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Jerome Hairston

JEROME HAIRSTON

  
Nationality:    African American
email:    n/a     Website:    n/a

Literary Agent:    n/a

Jerome Hairston. Originally from Yorktown, Virginia, Jerome Hairston received his BA from James Madison University and is a graduate of Columbia University's MFA playwriting program. His play a.m. Sunday premiered in the 26th annual Humana Festival at Actors Theatre of Louisville, and was later produced at Centerstage in Baltimore, Maryland. His other plays include L'eboueur Sleeps Tonight, Forty Minute Finish andMethod Skin. His work has been developed and presented at Theaters such as Playwrights Horizons, the Atlantic Theater Company, Hartford Stage, Arena Stage, the Underwood Theater, New York Stage and Film, as well as the Shenandoah Playwrights Retreat, the Sundance Theater Lab, and the Eugene O'Neill National Playwrights Conference. He was featured twice in the Young Playwrights Festival in New York (1993 and 1994), and was also the recipient of the 1998 Kennedy Center/American College Theater Festival's National Student Playwriting award. He has received commissions from the Kennedy Center, Centerstage Baltimore, the Guthrie Theater, the Public Theatre/NYSF, and the Manhattan Theatre Club, where he was a 2001 playwriting fellow. He is also developing several film and television projects. He currently lives in Brooklyn, New York with his wife, Cindy.

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below is a list of Jerome Hairston's plays - click on a Play Title for more information

         A M Sunday         Cable Man         Carriage         Forty Minute Finish         In Love Of Bullets         Iqbal         L'eboueur Sleeps Tonight         Live From the Edge Of Oblivion         Matter Of Time         Method Skin         Snowy Day, The         Three Dimensions         Wings Of Ikarus Jackson, The
A M Sunday

Synopsis:
Beginning on a Sunday morning and spanning the course of five tense days, a.m. Sunday is an extraordinary portrait of a family confronting where they stand in one another's worlds. This moving and subtly-rendered Drama is the tale of an interracial couple, R.P. and Helen, who reach a painful turning point in their relationship. It is equally the story of their two sons, Jay and Denny, both of whom are arriving at a time in their lives when everything is in question. Fifteen-year-old Jay's romance with a white girl adds another complex layer to this cross-generational examination of how difficult it is to love and be loved in the face of difference.

Notes:
-

1st Produced:

Organisations:
-

1st Published:
in Humana Festival 2002: the Complete Plays, edited by Tanya Palmer and amy Wegener, Smith and Kraus, 2002   

Music:
-

To Buy This Play:
If Publisher (above) is underlined then the play may be purchased by direct click from the Publisher, otherwise (below) are AbeBooks for secondhand, signed & 1st eds and other Booksellers for new copies

Booksellers:

Genre:
Two acts Play/Drama

Parts:
Male:  -            Female:  -            Other:  -

Further Reference:
-

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Cable Man

Synopsis:
A cable man is sent to a run down one room apartment to discont the cable because of non-payment

Notes:
-

1st Produced:
-    

Organisations:
-

1st Published:
Contained in: "Writing Your First Play" published by Focal Press 1991   

Music:
-

To Buy This Play:
If Publisher (above) is underlined then the play may be purchased by direct click from the Publisher, otherwise (below) are AbeBooks for secondhand, signed & 1st eds and other Booksellers for new copies

Booksellers:

Genre:
Short play

Parts:
Male:  1            Female:  1            Other:  -

Further Reference:
-

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Carriage

Synopsis:
A young man wakes the dead to try and make peace about an incident in a trailer park

Notes:
-

1st Produced:
-    

Organisations:
-

1st Published:
-   

Music:
-

To Buy This Play:
If Publisher (above) is underlined then the play may be purchased by direct click from the Publisher, otherwise (below) are AbeBooks for secondhand, signed & 1st eds and other Booksellers for new copies

Booksellers:

Genre:
Short play

Parts:
Male:  -            Female:  -            Other:  -

Further Reference:
-

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Forty Minute Finish

Synopsis:
a potentially fatal accident forces two young men to wrestle with universal uncertainties before they clock-out for the night. Will life's big questions take a backseat to the comforting lure of escapist entertainment?

