Ty Greenwood believes we need light in these divisive times.
“With everything that’s going on there is so much tension surrounding the (presidential) election, and there is outrage and violence in our country, I pray we get through,” said Greenwood, a McKeesport native, who lives in Seattle. “We need hope.”
He wants to create a positive message through a piece he is working on.
Greenwood received a writing commission to pen an original play through the Kemp Powers Commission Fund for Black Playwrights via City Theatre on Pittsburgh’s South Side.
The fund is made possible through the support of award-winning playwright Kemp Powers, author of last season’s “One Night in Miami.”
It will be given annually to support an early career Black playwright.
“I am so excited to be chosen for this,” Greenwood said. “I love City Theatre. The City Theatre does diverse work. This opportunity is so humbling.”
The commission will give him the flexibility to work on a play of his choosing and includes built in developmental support as part of the process.
Greenwood said the play will be centered on Black joy. He said Black theater is rooted in pain and trauma and “we need some happiness.”
Congratulations to @CarnegieMellon @cmudrama MFA alumnus & Pittsburgh native @ty_greenwood a playwright who is the first recipient of funding from the Kemp Powers Commission Fund for Black Playwrights. #CFAPROUD https://t.co/uKkhBmJjqJ
— CMUFine Arts (@CMU_CFA) October 23, 2020
For his thesis last year at Carnegie Mellon University school of drama in Oakland, Greenwood wrote a play that he said sparked some controversy but also created conversations. He said it was about Black bodies trying to find their own space in white spaces.
“We are all tired and exhausted from all the news,” Greenwood said. “It is time for hope and happiness. I want a story with some happiness.”
Powers said he chose to start the fund because City Theatre welcomed him last year. Greenwood is head of speech and debate class and serves as head coach for both at Seattle Academy of Arts and Sciences
“As an artist, it is rare to receive that kind of institutional and community support, and it inspired me to want to pay it forward by offering support of my own to the next generation of storytellers,” he said in a statement.
