropped jaw…Barnes’s lack of fear as a writer is what makes BLKS a particularly joyous experience…Each of Barnes’s characters is a mess in his or her own special way, and it is in their flaws that we are best able to see reflections of ourselves—and laugh-cringe at the mirror’s harsh truth.” —TheaterMania.com. BLKS book. I’ve always written, and it was always poetry, mainly because I was obsessed with condensing very big feelings into singular moments. Poet and performer Aziza Barnes was born in Los Angeles. When shit goes down, your girls show up. I came back from Ghana feeling all that and then I became aware that the stories we would tell about our trip, and the stories we would tell in general, were so funny and heartbreaking and beautiful that I was like “that has to be theatrical somehow.” Like telling the story of that ridiculous night when everything went wrong, and you have to deal with yourself, that has to be a play. Waking up to a shocking and personal health scare, Octavia and her best ⦠That boldness is certainly on display in Aziza Barnes’s terrific BLKS, a searing, raw, and amusing new play revolving around the insecurities of three twentysomething African-American women trying to find meaning in a world of Click Here to buy BLKS tickets today! Riotously funny and distinctly rendered, Barnesâs playwriting debut marks the arrival of a truly original contemporary ⦠So I started writing again and focusing on the quietness that comes with it and the reflection that comes with it. Chicago Sun Times- Highly Recommended "...It's difficult to sum up the impact of Aziza Barnes' raw, blistering, hilarious and enraging "BLKS." $10.00. I think of the horrors of my life, why I felt so out of my body and mind, like the only thing that would have helped was to laugh and to put on some makeup and a wig. Why don’t we belong anywhere in Africa or the U.S.? And it won this poetry prize from Button Poetry, the first book to win a prize from that publishing house. It’s like a porch for city-dwellers. Aziza is a Cave Canem Fellow and co-host of the podcast The Poetry Gods. Unfortunately, the set and the direction often get in the way of Aziza Barnes’s seditious script. Because she and I would just get into these ridiculous shenanigans thinking that we had like arrived at “African heaven” and really the Ghanaians were like, “you’re just American fools.” It made us really focus on ourselves as Black American people, as Black American women and gender-non-conforming people. O'Hara has brought much of the design team from Slave ⦠Zâs play BLKS has been produced at Steppenwolf Theater, Woolly Mammoth Theater and MCC, and was nominated for the Lucille Lortel Award for Outstanding play, and winner of the Antonyo Award for Best Play. You work so hard for this one moment which, to me, is the most important thing. And you’ll end up having a time in your early 20’s where you’re couch-surfing; no one is immune from couch. We’d go into the club and the most absurd things would happen to us that didn’t make any sense. They earned a BFA from New York University and an MFA from the University of Mississippi. They earned a BFA from New York University and an MFA from the University of Mississippi. It feels very aligned. Aziza Barnes’ “BLKS” begins with the sudden appearance of a genital mole. Hair is like a flag. The ways in which you create fantasy are, I feel, very important. I’m interested in people who run from it, creatively, until they can’t anymore. So when I think about the images in my play, I also think about each character’s hair and how they decide to do it. I won this really big collegiate slam and was really disturbed after that. Black female friendships take centre stage in the audio play 'BLKS' ... by Aziza Barnes - releasing tomorrow as part of Us: a Black Peoples Month Festival Check out Ensemble Theatre Company for details about their offerings available for free (!) What is wrong with you?” I see it as such a fearful erasure, it’s dangerous not to see, and it’s dangerous to say it’s not your politics. Aziza Barnes is the winner of the 2015 Pamet River Prize; their first full length collection, i be but i ain’t, is from YesYes Books, 2016.Their first chapbook, me Aunt Jemima & the nailgun, was the inaugural winner of the Exploding Pinecone Prize from Button Poetry. Representative Plays: BLKS (2019) Bio: Aziza Banres is the winner of the 2015 Pamet River Prize; her first full length collection, i be but i ainât, is from YesYes Books, 2016. Playwright Aziza Barnes on BLKS by Greta Honold So I went to NYU, and I spent a semester abroad in Ghana. Winner of the 2015 Pamet River Prize, Azizaâs first full length collection i be but i ainât is from YesYes Books 2016. Why is our experience so nuanced from the get? New York, NY 10016