Notes:
part of Life Under 30

1st Produced:

Organisations:
-

1st Published:
Humana Festival 1999: the Complete Plays, ed Michael Bigelow Dixon & amy Wegener, Smith & Kraus, 1999   

Music:
-

To Buy This Play:
If Publisher (above) is underlined then the play may be purchased by direct click from the Publisher, otherwise (below) are AbeBooks for secondhand, signed & 1st eds and other Booksellers for new copies

Booksellers:

Genre:
Ten Min

Parts:
Male:  -            Female:  -            Other:  -

Further Reference:
-

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In Love Of Bullets

Synopsis:
This play centers on Sydney trying to escape addiction, and her lover Darius who plans to quit a life of murder and drug dealing. But first, he's going on one more job - though just what it's about is unclear in the muddled exposition. Meanwhile, Sydney has a dream about a Mephistophelian figure leading to an overwrought ending.

Notes:
-

1st Produced:
Joseph Papp Public Theater     1994

Organisations:
Young Playwrights Festival

1st Published:
-   

Music:
-

To Buy This Play:
If Publisher (above) is underlined then the play may be purchased by direct click from the Publisher, otherwise (below) are AbeBooks for secondhand, signed & 1st eds and other Booksellers for new copies

Booksellers:

Genre:
Play/Drama

Parts:
Male:  -            Female:  -            Other:  -

Further Reference:
-

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Iqbal

Synopsis:
In a Pakistani carpet factory where they are kept as slaves, five children play a game telling each other their. Inside, Fatima dreams and gazes through the tiny window. then a young overseer, the master's lackey Karim, orders, 'Back to work!' although the children tease Karim, he has power over them in this world where hunger and cruelty are as much a part of daily life as the constant weaving. every child in the factory has a slate on which each line signifies a rupee. For each day of work Hussain Khan, the owner, supposedly erases one line. a clean slate means freedom, but slates never get clean. One day Hussain brings a new worker, Iqbal, a silent boy and a brilliant weaver. In whispers at night, the children learn Iqbal was sold by his Father so his family might survive. He is extraordinary - unafraid of the Master. He and Fatima secretly become friends who dream of writing unanswerable questions on kites that sail away, and he tells her a secret: someday they will escape. American clients come to see the rare Blue Bukhara rug Iqbal is weaving. the visitors admire the rug but when they ask to see the artisan's magic hands, Iqbal pulls out a sharp knife and destroys the carpet. the master throws him in the Tomb. Iqbal survives unbearable heat for five days and nights only because the children take great risks and bring him water and mouthfuls of food. Still, when Hussain brings Iqbal back in shackles the others are afraid to embrace his plans for escape. One morning after a terrible storm, he is simply gone. Fatima urges the children to stand up to the Master. they will not, until Khan goes to throw the tiniest girl, Maria, into the Tomb. the children take a stand. then Iqbal returns with officials, who arrest Hussain Khan and free the children. Some go home. Some make new homes. and although we learn that Iqbal was killed - for speaking out against child labor - we also learn many children were liberated because of him. Maria and Fatima end the play together flying kites as they once could only dream of doing. they are free to let go of the brutal past.

Notes:
author: Francesco D'adamo, translated by Ann Leonori

1st Produced:
-    

Organisations:
-

1st Published:
http://www.playsforyoungaudiences.org   

Music:
-

To Buy This Play:
If Publisher (above) is underlined then the play may be purchased by direct click from the Publisher, otherwise (below) are AbeBooks for secondhand, signed & 1st eds and other Booksellers for new copies

Booksellers:

Genre:
Youth audience

Parts:
Male:  10            Female:  2            Other:  -

Further Reference:
-

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L'eboueur Sleeps Tonight

Synopsis:
after torching the restaurant owned by his crime boss a man asks the hit man sent to kill him if he can deliver a fur coat to his mother first.

Notes:
-

1st Produced:
-    

Organisations:
-

1st Published:
-   

Music:
-

To Buy This Play:
If Publisher (above) is underlined then the play may be purchased by direct click from the Publisher, otherwise (below) are AbeBooks for secondhand, signed & 1st eds and other Booksellers for new copies

Booksellers:

Genre:
-

Parts:
Male:  -            Female:  -            Other:  -

Further Reference:
-

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Live From the Edge Of Oblivion

Synopsis:
in which the cries of crack mothers are submerged in the din of an embattled ghetto landscape. This terrain is monitored through the eyes of Johnas (akili Prince), a black teenager who sees in H.G. Wells' "War of the Worlds" a metaphor for his surrounding apocalypse-in-progress

