azure d. osborne-lee (they/them, he/him)
Azure D. Osborne-Lee is an award-winning Black queer theatre maker from south of the Mason-Dixon Line. He holds an MA in Advanced Theatre Practice (2011) from Royal Central School of Speech & Drama as well as an MA in Women’s & Gender Studies (2008) and a BA in English & Spanish from The University of Texas at Austin (2005). Azure is the founder of Roots and River Productions. Azure’s work has been produced and/or developed by Parity Productions, Trans Lab @ The Public and WP, The Tank, The Flea Theater, BAX|Brooklyn Arts Exchange, BAM, JACK, Rising Circle Theater Collective, The Fire This Time Festival, Horse Trade Theater Group, The Castillo Theatre, The New Ohio Theatre, National Black Theatre, Freedom Train Productions, Downtown Urban Arts Festival, Lambda Literary Foundation, The Helix Queer Performance Network, and regionally. Recipient of Parity Productions’ 2018 Commission for Women and Transgender Playwrights, Winner of Downtown Urban Arts Festival’s 2018 Best Play Award, and the 2015 Mario Fratti-Fred Newman Political Play Contest. Finalist for Theatre Viscera's Queer Playwright's Contest, VanguardRep's 2019 Summer Production, BAX|Brooklyn Arts Exchange’s 2018 Artist in Residence, National Black Theatre’s I AM SOUL Playwrights Residency, and Soho Rep’s Writer/Director Lab; Semi-finalist for the Burman New Play Award, Ars Nova’s Play Group and New York Theatre Workshop’s Emerging Artists Fellowship. Azure's full-length play "Mirrors" will receives its World Premiere, produced by Parity Productions, at Next Door at New York Theatre Workshop from February 29, 2020 to March 22, 2020. Learn more at azureosbornelee.com.
|
The Beasts of Warren
A full-length play By Azure D. Osborne-Lee Excerpt for Theatre Viscera [The Fence at dusk. Three short figures, Kitt, Holl, and Dawn, stand gazing at a Great Tree on the other side of The Fence. Holl takes a pair of clippers from a pouch on her belt. Just as she is about to snip a link in The Fence, Kitt leaps onto it and begins to climb.]
HOLL (hissing) Kitt, stop! Wait! [Kitt drops to the ground on the other side of The Fence and removes their pack from their back.] HOLL See, look there! You cut yourself. KITT (looking at their arm) It’s nothing. You always take too long. [Dawn shakes her head at her cousins. While they’re distracted, she picks up a few twigs and leaves, clandestinely stuffing them into her pockets.] HOLL Blood isn’t nothing, Kitt. You’re going to get us caught! [Kitt impatiently ties a knot in their sleeve.] KITT It didn’t get anywhere, alright? See! All covered. It’s fine. HOLL You always think it’s fine, Kitt. Just tell me this - what does rushing around get you? You know you can’t start the Harvest without us. KITT It gets me where I’m going. Hurry up! You’re so slow. [Holl sniffs indignantly and efficiently snips a large hole in the Fence. She and Dawn step through. All three set their baskets at the base of The Tree. They take up positions behind the baskets and Holl stomps out a beat. Dawn sings. As Dawn sings, the trio hammers metal shunts into the trunk of The Tree. Sap begins to drip into their baskets. While they wait for their baskets to fill, they unhook small spades from their belts and begin to dig at the base of The Tree.] DAWN (singing) We thank you for the many gifts of the Harvest. We thank you for the sap we drink, for the roots we eat, for the... HOLL Shh! Do you hear that? [Dawn stops singing. All three listen carefully.] KITT I don’t hear anything. DAWN Shhh! I do - hounds. HOLL Are you sure? DAWN Yes. HOLL Let’s go! KITT But we don’t have enough. The hounds won’t be here for at least another... HOLL Nann put me in charge, and I say we’re going. Pack up. Let’s go. [Kitt hesitates, then complies.] KITT Fine. [They quickly gather their baskets and spades and rush through the hole in The Fence. The barking of dogs grows louder. Lights down.] [End of Excerpt] |
