Blackboard Plays

Since 2008, Blackboard Plays has been devoted to Black Playwrights throughout the African Diaspora. Founded by writer and producer Garlia Cornelia Jones, Blackboard began as Blackboard Reading Series with the intention of creating a home for Black playwrights.  The series was originally incubated at nancy manocherian’s the cell in Chelsea, a neighborhood in Manhattan as a resident series for 10 years.  In 2018, Blackboard moved its physical home to The Mary Rodgers Room at The Dramatists Guild. 

Blackboard Plays supports the development of new work through Feature Readings, dedicated to a single Black playwright; and Community Nights, which function like an open mic for playwrights to hear up to 10 pages read aloud by actors. Alumni of Blackboard Plays include Jocelyn Bioh, whose School Girls; Or, The African Mean Girls Play received its first reading at Blackboard, James Anthony Tyler, Al Letson, Aurin Squire, Nikkole Salter, and Jordan E. Cooper, whose Ain’t No Mo’ also received its first reading in 2017.

When the lockdown began in 2020, Blackboard shifted the feature readings and community nights online, and in partnership with the Parent Artist Advocacy League (PAAL), the Black Motherhood and Parenting New Play Festival (BMPFest) launched in 2020. BMPFest is a digital new play festival centering stories about Black parenthood and caregiving. Each season features new plays by Black parents or caregivers, that explore the complexities, joys, and struggles of Black parenthood through digital premieres and community conversations.