Notes:
-

1st Produced:
Playwrights Horizons, NY     1993

Organisations:
Young Playwrights Festival

1st Published:
-   

Music:
-

To Buy This Play:
If Publisher (above) is underlined then the play may be purchased by direct click from the Publisher, otherwise (below) are AbeBooks for secondhand, signed & 1st eds and other Booksellers for new copies

Booksellers:

Genre:
Play/Drama

Parts:
Male:  -            Female:  -            Other:  -

Further Reference:
-

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Matter Of Time

Synopsis:
-

Notes:
-

1st Produced:
Minetta Lane Theatre, New York     09 Sep 2002

Organisations:
-

1st Published:
-   

Music:
-

To Buy This Play:
If Publisher (above) is underlined then the play may be purchased by direct click from the Publisher, otherwise (below) are AbeBooks for secondhand, signed & 1st eds and other Booksellers for new copies

Booksellers:

Genre:
-

Parts:
Male:  -            Female:  -            Other:  -

Further Reference:
-

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Method Skin

Synopsis:
-

Notes:
-

1st Produced:
-    

Organisations:
-

1st Published:
-   

Music:
-

To Buy This Play:
If Publisher (above) is underlined then the play may be purchased by direct click from the Publisher, otherwise (below) are AbeBooks for secondhand, signed & 1st eds and other Booksellers for new copies

Booksellers:

Genre:
-

Parts:
Male:  -            Female:  -            Other:  -

Further Reference:
-

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Snowy Day, The

Synopsis:
The wonder of a fresh snowfall, the delight of whistling for the first time, the awe in finding a special treasure comes to life in The Snowy Day and Other Stories by Ezra Jack Keats. This story celebrates the joy in the small moments of a childs world.

Notes:
-

1st Produced:
Children's Theatre Company-Minneapolis     2015

Organisations:
-

1st Published:
Plays for Young Audiences   

Music:
-

To Buy This Play:
If Publisher (above) is underlined then the play may be purchased by direct click from the Publisher, otherwise (below) are AbeBooks for secondhand, signed & 1st eds and other Booksellers for new copies

Booksellers:

Genre:
TYA 65 min

Parts:
Male:  2            Female:  1            Other:  -

Further Reference:
-

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Three Dimensions

Synopsis:
Two men, art and Dale, battle each other and themselves in midst of coping with the aftermath of a terrible incident involving a shared loved one. Meanwhile, Sheila, the loved one, struggles to make sense of her post-traumatic existence.

Notes:
-

1st Produced:

Organisations:
-

1st Published:
Playscripts, Inc - New York   

Music:
-

To Buy This Play:
If Publisher (above) is underlined then the play may be purchased by direct click from the Publisher, otherwise (below) are AbeBooks for secondhand, signed & 1st eds and other Booksellers for new copies

Booksellers:

Genre:
10-12 min Play/Drama

Parts:
Male:  2            Female:  1            Other:  2 males, 1 female

Further Reference:
-

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Wings Of Ikarus Jackson, The

Synopsis:
there is something puzzling about the new boy at school. Instead of a backpack, Ikarus Jackson has a feathery white set of wings and can fly. To get away from the kids who are taunting him for his uniquely feathered look, Ikarus soars through the city, over rooftops and playgrounds, like a slow-motion instant replay. Just when he thinks he's all alone, a brave schoolgirl tells him what someone should have from the start: "your flying is beautiful." Caldecott Honor and Coretta Scott King Honor winner Christopher Myers's colorful and lovingly assembled collage-illustrated children's book comes to life as an all-new dance-theater piece. For age 6 and up.

Notes:
adapted by Jerome Hairston from the book Wings by Christopher Myers. Music by R. MacKenzie Lewis

1st Produced:
Family Theater Of The Kennedy Center, 2700 F Street, Nw Washington, Dc.     04 Feb 2012

Organisations:
the Kennedy Center Family Theater

1st Published:
-   

Music:
-

To Buy This Play:
If Publisher (above) is underlined then the play may be purchased by direct click from the Publisher, otherwise (below) are AbeBooks for secondhand, signed & 1st eds and other Booksellers for new copies

Booksellers:

Genre:
musical adaptation 45 min

Parts:
Male:  -            Female:  -            Other:  -

Further Reference:
-

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