A PLAY FORMERLY KNOWN AS...(“DARK DAZE” BACK WHEN A FAKE ONE THOUGHT SHE WAS A REAL ONE, WHEN SHE WAS REALLY MAKING A REAL MESS CAUSE SHE WAS CLEANING IN THE DARK, WHILE CLAIMING TO BE WAITIN’ OHN SUM SUNLIGHT...WHEN SHE COULD’VE JUST TURNED THE LIGHT ON.

“A Play Formerly Known As...” is a raw, poetic, intimate examination of a Black, Female experience by way of the personification of her stages and parts: THE Woman, the little girl, ‘Twixt, A young lady, A Lady, A Voice, and A friend. The entire piece is set in the timeless, limbo space of the Here and Now. The Prologue of the play introduces The Actor Portraying THE Woman and The Actor Portraying the little girl. The actors in this prologue do the work of grounding the audience in the fact that we are, indeed, watching a piece of theatre that focuses on Black Women. However, they also take the time to explain that this play is not your typical “Black Women are angry and in pain” play. Having made this abundantly clear, both actors leave the stage so that Act 1 can begin. Act 1 is a total of five scenes; each introducing the characters to the audience in a series of vignettes that speak to episodic adventures of Black girlhood. What follows in Act 2 is a culmination of all these characters (pieces) working in concert to overcome internal strife. Teaching THE Woman that all her parts, including those that conflict with each other, are necessary as she bravely traverses ever forward in her life’s journey.

Creating new plays takes time, open hearts, and dedicated space to nurture ideas. It takes a commitment to investing in artists and helping to discover and grow new voices. And it demands resources focused on process, artistic exploration, and room to risk. Our Stripped Bare Arts Incubator Project provides research and development time to at least four new projects per season – bolstering new artists, forms, and voices. A Stripped Bare project is not about sets, lights, props, and costumes. It is about actors, words, passion, movement, and ideas.

Learn more about Stripped Bare Arts Incubator Project HERE.

Elaina Walton is a Florida raised-Atlanta based actor, director, playwright and educator with an M.F.A in Acting from the University of Florida (UF) and a B.A in Theatre from the University of West Florida (UWF). Her original works include A Play Formerly Known As…, YOKED, and Blaxcellence365. Elaina is currently a Teaching Artist at Alliance Theatre (Atlanta, GA) and Synchronicity Theatre (Atlanta, GA), and has instructed acting workshops at various public schools all over Atlanta, GA. She gives all her love and dedicates all her work to her brilliant, little scientist. Instagram: @itselainawalton