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Their full-length collection, i be but i ain’t (2016), won a Pamet River Prize from YesYes Books. Poet and performer Aziza Barnes was born in Los Angeles. Aziza Barnes is blk & alive. You don’t listen to yourself. Riotously funny and distinctly rendered, Barnes’s playwriting debut marks the arrival of a truly original contemporary … Aziza Barnes's BLKS seems to offer a rejoinder of its own to GIRLS, ... That wonderfully reductive name is a signal of how Barnes flips the usual script, moving a white character into the background and using the role to further a Black character's journey of self-discovery. This made me ask, why am I running from what I’m running from, and why is it usually myself? 212-683-8960 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. Aziza Barnes’s BLKS is often funny, often vulgar, and sometimes heartbreaking. There’s something intrinsic to a couch in black culture. Author bio(s) PDF Preview. Z has participated with residencies such as Sundance, Ojai Playwrights Conference, Center Theater Group Playwriting Workshop, Callaloo and Cave Canem. Aziza Barnes's BLKS is often funny, often vulgar, and sometimes heartbreaking. So it’s a comedy. And it’s how you express yourself and align yourself politically. It’s just horrifying, and you can’t walk around being horrified all the time. 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. 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. Click Here to buy BLKS tickets today! New York, NY 10016 1650 N. Halsted St. Chicago, IL 60614 (312) 335-1650 (c) 2020 Steppenwolf Theatre Company. 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. 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. So I started writing again and focusing on the quietness that comes with it and the reflection that comes with it. They are the cofounder of the Poetry Gods … Aziza Barnes’s BLKS is often funny, often vulgar, and sometimes heartbreaking. It’s very evocative of a pioneer life and what matters and what mattered was a place that you or anyone could feel comfortable. I mean if they were like “dang my boyfriend cheated on me” and “dang my dad’s dead” and “dang I don’t know what my own brain is doing…” Jesus Christ no. And it’s also fun to frazzle people who then have to say it. And I think about the clothes that they wear. 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! 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. Photo Credit: Deen van Meer. You could put all that life into a page and it’s still true and real. If you’re good at slam and successful at slam, weird shit happens to you. People are so fucking sad, it needs to be a comedy. 212-213-1539 Aziza is a Cave Canem Fellow … 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. I’m not interested in writing people who are miserable and sad. 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 earned a BFA from New York University and an MFA from the University of Mississippi. 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 (!) There’s a moment when Octavia’s in the house with Justin and she puts on this big crazy pink afro wig and sunglasses indoors and she wants to look and feel like Pam Grier. Waking up to a shocking and personal health scare, Octavia and her best … It’s like a porch for city-dwellers. $10.00. In poet Aziza Barnes’s ingenious portrait of a day in the life of four young black women discovering life’s uncomfortable truths in New York City, BLKS explores the joy and anguish of growing up and out. 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 So I went to NYU, and I spent a semester abroad in Ghana. BLKS. I remember when my Grandma passed, it was too big to encompass or understand, but I remember a poem about her. June has this moment where Justin is calling her and he finally shows up and she’s pinning it up cuz it’s straight and she has to pin it up at night and put the thing on it… And I feel like Imani has always had low natural… And Octavia has real dreads or silky dreads… I see their hair because it is such a thing – a crown. The major plot element involves a young woman anxiously discovering a mole on her clitoris. Mentally, what the fuck is going on? Books by Aziza. For me as an early 20’s person you don’t care about your bed yet. postmaster@dramatists.com. Aziza’s play BLKS premiered in December 2017 at Steppenwolf Theatre Company, following with its production at Woolly Mammoth in February 2018. They earned a BFA from New York University and an MFA from the University of Mississippi. Read 3 reviews from the world's largest community for readers. In reflecting on my own experiences to write the play I realized my friends and I are fucking funny. 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. MCC Theater continues its 2018-2019 off-Broadway season with the New York premiere of BLKS, a playwriting debut by poet Aziza Barnes. Like the laugh so you don’t cry thing. THE PASSED DOWN PROJECT PRESENTS | "THE NEW BLACK...Progression or a Setup?" Unfortunately, the set and the direction often get in the way of Aziza Barnes’s seditious script. 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 … So I went to NYU, and I spent a semester abroad in Ghana. Aziza Barnes, Halley Feiffer, Matthew Lopez, C.A. PLAYWRIGHT & POET AZIZA BARNES ON BLKS To experience BLKS is to experience poet/playwright Aziza Barnes. Now in a world premiere staging at Steppenwolf, BLKS chronicles 24 hours in … Photo by Dex R. Jones. Aziza Barnes' new play makes its world premiere. Audra McDonald, Tina - The Tina Turner Musical and its star Adrienne Warren, LaChanze, Aziza Barnes' play BLKS and the Off Broadway revival … It’s the thing to deal with the thing. As outrageous as they are, that’s the only way they deal with it. Aziza is a Cave Canem Fellow and co-host of the podcast The Poetry Gods. We are Black. Poetry for me is a really beautiful way to hone the moment and why it’s important, and hone a character’s voice. Z’s 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. The script is chiseled by Aziza Barnes in edgy/sexy wit and warmth that will bust your gut and break your heart. 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 is a graduate of New York University, member of The Dance Cartel and participant in the 2016 Ojai Playwrights Conference. Playwright Aziza Barnes on BLKS by Greta Honold. It is by far an bracingly deep dive into intricacies, absurdities and boisterous contradictions of … Tel. Aziza Barnes is an American poet. The zest of these women is off the charts.” —Washington Post. Excerpt from Blks. Playwright Aziza Barnes on BLKS by Greta Honold So I went to NYU, and I spent a semester abroad in Ghana. The same concept of “put all of this life into one night, one moment, one day.” That’s how I approach a lot of things. Chicago Sun Times- Highly Recommended "...It's difficult to sum up the impact of Aziza Barnes' raw, blistering, hilarious and enraging "BLKS." Aziza Barnes on z's play BLKS, opening soon at Steppenwolf. The performances and production values are over-the-top outstanding. 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; … Nora Carroll (Octavia), Leea Ayers (June) and Celeste M. Cooper (Imani) In the late stages of 2017, critics and publications across Chicagoland are running their “Best of The Year” in theater pieces. 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. When shit goes down, your girls show up. 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. Aziza Barnes; Aziza Barnes. Theater review by Helen Shaw In Aziza Barnes’s poetry, the crunch of tire irons and the explosions of police shootings sometimes obliterate words. This show is closed. For the next few years after I graduated I worked on it intermittently and the premise of the play continued to ring true to me – these three very different kinds of Black women in their early 20’s trying to deal with themselves through all the ways we self-medicate. They smoke a lot. THE PASSED DOWN PROJECT PRESENTS | "THE NEW BLACK...Progression or a Setup?" AZIZA BARNES (Z or Aziza) is blk & alive. That’s how I envision this couch, like if someone were to take this couch away the world would end. I am 100 percent convinced that if “BLKS” the Steppenwolf Theatre Company world premiere from Aziza Barnes… Like shit, please let it be a comedy. FEE: $100 per performance. Author. But this poignant blast of a comedy at the Steppenwolf Theatre is really all … photo by Deen Van Meer Set in that weird space where gentrified Brooklyn, Bushwick, meets Bed Stuy “Do or die!” Antoinette Crowe-Legacy, Paige Gilbert, and Alfie Fuller as three roomates on the town in “BLKS”. Say it! Black female friendships take centre stage in this coming of age play by Aziza Barnes. By Kris Vire Posted: Monday December 4 2017 online throughout the month. 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. 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 Author bio(s) $10.00. You work so hard for this one moment which, to me, is the most important thing. The title is quite cheeky because the Chicago-based poet Avery R. Young coined the word BLKS because it’s about people not about a color. That was my first entry point into writing. Excerpt from Blks. Qty: Full Length, Comedy 1 man, 5 women Total Cast: 6, Flexible Set ISBN-13: 9780822240693 . And other people did not have the same absurd perspective on the world. Aziza’s play BLKS premiered at Steppenwolf. 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. Three Young Black Women Navigate Sex and the City in BLKSPlaywright Aziza Barnes makes their New York debut with this laugh-out-loud comedy. Written by Aziza Barnes . the … Aziza Barnes’ “BLKS” begins with the sudden appearance of a genital mole. FORMAT: Apply for Rights. But Aziza Barnes’ BLKS (Currently up at MCC, directed by Robert O’Hara) is challenging the narrative of what Black women do. The play’s strength lies in Barnes’s … Aziza Barnes' play opens with a scene of two women having oral sex (loudly heard, but not seen). O'Hara has brought much of the design team from Slave … A proud partner of the Dramatists Guild since. They try to have sex a lot. “Aiming to be a raucous comedy of misbehavior and a quiet tragedy of mistreatment, [BLKS] amazingly succeeds at both…For quite a stretch of the breakneck 90-minute production, you feel the pure joy of seeing the best of people at their worst…the uncomfortable proximity of terror and pleasure, the mark of mortality in the midst of intimacy, percolates beneath the surface at all times, so that even at its most extreme and obscene—BLKS is not for prudish ears or eyes—it is serious and sad and profoundly human.” —NY Times. Imani would go to the club in a white tee, jeans and sneakers and that’s Gucci for her. FORMAT: FEE: $100 per performance. Produced by Steppenwolf Theatre Company in Chicago, Barnes’s playwriting debut, BLKS, "marks The major plot element involves a young woman anxiously discovering a mole on her clitoris. Fax. They weren’t happening to any white people we knew or Ghanaian people we knew… even other Black people that we knew. Like, a couch is communal, you and your homies can sit on it, and it ties the room together, it’s comfy. 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. Performances ended on Jun. Her first chapbook, me Aunt Jemima & the nailgun, was the inaugural winner of the Exploding Pinecone … I love hearing when people slip up and say something gorgeous. But Aziza Barnes’ BLKS (Currently up at MCC, directed by Robert O’Hara) is challenging the narrative of what Black women do. photo by Deen Van Meer Set in that weird space where gentrified Brooklyn, Bushwick, meets Bed Stuy “Do or die!” We follow three friends and roommates: Octavia (played by Paige Gilbert) , Imani … Chicago Sun Times- Highly Recommended "...It's difficult to sum up the impact of Aziza Barnes' raw, blistering, hilarious and enraging "BLKS." The slam world is a strange and magic world. 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 social isolation, prejudices, and constant change. 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. Winner of the 2015 Pamet River Prize, Aziza’s first full length collection, i be but i ain’t, is from YesYes Books 2016. 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 ain’t, is from YesYes Books, 2016. These are all ways of avoiding the actual acute problem: "WHICH IS THAT YOU’RE MISERABLE AND THAT NO ONE LISTENS TO YOU." Unfortunately, the set and the direction often get in the way of Aziza Barnes’s seditious script. 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