3rd Annual Adaptation Showcase

Dates: July 19-21

Timonia @ Nashville – Fri., July 19, 7:00; Sat., July 20: 2:30

Rabbits in their Pockets – Sat., July 20 – 7:00; Sun, July 21, 2:30

Lifeline Theatre is thrilled to support new BIPOC playwrights/writers in adapting literary works for the stage this year. The selected writers have undergone a comprehensive process, including up to six developmental/feedback sessions, regular readings with experienced Lifeline ensemble members, administrative support, and a final reading Showcase for an invited audience. We cannot wait to share the stage with these remarkable artists and invite you to join us in celebrating their talents.

For more information, please email workshop@lifelinetheatre.com of contact our Box Office, info@lifelinetheatre.com.

Timonia @ Nashville

By Mildred Inez Lewis
Based on ‘Timonia At Athens’ by William Shakespeare
Directed by Dr. DeRon Williams

Public Showcase Performs: Friday, July 19, 7:00pm and Saturday, July 20 at 2:30pm

Synopsis: After selling her multi-million dollar catalogue, hip hop producer/mogul Timonia Young decides to transition into a full-time philanthropist. She pledges to rebuild the Nashville slum she grew up in with the enthusiastic support of the “friends” and hangers on who’ve been using her. At a critical point, a trusted advisor, friend, former lover,  and son of one of Nashville’s founding families asks Timonia for a large short-term loan. He then refuses to pay her back. This forces her to abandon her rebuilding project at a tremendous loss. 

Rabbits in Their Pockets

By Kimberly Dixon-Mays
Based on ‘Brer Rabbit’ and other African/African-American folktales
Directed by Gabrielle Randle – Bent

Public Showcase Performs: Saturday, July 20 at 7:00pm and Sunday, July 21 at 2:30pm

Synopsis: Rabbits In Their Pocket Follows two siblings who are trying to engineer Black Joy. They wrestle with which approach is more effective, and face unforeseen personal consequences from manufacturing, and even commodifying, Black Joy. 

Tickets, https://ci.ovationtix.com/36647/production/1194098,

  • Kimberly Dixon-Mays ("Rabbits In Their Pockets" Playwright)

    Kimberly Dixon-Mays is a poet, playwright and sometimes performer. In 2023 she developed work with Shattered Globe Theater’s Global Playwright Series and Stage Left’s Playwright Residency Program and received an Illinois Arts Council fellowship. Her work was selected for Goodman Theatre’s 2022 Future Lab series, featured in Congo Square Theatre’s 2019 August Wilson New Play Initiative, and a semi-finalist for the 2019 Eugene O’Neill National Playwrights Conference. Kimberly was also a semi-finalist for the 2020 National Black Theatre I Am Soul Playwright Residency and recipient of NBT’s Soul Series Lab Playwriting Micro-Development Session, nominated for a 2021 3Arts Award, and a 2023 finalist for American Blues Theater’s Blue Ink Award. Kimberly is currently a Chicago Dramatists Resident Playwright and was one of their Russ Tutterow Fellows from 2018-20. She serves as an Associate Editor for RHINO magazine. holds a B.A. from Yale, an M.A. from UCLA, and a Ph.D. from Northwestern University.

  • Mildred Inez Lewis  ("Timonia @ Nashville" Playwright)

    Dramatist Guild member Mildred Inez Lewis writes with the Antaeus, Ensemble Studio Theatre-LA, PlayGround LA and Towne Street theatres. She is a 2023 AGE Legacy Award winner for JUKED, an adaptation of Sophocles’ ELECTRA. JUKED was commissioned by A Different Myth (Asheville, NC) and will be in its 2025 season. She is completing a commission from the Lucille Lortel Alcove project for FANTASMAS CROSSINGS. WE FOUR is part of The Road Theatre’s 2023-24 Under Construction project. SECOND FLAME will be read in the Workshop Theatre’s annual Out of the Hat.nMildred has also received commissions from Ohlone College and a joint project of the Harlem9, Lucille Lortel and National Black Theatres. Last year THE MUSEUM ANNEX, a comedy inspired by George C. Wolfe’s THE COLORED MUSEUM was produced by Central Works (Berkeley, CA). WE JUMP BROOM was part of the 2022 Samuel French Off-Off Broadway Festival. It was also produced by Towne Street Theatre and was a Best of PlayGround-LA winner. Her plays have been part of Houston’s Fade to Black Festival, received readings and productions from Ensemble Studio Theatre-Los Angeles and Company of Angels.  She has works published by Broadway Play Publishing, NextStage Press and in the Applause (2021) and Smith & Kraus (2023) anthologies. Audio work includes the Orchard Project’s 2023 Audio Lab, Mendocino Public Radio and the 2021 Feminist Fairytales series. Her $10 AND A TAMBOURINE was part of Antaeus Theatre’s Zip Code series (entire series was nominated for an Amble).