OnyxFest 2023

  • "THE HEART OF A MAN" by Ardre Orie
  • "RIGHT BEHIND YOU" by Deborah "D.L." Patrick
  • "5 MOODS OF BLACK ANGUISH" by Josiah Ray McCruiston
  • "TIGONIE" by Levi Frazier, Jr.
  • "BABE" by Delores Thornton

  • OnyxFest 2023 Collage
  • OnyxFest Playwrights & Plays
  • What is OnyxFest
  • OnyxFest 2023 Schedule
  • Schedule-by-the-Play
  • OnyxFest 2023 logo

OnyxFest 2023 Program


We appreciate everyone that came out to celebrate our OnyxFest 2023 playwrights, cast and crew! It was a great kickoff for OnyxFest 2023.

“The Africana Repertory Theatre of IUPUI enjoyed an enthusiastic turnout tonight for its OnyxFest 2023 Kickoff Reception introducing this year’s playwrights! The spirited gathering was held at the Galleries at Eskenazi Fine Arts Center on Indiana Avenue.” – Vernon A. Williams, Director of OnyxFest


Meet the Playwrights & Directors!

Tigone

Levi Frazier, Jr. is a published author, actor, playwright, director and producer. He is co-founder of Beale Street Repertory Company and Blues City Cultural Center in Memphis, TN, where he now serves as Artistic Director. Levi was an instructor for Department of Theatre and Communication Arts at the University of Memphis and for the English Department at State Technical Institute at Memphis.

Levi has written over fifty plays, musicals, or screenplays, and his work has been produced all over the country including New York, Chicago, Miami, Austin, Hollywood, and Memphis. His play, A TRIBUTE TO RICHARD WRIGHT, was produced, by invitation, at the Sorbonne in Paris, France for the African-Americans and Europe International Conference. His musical, Down on Beale Street had a run off-off Broadway at the Richard Allen Center in New York. In addition, his play, FOR OUR FREEDOM & YOURS was produced for the Memphis In May International Festival and, for the International Conference on Ira Aldridge in Lodz, Poland.

About the play:

The play is about a young psychologist, who after years of searching, finally meets the “man of her dreams” on a bench in a public park, but the meeting ends up being anything but a dream for the young lady, and the man whose past comes back to haunt him.

Lawrence Blackwell, Director
Lawrence Blackwell, Director
Michelle E. Mitchell, Actor
Michelle E. Mitchell, Actor
Lawrence Blackwell, Actor
Lawrence Blackwell, Actor
Deborah Frazier, Production Manager
Deborah Frazier, Production Manager

The Heart of a Man

Ardre Orie is a celebrity ghostwriter, book publishing expert, playwright, film director and CEO of 13th & Joan Publishing House. Orie has written for a host of clients including VH1, MTV, WETV, BRAVO, CENTRIC, YouTube, Grammy Award winning artists, the NFL, and entertainment industries as well as a bevy of entrepreneurs and everyday heroes.

Orie began her career as an author telling the stories of women in her local community at age 10. As author of CONSCIOUSLY BEAUTIFUL: I AM ENOUGH (2014), A HEROINE IN HEELS (2015) and LET YOUR LIPS SPEAK LIFE (2017); writer and director of the theatrical productions LIPSTICK MONOLOGUES and THE HEART OF A MAN; and film director of the documentary I AM CONSCIOUSLY BEAUTIFUL, Ardre Orie’s work sheds light on life’s experiences while closely examining the effects of mainstream media and societal norms that have defined our journeys and self-worth. In 2015, Orie founded 13th & Joan, a multimedia publishing agency to provide a vehicle for aspiring authors, playwrights and film directors to tell their stories and distribute them on a large scale with her support and guidance. Ardre Orie currently resides in Atlanta, Georgia with her husband and two daughters and a loving son in college.

About the play:

The Heart of a Man is a unique, all-male cast stage production that reveals the eye-opening and sometimes harsh truths on dating, marriage, sexuality, domestic violence and love, from the male’s perspective delivered through monologues and soliloquies that reflect the thoughts, desires, and frustrations of men.

Rasheda Randle, Director
Rasheda Randle, Director
Joshua Bruton, Actor
Joshua Bruton, Actor
KJ Dullen, Actor
KJ Dullen, Actor
Jay Fuqua, Actor
Jay Fuqua, Actor
Trent K. Hawthorne-Richards, Actor
Trent K. Hawthorne-Richards, Actor
Montez Lafayette, Actor
Montez Lafayette, Actor
Tijideen Rowley, Actor
Tijideen Rowley, Actor
Jessica L. Lawson, Stage Manager

5 Moods Of Black Anguish

About the play:

Inspired by the works of Zora Neale Hurston, Langston Hughes, and August Wilson, this excerpt of a larger work entitled “5 Moods of Black Anguish” is an awe-inspiring theatrical masterpiece. Weaving a tapestry of storytelling, love for Black deities, and profound poetic expression. With a symphony of emotions and spiritual oration, it immerses audiences in a transcendent experience, revealing the triumphs, struggles, and resilience of Black culture. This enchanting play resonates with the glory and truth of the human experience, capturing the essence of collective anguish and illuminating the path toward liberation and empowerment. Prepare to be captivated by the artistry that unfolds on stage, where every word and gesture reverberates with power and resonance. You don’t want to miss this! 

