A recent OU alumni, Bianca Sams, was apart of the Ingram New Works Playwrights Group this year and the product of her work, SIMPLY BESS, will be livestreamed on howlround tonight. This prestigious playwrights group accepts 4 fellows per year to be part of a writing group at Nashville Repertory Theater and culminates in a works in progress play series. Congrats Bianca on your new play! Also we like thephoto of you with the lab coat 😉
Here is more info on the play and how to watch it:
Tuesday, May 12 at 5pm PDT (Los Angeles) / 7pm CDT (Chicago) / 8pm EDT (New York)
Simply Bess by Bianca Sams
Simply Bess follows a young African American actress trying to make a name for herself. We see her backstage trials and tribulations on the 1950s European tour of Porgy and Bess, sponsored by the American State Department as a way to combat communist propaganda about racial problems in the United States.
TO watch the play tonight here is the link
More about Bianca
Bianca’s plays are lyrical investigations of found stories out of today’s headlines or the pages of history that focus on the conundrum of whether the stress and pain we inflict upon ourselves and others is actually purifying or destroying the fabric of humanity. She is particularly interested in how trauma affects us on an individual level but, also ripples outward to loved ones and the larger community. She is equally fascinated by how each person must choose to either allow their adversity to consume them or rise above the trauma. Bianca often examines the different adaptive and maladaptive ways in which people choose to cope. She has been inspired by both modern and historical events. She approaches each piece with an investigative journalistic eye mixing research with her own brand of lyricism and poetic language, while also attempting to go beyond the politics and facts of the original tale, to connect an audience with the personal story behind what inspired her. Awards and honors include KCACTF Lorraine Hansberry (2nd place), Rosa Parks Award (2nd place), Kennedy Center/Eugene O’Neill New Play Conference fellow, Jane Chambers Student Playwright Award/Athe (2nd Place), Scott McPherson Playwright Award, The Playwright Center Core Apprentice (2014), Playwright Foundation BAPF (finalist), Eugene O’Neill NPC (semi-finalist), TRI Research Fellowship at Ohio State University, Nashville Rep/Ingram New Works Lab Playwright-in-residence , Warner Brothers TV Writers Workshop, and T. S. Eliot Acting Fellowship
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