How Katrina Plays
a
A Docu-Play by Judi Ann Mason
a
presented by the
Write Act Repertory Theatre Company
On October 3, 2005, I received a phone call from my sister informing me that my brother BJ Mason had been found dead in his apartment in Shreveport, Louisiana. Prior to that, I was desperately trying to reach him by phone. While working on a new play about the national tragedy that ravaged Louisiana – Hurricane Katrina – I wanted to ask him to help me document some true stories about the Flood. He was a wonderful writer. Two of his books are published and, after 30 long years, he had just completed his latest novel, and most ambitious endeavor, Walk On Water, shortly before he died. Amazingly, I also learned from his agent that he was writing about the Flood victims already, but he did more than write about them. He spent tireless hours at the shelters helping them find housing, apply for FEMA funds and visiting the nursing homes to talk to its vulnerable elderly victims, giving them rides around the city while listening to their harrowing tales of survival. My brother’s dispatches, as he called them, are included in this collection. Although his e-mails, hand-written notes and outlines are only a partial revelation of his brilliant insight and humanity, their inclusion was, for me, a foregone conclusion since he died at the computer writing them. A Louisiana newspaper editorial said of him at his death: “BJ Mason was intellectually brilliant, a gentleman and a scholar and one who paid double dues in the civil rights and civic community. Writing was his passion and he handled the printed word with élan and proficiency.” True, so true. This play is dedicated to my brother BJ Mason. How Katrina Plays is written by him as well.
Judi Ann Mason, Playwright
At 19, Mason began her professional writing career while a student of Drama at Grambling University in Louisiana when she was awarded the Norman Lear Award for Comedy from the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts as part of the American College Theatre Festival. She became the first and only two-time winner in Festival history when she also won The Lorraine Hansberry Award for the Best Play on the African American Experience the following year. In 1978, she was produced by New York’s famed Negro Ensemble Company, which made her the youngest playwright ever presented by the world-famed theatre company. Invited by Norman Lear to join his staff in 1979, she wrote several episodes for Good Times and this led to other scripts for Lear’s production company, Sanford and America 2-Nite. She became the first and only black head writer ever (to date) for a daytime serial with over 100 television writing credits on the daytime soap. In primetime, she was was executive story editor and staff writer for such shows as I’ll Fly Away, A Different World, Beverly Hills, 90210 and producer on American Gothic. Cable TV movies include, Sophie And The Moonhanger (nominated for a Cable ACE Award for Best Writing), Associate Producer of the award-winning Clover for Hallmark Entertainment and she developed and co-wrote the popular Disney feature film, Sister Act 2: Back In The Habit which starred Whoopi Goldberg and Lauryn Hill. In New York, she taught playwriting at New Federal Theatre and several of her 56 plays were produced at various off-Broadway houses, including The Billie Holiday (A Star Ain’t Nothin’ But A Hole In Heaven, Donny’s House, Indigo Blues) and Jonah And The Wonder Dog and Daughters of the Mock at the NEC. Donny’s House, a rap opera for children, toured New York City schools as part of a state department grant that was later produced as an Emmy-nominated children’s special for CBS. As a freelance journalist, she has written articles and feature stories for Essence, Glamour and CoEd Magazines, he Los Angeles Times, The Washington Post, The Philadelphia Enquirer and The Long Beach Press Telegram. Most recently she has written a docu-play entitled Storm Stories – True Accounts of Hurricane Katrina, which was produced at the Billie Holiday Theatre in New York and Las Vegas in 2006.
