Amontaine Aurore

Upcoming

WRITERS' RESIDENCY

LIBRARY READING.jpg

It has been a wonderful three years as a Writer-in-Residence in the Seattle Public Library's Writers' Room. I enjoyed participating in the year-end reading, and hearing all the incredible work that has come out of the Writers' Room this year by the other residents. It's a special space, and I will always remember that it was in this room that I completed the first draft of my novel-in-progress!! (Photo by Pamela Hobart Carter)

***

I am excited to be directing a short art film on the incredible poet and visual artist, Carletta Carrington-Wilson, that will premiere Summer 2026. Stay tuned!

Carletta Film.1.jpg

Carletta Film.2.jpg

***

PAST EVENTS

HEDGEBROOK PLAYWRIGHTS SHOWCASE

I am excited to announce that my play, Legacies: A Ghost Story, was one of the plays chosen for the Hedgebrook Playwrights' Showcase on Dec 8 and 9th! 

2024+Playwrights+Showcase+(3).png

Built on the foundations of Hedgebrook's historical Playwrights Festival, this showcase will take place over two days in two locations (Whidbey Island and Seattle), and honor over 25 years of celebrating and supporting women-identified playwrights. This year's selections include:

  • The Negro Passion Play by Kathya Alexander

  • Legacies: A Ghost Story by Amontaine Aurore

  • Eviction by Joan Goodreau

  • Who Rescued Who by Lorelei Ignas

  • Crump's Cat by Dianna MacLeod

  • Making Camp by Mary Lynn Owen

  • Call Me By My Name by Sandra Seaton

  • Down There by Lucy Wang

BUY TICKETS

***

Asset-1@2x-800x921.png

I am thrilled to announce that my play, Legacies: A Ghost Story, will have a full reading as part of ACT TheatRE's NoRTHWEST New Works Northwest Festival on November 2 at 7 p.m.

BUY TICKETS

The roof is caving in, the floorboards are shifting beneath her feet, and the walls crumble at the slightest touch. Cashew's house is falling down around her, and she must get out before it collapses. As she packs to leave, she encounters buried memories in the attic and long-forgotten residents tied up in the basement. A poetic and psychologically rich story of redemption.

***

We had a beautiful and successful 3-week run of The Ever Expanding Moment at CAM Annex. Thank you to the gifted cast, crew and designers. And thank you to all that attended and supported this production!

A Few Photos 

DSC00012.JPG

DSC00021.JPG

DSC00314.JPG

DSC00049.JPG

DSC00023.JPG

DSC00381.JPG

DSC00651.JPG

The Ever-Expanding Moment

Sept. 5-21, 2024
CAM Annex, Belltown

IMG_2178_Resized Image for Ever Expanding Moment.jpg

Jamahl King is stuck in an afterlife with the police officer that shot and killed him during a routine traffic stop. Will he find his way out? Join us at CAM Annex for this multimedia play that explores the events, beliefs and ideas that lead to a fatal encounter and a cosmic reckoning. Written and Directed by Amontaine Aurore. Starring Anthony Simmons, Daniel Christensen, and Zoe Wolf. Drawing by Vincent Keele.

Buy Tickets

Performances

September 5 - 21
Thurs-Sat: 7:30pm
CAM Annex, (Belltown's newest performance space)
2601 1st Ave., Seattle 98121

Funding made possible by 4Culture, Artist Trust, and the Puffin Foundation

***

FOLKLIFE

I had the pleasure of reading from my novel-in-progress, The Memoirs of Ruby Lovestone, as part of the Jack Straw Writers Fellowship cohort of 2024. It was really fun!

Everything made mother gag. Once when Portia said rocks on the ground at the dinner table, it made Mother sick to her stomach and Portia got in trouble. So when the lady across the street who had a bunch of little kids and always wore a moo-moo came over to welcome us to the neighborhood with a homemade apple pie, Mother accepted the pie graciously, but then threw it in the garbage soon as Moo-Moo Lady left. The idea of Moo-Moo Lady with her grimy-fingernail kids and their crusty blisters and perpetual runny noses, who were likely running all around in proximity to that pie, maybe even helping to make it or talking on it or breathing on it, well, we already knew that pie didn't stand a chance in hell of ending up on our dinner table. 
excerpt from The Memoirs of Ruby Lovestone.

FOLKLIFE_6.jpeg

FOLKLIFE_7.jpeg

FOLKLIFE_5.jpeg

FOLKLIFE_2.jpeg

***

WHEN A TREE FALLS

premieres at SIFF Cinema

WATF Photo SIFF.jpg

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!

***

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.

WATF cast_photo_5.jpg

 
WATF goofy_castphoto_3.jpg

******************************************************************************

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.

Lowell23.jpg

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

Lowell 25.jpg

More Lowell beauty

Lowell22.jpg

***************************************************************

PAST PRODUCTIONS AND NEWS

Legacies Posrter.2.jpg

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

****

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

*******

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

CAST OF RIOT_Group Photo.jpg

********

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

 

DONATE

If you like the work that we at Ten Auras are laying down, then please consider a donation to assist in helping us bring excellent cutting edge work to a theater near you. Thank you!

 

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…
Read Post