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Charlayne Woodard

CHARLAYNE WOODARD

  
Nationality:    USA
email:    n/a     Website:    n/a

Literary Agent:    Bret Adams Ltd  

Charlayne Woodard's plays including biography, theatres, agent, synopses, cast sizes, production and published dates

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

         Flight         In Real Life         Neat         Night Watcher, The         Pretty Fire

Flight

Synopsis:
In 1858, on a plantation in Georgia, a young mother is suddenly sold, leaving behind her husband and their five-year-old son. Through a magical evening of storytelling, music and dance, the enslaved community comes together, not only to comfort Father and son but to heal and strengthen themselves. FLIGHT is an inspirational theatrical experience for the whole family. these empowering stories, based on actual slave narratives, as well as African and African-American folktales, celebrate the African-American oral tradition as it passes from generation to generation. . .to you.

Notes:
original music composed by Karl Lundeberg

1st Produced:
-    -

Organisations:
-

1st Published:
Dramatists Play Service, NY (2009)   978-0-8222-2330-6

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:  2            Female:  4            Other:  flexible

Further Reference:
-

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In Real Life

Synopsis:
After graduating from Drama school in Chicago, Charlayne Woodard, a young African-American woman, eagerly packs her bags and heads for New York City to live with her white boyfriend and pursue an acting career. Her family is concerned about this move-to say the least. "That child is free till she fool," says Grandmama. "Free enough to do any foolish thing that jump into her mind. My Lord, that's too free." Although Charlayne imagines she will be living in a fabulous East Side apartment, she finds herself in a tiny fifth-floor walk-up with a bathtub in the kitchen. Unfazed, she sets out to have a career as a "serious actor." "I came to New York with five monologues: Sophocles, Shakespeare, Chekhov, Tennessee Williams, and Ntozake Shange." Instead, she's cast in the original company of the hit Broadway musical Ain't Misbehavin'. IN REAL LIFE cannily chronicles Charlayne's initial seduction into the thrills of stopping a show as well as the physical and emotional price of sustaining the energy to do so night after night. Among the many colorful characters that people Charlayne's world is a charismatic Rastafarian playwright whose descent into drugs runs parallel with Charlayne's climb to success. IN REAL LIFE explores what happens, in the words of Langston Hughes, to "a dream deferred."

Notes:
-

1st Produced:

Organisations:
-

1st Published:
Dramatists Play Service, NY,    -

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 Comedy

Parts:
Male:  -            Female:  1            Other:  or flexible casting

Further Reference:
-

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Neat

Synopsis:
In the oral traditions of West Africa and the African diaspora, Charlayne Woodard is a modern-day griot. On a bare stage, this magnificent storyteller spins her own exquisite real-life remembrance of her brain damaged aunt, Neat, and the profound change she brought to Charlayne's life. Neat, with her enormous love, energy, simplicity and magnificent clarity, teaches the young Charlayne what it is to cherish life. A magical, compelling, personal portrait of a young woman's coming of age, NEAT is the story of an urban African-American girl bursting into adulthood, experiencing first love, and embracing both black-pride and feminism. An evening of pure joy, compelling insight and hopefulness, NEAT is an inspiration for every family.

Notes:
-

1st Produced:

Organisations:
-

1st Published:
Dramatists Play Service, NY,    -

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 Comedy

Parts:
Male:  -            Female:  1            Other:  or flexible casting

Further Reference:
-

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Night Watcher, The

Synopsis:
Simultaneously a best friend, mentor, psychologist, and surrogate mother to the many young people who call her "Auntie," Charlayne Woodard is childless only by biological standards. Told with penetrating grace, candor and wit, the NIGHT WATCHER is the story of a woman who chooses not to have children - only to be pulled into the real-life struggles of kids of all ages, races and backgrounds.

Notes:
-

1st Produced:
59E59 theaters, NY, USA >>>    06 Oct 2009

Organisations:
-

1st Published:
Dramatists Play Service, NY,    978-0-8222-2470-9

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

Parts:
Male:  -            Female:  1            Other:  -

Further Reference:
-

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Pretty Fire

Synopsis:
the stage is bare except for a wooden loveseat and a young African-American woman. then the lyrical, lifting words of Charlayne Woodard begin weaving stories of two young sisters in the small world of Albany, New York; of Ku Klux Klan riders burning a cross-the ironic "pretty fire" of the title-in the hilltop black town of Rosignol Hill, Georgia; of three generations of family love, struggle and triumph. And suddenly that empty stage becomes crowded with the authentic, mesmerizing experience of contemporary African-American life. PRETTY FIRE is an enthralling celebration of life. Filled with earthy humor, it takes readers on a universal journey through a world in which the family bond is as strong as steel.

Notes:
-

1st Produced:
Fountainhead Theatre Company, LA    1992

Organisations:
-

1st Published:
Dramatists Play Service, NY,    -

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 Comedy

Parts:
Male:  -            Female:  1            Other:  or flexible casting

Further Reference:
-

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