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Zakiyyah Alexander

ZAKIYYAH ALEXANDER

  
Nationality:    African American
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Literary Agent:    Creative Artists Agency NY  represented by Olivier Sultan

Zakiyyah Alexander is the author of: 10 Things to do before I die (Second Stage Uptown), SICK? (Summer Play Festival), THE ETYMOLOGY OF BIRD (Hip Hop Theater Festival, Providence Black Repertory Theatre), BLURRING SHINE (Market Theater, Johannesburg), SWEET MALADIES (Rucker Theatre), something new, YOU ARE HERE, and THE FOCUS. Her work has been seen and/or developed at: Ventura Theater, Chalk Rep, WET, A Contemporary Theater (ACT), Classical Theater of Harlem, The New Blackfest, Bristol Riverside Theater, Philadelphia Theater Company, The Humana Festival, Penumbra Theater, The Bay Area Playwrights Festival, Rattlestick Theater, Hartford Stage, 24/7 Theater Company, the Hip Hop Theater Festival, Vineyard Theater, the Women's Project, Gale GAtes et. al, La Mama Theatre, Greenwich Street Theater, etc. Awards include: Helen Merrill Emerging Playwriting Award, ACT New Play Award/Lorainne Hansberry Prize, Stellar Network Award, Theodore Ward Prize, Jackson Phelan Award, Drama League New Directors/New Works, New Professional Theatre Playwriting Award, Young Playwrights Inc.,etc. Her work is included in the current edition of New Monologues for Women by Women, featured in the book of essays, Girls who like Boys who like Boys, and Game on: The Humana Festival '08 Anthology. A former resident member of New Dramatists; past residencies and fellowships include: CTG (Center Theater Group) Playwrights Lab, EST's Youngblood, the Women's Project Writer's Lab, the Women's Work Project, and the Drama League. She has received commissions from: Second Stage, The Philadelphia Theater Company and the Children's Theater of Minneapolis. A graduate of the Yale School of Drama (MFA in playwriting); for four years she was a Visiting Assistant Professor at Bard College where she taught undergraduate playwriting, but most recently was a writer on the television show GREY's ANATOMY. Currently, she is developing a musical with Imani Uzuri (featuring the poetry of Sonia Sanchez),that will next be developed with a Rockefeller grant. Zakiyyah is a native New Yorker and was raised in Queens and Brooklyn.

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below is a list of Zakiyyah Alexander's plays - click on a Play Title for more information

         (900)         10 Things To Do Before I Die         After the Show: A Play In Mask         Blurring Shine         Elected         Etymology Of Bird, The         Focus, The         Game On         Ghost         Girl Shakes Loose Her Skin         Momentary Delay         One Smart Trick         Prayala         Present Company         Sick         Sweet Maladies         You Are Here
(900)

Synopsis:
a young woman obtains a job as a sex phone operator and gets mores than she bargained for.

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To Buy This Play:
If Publisher (above) is underlined then the play may be purchased by direct click from the Publisher, otherwise (below) are AbeBooks for secondhand, signed & 1st eds and other Booksellers for new copies

Booksellers:

Genre:
One act

Parts:
Male:  3            Female:  5            Other:  -

Further Reference:
-

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10 Things To Do Before I Die

Synopsis:
Vida, a NYC high school teacher and Lena, a once-successful writer, are two sisters who couldn't be more different. When a delivery of boxes from their recently deceased Father arrives they must reconnect and re-examine their complicated history. 10 Things To Do Before I Die is a Drama infused with comedy that explores how we let go of yesterday so we can find a tomorrow
- press release

Notes:
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1st Produced:
Mcginn Cazale Theatre, NY     2009

Organisations:
Second Stage Theatre

1st Published:
-   

Music:
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To Buy This Play:
If Publisher (above) is underlined then the play may be purchased by direct click from the Publisher, otherwise (below) are AbeBooks for secondhand, signed & 1st eds and other Booksellers for new copies

Booksellers:

Genre:
Play/Drama

Parts:
Male:  -            Female:  -            Other:  -

Further Reference:
-

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After the Show: A Play In Mask

Synopsis:
an isolated Southern town. Time has stood still and there is still segregation of the races. then a modern day minstrel show arrives.

