Karen and Ashley share their review of Beaufield Berry’s Buffalo Women, their experience on opening night, and talk through the characters and the overall impact of the play.
Click here to listen to the podcast:
‘Buffalo Women’ Opening Night on Juneteenth
Little Village Magazine gave a glowing review of Beaufield Berry’s Buffalo Women, a co-production between Pyramid Theatre Company and The Des Moines Playhouse. An excerpt from the article reads:
Three minutes to curtain on June 19, 2022, the Kate Goldman Theatre at the Des Moines Playhouse was mostly full… Of course, the weight of Buffalo Women opening on Juneteenth was not lost on most. And those unaware of the significance were clued in when Pyramid Theatre Company Artist Director Tiffany Johnson announced, “To all the Black people in the room, Happy Juneteenth!” as she introduced the show. The audience erupted into joyful applause and the show began.
Read the full article here using the button below!
Podcast: Beaufield Berry, Playwright, Courageous Fire, Musical Director discuss Buffalo Women
Playwright Beaufield Berry delivers a powerful dive into history in her new musical, Buffalo Women, to be workshopped by Pyramid Theatre Company and the Des Moines Community Playhouse. Listen as Beaufield and musical director Courageous Fire share insights into why this show not only shares history, but is very much relevant today.
Click here to listen!
Beaufield Berry's Buffalo Women
Playwright Beaufield Berry (she/her) had a spark for the idea to write the play and musical, Buffalo Women, when she read historical accounts of Black women in the West. After authoring the book and lyrics, over the course of two years Berry worked with J. Isaiah Smith to write music and additional lyrics to bring the play to life.
Berry was homeschooled as a child, and grew up reading books, penning stories, and performing onstage. She has always had a love for writing, and has built a successful career writing for the stage, directing and producing. According to Berry,
“I had already been writing before I got into theatre,” she said. “The writing part felt so natural—it felt like breathing. I cannot not write.”
Although the pandemic stalled production, Berry generated buzz with her Black family comedy, In the Upper Room. This play was read at the 2017 Great Plains Theatre Conference (now Great Plains Theatre Commons) in Omaha, and was a finalist at the 2018 Eugene O’Neill Theater’s National Playwrights Conference. The world premiere of In the Upper Room took place earlier this year at the Denver Center for the Performing Arts. Berry also began a workshop production of Buffalo Women in Omaha at the Bluebarn Theatre, before bringing the production to Des Moines.
We are honored to co-produce Buffalo Women alongside Beaufield Berry and hope you enjoy the show.
Read the full article from American Theatre here
Permissions
Permissions: A series of monologues by Pyramid Theatre Company and the Collab Lab Program of Des Moines
Permissions is a reflective series of short monologues, poems and song, performed by the artists of the Collab Lab Program in Des Moines, Iowa. The themes of the spoken words shared revolve around the ability of Black artists to exist, take up space, face obstacles, and thrive. The video features contributions from:
Tiffany Johnson, Pyramid Theatre Company’s Artistic Director
Dr. Wanda Everage
Rae Fehring
Joi Wright
Pyramid Theatre was able to share Permissions at the I’ll Make Me a World in Iowa 2022 celebration last month.
View the full video below:
Dallas Theater Center Promotes Jonathan Norton and Welcomes New Resident Artists
Dallas Theatre Center recently welcomed new resident artists and Jonathan Norton
Norton, DTC playwright-in-residence, has been promoted to a full-time staff member. The new full time resident artists include Zachary J. Willis, Christina Austin Lopez, and Bob Hess join the Diane and Hal Brierley Resident Acting Company this month.
An article in Broadway World Dallas had a statement from Kevin Moriarty, DTC's Artistic Director.
“"During the pandemic, it was painfully clear how financially vulnerable so many theater artists are. Because of the generosity of our donors, we were proud to provide full-time employment and benefits for the professional artists in our Brierley Resident Acting Company throughout that difficult time. Now that we have returned to in-person performances and are looking ahead to a dynamic season of large cast comedies and musicals, we are thrilled to welcome three new members into our acting company," said Moriarty, "Their artistry as actors and singers will enliven our work on stage, and their engagement as teaching artists in our education and engagement programs will inspire people of all ages from throughout our community to experience the joy of theater for the first time."
