The 17th Annual Fire This Time Festival breaks ground this winter at The Apollo Stages at The Victoria! Don’t miss the incredible lineup of six world-premiere 10-minute plays cover a range from the humorous to moving, pointed, and political, all directed by preeminent director and creator, Ken-Matt Martin.
“To bring The Fire This Time Festival to The Apollo is to root our work in the very heart of Black artistic excellence. The Apollo has always been a beacon for voices that define culture and truth. This partnership allows us to continue nurturing the playwrights and storytellers who are illuminating our world in powerful new ways.”
Kelley Girod, Founder of The Fire This Time Festival and Apollo New Works Director.
Online tickets for the shows on January 23rd and January 24th are currently sold out. A limited number of tickets will be available to purchase in-person at our Box Office. In person tickets will be sold on a first come, first served basis. The Apollo's Box Office will be open from 10am to 8pm for Friday performances and from 12pm - 8pm for Saturday matinee and evening performance. Attendees are encouraged to arrive early and experience Got To Be There: The Apollo, Its People and Its Stories in the Laura and Frank Baker Gallery.
PERFORMANCE SCHEDULE:
ABOUT THE FIRE THIS TIME FESTIVAL:
Founded in 2009 by playwright and Apollo’s Director of New Works, Kelley Nicole Girod, The Fire This Time Festival provides a platform for early career playwrights of African and African American descent. Since its founding, the Festival has produced the plays of dozens of emerging writers whose works explore a wide range of themes and perspectives. The Festival also supports actors, directors, and technical personnel to help seed the pipeline with diverse talent and amplify underrepresented voices in theater in New York and beyond. The Fire This Time playwrights have gone on to have their plays produced in cities across the United States and work as writers in film and television. The Fire This Time Festival has evolved into an annual January event and continues to grow, expanding upon its core short play presentations to offer panel discussions, staged readings, a playwright’s lab and other programs. The Festival has become a destination for diverse audiences, producers, and artists seeking new possibilities and opportunities in contemporary theater.
ABOUT THE PLAYS:
Everything But–
Written by Teniia Micazia Brown (She/her/hers)
A story about what's said, what's felt, and what’s lost when we don't fully choose.
Black To Save The Day
Written by Preston Crowder
When Sista Steel, a member of the underfunded Black Superhero League, defeats the villainous Gentrifier, she thinks the day is saved. But her fame-hungry ex, Fire Blade, shows up with an offer to join the elite and very white Great Supremacy League, forcing her to choose between community loyalty and personal gain in this humorous superhero satire.
Clumsy
Written by Mo Holmes
A young man crashes his car into a woman's kitchen. She tries to make him grits. How do you forgive an accident like that?
DNR
Written by Naomi Lorrain
After not seeing each other for nearly a decade and a half, Andrea returns home to reconnect with her cousin, Ralphie.
Goose
Written by DeLane McDuffie
A young idealist joins a fiery collective of 1960s freedom-riding activists on their way to a 2020s D.C. protest march. But whose battle are they fighting?
White Diamond
Written by Donathan Walters
As Andrea prepares her mother's funeral in a midwestern town where image and reputation is everything, her son Hakeem arrives with a request: he wants his boyfriend to be more involved in the family. In the thick of grief and tradition, a deeper tension surfaces - one that neither of them expected to face.
The 17th Annual Fire This Time Festival breaks ground this winter at The Apollo Stages at The Victoria! Don’t miss the incredible lineup of six world-premiere 10-minute plays cover a range from the humorous to moving, pointed, and political, all directed by preeminent director and creator, Ken-Matt Martin.
“To bring The Fire This Time Festival to The Apollo is to root our work in the very heart of Black artistic excellence. The Apollo has always been a beacon for voices that define culture and truth. This partnership allows us to continue nurturing the playwrights and storytellers who are illuminating our world in powerful new ways.”
Kelley Girod, Founder of The Fire This Time Festival and Apollo New Works Director.
Online tickets for the shows on January 23rd and January 24th are currently sold out. A limited number of tickets will be available to purchase in-person at our Box Office. In person tickets will be sold on a first come, first served basis. The Apollo's Box Office will be open from 10am to 8pm for Friday performances and from 12pm - 8pm for Saturday matinee and evening performance. Attendees are encouraged to arrive early and experience Got To Be There: The Apollo, Its People and Its Stories in the Laura and Frank Baker Gallery.
PERFORMANCE SCHEDULE:
ABOUT THE FIRE THIS TIME FESTIVAL:
Founded in 2009 by playwright and Apollo’s Director of New Works, Kelley Nicole Girod, The Fire This Time Festival provides a platform for early career playwrights of African and African American descent. Since its founding, the Festival has produced the plays of dozens of emerging writers whose works explore a wide range of themes and perspectives. The Festival also supports actors, directors, and technical personnel to help seed the pipeline with diverse talent and amplify underrepresented voices in theater in New York and beyond. The Fire This Time playwrights have gone on to have their plays produced in cities across the United States and work as writers in film and television. The Fire This Time Festival has evolved into an annual January event and continues to grow, expanding upon its core short play presentations to offer panel discussions, staged readings, a playwright’s lab and other programs. The Festival has become a destination for diverse audiences, producers, and artists seeking new possibilities and opportunities in contemporary theater.
ABOUT THE PLAYS:
Everything But–
Written by Teniia Micazia Brown (She/her/hers)
A story about what's said, what's felt, and what’s lost when we don't fully choose.
Black To Save The Day
Written by Preston Crowder
When Sista Steel, a member of the underfunded Black Superhero League, defeats the villainous Gentrifier, she thinks the day is saved. But her fame-hungry ex, Fire Blade, shows up with an offer to join the elite and very white Great Supremacy League, forcing her to choose between community loyalty and personal gain in this humorous superhero satire.
Clumsy
Written by Mo Holmes
A young man crashes his car into a woman's kitchen. She tries to make him grits. How do you forgive an accident like that?
DNR
Written by Naomi Lorrain
After not seeing each other for nearly a decade and a half, Andrea returns home to reconnect with her cousin, Ralphie.
Goose
Written by DeLane McDuffie
A young idealist joins a fiery collective of 1960s freedom-riding activists on their way to a 2020s D.C. protest march. But whose battle are they fighting?
White Diamond
Written by Donathan Walters
As Andrea prepares her mother's funeral in a midwestern town where image and reputation is everything, her son Hakeem arrives with a request: he wants his boyfriend to be more involved in the family. In the thick of grief and tradition, a deeper tension surfaces - one that neither of them expected to face.
Step inside an intimate speakeasy vibe for an unforgettable, intimate evening with contemporary R&B powerhouse Teedra Moses, an artist who effortlessly weaves strength and vulnerability into every note at Apollo Music Café: UPclose. In this rare, UPclose performance, the iconic chanteuse brings the soul-stirring songs of her legendary album Complex Simplicity to life in a setting designed for true connection.
A live performance exploring culture, mixed identity, and the power of being many things at once.
What happens when who you are can't fit in a single box? When your skin doesn't match other people's expectations of your heritage, or when the communities you love aren't sure they claim you back?
Black Gumbo is a story that starts there. It follows Mary Olivette Bookman, Mobile, Alabama-raised, New York-forged, racially ambiguous for her whole life . As she works through a deceptively simple school assignment: present your culture to the class. What unfolds is an honest, joyful, and deeply human reckoning with what it means to hold multiple identities at once, and to eventually stop asking permission to celebrate all of them.
"I am Black, Native American, and French Creole of Color. Did you get all that just from looking at me?"
This isn't a lecture. It's an experience of a living collage of stepping, gospel, Indigenous dance, and Zydeco that mirrors the layered, irreducible texture of its creator. Each performance is its own ingredient. Together, they become something entirely new: Mary's gumbo- our collective Gumbo. And in building it in front of the audience, she invites every student in the room to start building their own.
For students who have ever been asked "but what are you, really?" and for those who've never had to answer that question at all, Black Gumbo offers a rare thing: a stage that says all of it counts, and all of it belongs here.
Derek Lee McPhatter - Writer
Michael Przygoda - Composer
When was the last time you stopped to smell the roses? Apollo Works in Process: water riot takes audiences on a journey of collective reflection on climate change and inspires action. Set in a near future Chicagoland, water riot follows an unlikely coalition of black activists, challenging an A.I. police state by staging a protest against the privatization of Lake Michigan.
With a soundtrack built around the legacy of Black voices as the foundation of rock, punk, experimental music, and the memories of moments of resistance and public protest; Derek Lee McPhatter’s water riot invites audiences on a journey from anger, confusion, and despair towards determination, resilience and hope.
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Celebrate the 100th birthday of Miles Davis with a film and discussion honoring the man who transformed the sound of modern music. From groundbreaking albums like Kind of Blue to the electric experiments of Bitches Brew, Miles’ influence continues to echo through jazz, hip-hop, soul, and beyond. Relive Miles’ full 1970 performance at the Isle of Wight Festival in Electric Miles: Kind of Blue -- backed by legends Chick Corea, Carlos Santana, Dave Holland, Airto Moreira and more -- featuring exclusive interviews with Davis’ bandmates from that historic night. Join The Apollo for a screening and conversation that explores the genius and legacy of an artist who never stopped evolving.
Celebrate Pride at The Apollo Stages at The Victoria with an integral conversation on representation of Black gay men in media with A Visible Life.
Join social-media creator and comedian Lavelle Dontae and artist-educator Dr. John-Martin Green with artist-scholar williambryantmiles for an intimate discussion featuring short film excerpts, performances, and fellowship. A Visible Life invites audiences to think about how both watching and crafting performance shapes and defines who they are, and who they aspire to be.
Celebrate Pride at The Apollo with Apollo Works in Process: A Little Light, a new queer coming-of-age musical by Derrick Byars. A Little Light tells the story of a young man navigating the rush of new love and the weight of generational survival. Centered on a Black family in a small Southern town, these new musical blends romantic comedy, theatrical camp, and emotional depth as soon-to-be college freshman, Jordan begins to step into the kind of life he’s only ever imagined.
Join us for a neo-soul dance party as we honor the late musical legend D’Angelo, whose revolutionary sound and artistry left an indelible mark on global culture. D’Angelo’s early roots can be traced to New York via The Apollo, where he won Amateur Night three times in a row then launched a career that would inspire a musical movement and soundtrack a generation. We invite you to meet us under the moonlight, slip on a pair of high-fidelity headphones and immerse yourself in D’Angelo’s music curated to perfection by the trailblazing sound collage artist and music maker DJ Reborn.
Location: 10 Lincoln Center Plaza, New York, NY 1002
Accessibility
The Apollo is here for everyone. Artists, audiences, and all supporters should be able to experience The Apollo fully and in a way that is comfortable for them.
The Apollo has taken comprehensive steps to ensure that entrances, seating, restrooms, and more are as accessible and compliant as possible. Learn more about accessibility options and support services that might be right for you.
All persons and bags are subject to search. Bags that have passed inspection must fit comfortably under your seat. Oversized bags are prohibited.
No outside food or beverage. Accommodations are made for patrons with medical needs. Please email access@apollotheater.org or call the box office at (212) 531-5305 for assistance.
