Ground Chuck goes Off-Off Broadway!
Donation protected
An Atlanta playwright has a chance to stage his one-act horror play in New York as part of a national competition. You can help make it happen.
What is Ground Chuck?
Written by Atlanta native Benjamin Carr, Ground Chuck is a one-act horror comedy play about a daughter who goes to work with her mother in a whites-only Georgia elementary school in the 1970s. As Jo ends her first week on the job as a janitor, she discovers that her lunchlady mother Beauty has enacted a special, bloody revenge upon the racist principal in the cafeteria. And Jo is expected to clean up her mom's mess.
The play was designed to give African American actresses over 40 the opportunity to play their own Sweeney Todd.
Out of around 900 applicants, Ground Chuck has been selected as one of the 30 semifinalists of the 2019 Samuel French Off-Off Broadway Short Play Festival. With your help, it will be produced in New York this August at The Vineyard's Dimson 15th Street Theatre, directed by Diane Chen.
What is the Samuel French OOB Festival?
The festival is the nation's top short play festival, now in its 44th year. Competition winners will have their work licensed and published by Samuel French Inc.
What will my donation mean to the writer of this play?
I wrote this play during the worst summer of my life. I was healing from having my hip replacement replaced because of a manufacturer recall, which is the most ironic surgery that you can maybe ever have - because cures shouldn't be more damaging and painful than the conditions they fix. I was unable to walk or go to work, which was one issue, but my spirit was pretty beaten up as well. I went from a hospital bed in the hospital to a hospital bed in a physical therapy rehab facility - to another hospital bed that they had to install in my freakin' living room. I was 39. And a medical company decided I was worth hurting.
One friend of mine recommended that we take a playwriting class together at WonderRoot, taught by the great Johnny Drago, an amazing playwright we were honored to be in the mere presence of. My roommate, who provided me with more care than I can ever repay, made sure that I got to that class every week, using a wheelchair or a walker.
The Atlanta arts community, and the friends I have been blessed to have in my life, sustained me during that difficult time and raised my spirits again.
Because I wasn't ready to tell my own story, Ground Chuck gave me a place to direct all my fury, anger and pain at how unfair the world can be. I wanted to be able to see past my own circumstance. So I created characters who'd been through much, much worse neglect and abuse than I had and managed to find their way through it - with cleavers, bone saws and meat grinders.
It's a vicious, funny, brazen piece of theater that might just scare the crap out of you. I don't know exactly where it came from within me, but I'm glad that it's out there.
By donating to this production, you can help put the eyes of theatergoers from all over the country upon it. With your help, Ground Chuck gets realized. The more you give, the more we can terrify audiences.
Please help me freak out a bunch of New Yorkers with 10 unrelenting minutes of bloody horror and cannibalism jokes.
It was written in a small room by an angry, snarky guy who couldn't walk, intended only to be seen by a classroom full of my friends, and now is the chance for so many people to see it. That excites me to no end. Your help in producing Ground Chuck might lead to productions of Ground Chuck everywhere. If you donate here, one day we might see what a high school drama department production of my severed-arm bloodbath extravaganza might look like. I'm giddy imagining such a thing.
I want this to be the best production that it can be, and I promise to praise and thank Atlanta and the Atlanta arts community every step of the way. I love my city and my community, which has let me tell stories, do work, attempt to connect with audiences - and be a giant weirdo.
And, if that happens, I promise to bring it back home to a stage near you while also letting everyone in New York know where it came from.
How will the funds be used?
All money raised through this campaign will go toward funding the production:
- Purchasing props, costumes and sets, making fake blood and guts.
- Compensating the actors and crew for their time, travel and energy.
- Securing rehearsal space in New York.
Thank you so much!!!
___
Photos of previous productions and readings of Ground Chuck - featuring Kushaiah Lee, Celeste Campbell and Mia Kristen Smith.
What is Ground Chuck?
Written by Atlanta native Benjamin Carr, Ground Chuck is a one-act horror comedy play about a daughter who goes to work with her mother in a whites-only Georgia elementary school in the 1970s. As Jo ends her first week on the job as a janitor, she discovers that her lunchlady mother Beauty has enacted a special, bloody revenge upon the racist principal in the cafeteria. And Jo is expected to clean up her mom's mess.
The play was designed to give African American actresses over 40 the opportunity to play their own Sweeney Todd.
Out of around 900 applicants, Ground Chuck has been selected as one of the 30 semifinalists of the 2019 Samuel French Off-Off Broadway Short Play Festival. With your help, it will be produced in New York this August at The Vineyard's Dimson 15th Street Theatre, directed by Diane Chen.
What is the Samuel French OOB Festival?
The festival is the nation's top short play festival, now in its 44th year. Competition winners will have their work licensed and published by Samuel French Inc.
What will my donation mean to the writer of this play?
I wrote this play during the worst summer of my life. I was healing from having my hip replacement replaced because of a manufacturer recall, which is the most ironic surgery that you can maybe ever have - because cures shouldn't be more damaging and painful than the conditions they fix. I was unable to walk or go to work, which was one issue, but my spirit was pretty beaten up as well. I went from a hospital bed in the hospital to a hospital bed in a physical therapy rehab facility - to another hospital bed that they had to install in my freakin' living room. I was 39. And a medical company decided I was worth hurting.
One friend of mine recommended that we take a playwriting class together at WonderRoot, taught by the great Johnny Drago, an amazing playwright we were honored to be in the mere presence of. My roommate, who provided me with more care than I can ever repay, made sure that I got to that class every week, using a wheelchair or a walker.
The Atlanta arts community, and the friends I have been blessed to have in my life, sustained me during that difficult time and raised my spirits again.
Because I wasn't ready to tell my own story, Ground Chuck gave me a place to direct all my fury, anger and pain at how unfair the world can be. I wanted to be able to see past my own circumstance. So I created characters who'd been through much, much worse neglect and abuse than I had and managed to find their way through it - with cleavers, bone saws and meat grinders.
It's a vicious, funny, brazen piece of theater that might just scare the crap out of you. I don't know exactly where it came from within me, but I'm glad that it's out there.
By donating to this production, you can help put the eyes of theatergoers from all over the country upon it. With your help, Ground Chuck gets realized. The more you give, the more we can terrify audiences.
Please help me freak out a bunch of New Yorkers with 10 unrelenting minutes of bloody horror and cannibalism jokes.
It was written in a small room by an angry, snarky guy who couldn't walk, intended only to be seen by a classroom full of my friends, and now is the chance for so many people to see it. That excites me to no end. Your help in producing Ground Chuck might lead to productions of Ground Chuck everywhere. If you donate here, one day we might see what a high school drama department production of my severed-arm bloodbath extravaganza might look like. I'm giddy imagining such a thing.
I want this to be the best production that it can be, and I promise to praise and thank Atlanta and the Atlanta arts community every step of the way. I love my city and my community, which has let me tell stories, do work, attempt to connect with audiences - and be a giant weirdo.
And, if that happens, I promise to bring it back home to a stage near you while also letting everyone in New York know where it came from.
How will the funds be used?
All money raised through this campaign will go toward funding the production:
- Purchasing props, costumes and sets, making fake blood and guts.
- Compensating the actors and crew for their time, travel and energy.
- Securing rehearsal space in New York.
Thank you so much!!!
___
Photos of previous productions and readings of Ground Chuck - featuring Kushaiah Lee, Celeste Campbell and Mia Kristen Smith.
Organizer
Benjamin Carr
Organizer
Atlanta, GA
