Nat Turner's Secret
Donation protected
The Balcony Presents.....
Join us for the reading of Stafford L. Battle's, Nat Turner's Secret (Episode 1)
SEPT 23TH, 2020 at 8:00pm ET
HELP US HIT $2,000
Please donate whatever you can to help us raise funds to bring this Afro-Futuristic series to life in the virtual realm!
(Series Synopsis)
An AFRO-FUTURISTIC series full of funk, pimped-out zoot suits, gender transforming conjurers and a world where no limits are placed on what these black folks can and will achieve.
Follow the epic adventures of the African conjurers Mage and the “young” gender transforming Abebe as they set forth to track down and free the famed black revolutionary Nat Turner from the Hell dimension he has unwittingly gotten himself stuck in.
WHERE YOUR DONATIONS ARE GOING:
To realize this story in a virtual landscape, we’re gonna need a cast, a visual design team, cinematographer, sound design and some genuinely inspired artists who can take this black sci-fi story from the page to our audience. Has sci-fi ever been done (well!) on Zoom or YouTube live? Not yet.
As black artists within the industry we are particularly underfunded, misrepresented or underrepresented altogether. This is a project supporting black art and black voices while we test and expand what we can do in these times of virtual creation and collaboration…the limits are boundless.
Really, we’re asking you to invest in making the future a ‘lil more funky, a ‘lil more AfroFuturist.
Written By: Stafford L. Battle
Stafford Battle has been called one of the original Black Geeks and Black Pioneers of the Net. Today, he is a writer and blogger living in a quiet suburb just outside of Washington, DC. His publications include: AFRO Sci-Fi Anthology, “Rage of the Mamba” and the upcoming AFROFuturist Bible. He is the Coauthor of The African American Resource Guide to the Internet and Online Resources published by McGraw-Hill, one of the first Internet books written by and for African Americans. His stories have appeared in online magazines such as Expanded Horizons and have been included in anthologies such as Griots: A Sword and Soul Anthology and other venues. Stafford Battle considers himself to be an AFROFuturist. He writes about African demons, Nubian warrior queens and kings, Black people in outer space, AFRO-horror, sword and soul and The Wild Weird West. Currently, Battle is finishing work on several publishing projects as well as developing a Digital Curriculum for Howard University College of Medicine.
Directed by: Korey Jackson
Korey is a Maryland native currently living in Newark, NJ. He is an actor, director, writer and producer who has been seen on stage and screen in various projects, most recently in the premiere of Katori Hall’s The Hot Wing King at Signature Theatre and in Godfather of Harlem (Epix). Other credits include: ‘5 Flights Up’ (Focus), House of Cards (Netflix), Daredevil (Netflix), The Blacklist (NBC), Macbeth (Berkeley Rep), Wild With Happy (Public Theater), and Far From Heaven (Playwrights Horizons). As a director, he has worked with HERO Theater Company on their productions of ’Twelfth Night’ and ‘Waiting for Lefty’ as well as the short film ’Sole Variations’ with his production company F.A.M. Creative. He founded F.A.M. Creative in 2017 to create more content for and by marginalized voices. Their latest short film ’The Mark’, which he produced, has been an official selection in the 2020 American Black Film Festival and the L.A. Shorts International Film Festival coming up in October. He’s a graduate of Penn State University and NYU’s Tisch School for the Arts, and a frequent volunteer with the 52nd Street Project, Art In The Armed Forces (AITAF), and Stories 4 Strength.
CAST
ABEBE: Nubia Monks
Nubia is an actress, emerging playwright and an educator. Her professional theatrical journey has allowed her to work at The Oregon Shakespeare Festival, La Jolla Playhouse, The Old Globe Theater, and The Guthrie Theater. She is very excited to be working with such amazing artists to help tell this poignant story! Follow her journey at: onlynubia
MAGE: Ifádansi Rashad
Ifádansi can be seen recurring in The Good Fight and HBO’s Limited Series Mrs. Fletcher as Curtis. In 2017, he made his Broadway debut in the Tony Award Nominated & Pulitzer Prize Winner production of Lynn Nottage’s Sweat at Studio 54 and wrote about the Broadway experience; which was featured in Huffington Post .
Click HERE for more of Ifádansi's work.
