Buffalo Infringement Festival Buffalo Infringement Festival
For Want Of A Herowritten by John Byrd A Staged Reading Performed and Directed by Scott Andrew Kurchak From The Blog...http://infringebuffalo.blogspot.com/ Some Hero! "What a relief to see a professional at work!! Scott Andrew Kurchak's reading of Jon Byrd's "For Want of a Hero" was another of his engaging, impassioned, and moving performances. This is a one-act play depicting a young man's experience with a disabling illness, and his disenchantment with a hero that had sustained him during his early trials. The Infringement Festival is likely to be once again the venue for refining this work-in-progress for a later launch in a more traditional theater setting (see "My Life as an Ape"). To be available (and deservedly, better attended) tomorrow, Wednesday, and next Friday evening @ Squeaky Wheel. This reviewer is personally jonesing for Scott's "Audition Day" premiere @ Staples on Monday, July 30." Posted by chris uebbing Presented by ScottFree Theatre- Works in Progress Series
:Admission is FREE
Thursday, July 26, 8-9 PM Friday, July 27, 5-6 PM
Friday, August 3, 7:30-8:30 PM See John Byrd's Bio below...... Attach:heropicmedium.jpg Attach:heroshow1.small.jpg Attach:Jbyrd1.jpg John Byrd WRITER TELEVISION Mr. Byrd has co-written “A QUESTION OF FAMILY”, with his wife Ruthann Byrd, suggested by the recent test-tube baby mix-up, where a white couple discovers they’ve given birth to twins, one white, the other black. It explores the ramifications of egg donation and IVF. Mr. Byrd has also co-written the teleplay "BRICKS & STRAW" with Amy Ostrower, a 3 hour dramatic TV special on the rivalry of W.E.B. DuBois and Booker T. Washington. The New Images Production was funded by the National Endowment for the Humanities. SCREENPLAYS He is co-author of "SEPIA TONE", a feature film about Oscar Micheaux, "King of the Independent Filmmakers", and seminal figure in black film history, as well as writer, producer, director and distributor of over forty feature films. Inspired by his musical book, Mr. Byrd was commissioned by producer John Williams of Vanguard Films (“Sarafina”, “Seven Years In Tibet”, “Shrek”), to write the screenplay "LET THE GOOD TIMES ROLL", a musical bio of r& b/rock 'n' roll pioneer Louis Jordan ("Five Guys Named Moe"). Mr. Byrd is currently pursuing the film as a co-producer His screenplay "LUCKY STARS", is a behind the scenes look at the music industry. It is the story of a flamboyant black starmaker of America's hottest white pop group. Mr. Byrd’s screenplay "KONKOLENE", is a fifties Doo-Wop musical about a group of Brooklyn teenagers and their brilliant teen songwriter. STAGE “THE CINEMA CRUSADE OF OSCAR MICHEAUX” is Mr. Byrd’s one-man play on the legendary life of a pioneer black filmmaker, determined to produce motion pictures with more realistic images of his race, after viewing D. W. Griffith’s “A Birth of a Nation”. Mr. Byrd was commissioned to adapt Roald Dahl’s short story “A Fine Son” for the Lightning Strikes Theatre Company’s The Playboy Stories production in spring 2000 at the Sanford Meisner Theatre. Mr. Byrd's recent work for the stage, "POLES APART", tells the remarkable story of Matthew Henson, Lieutenant Robert E. Peary's black assistant, who was actually the first man to reach the North Pole. Earlier versions of the play have been showcased in New York City and Los Angeles. Mr. Byrd is presently at work on “CAFÉ SOCIETY”, the story of the legendary nightclubs of the 40s that became the target of J. Edgar Hoover, the gossip columnists and HUAC. MUSICALS Mr. Byrd is co-writer and lyricist of “FOREVER MPETA”, A Peter Pan-inspired African-American musical. It was originally workshoped and performed at the Playwrights Project at the Abrons Arts Center at the Henry Street Settlement in ‘98. A workshop production of the musical was recently done by the Gallman Newark Dance Theatre Company in July of 2004, with plans for a run at Newark’s Symphony Hall in the winter on 2005. Member of the Writers Guild of America (East), Dramatists Guild. |