Notes:
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1st Produced:
-     2002

Organisations:
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1st Published:
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Music:
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To Buy This Play:
If Publisher (above) is underlined then the play may be purchased by direct click from the Publisher, otherwise (below) are AbeBooks for secondhand, signed & 1st eds and other Booksellers for new copies

Booksellers:

Genre:
Play/Drama

Parts:
Male:  8            Female:  7            Other:  -

Further Reference:
-

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Blurring Shine

Blurring Shine
Does Hip-Hop still provide opportunities, or has it paralyzed the black consciousness? Luther, an African-American heavy weight, determined to propagate pop culture calls upon his brother Shine, America's most precious commodity. Told through raw confessions of the Hip-Hop canon, BLURRING SHINe asks us if the "black man" is simply a role, played when it is financial fortuitous, or is it more?

Notes:
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1st Produced:

Organisations:
Real TheatreWorks

1st Published:
Contained in: "Say Word - Voices From Hip Hop Theater" published by University of Michigan Press 2011   

Music:
-

To Buy This Play:
If Publisher (above) is underlined then the play may be purchased by direct click from the Publisher, otherwise (below) are AbeBooks for secondhand, signed & 1st eds and other Booksellers for new copies

Booksellers:

Genre:
Comedy Drama, 100 min Comedy

Parts:
Male:  5            Female:  -            Other:  -

Further Reference:
-

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Elected

Synopsis:
a sixteen year old descends into the world of sex and drugs. But once you have been selling your body can you return to High School?

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Music:
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To Buy This Play:
If Publisher (above) is underlined then the play may be purchased by direct click from the Publisher, otherwise (below) are AbeBooks for secondhand, signed & 1st eds and other Booksellers for new copies

Booksellers:

Genre:
Play/Drama

Parts:
Male:  3            Female:  5            Other:  -

Further Reference:
-

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Etymology Of Bird, The

Synopsis:
Jermaine and Birdy have known each other since forever. But during one long hot New York summer things change

Notes:
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1st Produced:
Providence Black Repertory Company, Boston     14/2008

Organisations:
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1st Published:
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Music:
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To Buy This Play:
If Publisher (above) is underlined then the play may be purchased by direct click from the Publisher, otherwise (below) are AbeBooks for secondhand, signed & 1st eds and other Booksellers for new copies

Booksellers:

Genre:
Play/Drama

Parts:
Male:  -            Female:  -            Other:  -

Further Reference:
-

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Focus, The

Synopsis:
-

Notes:
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1st Produced:
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Organisations:
InterAct Theatre

1st Published:
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Music:
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To Buy This Play:
If Publisher (above) is underlined then the play may be purchased by direct click from the Publisher, otherwise (below) are AbeBooks for secondhand, signed & 1st eds and other Booksellers for new copies

Booksellers:

Genre:
-

Parts:
Male:  -            Female:  -            Other:  -

Further Reference:
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Game On

Game On
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Notes:
written by Zakiyyah Alexander, Jon Spurney, Alice Tuan, Daryl Watson, Marisa Wegrzyn, Ken Weitzman. Humana Festival 2008: the Complete Plays brings together All eleven scripts from the 2008 Humana Festival of New American Plays, the 32nd Annual cycle of world premiere productions staged At Actors theatre of Louisville. the seven full-length plays And four ten-minute plays represent An exceptional Array of work by some of the most exciting new voices in American theatre

1st Produced:

Organisations:
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1st Published:
in Humana Festival 2008: the Complete Plays, Playscripts Inc   

Music:
-

To Buy This Play:
If Publisher (above) is underlined then the play may be purchased by direct click from the Publisher, otherwise (below) are AbeBooks for secondhand, signed & 1st eds and other Booksellers for new copies

Booksellers:

Genre:
-

Parts:
Male:  -            Female:  -            Other:  -

Further Reference:
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Ghost

Synopsis:
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To Buy This Play:
If Publisher (above) is underlined then the play may be purchased by direct click from the Publisher, otherwise (below) are AbeBooks for secondhand, signed & 1st eds and other Booksellers for new copies

Booksellers:

Genre:
-

Parts:
Male:  -            Female:  -            Other:  -

Further Reference:
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Girl Shakes Loose Her Skin

Synopsis:
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Notes:
written by Zakiyyah Alexander and Imani Uzuri. Nominated for The Kilroys 2015. The Kilroys is a group of playwrights and producers in LA who publish an annual industry survey of excellent new plays by female and trans playwrights. It is a tool for producers committed to ending the systemic underrepresentation of female and trans playwrights in the American theater.

1st Produced:
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1st Published:
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Music:
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To Buy This Play:
If Publisher (above) is underlined then the play may be purchased by direct click from the Publisher, otherwise (below) are AbeBooks for secondhand, signed & 1st eds and other Booksellers for new copies

Booksellers:

Genre:
-

Parts:
Male:  -            Female:  -            Other:  -

Further Reference:
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Momentary Delay

Synopsis:
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Notes:
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1st Produced:
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Organisations:
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1st Published:
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Music:
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To Buy This Play:
If Publisher (above) is underlined then the play may be purchased by direct click from the Publisher, otherwise (below) are AbeBooks for secondhand, signed & 1st eds and other Booksellers for new copies

Booksellers:

Genre:
Play/Drama

Parts:
Male:  -            Female:  -            Other:  -

Further Reference:
-

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One Smart Trick

Synopsis:
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Notes:
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1st Produced:
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Organisations:
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1st Published:
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Music:
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To Buy This Play:
If Publisher (above) is underlined then the play may be purchased by direct click from the Publisher, otherwise (below) are AbeBooks for secondhand, signed & 1st eds and other Booksellers for new copies

Booksellers:

Genre:
Play/Drama

Parts:
Male:  -            Female:  -            Other:  -

Further Reference:
-

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Prayala

Synopsis:
Two brothers re-unite. One has become a hip-hop artist the other an economist

Notes:
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1st Produced:
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Organisations:
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1st Published:
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Music:
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To Buy This Play:
If Publisher (above) is underlined then the play may be purchased by direct click from the Publisher, otherwise (below) are AbeBooks for secondhand, signed & 1st eds and other Booksellers for new copies

Booksellers:

Genre:
Play/Drama

Parts:
Male:  1            Female:  5            Other:  -

Further Reference:
-

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Present Company

Synopsis:
a middle aged man finds himself alone with a fifteen year old prostitute

Notes:
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1st Produced:
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Organisations:
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1st Published:
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Music:
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To Buy This Play:
If Publisher (above) is underlined then the play may be purchased by direct click from the Publisher, otherwise (below) are AbeBooks for secondhand, signed & 1st eds and other Booksellers for new copies

Booksellers:

Genre:
One act

Parts:
Male:  1            Female:  1            Other:  -

Further Reference:
-

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Sick

Synopsis:
-

Notes:
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1st Produced:
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Organisations:
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1st Published:
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Music:
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To Buy This Play:
If Publisher (above) is underlined then the play may be purchased by direct click from the Publisher, otherwise (below) are AbeBooks for secondhand, signed & 1st eds and other Booksellers for new copies

Booksellers:

Genre:
Play/Drama

Parts:
Male:  -            Female:  -            Other:  -

Further Reference:
-

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Sweet Maladies

Synopsis:
Two years after the abolition of slavery, three freed slaves wait for their mistress to die. To pass the time away they dress up in her clothes and play role games.

Notes:
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1st Produced:
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Organisations:
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1st Published:
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Music:
-

To Buy This Play:
If Publisher (above) is underlined then the play may be purchased by direct click from the Publisher, otherwise (below) are AbeBooks for secondhand, signed & 1st eds and other Booksellers for new copies

Booksellers:

Genre:
Play/Drama

Parts:
Male:  -            Female:  -            Other:  -

Further Reference:
-

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You Are Here

Synopsis:
about Living the American Dream

Notes:
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1st Produced:
reading at Center Stage
48 West 21st Street, 4th floor, New York, NY 10010     17 Dec 2010

Organisations:
WeT's INKubator

1st Published:
-   

Music:
-

To Buy This Play:
If Publisher (above) is underlined then the play may be purchased by direct click from the Publisher, otherwise (below) are AbeBooks for secondhand, signed & 1st eds and other Booksellers for new copies

Booksellers:

Genre:
dark comedy

Parts:
Male:  3            Female:  4            Other:  -

Further Reference:
-

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