Cris Eli Blak is an emerging Black playwright whose work has garnered him recognition from
The Negro Ensemble Company, Kairos Italy Theater, Austin Film Festival, Barrington Stage
Company, TEDxBroadway, and Ignition Arts. He is currently the recipient of the Emerging Playwrights Fellowship from The Scoundrel & Scamp Theatre; the recipient of the Michael Bradford Residency from Quick Silver Theatre Company; and was in the inaugural class of fellows for the Black Theatre Coalition. He continues to strive to create work that reflects the world that we live in, with all of its different and diverse colors, creeds and cultures.
Dr. John Ray Proctor is an Assistant Professor of Theatre at Tulane University, Department of Theatre. He holds a BA in English from Webster University, an MFA in Acting from West Virginia University, and a Ph. D. in Theatre Research from University of Wisconsin Madison. He’s directed “Into the Woods” at Summer Lyric Theatre, Derek Walcott’s “Pantomime” at Crescent City Stage, and Alice Childress’ “Trouble in Mind” at Tulane University. He’s played in “Romeo and Juliet”, “The Merchant of Venice”, “Othello”, “Airline Highway and Father Come Home from the Wars”.
Last September, his essay “Romeo and Juliet at an HBCU” was published in the essay collection “Romeo and Juliet, Adaptation, and the Arts: ‘Cut Him Out in Little Stars’” (The Arden Shakespeare). This month, his essay “Reconsidering and Recasting” was published in “Contemporary Black Theatre and Performance: Acts of Rebellion, Activism, and Solidarity” (Bloomsbury Press).