The article also outlines Nortons accomplishments as follows:
“Norton's play Cake Ladies made its world premiere this season at DTC. His debut DTC production, Penny Candy, is being published by Deep Vellum books and will be available December 8. His work has also been produced or developed by Actors Theatre of Louisville/44th Humana Festival, PlayPenn, InterAct Theatre Company, Pyramid Theatre Company, Black and Latino Playwrights Conference, Bishop Arts Theatre Center, Castillo Theatre, Soul Rep Theater Company, African American Repertory Theater, Kitchen Dog Theater, Undermain Theatre, Theatre Three, and South Dallas Cultural Center. His play Mississippi Goddamn was a Finalist for the Harold and Mimi Steinberg/ATCA New Play Award and won the 2016 M. Elizabeth Osborn Award. His other awards include Artistic Innovations Grant from the Mid-America Arts Alliance, South Dallas Cultural Center Diaspora Performing Arts Commission, the TACA Donna Wilhelm Family New Works Fund, TACA Bowdon Family Foundation Artist Residency Fund, and the Jubilee Theatre's 2019 Eastman Visionary Award.”
We would like to congratulate Jonathan Norton on this achievement. Read the full article by following the link below:
Broadway World Dallas: Dallas Theater Center Welcomes New Resident Artists
Des Moines Metro Opera Announces 50th Anniversary Season
The Des Moines Metro Opera announces a a blockbuster lineup of productions for its 50th Anniversary season in 2022.
According to the Business Record, DMMO will launch the 50th anniversary celebration in Des Moines, March 5-6, with a family-friendly, technicolor production of Mozart’s "The Magic Flute" at the Civic Center. Next, the season will continue with the Summer Festival July 1-24 at Blank Performing Arts Center in Indianola to show George and Ira Gershwin’s "Porgy and Bess," Benjamin Britten’s "A Midsummer Night’s Dream," "A Thousand Acres," and the new opera "American Apollo.”
Tickets for "The Magic Flute" go on sale Oct. 1; for the Summer Festival, tickets will be available starting in early 2022.
Read the full article on the Business Record website here:
The Gospel at Colonus - Postponed
Pyramid Theatre Company and Des Moines Performing Arts Postpone Performances of The Gospel at Colonus
DES MOINES, Iowa – The Gospel at Colonus presented by Pyramid Theatre Company and Des Moines Performing Arts scheduled for September 17-19 is being postponed until spring of 2022. The engagement is being produced in Des Moines with local talent and artists from around the country. With the current conditions of COVID-19 and the Delta variant it was determined that gathering these artists in Des Moines to rehearse and perform would not be in the best interest of the artists or the community. Both organizations are committed to presenting this community performance and celebration next year.
About Pyramid Theatre Company
Pyramid Theatre Company is a non-profit organization and Des Moines’ only Black Theatre. For the past 5 seasons, Pyramid has proudly presented and produced the works of Black playwrights to the local community. The mission of Pyramid Theatre Company is to provide a gateway to the arts for the Des Moines community by illuminating the presence of Black artists in the theatre canon and providing a means of artistic expression to emerging Black voices.
About Des Moines Performing Arts
Des Moines Performing Arts is a private not-for-profit organization celebrating over 40 seasons of presenting the performing arts to Iowa and the surrounding states on four stages in Des Moines – the Civic Center, the Stoner Theater, the Temple Theater and the outdoor space, Cowles Commons. Des Moines Performing Arts is a presenter of major Broadway and educational touring companies, performers and groups, and is home to many local and regional groups, including the Des Moines Symphony. All performances of the Broadway Series are supported by Willis Auto Campus. All performances at the Temple Theater are supported by Prairie Meadows. All performances of the Family Series are supported by Wellmark Blue Cross and Blue Shield. For more information, visit DMPA.org.
A Pyramid on the Mississippi - Black Artist Development Retreat
Pyramid Theatre Company will be partnering with Grand View University to host our first Black Development Retreat here in Des Moines.
Together, we will create a space for select Black artists to devise a script tentatively titled: A Pyramid on the Mississippi (APOTM).
We’re creating space for a select group of Black artists to devise a new play through collaboration, physical expression, improvisation, and community engagement. The totality of the experience will generate the foundation for a future script tentatively titled A Pyramid on the Mississippi (APOTM). Each participant in this retreat will be credited as a co-creator.
This year’s play is a new myth for a new age. A Pyramid on the Mississippi is a celebration of Blackness in its achievement, complexity, and struggle. Set in Memphis, Tennessee, audiences will be transported to the cotton capitol nested on the edge of the rushing river—just a few steps from the balcony where Martin Luther King was slain.
APOTM will be developed over a year with a hand-picked ensemble of actors called The Paradigm Ensemble.
The process will begin this summer with a three-week artist development retreat supported by Producer Charles IV, and Pyramid Theatre Company.
The retreat will include daily meditations, improvisation, body/brain exercises, a physical movement workshop, breathing exercises, research and active devising through use of prompts.
Pyramid Co-Commissions Artist in NPN Spring 2021 Creation Fund Awards
The National Performance Network (NPN) announces the Spring 2021 Creation Fund Awards, a program that awards funds to 22 new artistic works that range in subject, including theater, dance, podcasting, puppetry, boat-building, and community healing events. The artists’ works honor those displaced by colonialism, war, and gentrification; unpack queer family experiences; explore grief in BIPOC communities in response to the COVID-19 pandemic; tell stories of Black land stewardship in the South; and imagine the last day of the last prison.
Pyramid Theatre Company is proud to co-commission THE BLACK FEMINIST GUIDE TO THE HUMAN BODY by Dr. Lisa B. Thompson (Austin, TX). Fellow co-commissioners include Fusebox Festival (Austin, TX), the Vortex (Austin, TX), and the Lorraine Hansberry Theatre (San Francisco, CA). According to an article by NPN, The Black Feminist Guide to the Human Body is
““…part performance, part health fair, and part block party. The raucous performance meditation includes stories full of joy, fear, sorrow, lust, hunger, confusion, pride, and shame presented by dancers and a chorus of Black women, girls, femmes, sisters, aunties, mamas, and nanas of various body types, skin colors, hairstyles, and personas. This show brings art, activism, and community together to center Black women, femmes, and girls as we explore the beauty and pain of inhabiting a Black female body from birth to death.””
Click here to read the full article by NPN, and to learn more about the works of other artists who were awarded.
Photo credits: Leila Awadallah researching movement in the Mediterranean Sea for TERRANEA: hakawati of the sea at Amalgam in Beirut. Photo: Romy Lynn Attieh.
Ken-Matt Martin Nationally Recognized for Achievement
Tiffany Johnson speaks at DMPCC 2021 Women Helping Women event
Alexis Davis Selected for 2021 class of Forty Under 40
Pyramid Theatre Wins DIY Cloris Award
Pyramid was honored this past weekend in the 2020 Virtual Cloris Awards
Due to the unprecedented circumstances surrounding the current health crisis, the Cloris Awards could not continue as usual this year. Instead, the ceremony was held virtually to honor theater organizations and personalities in the Greater Des Moines area. The awards were dubbed “DIY” because not all theaters were able to have their normal seasons due to COVID-19. Companies agreed to create their own awards and host a virtual ceremony instead.
Alexis Davis, the Pyramid Theatre Company Managing Director, attended the ceremony to receive the “Resilience” award on behalf of our company. We were given recognition for giving Black artists a platform to tell stories of experiences and struggles of being Black in the United States. We chose the Resilience award to highlight our hard work during the unprecedented health crisis we have all had to survive this year.
Various other theaters and personalities received awards as well for their innovation and efforts to find creative ways to share talent and contribute to our community this year.
Click here to read the full feature on the DSM Magazine website: Full Article
Pyramid Theatre Company 5th Anniversary
It's our anniversary: Pyramid is officially 5 years old today!
