Shockoe Bottom
by Shawn Nabors
Director: Brian Demar Jones
Stage Manager: Samantha McCann
Dramaturge: Steve Silvestri
Shockoe Bottom brings the audience into the life of Shepherd, a formally free queer black man who finds himself in captivity when he heads south to help free other slaves. When he's taken in and treated as his master's special property and love interest the lines of privilege and freedom get blurred.
February 15 at 8pm and February 17 at 12pm
Shawn Nabors (Playwright) is an actor, writer and musician from Brooklyn, N.Y. He earned a BFA in Acting from Syracuse University and an MFA in Acting from Harvard University. Shawn is a former participant of the Araca Projects where he wrote, co-produced and starred in his first original play, Cake at The American Theatre of Actors Off-Broadway. His sophomore play, America, and the Adventures of Nat Turn-Up has received developmental readings at The Atlantic Theatre Company and through the Act/Now Foundation's New Voices in Theatre program. As a 2017/2018 Playwriting Resident with The Liberation Theatre Company, Shawn developed, From Out Beyond My Shame, the first part of his Ancestor Plays trilogy. As a Fire This Time Festival New Works Lab participant, he began developing, Shockoe Bottom, and In Summer, his first original feature film. Shawn is currently developing the pilot for his new TV show, Smedium in addition to his second feature film.
Brian Demar Jones (Director) is grateful to be joining Normal Ave on their inaugural journey into new plays. New plays are the lifeblood of the theater, and are among my favorite aspects of theater. CREDITS: Sweet Eros, Happy Days: The Musical, Twelfth Night (AD), and Golden Girls Live! (Portland). Bdemarjones.com
Samantha McCann (Stage Manager) is delighted to join the Normal Ave team to present incredible new work. She started her freelance career with new works and jumps at any opportunity to assist with the process. Favorite recent credits: Lewiston (The Rattlestick), Cute Activist (The Bushwick Star), and Appropriate (The Juilliard School).
Steve Silvestri (Dramaturg) is a Cuban-American Dramaturge/Playwright/Comedian, and employee/member of the Dramatists Guild. He's been writing plays since middle school, and decent plays since the middle of college. Dramaturgy is an excellent way to combine his theatrical training with his love for history and paperwork.