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China Clark

CHINA CLARK

  (1952 - )
Nationality:    African American
email:    n/a     Website:    n/a

Literary Agent:    n/a

aka China Clark Pendarvis. China Clark (Debra) (African American / Irish): Playwright, Director, Filmmaker, Installation artist, Philosophy Professor, and Screenwriter, began her career as a television staff writer for the Bill Cosby Show, OCos.o Recognized as being one of the leading black authors in Theatre today, China Clark has written over 30 plays, many produced in New York, San Francisco, Germany, and england: including Sugar Brown-Divine and May, which was produced at the Friends of Italian Opera Theater in Berlin, Germany, Bessie Smith Speaks, produced by Woody King Jr. and the New Federal Theater in New York, and the HeArts and Souls Bar, produced at Theater Zum Westlichen Stadthirschen in Berlin, Germany. a collection of her work is published as a Black Woman in Contemporary Drama, and she is featured in Black Voices, edited by Woody King Jr., and published by applause Drama Books of New York. essence Magazine and other publications have published her poetry. a poetry album of her work is produced by Folkways Records. China is a former professor of screenwriting at City University, Parson's the New School of Social Research, and she was a guest lecturer on film at Potsdam University in Berlin, Germany. Ms. Clark has instructed at her own school for screenwriters, Home, where she has taught script writing to Oscar-winners Quentin Tarantino, Spike Lee, Geena Davis, Charlie Kaufman, Ben Stiller, a Roberto Benigni, and thousands of Hollywood's finest writers. China has won many, many, critical accolades and awards as both a writer and a director: Hannah B. Del Vecchio award (Scriptwriting), Creative artist award from New York Arts Council (Playwriting, In Sorrow's Room), the Goldberg award (Life's Work), the Martin award, (installation art), and the Puffin award, Playwriting. China holds two Master's degrees, one in Liberal Arts with a concentration in Philosophy, and one in English Literature with a concentration in the Teaching of Writing. She is currently a PhD candidate, teaches philosophy at the College of New Rochelle in New York, and is the Dramaturgy at Woody King's New Federal Theater in New York.

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

         Bessie Smith Speaks         Black And Blue Visions         Chinese Screen, The         HeArts And Souls Bar, The         In Sorrow's Room         Madwoman's Room, The         Neffie         Perfection In Black         Sabian, The         Sugar Brown - Divine & May         Why God Hates Rev Chandler         Willow Lottery, The
Bessie Smith Speaks

Synopsis:
a one-woman show about the famous black blues singer Bessie Smith: her life, her music, and her struggle to be realized as a black woman in the racially oppressive American south. Family loyalty, love, bi-sexuality, the brutality of the music business for a black in the 1920Ős, and overcoming are some of the major issues. Bessie tackles these issues with the background of her genius blues.

Notes:
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1st Produced:
Henry Street Settlement
465 Grand Street, New York, NY 10002     1994

Organisations:
Woody King's New Federal Theater

1st Published:
Black Voices/Applause Books/New York City, 1996   

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

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Genre:
Drama/music

Parts:
Male:  -            Female:  1            Other:  -

Further Reference:
-

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Black And Blue Visions

Synopsis:
about three men who meet in a bar during a snowstorm in NYC

Notes:
-

1st Produced:
-     2000

Organisations:
-

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

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Genre:
-

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Further Reference:
-

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Chinese Screen, The

Synopsis:
-

Notes:
-

1st Produced:

Organisations:
-

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

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Genre:
One act

Parts:
Male:  -            Female:  -            Other:  -

Further Reference:
-

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HeArts And Souls Bar, The

Synopsis:
Three men meet in a bar during a snowstorm in New York. One Irish, One englishmen, and One African-American form an emotional bond, as they wait for the snow to subside. It is soon revealed that they are all waiting to contact their special women (the loves of their lives). Turns out, they are all waiting for the same woman.

Notes:
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1st Produced:
Theater Zum Westilichen Stadthirschen, Berlin, Germany     2000

Organisations:
Black and Blue Visions

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:
Play/Drama

Parts:
Male:  3            Female:  -            Other:  -

Further Reference:
-

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In Sorrow's Room

Synopsis:
Deals with the independence of a young beautiful black woman. Sorrow has left her domineering mother to find herself. She is pursued constantly by men who seem interested only in her body and not her art or ideas

Notes:
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1st Produced:
African Total Theatre, NYC     1975

Organisations:
-

1st Published:
era Pub Co, NY, 1976   

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:
Domestic Drama Play/Drama

Parts:
Male:  3            Female:  4            Other:  -

Further Reference:
-

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Madwoman's Room, The

Synopsis:
-

Notes:
-

1st Produced:
-    

Organisations:
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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:
-

Parts:
Male:  -            Female:  -            Other:  -

Further Reference:
-

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Neffie

Synopsis:
a tale of undying love. Music-dance-fantasy

Notes:
reading Frank Silvera Writer's Workshop, NY, 1975

1st Produced:
Urban Arts Theatre, NYC    

Organisations:
-

1st Published:
era Pub Co, NY, 1976   

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:
Mythic Fantasy

Parts:
Male:  7            Female:  5            Other:  -

Further Reference:
-

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Perfection In Black

Synopsis:
concerns black woman's conflicts with black man/white woman

Notes:
-

1st Produced:

Organisations:
-

1st Published:
Scrippte vol 1 no 7 May 1972,    

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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Sabian, The

Synopsis:
-

Notes:
-

1st Produced:
-    

Organisations:
-

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:
-

Parts:
Male:  -            Female:  -            Other:  -

Further Reference:
-

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Sugar Brown - Divine & May

Synopsis:
Sugar and May meet in a metaphorical Prison. Sugar is educated, beautiful, cultured, and wise; May, on the other hand, is street-wise, uncultured, and insecure about her looks. Nevertheless, the women find that they have a similar America experience.

Notes:
-

1st Produced:
Berlin, Germany     1997

Organisations:
Friends of the Italian Opera

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:
Drama/poetry

Parts:
Male:  -            Female:  2            Other:  Unseen male voice

Further Reference:
-

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Why God Hates Rev Chandler

Synopsis:
-

Notes:
-

1st Produced:
-    

Organisations:
-

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:
-

Parts:
Male:  -            Female:  -            Other:  -

Further Reference:
-

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Willow Lottery, The

Synopsis:
-

Notes:
-

1st Produced:
-    

Organisations:
-

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:
-

Parts:
Male:  -            Female:  -            Other:  -

Further Reference:
-

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