In partnership with The Union for Contemporary Art, Metropolitan Community College and Great Plains Theatre Commons, the Omaha Community Playhouse is hosting a series of community events in conjunction with the opening of August Wilson’s Fences on the Hawks Mainstage Theatre.

Three workshops led by Kim Louise, Dr. Khalid Y. Long, and Wali Jamal on theatre and playwriting will be held on the Metropolitan Community College campus in Building 22 on Saturday, January 21. The event is free, but registration is required.

 Chopped: The Playwright’s Edition, Kim Louise, Facilitator

During this generative workshop, we will explore new ways to create plays by delving into mash ups with other literary and writing forms. We will write without boundaries and invent, for ourselves, unique recipes for constructing drama. Building on the premise that genre informs genre, our goal is not to eliminate but to elevate our writing by introducing a new practice or strengthening a current one.

 Call & Response: August Wilson Workshop, Khalid Long, PhD, Facilitator

Taking their cue from Wilson and his four Bs, workshop attendees will creatively “respond” to an “artistic call.” In other words, they will explore the potential of various sources to inspire their creative imaginings. Using a piece of visual art or music as their inspiration, workshop attendees will produce a creative writing project in a timed session (the beginnings of a creative essay, a ten-minute play, a song, a short story, or a collection of poems, etc.). They will be responsible for briefly explaining the project to the group. This exercise aims to get workshop attendees to think deeply through practice about their artistic inspirations and callings.

 The August Wilson Artists’ Corner, Wali Jamal, Facilitator

Wali Jamal, from Pittsburgh, PA is the only actor in the world to have appeared in all 11 of August Wilson’s works, the 10-play Century Cycle and the autobiographical show How I Learned What I Learned. Join Mr. Jamal for a compelling workshop to celebrate the work of August Wilson and to strengthen your skills as an actor, storyteller, and collaborator. Wali will share personal stories of his time working with August Wilson and dive into the dynamic pathways and strategies used to bring Wilson’s words to life. This workshop will leave the participants inspired and motivated to share their stories with the world.

Dr. Khalid Y. Long is a scholar, dramaturg, and director specializing in African American/Black diasporic theatre, performance, and literature through the lenses of Black feminist/womanist thought, queer studies, and performance studies. Accordingly, his work pays close attention to the intersections of race, class, gender, and sexuality within marginalized and oppressed communities. Dr. Long has published scholarly essays in The Black Theatre Review (tBTR), Continuum: The Journal of African Diaspora Drama, Theatre and Performance, the Journal of American Drama and Theatre, and the Routledge Companion to African American Theatre and Performance. His forthcoming scholarship includes essays in The Cambridge Companion to African American Theatre (2nd edition) edited by Harvey Young, Zora Neale Hurston in Context edited by Christopher Varlack, Theatre Design & Technology, Theater: Yale’s Journal of Criticism, Plays, Reportage, and the edited collection Critical Essays on the Politics of Oscar Hammerstein II, edited by Donald Gagnon. Dr. Long is also a regular contributor to Black Masks and Performance Response Journal 2.0. Dr. Long is working on his manuscript, An Architect of Black Feminist Theatre: Glenda Dickerson, Transnational Feminism, and The Kitchen Prayer Series (University of Iowa Press). Dr. Long is co-editor of two forthcoming critical anthologies, including Contemporary Black Theatre and Performance: Acts of Rebellion, Activism, and Solidarity (co-edited with Dr. DeRon S. Williams and Dr. Martine Kei Green-Rogers) with Bloomsbury Methuen Drama, Agitations: Politics, Text, Performance Series). The second anthology is August Wilson in Context (co-edited with Dr. Isaiah M. Wooden) with Cambridge University Press. Dr. Long is the newly elected Vice President and Conference Planner for the Black Theatre Association, a focus group of the Association for Theatre in Higher Education (ATHE). Dr. Long is also the Vice President for Advocacy for ATHE. Dr. Long also served as the Vice President and Conference Planner for the August Wilson Society (2018-2020). A freelance dramaturg specializing in production dramaturgy, new play development, and audience engagement, Dr. Long is a regular dramaturg with the Great Plains Theatre Commons (Omaha, Nebraska).

Wali Jamal has been performing on stage since the late 80’s. His first encounter with August Wilson’s work was in early 1999, while doing a seated reading of Jitney with August participating, reading the part of Turnbo. Over the years he has performed in such blockbuster plays like The Full Monty, Our Town, Kinky Boots, Parade, and most recently, Death of a Salesman. But his true love of performing in plays lies primarily with the work of August Wilson. He has performed in all ten plays in Wilson’s American Century Cycle and his one man play, How I Learned What I Learned and he is the first and only actor in the world to have done so. He has performed the solo show at the University of North Carolina at Charlotte, the National Black Theater Festival in 2019, and twice at the August Wilson Center for African American Culture in Pittsburgh. His next performance of How I Learned What I Learned will be at the aforementioned August Wilson Center for the Biannual Symposium of the August Wilson Society, March 2-4, 2023. Wali Jamal is also a television producer, musician and an award-winning playwright.

Kim Louise’s love of writing started in elementary school and by the time she was in junior high school, the first of her many poems was published as part of a Black History exhibit at the Great Plains Black History Museum. A native Omahan, Kim has penned over eleven novels and five novellas, writing for Kensington Press (BET Books), Genesis Press, and Harlequin Enterprises and earned a spot on Amazon’s bestseller’s list for mass market fiction. Her poetry has been published by the Cathartic Literary Journal and Third World Press. One of her short stories appears in the national anthology Chicken Soup for the African American Soul. Kim is the past president of the New African Writer’s Workshop and has facilitated the North Omaha Summer Arts Women’s Writing Group for the past 10 years. Kim has written 20 plays—one of which received a full production at the Union for ContemporaryArt. Her monologue Yoke Bells was performed as part of the Verbal Ofrendas Mexican American Historical Society of the Midlands program, and her play The Bystanders was a toured, staged reading at Metropolitan Community College Campuses. She holds Master of Fine Arts in Creative Writing from the University of Nebraska at Omaha. When she’s not writing, Kim enjoys walking, listening to podcasts, reading, cardmaking, and found-object art. She is a GPTC Commoner.