SPF 13: Present Black Fathers
A love letter of sorts. This collection of interviews challenges the stereotype of the “absent Black father.” Four Black dads and one surrogate Black dad spend thirty-five minutes getting real. Police brutality, dating, having a child with autism . . . No topic is off limits. And there are, of course, plenty of dad jokes.
Development
This is a brand-new play. SPF 13 marks the first reading, public or private.
Somebody Jones is a Los Angeles native playwright/dramaturg, currently living, working, and dreaming in London. Jones received a bachelor’s in Theatre with an Emphasis in Playwrighting from the University of Southern California and a master’s in Dramaturgy and Writing for Performance from Goldsmiths University of London. Jones’s work celebrates and champions Black culture in all of its charms and complexities. The playwright primarily works within the genres of horror, magical realism, verbatim, and recently, Black fantasy.
Justin Lord’s background as an actor with numerous TV, film, music and theater credits to his name, including Division Street on Broadway, led to directing. His directing career started at American Theatre Arts in California, where he directed Sam Shepard’s Cowboy Mouth, Conrad Bishop and Elizabeth Fuller’s Full Hookup and his own adaptation of Harry Kondoleon’s The Brides. Since then he has gone on to direct in Los Angeles at venues such as the Skylight Theatre, Luna Playhouse, Inner City Cultural Center, Theater 40, Towne Street Theatre and the Stella Adler Theatre. In New York, The Negro Ensemble Co, The Public Theatre, The Billie Holiday Theatre, The National Black Theatre. His work has been seen at the Nation Black Theatre Festival in Winston Salem N.C. He has been honored with multiple award nominations for Los Angeles Drama Critics Circle and The Vivian Robinson AUDELCO awards. He is a member of the Lincoln Center Theater Directors Lab.
“Present Black Fathers”
Brandon – DeJuan Christopher
Lemarcus – Juan Pope*
Andre – Gerard Joseph
Curtis – Leslie Jones
Khalil – Ladarrion Williams
Somebody Jones (SJ) – Mekaela Howard
*Road Company Member
