Stage Door Reading Series Presents THE BURNING OF NEW YORK by Samuel Harps (followed by Q&A with the Playwright)
Award-winning playwright Samuel Harps presents The Burning of New York followed by a Q&A.
Our Stage Door Series offers readings of new works without the technical aspects of a fully-staged show so that the audience can listen to the words intended by the playwright.
The Burning of New York tells the true story of an alleged conspiracy by free blacks and sympathetic whites, which resulted in a series of fires in 1741 that plagued lower Manhattan.
38 of the accused conspirators were ultimately hanged and burned at the stake on Wall Street after a brief, biased trial.
About the Playwright:
Samuel Harps interned at New York’s New Dramatist, studying with noted playwrights August Wilson and Charles Oyamo Gordon. He was later accepted as a member of the prestigious Negro Ensemble Company playwright’s program. Harps’ first major production, Don’t Explain was staged at New York’s famed Nuyorican Poet’s Cafe. The explosive drama on the death of trumpeter Lee Morgan went on to receive seven AUDELCO Awards, including best play and playwright. Harps also received The Arts Council of Rockland County Executive Award for Literary Artist.
Harps’ New York productions include plays at The Paul Roberson Theater, The National Black Theater, The Billie Holiday Theater, Theater for the New City, Theater Four, Duality Playhouse, and HERE Theater. Regional productions include: Rutgers University (Newark), The EXIT Theater (San Francisco), Vision Theater, Los Angeles, The Christina Cultural Arts Center (Wilmington, DE), and The Painted Bride and Bushfire Theaters, both in Philadelphia.