NARORATOR: Lynnette R. Freeman
Lynnette is a Jamaican-African-American actress, dancer, writer, teaching artist, and VoiceOver Artist raised in East Cleveland, OH, based in NYC. Brown/Trinity MFA ; Member of Ensemble Studio Theatre , and The League of Professional Theatre Women. She has performed in theaters all over the US. Favorite previous roles have included Charlotte in “The White Card”, Camae in “The Mountaintop”, God in “An Act Of God” , Georgia Dawson in “Travisville”, Lydia Namandu in “Human Rites”, Letitia in "On The Outs", Ruth in “A Raisin in the Sun”, among others. She is also a VoiceOver artist and Audiobook narrator who you can find on any Audiobook platform.
MORE ON THE BALCONY
The Balcony is a theater collective and production company creating and producing new content in the digital world.
Recent works:
Chicago Faggot:
"In his Lakeview apartment in Chicago, Tony, a prominent drag queen, hosts a game night with his tribe of self-proclaimed “Loud and Proud Sissies”. As the evening wears on, bitter resentments and feverish desires come to light as they explore taboo sexual fantasies and a drug-fueled subculture."
Through Andrews Eyes (Panel Discussion & Play Reading)
*In collaboration with The UC DAVIS MIND Institute - in support of research, development and stories dealing with neuro-diverse individuals
“Andrew a 22 year old boy diagnosed with Autism and Diabetes. Andrew’s family struggles to move forward, feeling limited and trapped by issues both external and internal. When Andrew’s Brother returns from college for the holidays, the person inside Andrew begins to speak his mind, but can Andrew be truly
understood? Heartwarming and poignant, Through Andrew’s Eyes is a story about how people transcend their differences to find common ground, love, and a shared sense of humanity.”
Check out our feature on Good Morning Sacramento for our play, “Through Andrew’s Eyes” in collaboration with University of California Davis’ The MIND Institute and Next for Autism. The play’s subject matter revolved around autism and featured a cast of neuro-diverse and neuro-typical actors.
Follow us on IG @thebalconyarts for updates on all of our latest work
Join us for the reading of Stafford L. Battle's, Nat Turner's Secret (Episode 1)
SEPT 23TH, 2020 at 8:00pm ET
HELP US HIT $2,000
Please donate whatever you can to help us raise funds to bring this Afro-Futuristic series to life in the virtual realm!
(Series Synopsis)
An AFRO-FUTURISTIC series full of funk, pimped-out zoot suits, gender transforming conjurers and a world where no limits are placed on what these black folks can and will achieve.
Follow the epic adventures of the African conjurers Mage and the “young” gender transforming Abebe as they set forth to track down and free the famed black revolutionary Nat Turner from the Hell dimension he has unwittingly gotten himself stuck in.
WHERE YOUR DONATIONS ARE GOING:
To realize this story in a virtual landscape, we’re gonna need a cast, a visual design team, cinematographer, sound design and some genuinely inspired artists who can take this black sci-fi story from the page to our audience. Has sci-fi ever been done (well!) on Zoom or YouTube live? Not yet.
As black artists within the industry we are particularly underfunded, misrepresented or underrepresented altogether. This is a project supporting black art and black voices while we test and expand what we can do in these times of virtual creation and collaboration…the limits are boundless.
Really, we’re asking you to invest in making the future a ‘lil more funky, a ‘lil more AfroFuturist.
Written By: Stafford L. Battle
Stafford Battle has been called one of the original Black Geeks and Black Pioneers of the Net. Today, he is a writer and blogger living in a quiet suburb just outside of Washington, DC. His publications include: AFRO Sci-Fi Anthology, “Rage of the Mamba” and the upcoming AFROFuturist Bible. He is the Coauthor of The African American Resource Guide to the Internet and Online Resources published by McGraw-Hill, one of the first Internet books written by and for African Americans. His stories have appeared in online magazines such as Expanded Horizons and have been included in anthologies such as Griots: A Sword and Soul Anthology and other venues. Stafford Battle considers himself to be an AFROFuturist. He writes about African demons, Nubian warrior queens and kings, Black people in outer space, AFRO-horror, sword and soul and The Wild Weird West. Currently, Battle is finishing work on several publishing projects as well as developing a Digital Curriculum for Howard University College of Medicine.
Directed by: Korey Jackson
Korey is a Maryland native currently living in Newark, NJ. He is an actor, director, writer and producer who has been seen on stage and screen in various projects, most recently in the premiere of Katori Hall’s The Hot Wing King at Signature Theatre and in Godfather of Harlem (Epix). Other credits include: ‘5 Flights Up’ (Focus), House of Cards (Netflix), Daredevil (Netflix), The Blacklist (NBC), Macbeth (Berkeley Rep), Wild With Happy (Public Theater), and Far From Heaven (Playwrights Horizons). As a director, he has worked with HERO Theater Company on their productions of ’Twelfth Night’ and ‘Waiting for Lefty’ as well as the short film ’Sole Variations’ with his production company F.A.M. Creative. He founded F.A.M. Creative in 2017 to create more content for and by marginalized voices. Their latest short film ’The Mark’, which he produced, has been an official selection in the 2020 American Black Film Festival and the L.A. Shorts International Film Festival coming up in October. He’s a graduate of Penn State University and NYU’s Tisch School for the Arts, and a frequent volunteer with the 52nd Street Project, Art In The Armed Forces (AITAF), and Stories 4 Strength.CAST
ABEBE: Nubia Monks
Nubia is an actress, emerging playwright and an educator. Her professional theatrical journey has allowed her to work at The Oregon Shakespeare Festival, La Jolla Playhouse, The Old Globe Theater, and The Guthrie Theater. She is very excited to be working with such amazing artists to help tell this poignant story! Follow her journey at: onlynubia MAGE: Ifádansi Rashad
Ifádansi can be seen recurring in The Good Fight and HBO’s Limited Series Mrs. Fletcher as Curtis. In 2017, he made his Broadway debut in the Tony Award Nominated & Pulitzer Prize Winner production of Lynn Nottage’s Sweat at Studio 54 and wrote about the Broadway experience; which was featured in Huffington Post . Click HERE for more of Ifádansi's work.
NARORATOR: Lynnette R. Freeman
Lynnette is a Jamaican-African-American actress, dancer, writer, teaching artist, and VoiceOver Artist raised in East Cleveland, OH, based in NYC. Brown/Trinity MFA ; Member of Ensemble Studio Theatre , and The League of Professional Theatre Women. She has performed in theaters all over the US. Favorite previous roles have included Charlotte in “The White Card”, Camae in “The Mountaintop”, God in “An Act Of God” , Georgia Dawson in “Travisville”, Lydia Namandu in “Human Rites”, Letitia in "On The Outs", Ruth in “A Raisin in the Sun”, among others. She is also a VoiceOver artist and Audiobook narrator who you can find on any Audiobook platform. MORE ON THE BALCONY
The Balcony is a theater collective and production company creating and producing new content in the digital world.
Recent works:
Chicago Faggot:
"In his Lakeview apartment in Chicago, Tony, a prominent drag queen, hosts a game night with his tribe of self-proclaimed “Loud and Proud Sissies”. As the evening wears on, bitter resentments and feverish desires come to light as they explore taboo sexual fantasies and a drug-fueled subculture."
Through Andrews Eyes (Panel Discussion & Play Reading)
*In collaboration with The UC DAVIS MIND Institute - in support of research, development and stories dealing with neuro-diverse individuals
“Andrew a 22 year old boy diagnosed with Autism and Diabetes. Andrew’s family struggles to move forward, feeling limited and trapped by issues both external and internal. When Andrew’s Brother returns from college for the holidays, the person inside Andrew begins to speak his mind, but can Andrew be truly
understood? Heartwarming and poignant, Through Andrew’s Eyes is a story about how people transcend their differences to find common ground, love, and a shared sense of humanity.”
Check out our feature on Good Morning Sacramento for our play, “Through Andrew’s Eyes” in collaboration with University of California Davis’ The MIND Institute and Next for Autism. The play’s subject matter revolved around autism and featured a cast of neuro-diverse and neuro-typical actors.
Follow us on IG @thebalconyarts for updates on all of our latest work
Fundraising team (3)
Nathaniel Ansbach
Organizer
Raised $250 from 3 donations
Winters, CA
Yvonna Pearson
Team member
Raised $455 from 7 donations
Meg Finlay
Team member