Angela Holland, Actor
Byron Holmes, Actor
Byron Holmes, Actor
Stephen Martin Drain, Actor
Stephen Martin Drain, Actor
Clarissa Todd, Actor
Jetta Vaughn, Actor
Jetta Vaughn, Actor

Clarissa Todd is a 20 yr. old artist who was born and raised in Indianapolis, IN. At a young age, she began singing and dancing at Witherspoon Presbyterian Church, where her passion for performing was nurtured. At the age of 15, she joined the Asante Arts Institute ( formerly known as The Asante Children’s Theatre) and was taken under the wings of Deborah Asante and was taught the art of Acting, Singing, Dancing, Writing, and Directing. At the age of 17, Clarissa wrote and directed her first short film titled Harlem Blues. Since then, Clarissa has interned and performed with the Indianapolis Shakespeare Company, starred in an OnyxFest play as well as a short film titled 365. She has performed in several plays at Conner Praire in connection with A.C.T since 2018 and is now a full-time Actor at the Children’s Museum Of Indianapolis. She is also currently in an amazing and informative show at The Indiana State Museum titled Str8 up Fredrick Douglass, which she helped write with the cast. Clarissa would like to thank everyone who has taken the time to mentor and expose her to the world of theatre because they have shaped her into the woman she is today.


Right Behind You

Deborah (D.L.) Patrick is a native Detroiter who holds a B.A. in Creative Writing from New York University. She has studied with Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright Charles Fuller and OyamO. Her play, STUDY IN BLACK (a.k.a. THE STUDY), about the infamous U.S. Public Health Service Study of Untreated Syphilis at Tuskegee, was produced by the Frank Silvera Writers Workshop, NYC, and was nominated for an AUDELCO Award. Her play, PASSAGES, was produced by Plowshares Theatre Company, Detroit, supported by a grant from the Michigan Council for the Arts and Cultural Affairs.

Her play, ECLIPSED: THE LIFE AND DEATH OF GLADYS ATKINSON SWEET, was selected by The Playwrights Group, NYC, for a public reading in 2022. A monologue from her play, SALLIE’S CRYING TREE, was selected for Barter Theatre for Black Stories, Black Voices festival, and was performed in 2023 on the Gilliam Mainstage. She is a 2023 finalist for Think Tank Theatre’s TYA Playwrights Festival for her play ACTIVE SHOOTER, and is working on two new full-length dramas, DEMOLITION MAN, about a black WWII veteran breaking barriers; and INDUSTRY: DIEGO RIVERA IN DETROIT.

About the play:

As an elderly black woman lies in a coma, dying of COVID-19 in the early days of the pandemic, her daughters and granddaughter reminisce about their experiences with her in the time leading up to her demise. This play asks the questions, what do we owe one another, and what do we owe ourselves.

Megan Simonton, Director
Megan Simonton, Director
Beverly Harney, Actor
Beverly Harney, Actor
Faye Holmes, Actor
LaToya Jay, Actor
LaToya Jay, Actor
Kaitlynn Nailon, Actor
Alicia Sims, Actor
Tamara L. Smith-Taylor, Actor
Tamara L. Smith-Taylor, Actor

Babe

Delores Thornton, Playwright, Director, Actor
Delores Thornton, Playwright, Co-Director, Actor

Delores Thornton is a Publisher, Author, Filmmaker, and Literary Entrepreneur who has received numerous awards. She is a licensed, ordained minister and a member of several organizations, most notably, the African American History Committee Advisory Board. She is also a certified Bereavement Facilitator with Brooke’s Place.

Thornton was honored as a Literary Trailblazer by EU (Everything Underground) in 2017 and a Local Literary Legend by Go On Girl Book Club in 2018. She is a graduate B.A. (Valedictorian) of Simmons College of Kentucky (HBCU) and has a Master’s Degree in Theology from Christian Theological Seminary in Indianapolis. Thornton has a passion for sharing the history of and to her Mighty People. The author of 7 books, 4 plays, and 4 films (1 feature and 3 shorts), Thornton recently starred in her short film IDA MAE 2 during the Short Film Festival at Arts for Lawrence (2022). Thornton also starred as Mari Evans in BLACK IS MY COLOR during OnyxFest 2022.

About the play:

Based on a true story about how therapy helps reveal the buried truths of an 82-year African American woman who reaches inner depth of self-realization.

Delores Thornton, Playwright, Director, Actor
Delores Thornton, Playwright, Co-Director, Actor
Trease Sears, Co-Director
Gene Howard, Actor
Gene Howard, Actor
Kim McMurray, Actor
Dr. Leondra Radford, Actor
Chris Sears, Actor
Chris Sears, Actor
Dr. Cheryl Talley-Black, Actor
Dr. Cheryl Talley-Black, Actor
Delores Thornton, Playwright, Co-Director, Actor
Delores Thornton, Playwright, Co-Director, Actor
La Tosha Walker, IT Specialist
La Tosha Walker, IT Specialist
Denetia Woodruff, Stage Manager
%d bloggers like this: