Amontaine Aurore

Upcoming

WHEN A TREE FALLS

premieres at SIFF Cinema

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On Sunday, November 13, 2022, the filmed production of When a Tree Falls premiered at SIFF Cinema in the Seattle Center. We had a great turnout! Stay tuned for more opportunities to see this combination play/film in 2023!

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WHEN A TREE FALLS

I am ecstatic to announce that the filmed stage production of my play, When a Tree Falls, is having its premiere on the big screen at SIFF Cinema in the Seattle Center on Sunday, November 13. This is an invite only event, but there will be  additional showings and opportunities for streaming in 2023. Thank you to all of the incredible cast, crew and designers that made this a reality. Big shout out to our producer, Trial and Error Productions. In the meantime, enjoy a couple of photos from our last day on set. From left to right (top row) Zoe Wolf, Mary E. Brown, Terry Boyd, Dawn Cornell, Brandon Eller (Stage Manager), (bottom row) Jasmine Lomax, Lillian Afful-Straton and Amontaine Aurore (Writer/Director). Photos by Whitney Bashaw.

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I was enlightened during my trip to Lowell, MA this summer where I was doing research on a play I am adapting from a book of interviews about Lowell's hidden Black history. The book is called, Hidden in Plain Sight: Stories of Black Lowell, and was ommissioned by Free Soil Arts Collective. So much fascinating history being uncovered. I am honored to be working on this project.

From left to right: Christa Brown, founder of Free Soil Arts Collective, Maritza Grooms, Lowell historian, and Amontaine.

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St, Anne's church in Lowell, which has been recently discovered as an Underground Railroad site. 

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More Lowell beauty

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PAST PRODUCTIONS AND NEWS

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Poster by West McClean

I was honored to have my newest play, Legacies: A Ghost Story, receive a public reading through Vashon Repertory Theater's Summer Reading Series and co-produced by Brown Soul Productions. Here is what reviewer Amy Drayer said:

"While the writing is a triumph overall, perhaps most vitally Aurore offers each of the characters and the audience empathy while simultaneously delivering searingly specific dialog and a clear-eyed examination of the personal and systemic racist failures of white Americans past and present. "

You can read the entire review here:

REVIEW: LEGACIES: A GHOST STORY

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ACT Local Playwright Series

I was thrilled to be included in ACT Theater's 2020 Local Playwright Series, which highlighted the voices of a diverse group of Seattle playwrights as we embarked on new work. Here is the interview that I did with director, Ameenah Kaplan, regarding the workshop and my play, The Ever-Expanding Moment.

ACT LOCAL WITH AMONTAINE AURORE AND AMEENAH KAPLAN

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A Look Back at 'Don't Call it a Riot!'

Written and Directed by Amontaine Aurore

As Quarantine rages on, it has given me the opportunity to get my nostalgia on, and look back at some of the highlights of my play, Don't Call it a Riot! I have decided to post some of my favorite scenes here. Take a trip down memory lane with me (in more ways than one). Here are a few scenes from Don't Call it a Riot!, perforrmed at 12th Avenue Arts, Seattle, 2019. Video sequences edited by Ben Laurence and Trial & Error Productions. Featuring Meysha Harville as Reed, Lillian Afful-Straton as Marti, Skylar Wilkerson as Falala, Mic Montgomery as Sam, and Robert Lovett as Paris.

It's 1968 and Reed, a member of Seattle's Black Panther Party, must juggle the demands of a new marriage and a baby on the way, yet still find time to fight for liberation and dream of creating a better world. When her best friend Marti moves in, there is yet one more thing on her plate. Reed is unaware of the forces that will eventually destroy the Party, as well as the ones that threaten her happy home. It will take 31 years before she discovers the betrayal that was at the root of a dream deferred.

SURPRISE PANCAKES

MARTI AND FALALA ARGUE

MARTI AND REED REUNITE

MARTI WANTS FORGIVENESS

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Recent Press for Amontaine Aurore

The Seattle Times Feature Article, June 19, 2019Samira Jimaale, 18, a senior at Franklin High School, paints a mural featuring Billie Holiday and James Baldwin. Students in the school’s Art of Resistance & Resilience club are helping to create set design elements for the upcoming play “Don’t Call it a Riot!” by Seattle playwright Amontaine Aurore. (Bettina Hansen / The Seattle Times)

THE SEATTLE TIMES, BRENDAN KILEY, FRANKLIN HIGH SCHOOL STUDENTS HELP CREATE SET DESIGNS FOR NEW PLAY

HONORING THE BLACK PANTHER PARTY AND GENERATIONS OF ACTIVISM IN SEATTLE

DON'T CALL IT A RIOT OFFERS A GLIMPSE INTO THE COMPLEX REALITIES OF REVOLUTION

 

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News

When a Tree Falls to be staged at 18th and Union Theater, March/April 2020.

Mo's Blog

Dont-Call-it-a-Riot-image.jpg
Jul 11, 2017, 12:43 PM
As Seattle and the country grapple with police killings of black and brown citizens and an expanding police militarization, many of us wonder what can be done to halt this…
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