User:Kenirwin/Keith Josef Adkins

Keith Josef Adkins is a playwright, screen writer, director, and producer from the United States, and serves as the Artistic Director for the New Black Fest theatre festival.[1][2] Adkins and the New Black Fest received the 2016 Samuel French Theatre Award for Impact & Activism in the Theatre Community.[3] He was the recipient of the 2015 Helen Merrill Mid-Career Playwright Award from the New York Community Trust.[4] In March 2022, he was named as a finalist for the 2022 Steinberg/ACTA New Play Award.[5]

He was nominated for the 2012 Jeff Award for Best New Work for his play Last Saint on Sugar Hill.[6]

He was the 2007 Duncanson Artist-In-Residence at the Taft Museum of Art.[7]

https://www.daytondailynews.com/entertainment/arts--theater/world-premiere-playwright-keith-josef-atkins-opening-cincinnati/OaJ0cennJcywGT8GNSqEWL/

  • family had been in southwest Ohio as free people since the 1780s
  • graduate of Wright State University, studied journalism and later became interested in acting and spoken-word poetry
  • MFA in playwriting from the University of Iowa’s Playwrights Workshop (1996)[8]
  • has lived in New York City and San Francisco
  • quote from Adkins: “The stories are always different, but the themes are similar. I keep writing about individuality versus community, about individual families trying to sustain their dignity and freedom.”
  • lots of discussion of Safe House

https://www.cincinnatimagazine.com/article/keith-josef-adkins-and-the-world-premiere-of-the-west-end/

  • grew up in the Woodlawn neighborhood of Cincinnati
  • based in Los Angeles

https://www.wvxu.org/show/cincinnati-edition/2021-10-13/the-west-end-keith-josef-adkins-playhouse-in-the-park

  • inspired by interested in personal genealogy
  • Safe House was loosely based on mother's family since 1780s
  • dad's family moved to the West End from Georgia (1920s-40s)

Plays

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  • Fight of a Migrant
  • The Dangerous
  • Sugar and Needles 

  • The Final Daze
  • On the Hills of Black America
  • Sweet Home, 2003, Bay Area Playwrights Festival 2003
  • The Patron Saint of Peanuts, 2004, Alabama Shakespeare Festival's Southern Writer's Project
  • Farewell Miss Cotton, 2006, Black Dahlia Theater
  • Cobra Neck, 2003, Humana Festival 2003
  • Crossing America, 2005, Mark Taper's New Works Festival
  • Sketches of Yucca
  • Wilberforce, 2005, National Black Theater Festival
  • Hollis Mugley's Only Wish + Seeds Sold + Grey Haired Smoochies with Rufus [three shorts], 2000, Intersection/Black Artists Contemporary Cultural Experience in San Francisco[9]
  • Salt on Sugar Hill, 2003, Mark Taper's New Works Festival
  • Last Saint on Sugar Hill, 2012, World premiere at MPAACT Theatre in Chicago [10]
  • Safe House, 2014, World premiere at Cincinnati Playhouse in the Park[12]
  • Pitbulls, 2014, World premiere at Rattlestick Playwrights Theater[13]
  • The People Before The Park, 2015, Premiere Stages[15][16]
  • The West End, 2021, World premiere at Cincinnati Playhouse in the Park[1]

Writing for Television

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  • P-Valley[18]
  • The Good Fight
  • The Other Hamilton[19]
  • Girlfriends[8]

Other Writing

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  • "My Stages of Revolution 2020", for A Call for Revolutionary Theatre 2020[20]

Other Credits

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  • executive producer a forthcoming television drama The Other Hamilton[21][22]