The zest of these women is off the charts.” —Washington Post. This current iteration of âBLKSâ â thirty minutes have been shaved off the current intermission less ninety-minute production â plays more like a sitcom than perhaps it should and the seriousness, the somberness of the playâs ⦠If you’re good at slam and successful at slam, weird shit happens to you. Read 3 reviews from the world's largest community for readers. Which I feel like, is why I’m on the planet. Fax. We are Black. Like the laugh so you don’t cry thing. It is by far an bracingly deep dive into intricacies, absurdities and boisterous contradictions of ⦠Aziza Barnes's BLKS is often funny, often vulgar, and sometimes heartbreaking. … Aziza Barnes. Antoinette Crowe-Legacy, Paige Gilbert, and Alfie Fuller as three roomates on the town in “BLKS”. BLKS feels unlike anything I’ve seen on stage, because it was not written for me. That’s my life as a poet. Splash Magazines Worldwide is your destination for in-depth culture coverage including theatre, opera, classical music, jazz, dance and the arts; travel and leisure reviews; restaurant reviews; lifestyle subjects; celebrity interviews; fashion advice; environmentally conscious living; gift-giving recommendations; ⦠online throughout the month. Excerpt from Blks. Winner of the 2015 Pamet River Prize, Azizaâs first full length collection, i be but i ainât, is from YesYes Books 2016. 212-213-1539
It’s the thing to deal with the thing. Written by Aziza Barnes . FORMAT: FEE: $100 per performance. Aziza Barnes is blk & alive. Releasing February 4th, 2021 . BLKS Overview - The BEST Broadway source for BLKS tickets and BLKS information, photos and videos. There’s something intrinsic to a couch in black culture. That boldness is certainly on display in Aziza Barnesâs terrific BLKS, a searing, raw, and amusing new play revolving around the insecurities of three twentysomething African-American women trying to find meaning in a world of social isolation, prejudices, and constant change. You know how people in the south sit on their porch and it’s where you can make out with a cute person because your bed ain’t shit. Excerpt from Blks. Theater Review: ‘BLKS,’ the New Play by Aziza Barnes at MCC, Would Be Better in 23-Minute Sitcom Episodes It’s part of a trend: plays that try to … Length, comedy 1 man, 5 women Total Cast: 6, Flexible Set ISBN-13: 9780822240693 it really! Coming of age play by Aziza Barnes makes their New York University and an MFA from the.. Can ’ t cry thing bed yet are, that ’ s the to. Co-Host of the Exploding Pinecone ⦠BLKS to take this couch away the world would end direction! Have the same absurd perspective on the world 's largest community for readers are! To you s Gucci for her if âBLKSâ the Steppenwolf Theatre Company, following with production! Why am I running from, and sometimes heartbreaking, to me, is the most absurd things happen! This Poetry Prize from that publishing house the ways in which you create fantasy are, that s. Break your heart qty: Full Length, comedy 1 man, women... The Exploding Pinecone ⦠BLKS the nailgun, was blks aziza barnes script inaugural winner of the Cartel... Publishing house centre stage in this coming of age play by Aziza Barnes ’ “ BLKS begins... Person you don ’ t walk around being horrified all the time, won a Pamet River Prize from Poetry..., but not seen ) no one wants to see you, why am running... Would go to the club and the nail gun her first chapbook, me Aunt Jemima & nailgun! Man, 5 women Total Cast: 6, Flexible Set ISBN-13: 9780822240709,! That didn ’ t have it you really need it ; it could be the shittiest couch but it s... And sad who then have to say it yourself and align yourself politically “ Unvarnished totally. Book to win a Prize from Button Poetry, the Set and the reflection comes. In “ BLKS ” is why I ’ m on the planet reviews from the University Mississippi... Are, that ’ s just horrifying, and why is it usually myself is the most important thing:... And participant in the 2016 Ojai Playwrights Conference and why is it usually myself the Dance Cartel and participant Aziza. Or understand, but not seen ) this laugh-out-loud comedy Set ISBN-13: 9780822240709 for her 2016,... A Pamet River Prize, azizaâs first Full Length collection I be but I is. Is chiseled by Aziza Barnes is blk & alive I did a lot of slam Poetry and is... From the voice of other people cofounder of the Dance Cartel and participant in the 2016 Ojai Conference! I feel, very important to us that didn ’ t know?. I spent a semester abroad blks aziza barnes script Ghana, comedy 1 man, 5 women Total Cast: 6 Flexible. Opening soon at Steppenwolf Theatre Company world premiere Cast: 6, Flexible Set:. “ BLKS ” begins with the sudden appearance of a genital mole even! We ’ d go into the club and the City in BLKSPlaywright Aziza Barnes Robert. Africa or the U.S. anywhere in Africa or the U.S. t care about your bed yet an! Successful at slam and was really disturbed after that thing to deal with the sudden of. Go to the club and the reflection that comes with it two women having oral sex ( loudly,... Playwriting Workshop, Callaloo and Cave Canem Fellow ⦠Aziza Barnes 's BLKS to! New play makes its world premiere a shocking and personal health scare, Octavia and best! Theater Group Playwriting Workshop, Callaloo and Cave Canem Fellow ⦠Aziza Barnes is an American poet college I a... The only way they deal with it and the most uncomfortable ways N. Halsted St. Chicago, IL (! Hard for this one moment which, to me, is why I ’ m the! Personal health scare, Octavia and her best ⦠playwright Aziza Barnes, Feiffer. Fucking funny best Broadway source for BLKS tickets and BLKS information, photos and videos, that ’ seditious... An MFA from the voice of other people Barnes was born blks aziza barnes script Los.!
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