Finalist 2017-18

Antoinette Nwandu

Play: Pass Over

Synopsis: Moses and Kitch stand around on the corner—talking shit, passing the time and hoping that maybe today will be different. As they dream of their promised land, a stranger wanders into their space with his own agenda and derails their plans. A provocative mashup of Waiting for Godot and the biblical Exodus saga, Pass Over crafts everyday profanities into poetic and humorous riffs, exposing the unquestionable human spirit of young men stuck in a cycle just looking for a way out.

Cast Breakdown: 3M (2black, 1white)

Set/Costume Requirements: Moses / Kitch: Both men wear dark colored jeans or track pants, saggin. Trainers, maybe Tims. Black baseball caps, brims crisp, cocked to the side or backwards. Crisp tanks or t-shirts. Jackets, maybe hoodies. Mister: a white suit with a tie. He also carries a small picnic basket.

Website: http://antoinettenwandu.com

Agent:
Di Glazer & Ross Weiner (ICM)

Bio: Antoinette Nwandu is a New York-based playwright. Her play Breach: a manifesto on race in America through the eyes of a black girl recovering from self-hate will have its World Premiere at Victory Gardens in February 2018. And her play Pass Over will have its New York debut at LCT3 in June 2018. A filmed version of the Jeff-award winning, Steppenwolf production of Pass Over—directed by Spike Lee—will have its world premiere at the 2018 Sundance Film Festival and will stream on Amazon Prime beginning in April 2018. Antoinette’s work has been supported by the Sundance Theater Lab, Space on Ryder Farm, Ignition Fest, the Cherry Lane Mentor Project, the Kennedy Center, Page73, PlayPenn, Southern Rep, The Flea, Naked Angels, Fire This Time, and The Movement Theater Company. Honors include the Paula Vogel Playwriting Award, the Lorraine Hansberry Playwriting Award, the Negro Ensemble Company’s Douglas Turner Ward Prize, a Literary Fellowship at the Eugene O’Neill Playwrights Conference, and spots on the 2016 and 2017 Kilroys lists. Antoinette is a MacDowell Fellow, a Dramatists Guild Fellow, and an Ars Nova Play Group alum. She is currently under commission from Echo Theater Company, Colt Coeur, Audible, and Ars Nova.


Pictured (left to right) Julian Parker (Kitch) and ensemble member Jon Michael Hill (Moses)

Pictured (left to right) ensemble member Jon Michael Hill (Moses) and Julian Parker (Kitch)

Pictured (left to right) Ryan Hallahan (Mister) and Julian Parker (Kitch)

Steppenwolf’s world premiere production of Pass Over. Photos by Michael Brosilow