On August 24, 2015 we founded Pyramid Theatre Company to illuminate the presence of Black artists in the theatre canon and provide a means of artistic expression to emerging Black voices.
For the past 7 seasons, our productions have given Black artists the center stage; a platform to tell stories of emotional turmoil, cultural experiences, complex relationships and the real struggles of being Black in America. We made these stories accessible to our local community here in Des Moines for the first time.
As we faced our greatest challenge yet this year through the health pandemic that has closed so many theatre doors, we have not given up on our mission to produce and promote artistic excellence in our community. Now more than ever we are grateful for the support we've received from our Pyramid family.
The video below is a tribute to our theatre, and a sneak peek of what's to come. Thank you to everyone who has kept us going and made this new project possible! If you would like to further support Pyramid Theatre company, please click the button below to donate:
Pyramid News Update
Pyramid Family,
Although this year began with an unprecedented health crisis that caused us to cancel our regular summer 2020 season, we are staying active, creative and hopeful! Here are some updates on what we've been up to so far this year:
Pyramid in the News:
Black Theater Companies
That could use your donations
List of National
Black Theater companies
DSM Culture Cast
Pyramid Podcast discussion
Rooting for Everybody Black
Ken-Matt Martin’s Story
We can't wait to share the newest project Pyramid will be producing before the end of the summer!
Now more than ever, your continued support helps us in our mission to amplify Black voices in theater and in our community. Thank you for being a part of the Pyramid Theatre family. Keep an eye out for more info on our next big event!
Pyramid Makes Top 10 Historic Black Theaters to Support
Theatre Mania, the leading source for theater listings, tickets, and editorial nationwide, mentioned Pyramid Theatre company in an online article published last Monday. The article recognized with the current health crisis that many theaters around the nation had to cancel shows and seasons, and published a list of top ten historic Black Theater companies for readers to support and donate to. Our team at Pyramid Theatre Company is honored to have made the list and are thankful for the support we have received so far!
Pyramid Gets Published
We’re very excited to announce that Mississippi Goddamn has been published by Broadway Play Publishing Inc featuring the Pyramid Theatre production cast on the cover and a full listing of our design team and cast! Congratulations to Jonathan Norton and all of the Pyramid artists on this great honor! Purchase your own copy of Mississippi Goddamn by visiting the publisher's website below:
Purchase Mississippi here
Pyramid Receives 2018 Bravo Standing Ovation Award
On Saturday, February 3, 2018 Pyramid was awarded the Standing Ovation award at the annual Bravo Greater Des Moines Awards Gala. The Standing Ovation award honors a newer central Iowa non-profit that has made a considerable impact on arts and culture. Pyramid is deeply honored and humbled by this recognition.
Image L-R: Rosemary Parson, Debra Salowitz, Renee Hardman, Claudine Cheatem, Ken-Matt Martin, Neil Salowitz, Alexis Davis, and Tiffany Johnson
Zora Fights Back
Pyramid has decided to do our part to make sure that we don't only offer art, but we solidify the message in not only what we present but how we live and we'd like for you to join us. We will begin to bring awareness to women that have suffered from violence, that have survived and decided to fight back against the very things that could have broken them. In the play Prowess, opening Friday the character of Zora does just this, she makes a choice to learn how to defend herself and by way of doing that, realized that it was even bigger than her and that the difference between her being a victim or a survivor was the choice that couldn't be taken from her.
Being a woman, I have often found myself reflecting on the journey a woman travels. I often wonder if we stop and take note of the many challenges that we overcome, the many hats and roles that we fulfill. I wonder if we realize how resilient we are, how powerful we are and how almost effortlessly we rise to the challenges that not only we face ourselves, but our families, our neighbors, our communities face.
If you all would be so kind to utilize your social platform to help us spread the word, we are asking people to post #ZoraFightsBack on your social media beginning today for as long as you are willing up until we open the play this coming Friday. Each of us represents a movement and together we can utilize our individual movements for collective growth.
Best,
Tiffany Johnson
Artistic Director - Pyramid Theatre Company