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| Patrick Torres
Wins Leadership Award! |
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Thousands of artists from
multiple disciplines will be meeting to harness the
collective energy and expertise of the entire nonprofit
performing arts sector. This year's theme is "Taking
Action Together."
The Young Leaders of Color
Award is made possible by TCG and the Nathan Cummings
Foundation. It covers Patrick's airfare, board and
registration.
David Snider, who nominated Patrick for the award says
"Patrick leads a new generation of young artists to
realize their potential as playwrights. He is
widely known and well-respected throughout the
community, as a strong educator and director who cares
deeply for students and the broader theatre community
and whose work is as deeply felt in the classroom as it
is onstage. Everyone loves to work with Patrick
and he is helping to discover what theatre will become
in the 21st Century."
Patrick arrived on Tuesday and
served on a panel with other Young Leaders of
Color. Although he was tired from the altitude and
jet lag he was bolstered by the other artists in the
room. He reports, "A woman shared a quote from a
play she had recently seen: 'These stories are not
free. They cost me. Everything.' This reminds
me that what we ask students to do is sophisticated
and vulnerable and challenging."
To see some of the sessions
Patrick is attending at the conference click
here. |
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JULIUS
JOHNSON |
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Promising
Playwright 
Julius Johnson
will be the first male in his family to go to
college. He is humble when asked if he thinks of
himself as a role model. "My little brothers can't wait
for me to leave already," he says. "They want my
room." Then he adds, "I know they'll miss me."
This self-deprecating humor is typical for
Julius. "I just love to laugh and have fun," he
says. "That's my thing. Separate the balance between fun
and work."
Because he lives in Southeast
DC, Julius had to get up at 6:00 AM each morning to
travel to Bell Multicultural High School in Columbia
Heights. He graduated from Bell on Thursday, June
10th. His parents, stepmother, aunts, uncles,
sisters, brothers and cousins traveled from as far away
as Chicago to celebrate his accomplishment.
This August, Julius will try to be a
walk-on for the Bowie State team. He hopes to be a
running back or linebacker. At Bowie State he will
study sports medicine.
His play When
Dreams Sleep was inspired by his love of sports. In
it, a football star must face the consequences after
unwittingly using steroids. He says, "I wrote
When Dreams Sleep because I am an athlete and I
watch sports and when you see a celebrity doing
steroids, you know they don't realize how it effects our
youth."
When Dreams Sleep was
Julius's first play. Although he says he had fun
writing it, he admits that he's mostly focused on
sports. He does recognize, "writing could open
some doors."
He advises other young
people, "Just work hard. Whatever you want in life, just
work for it. Because everything is
achievable."
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Program Manager Patrick Torres is
attending the 
