(FRENCHTOWN, NJ) -- ArtYard presents a staged reading of Whittier by Tylie Shider on Saturday, May 21 from 4:00pm to 6:00pm. Whittier is a multimedia docudrama inspired by Minneapolis-based graffiti, lawn signs, and murals created in protest of George Floyd 's murder in the Whittier neighborhood. It is a story about a partnership of three Black theatre artists centering Black voices and issues. The event is free to the public.
The production is directed by Andrew Binger, a Newark-based director, director, arts administrator, educator and Artistic Director of Yendor Theatre Company. The author, Tylie Shider, was born and raised in New Jersey and lives in Minneapolis. Tylie will be in residence at ArtYard in the three weeks leading up to the staged reading. He is the inaugural playwright in ArtYard 's residency program.
With cinematographer Nick Clausen, Shider also created a documentary to accompany the stage component. Sign O’ The Times, a recent Official Selection for the 2022 Minneapolis St. Paul International Film Festival, will also be on view at ArtYard prior to the reading.
Deonté Griffin-Quick, ArtYard theatre curator, will lead an artist talk and audience Q&A with Shider and Binger after the reading. At the play reading, the actors will showcase the development of the play with early choreography, lighting, and multimedia in place. The goal is for the playwright to hear the written play spoken out loud in front of an audience to understand how their intentions are received so they can make edits if needed.
The reading is the first theatre event taking place in the newly opened McDonnell Theater, the heart of ArtYard’s new building at 13 Front Street, a welcoming communal resource and vessel channeling the power of art to unsettle, engage, bridge divides, and spark unexpected moments of arresting beauty. The 162-seat theater has state-of-the-art projection, lighting, and surround sound and will be the site of music, film screenings, dance, theatre, artist talks, and more.
Playwright and journalist Tylie Shider is a two-time recipient of the Jerome Fellowship at the Playwrights’ Center (PWC) and an I Am Soul playwright in residence at the National Black Theatre (NBT). His recent plays include Labor (The Theater Project), Whittier (PWC) and THE GOSPEL WOMAN (NBT). He holds a BA in journalism from Delaware State University and an MFA in dramatic writing from New York University. A proud member of the Dramatist Guild, he is currently a professor of playwriting at Augsburg University and a staff writer for Minnesota Playlist.
Andrew Binger is an actor, director, arts administrator, and educator from Newark, NJ. Andrew is the Artistic Director at Yendor Theatre Company (YTC), which he co-founded with his mentor, the late Rodney Gilbert. Yendor Theatre Company is dedicated to developing, producing, and celebrating works by Black and Brown writers. As artistic director, Andrew launched the organization’s Summer Theatre Initiative, designed to bring theatre directly into the neighborhoods of Newark. He directed the inaugural production, If I Could, In My Hood, I Would… by David Lee White, with productions at the Newark Riverfront, Lincoln Park, and The Soundstage at Clinton Avenue.
This theatre residency at ArtYard was curated by Deonté Griffin-Quick, another New Jersey native and Director of Programs and Services at New Jersey Theatre Alliance.
ArtYard is located at 13 Front Street in Frenchtown, New Jersey. ArtYard is an incubator for creative expression and a catalyst for collaborations that reveal the transformational power of art. They are an interdisciplinary alternative contemporary art center comprised of an exhibition space, theater, and residency program, dedicated to presenting transformative artwork, fostering unexpected collaborations, and incubating original new work.
