Hi Cindy,
I'm in San Francisco so we are neighbors of a sort! This is really important for my program too given the diversity of our student body, so I have been on the same hunt (and continue to be) for diverse playwrights. Here are some I've found - a warning that my school is less strict about profanity (though I have my kids put euphemisms in when reading aloud), but extremely strict about no racial slurs regardless of who is saying them/the playwright's race. It's my first year teaching, so I am learning as I go myself and happy to hear other suggestions. I'm also happy to share lesson plans and prompts with anyone who's interested.
Twilight: Los Angeles, 1992 by Anna Deveare Smith - This is a verbatim play based on the aftermath of the incident of police brutality against Rodney King. I did this in high school myself and thought it might be dated, but it is sadly so relevant still. The play is a series of monologues, so you could easily pull a few or present the play as a whole. I just did a unit reading the play, and then my students did interviews on topics that affect our school community which they turned into their own monologues to perform. It went really well, and my kids really liked and were moved by this play.
King of the Yees by Lauren Yee. I am just starting a new unit on this play this week so not sure how it will go yet, but this is a really fun play set in San Francisco that is very metatheatrical. There are some good two-handed scenes in here too. The playwright is an alumna of the high school, so my students are very excited about it. We are going to be acting out the play as we read, as it's difficult to read on your own given the metatheatrics. We are then going to write and perform short plays about what we've learned this year using metatheatrical devices. Wish me luck!
The Greek Trilogy by Luis Alfaro. These are reimagined versions of
Medea, Oedipus, and Elektra set amidst modern day gangs in Los Angeles. I pulled scenes from this for my 2-week mini-unit on Greek theatre. My kids were able to grapple with these a bit more easily than direct translations of the Greek tragedies and helped enliven an otherwise dry unit (a work in progress). The language and content are a little mature, but I was able to get around this by selecting specific scenes.
Hope this helps!
Tim Sullivan
Drama Teacher
Lowell High School
San Francisco, CA
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Tim Sullivan
Lowell High School
CA
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