Richmond Triangle Players is pleased to announce the four finalists in its second So.Queer Playwriting Festival. The plays and their playwrights that make up The Roy Proctor Finalists’ Presentations are:

• Daughter of the Confederacy by C. “Meaks” Meaker
• Fear and Wonder by Jason Tseng
• Ten Year by Wesley King and Jacob Heinz
• The Way He Looks At You by Trent Sutton

The Roy Proctor Finalists’ Presentations are named after journalist, theatre writer and playwright Roy Proctor, whose recent bequest has become a major part of the Knapp-Gillham New Works Fund, which launched the Festival itself.

Each of the finalists will present a short excerpt of their work in a collaborative online presentation, via Video-On-Demand available now through midnight on April 28. “These four new works each uniquely tell Southern queer stories,” says RTP artistic director Lucian Restivo, “and we are so excited to have such a diverse range of stories illuminating the Southern queer experience. Help us find our winner!”

The works can be viewed for free by anyone across the country, in a Video-On-Demand presentation introduced by each playwright. Those viewing all of the works will be sent a survey to determine the winner; those votes, in conjunction with an adjudication committee selected by RTP, will determine the final winner of the Festival.

The videos can be found here.

Over the course of the following year, RTP will develop further that winning work, in close collaboration with the chosen playwright, through a series of through a series of private workshop readings and public staged readings, as well as consultations with local artists, mentorship from theatre experts, and the provision of other creative supports. If deemed ready, the play could be presented in a full mainstage production in a future RTP season.

ABOUT THE PLAYWRIGHTS

C. “Meaks” Meaker they/she (Daughter of the Confederacy) is a playwright and screenwriter whose work often explores queerness, feminism, and the end of the world. Their plays have been performed and developed across the United States, including the Kennedy Center, Seattle Repertory Theatre, San Francisco Playhouse, Annex Theatre in Seattle, and About Face in Chicago. They are a former Jerome Fellow at the Playwrights’ Center, an alumna of Seattle Repertory Theatre’s Writers Group, and former Walter E. Dakin Fellow at Sewanee Writers’ Conference. Their nonfiction won the Editor’s Prize at Porter House Review (2023). They received an MFA in Playwriting from University of Iowa’s Playwrights Workshop.

Jason Tseng they/them/ta (Fear & Wonder) is a queer, non-binary Chinese-American playwright based in New York City, originally hailing from the suburbs of Washington, D.C. Their plays have been presented and developed by Flux Theatre Ensemble, Judson Arts, Mission to dit(Mars), Theatre COTE, Inkubator Arts, Second Generation, Downtown Urban Arts Festival, LA Queer New Works Festival, and BIPOC Playwrights Festival at Boise Contemporary Theater. They are a Creative Partner of Flux Theatre Ensemble, a member of The Civilians’ 2019/2020 R&D Group, a member of Mission to dit(Mars)’s Propulsion Lab, and their plays have been honored as a Semi-Finalist at The Bay Area Playwrights Festival, New American Voices Playwrights Festival and the Eugene O’Neil National Playwrights Conference. Jason’s full-length plays include Rizing (World Premier, Flux Theatre Ensemble), Like Father, Same Same, Ghost Money, Fear and Wonder, and The Other Side. Find more at www.jasontseng.co

Jacob Heinz he/him (Ten Year) is thrilled and honored to see Ten Year featured in the So. Queer Playwriting Festival! A Nashville native, Jacob graduated from Lipscomb University in 2014 with a BFA in Theatre Design and Technology. He enjoys spending his weekends reading, drawing, or contemplating life over an oat milk latte at his favorite coffee shop with his husband. Creating Ten Year over the past few years with Wesley has been one of the most challenging, rewarding, and artistically fulfilling experiences, and he’s elated to see others experience the show. Some of his other favorite theater credits include Smoke, a Ballad of the Night Riders (Director 2018, 2019, 2022, Bell Witch Fall Festival), Jack and the Giant (Director, ACT 1), Into the Woods (Scenic Designer, Pull Tight Players), American Idiot (Scenic Designer, Circle Players), and The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee (Scenic Designer, Pull Tight Players). He would love to give a huge thank you to Richmond Triangle Players for this opportunity and to his husband, Chris, and his theater family (Preston, Wesley, and Katie) for their never-ending support and love! www.jacobdheinz.com | @jacobheinz_ and @kingandheinz

Wesley King he/him (Ten Year) is a native of Tuscaloosa, AL. He attended The University of Alabama where he majored in Vocal/Choral Music Education. While at the Capstone he was a three-time winner of the AMEA Young Composer Award. He also was an Honorable Mention winner for the MTNA Young Composer competition. After graduating, he moved to Nashville, TN where he now lives and works as a freelance musician. He has been seen on many music and theatre stages around Nashville. He is the new Artistic Director of Nashville in Harmony, Nashville’s 100-voice LGBTQ+ and Ally chorus. As a published composer, his work has been heard across the nation, especially in the southeast. As a songwriter, his songs have been sung at 54 Below and the Highline Ballroom in New York City, as well as the Catalina Jazz Club in L.A. Wesley teamed up with best friend Jacob Heinz to begin writing stories and songs together which led to Ten Year. The duo is excited to continue writing together and has other projects currently in the works.

Trent Sutton he/him (The Way He Looks At You) is a director, playwright, and dramaturg based out of Waco, TX. He believes in the power of theatre to shape, challenge, and bridge communities. He is passionate about representing traditionally marginalized populations, particularly LGBTQ+ persons, onstage and seeks to tell stories that empower. With his Masters of Divinity, his academic focus is the intersection of arts and theology. Theatre, and playwriting specifically, is his medium of choice to explore questions of faith, humanity, and justice. In 2020, Trent founded Wild Imaginings, the first professional theatre company to be established in Waco, TX. He is an accomplished director, with over 50 directing credits to his name. And as a dramaturg, he specializes in new and contemporary work and founded the Epiphanies New Works Festival, a place where bold new stories have the opportunity to come to life.

ABOUT THE FESTIVAL

The So.Queer Playwriting Festival is a competitive, biennial festival of LGBTQ+ works which will lead to the selection of one work by a playwright — a work that RTP will develop further in close collaboration with the chosen playwright. “The So.Queer Playwriting Festival brings RTP to the forefront in the region to inspire and develop of new LGBTQ+ musical and non-musical works,” says RTP artistic director Lucian Restivo, “using a unique process of radical collaboration and supportive engagement with playwrights, actors, and audiences.”

The idea for the Festival sprung from an endowed fund created by former RTP artistic director John Knapp and his husband Tom Gillham, dedicated to the creation and development of new musical and non-musical work. RTP convened a committee that spent more than a year researching other competitions and festivals across the country, and defining how RTP’s could distinguish itself.

The Roy Proctor Finalists’ Presentation is named after journalist, theatre writer and playwright Roy Proctor, whose bequest is a major part of the Knapp-Gillham New Works Fund.

The Festival is a proud part of RTP’s 2022-23 Season has been made possible in part by generous contributions from the E. Rhodes and Leona B. Carpenter Foundation, CultureWorks, the Mid-Atlantic Arts Foundation Resilience Fund, the Shubert Foundation, the Virginia Commission for the Arts, and the National Endowment for the Arts. Richmond Triangle Players is supported in part by an American Rescue Plan Act grant from the National Endowment for the Arts to support general operating expenses in response to the Covid-19 pandemic.

For more information, please contact RTP executive director Philip Crosby at 804-342-7665 or by e-mail at Crosby@rtriangle.org.

The submission window for the next So.Queer Playwriting Festival has closed.
Stay tuned for more information!