FELLOWSHIPS, GRANTS, COMMISSIONS
Shubert Foundation Fellowship for New American Playwrights, 1982
Stanford University Theatre, California
Kinght-Ridder Foundation Fellowship, 1977
Long Beach Press Telegram, California
Gannett Foundation Fellow, 1976
Philadelphia Enquirer, Pennsylvania
Titles, Publications, TV & Film Exhibitions, Stage Productions
PLAYS -- DRAMAS
*Happy Birthday, Daddy, American College Theatre Festival, 1976,
*A Star Ain’t Nothin’ But a Hole In Heaven, published, Samuel French, 1980
*And If The Wounded Cries (1Act), produced, Nat’l Assoc. of Dramatic Arts, (NADSA) 1977
Mama, Daddy & Other Acts of God
*Tear For a Befallen Angel (1 Act), NADSA, 1975
*Dancin’ At The Palace (1 Act), produced Beale Street Rep, 1975
*Nigger Cowboy (1 Act)** -- published, NADSA, 1976
Baby Dolls
*Jonah & The Wonder Dog, Negro Ensemble Company, NYC, 1984
The Pink Lady (mixed cast), MOJO Ensemble, LA, 1988
*Some Changing Wind (mixed cast), Walla Walla Theatre Co, 1999
*Roseleaf Tea (mixed cast), produced, Ohio University Theatre, 1999
*The Cornbread Man (mixed cast), University of Florida Theatre, 2006
*The Time Traveler’s Ball (mixed cast), University of Florida Theatre, 1996
*Eddie Lee Baker Is Dead, produced Natl Black Theatre Festival, 2005
*Monkey Don’t Drink Hot Chocolate, Kansas City Black Rep, 2001
*Daughters of the Mock**, Negro Ensemble Company, NYC, 1984
Old River Children
*Storm Stories – True Dramas of Hurricane Katrina, Billie Holiday, NYC, Clark County Library Theatres, 2006
PLAYS - COMEDIES
*Livin’ Fat** published, Samuel French, 1988
*Red, White And Dead (1 Act)**S. Randolph Edmonds Award, NADSA, 1976
*Stadium View, produced, American College Theatre Festival, 2000
The Starlight Ball (1 Act)
The Treasure House Legend
MUSICALS or PLAYS WITH MUSIC
Heaven
*Out of the Mouths of Babes, CAST Theatre, Hollywood, 1979
*Indigo Blues, Billie Holiday Theatre, NYC, 1979
---Karamu House, Cleveland, Miami Ensemble Theatre, 2006
----Los Angeles-Mojo Ensemble, NAACP Image Award, 1992
*The Cornbread Man, produced, University of Florida Theatre, 2006
URBAN YOUTH MUSICALS (all 1 Acts)
*Donny’s House (Substance Abuse Prevention), NYC, School Tour, 1986
*The Real Deal (AIDS Education)--L.A Teen Theatre Co, 1987
--Rock Solid Teen Theatre Co., Louisiana, 2001
*Sweet Peaches & The Dream Machine (Teen Pregnancy), LA Teen Theatre -------Co., 1988, School Tour
*Joyful, Joyful (Physical Challenges), Rock Solid Theatre, Shreveport, 2001
*Tigerhood (College Life), Rock Solid Teen Theatre, Shreveport, 2002
*The Drum (Black History) , Strand Theatre, Shreveport, 2002
*Like God Made Me (Black History),Rock Solid Youth Theatre, 2003
*Purely Kool (Abstinence), Detroit Youth Ensemble, 2006
PRODUCED TELEVISION SCRIPTS
GOOD TIMES - CBS
“Write On, Thelma” 1975, Tandem Productions, CBS
“Penny For Your Thoughts” 1974, Tandem Productions, CBS
“Where Have All The Doctors Gone?” Tandem Productions, CBS
BEVERLY HILLS, 90210
“Ashes To Ashes” – 1995, Spelling Productions, FOX-TV
AMERICAN GOTHIC -CBS
“Eye of The Beholder”, 1997, Universal TV
“To Hell and Back”, 1997, Universal TV
I’LL FLY AWAY - CBS
“All God’s Children” *** - - 1990,
“Cool Winter Blues” -- 1990
A DIFFERENT WORLD - NBC
“I’m Dreaming of a Wayne Christmas” – Carsey-Werner
“Sister To Sister” – Carsey-Werner
“Blues for Nobody’s Child” – Carsey-Werner
GENERATIONS - NBC
Over 100 credited episodes, Associate Head Writer, NBC Productions, NBC
DONNY’S HOUSE - CBS
CBS Productions, New York EMMY Nomination, 1988
CEBA Award for Advertising, NY, 1988
SANFORD - NBC
“The Ring” – 1979, Tandem Productions
PRODUCED SCREENPLAYS
*Sister Act 2, Back in the Habit, Disney, 1992
*Sophie & The Moonhanger, Lifetime, (with Sara Flanigan), 1996
*Clover, Hallmark Ent.ertainment, USA Network, 1997
Thurs, Fri, Sat - 9/17, 9/18, 9/19
Thurs, Fri, Sat - 9/24, 9/25, 9/26
Thurs, Fri, Sat - 10/1, 10/2, 10/3
Thurs, Fri, Sat - 10/8, 10/9, 10/10
Thurs, Fri, Sat - 10/15, 10/16, 10/17
Thurs, Fri, Sat - 10/22, 10/23, 10/24
EXTENDED DATES
Thurs, 10/29, 8pm
Fri, 10/30, 8pm
NEW Closing Night - Thurs, 11/5, 8pm
*special Sunday engagements on Oct 11 & 25, 5pm
Tickets
General Admission: $25
Advanced Ticket Purchase: $20
(Groups, Seniors, Student w/ ID)
To purchase Advanced Show Tickets, click on "Buy Now" button:
Or call: (323) 469-3113
Theatre location:
Write Act Repertory Theatre
6128 Yucca St.
Los Angeles, CA 90028
www.writeactrep.org
Map
How Katrina Plays - Join us on:
