FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: March 1, 2021 CONTACTS: Corinna Schulenburg | cschulenburg@tcg.org | 212-609-5941
TCG resents TCG Books’ First Fridays:
Featuring Dael Orlandersmith, Until the Flood
Event second in a series of conversations with TCG Books’ authors on Facebook Live
New York, NY – Theatre Communications Group (TCG) is pleased to announce the second iteration of TCG Books’ First Fridays, featuring Dael Orlandersmith, author of Until the Flood, in conversation on Facebook Live, Friday, March 5, 2021 at 7:00pm ET. TCG Books’ First Fridays series features authors from TCG Books’ roster in conversation about their work on the first Friday of every month. These conversations are livestreamed on TCG and American Theatre’s Facebook pages, as well as TCG’s YouTube. The inaugural event, held on February 5, 2021, featured Michael R. Jackson, Pulitzer Prize-winning author of A Strange Loop, and the archived video can be found here.
TCG Books’ First Fridays featuring Dael Orlandersmith is presented in partnership with A Contemporary Theatre (ACT), Center Theatre Group, Denver Center for the Performing Art, Goodman Theatre, Milwaukee Rep, Portland Center Stage, Rattlestick Playwrights Theater, and the Repertory Theatre of St. Louis. Orlandersmith will be in conversation with long-time collaborator and Until the Flood director Neel Keller.
“TCG Books has always believed that plays are literature, deserving of the same care and attention as novels, poetry, and other forms of the written word,” said Teresa Eyring, executive director, TCG. “Our authors and playwrights are true culture bearers and thought leaders, and we’re thrilled to host them in conversation through First Fridays. We’re excited to continue the series with Dael Orlandersmith and Until the Flood, a play that has sparked necessary and nuanced conversations about racial justice across the country.”
Dael Orlandersmith is an actor, poet, and playwright. Her play Yellowman was a Pulitzer Prize finalist. She is currently working on two new plays and a novel. The featured photo of Dael Orlandersmith was taken by Tess Mayer.
“Until the Flood is an urgent moral inquest."
—Jesse Green, New York Times
About the play: In the gripping and revelatory Until the Flood, Dael Orlandersmith journeys into the heart and soul of modern-day America--confronting the powerful forces of history, race, and politics. Drawn from interviews following the shooting of a black teenager, Michael Brown, by a white police officer, Darren Wilson, Orlandersmith embodies the many faces of a community rallying for justice and a country still yearning for change.
“Until the Flood is far and away the richest and most painful of the Orlandersmith pieces I have seen…So palpably compassionate, it achieves a great beauty by bringing us together rather than driving us apart.”
—Chris Jones, Chicago Tribune
TCG Books is the largest independent trade publisher of dramatic literature in North America, with 18 winners of the Pulitzer Prize for Dramaon its book list. The book program commits to the life-long career of its playwrights, keeping all of their plays in print. TCG Books’ authors include: Annie Baker, Nilo Cruz, Jackie Sibblies Drury, Athol Fugard, Quiara Alegría Hudes, David Henry Hwang, Branden Jacobs-Jenkins, Tony Kushner, Young Jean Lee, Lynn Nottage, Suzan-Lori Parks, Sarah Ruhl, Stephen Sondheim, Paula Vogel, and August Wilson.
The publication of Until the Flood by Dael Orlandersmith, through TCG’s Books Program, is made possible in part by the New York State Council on the Arts with the support of Governor Andrew Cuomo and the New York State Legislature. The TCG Books’ First Fridays program is also supported, in part, by public funds from the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs in partnership with the City Council.
Theatre Communications Group (TCG), the national organization for theatre, leads for a just and thriving theatre ecology. Since its founding in 1961, TCG’s constituency has grown from a handful of groundbreaking theatres to over 700 Member Theatres and affiliate organizations and over 7,000 Individual Members. Through its programs and services, TCG reaches over one million students, audience members, and theatre professionals each year. TCG offers networking and knowledge-building opportunities through research, communications, and events, including the annual TCG National Conference, one of the largest nationwide gatherings of theatre people; awards grants and scholarships to theatre companies and individual artists; advocates on the federal level; and through the Global Theater Initiative, TCG's partnership with the Laboratory for Global Performance and Politics, serves as the U.S. Center of the International Theatre Institute. TCG is North America’s largest independent trade publisher of dramatic literature, with 18 Pulitzer Prizes for Drama on the TCG booklist. It also publishes the award-winning American Theatre magazine and ARTSEARCH®, the essential source for a career in the arts. TCG believes its vision of “a better world for theatre, and a better world because of theatre” can be achieved through individual and collective action, adaptive and responsive leadership, and equitable representation in all areas of practice. TCG is led by executive director and CEO Teresa Eyring and deputy director and COO Adrian Budhu. https://circle.tcg.org/home
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