References

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  1. ^ a b Shokoohe, Leyla (October 4, 2021). "Keith Josef Adkins and the World Premiere of The West End". Cincinnati Magazine. Retrieved 2022-02-25.
  2. ^ Soloski, Alexis (2020-10-08). "A Writer-Director-Star Breaks Through. It Only Took a Lifetime". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 2022-03-02.
  3. ^ "Awards". Concord Theatricals. Retrieved 2022-03-02.
  4. ^ Desk, BWW News. "Arthur Kopit, Emily Mann, Keith Josef Adkins, Lisa Ramirez and More Win 2015 NYCT Helen Merrill Playwright Awards". BroadwayWorld.com. Retrieved 2022-03-08. {{cite web}}: |last= has generic name (help)
  5. ^ "Finalists Named for 2022 Steinberg-ATCA New Play Award". American Theatre Critics Association. 2022-03-02. Retrieved 2022-03-08.
  6. ^ "2011-2012 Jeff Non-Equity Awards | The Joseph Jefferson Awards". www.jeffawards.org. Retrieved 2022-03-09.
  7. ^ Midwest Art History Society (Fall 2007). "MAHS News and Announcements" (PDF). MAHS Newsletter. Retrieved 2022-02-09.
  8. ^ a b Hill, Anthony D. (2018). Historical Dictionary of African American Theater (2nd ed.). Lanham: Rowman & Littlefield. p. 6. ISBN 9781538117293.
  9. ^ Winn, Steven (2000-09-25). "Three Pages From a Family Album / Two actors star in trio of funny, touching plays". SFGATE. Retrieved 2022-03-10.
  10. ^ "National Black Theatre to Present Keith Josef Adkins' THE LAST SAINT ON SUGAR HILL, 10/29-11/24". BroadwayWorld.com. September 23, 2013. Retrieved 2022-03-08.
  11. ^ Gates, Anita (2013-11-17). "In the Maelstrom of Harlem's Gentrification, and Nothing Is Sacred". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 2022-03-09.
  12. ^ Pender, Rick (October 17, 2014). "Keith Josef Adkins talks about the world premiere of his play, "Safe House"". WVXU. Retrieved 2022-02-25.
  13. ^ "Keith Josef Adkins' Pitbulls Extends at Rattlestick Playwrights Theater | TheaterMania". www.theatermania.com. December 1, 2014. Retrieved 2022-03-02.
  14. ^ Brantley, Ben (2014-11-21). "Poor, Violent and Up for a Dogfight". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 2022-03-09.
  15. ^ Fuhrman, Amy (2015-08-31). "Keith Josef Adkins's New Play Recovers 'The People Before the Park'". American Theatre. Retrieved 2022-02-26.
  16. ^ Jaworowski, Ken (2015-09-10). "Review: 'The People Before the Park,' a Family Clash Rich in New York History". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 2022-03-02.
  17. ^ Jaworowski, Ken (2015-09-10). "Review: 'The People Before the Park,' a Family Clash Rich in New York History". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 2022-03-09.
  18. ^ Ashley, James (2021-12-30). "P-Valley Season 2 Release Date, Cast, Plot - All We Know So Far". The Bulletin Time. Retrieved 2022-03-02.
  19. ^ Otterson, Joe; Otterson, Joe (2022-01-13). "HBO Max to Develop Series About 'Wall Street's First Black Millionaire,' Don Cheadle and Steven Soderbergh Producing (EXCLUSIVE)". Variety. Retrieved 2022-02-26.
  20. ^ Adkins, Keith Josef (2020-10-20). "The Stages of My Revolution". The Black Theatre Commons. Retrieved 2022-03-02.
  21. ^ News, Ella Ceron Bloomberg. "Don Cheadle, Steven Soderbergh team up on show about 'Wall Street's first Black millionaire'". Sun Newspapers. Retrieved 2022-03-02. {{cite web}}: |last= has generic name (help)
  22. ^ Otterson, Joe; Otterson, Joe (2022-01-13). "HBO Max to Develop Series About 'Wall Street's First Black Millionaire,' Don Cheadle and Steven Soderbergh Producing (EXCLUSIVE)". Variety. Retrieved 2022-03-02.