• My Account
  • Quick Order
  • Cart
  • Checkout
 
  • Home
  • Blog
  • Clients

 
  • Home
  • The Plays
    • The Plays
    • Not Yet Published
    • Newly Published
    • Bestsellers
    • Classics
    • Collections
    • Bundles
    • Catalog
  • Performance Rights
    • Restrictions
    • Payments
    • Performance Rights
    • Upcoming Productions
  • Authors
  • FAQs
    • FAQs
    • Shipping Info
    • Refund Policy
    • Privacy Policy
    • Submissions
    • Wholesale Customers
    • Desk Copies
  • Blog
  • About Us
    • About Us
    • Contact Us
Menu
  • Home
  • The Plays
    • The Plays
    • Not Yet Published
    • Newly Published
    • Bestsellers
    • Classics
    • Collections
    • Bundles
    • Catalog
  • Performance Rights
    • Restrictions
    • Payments
    • Performance Rights
    • Upcoming Productions
  • Authors
  • FAQs
    • FAQs
    • Shipping Info
    • Refund Policy
    • Privacy Policy
    • Submissions
    • Wholesale Customers
    • Desk Copies
  • Blog
  • About Us
    • About Us
    • Contact Us
 

  • Home
  • The Plays
    • The Plays
    • Not Yet Published
    • Newly Published
    • Bestsellers
    • Classics
    • Collections
    • Bundles
    • Catalog
  • Performance Rights
    • Restrictions
    • Payments
    • Performance Rights
    • Upcoming Productions
  • Authors
  • FAQs
    • FAQs
    • Shipping Info
    • Refund Policy
    • Privacy Policy
    • Submissions
    • Wholesale Customers
    • Desk Copies
  • Blog
  • About Us
    • About Us
    • Contact Us
 
  • Home
  • >
  • The Plays
  • >
  • Blueprints to Freedom: An Ode to Bayard Rustin

    Blueprints to Freedom: An Ode to Bayard Rustin

    Michael Benjamin Washington
    Acting Edition$12.95
    ePlay$15.00 + $10.00 per additional user
    Performance Rights
    Winner Edgerton Foundation: Outstanding New American Play
    Winner San Diego Critics Circle Award for Outstanding New Play

    Play Description

    In the political and racial upheaval of 1963, Bayard Rustin — the brilliant proponent of non-violent civil resistance — is pushed to orchestrate an unprecedented march on Washington D.C. for jobs and freedom. Exiled from the Civil Rights movement by both internal and external forces, Rustin grapples with his last chance for professional restoration and spiritual redemption as he masterminds “a tribute to the ancestors.”

    Production Info

    Cast: 5 total (1 female, 4 male, bit parts: a chorus of ancestors)
    Full Length Drama (about 100 minutes)
    Multiple Sets
    Period Costumes
    Categories: The Plays, Newly Published Tags: African American, LGBT, Historical Figure, 1960s, Politics, Religion
    • Reviews
    • About the Author(s)
    • About the Book
    • Special Notes

    Press Quotes

    “In Michael Benjamin Washington’s absorbing new play about an all-but-forgotten civil rights leader, one of the biggest moments in the fight for racial equality comes off despite — or perhaps because of — a crisis of faith. Faith, in fact, becomes a key motif coursing through BLUEPRINTS TO FREEDOM: An Ode to Bayard Rustin. There’s the faith that other African-American activists place in Rustin to organize the 1963 March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom, despite plenty of agonized mutual history. There’s the broader faith in the idea that such an action can make a difference, with discrimination and segregation still pervasive in America 100 years after the Emancipation Proclamation. And then there’s Rustin’s own deep Christian faith, shattered (by his count) 669 days before the play begins, when he was forced to quit the Southern Christian Leadership Council over worries about publicity concerning his private life. Rustin, a pillar of the civil-rights movement who died in 1987, was a gay man (more or less openly so) in a time when that was difficult even for someone not already facing bigotry. That aspect of his identity helps explain why his name has faded from our nation’s roll call of those who led the movement in the 1960s. The play … is an often lyrical, dialogue-rich piece of work whose political sweep and sense of building momentum is reminiscent of ALL THE WAY, Robert Schenkkan’s 2014 Tony Award-winner about President Johnson’s push to pass the Civil Rights Act of 1964 … [There is] humor, too. When Rustin’s bright young assistant, Miriam Caldwell, asks Rustin and his mentor, A Philip Randolph, why they speak so formally, Randolph replies that it’s a nod of respect to their ancestors. Rustin’s response: ‘I do it to confuse white people.’ (After a pause, he adds: ‘I speak this way aloud because I speak this way to God.’) Despite the triumphant notes around the march, which drew a quarter-million people, there’s a storm yet to come in BLUEPRINTS. There’s always another storm to come, as the ‘Black Lives Matter’ movement can attest today. BLUEPRINTS bears witness that history matters, too.” —James Hebert, The San Diego Union-Tribune

    Author(s)

    • Michael Benjamin Washington

      Born and reared in Dallas, Texas, Mr. Washington is best known for his breakout turn as Donald Jordan on Tina Fey and Robert Carlock's hit NBC comedy 30 Rock and can be seen in their third season of Netflix's Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt opposite Titus Burgess. Other television credits: Glee; Law & Order; The Jury; 100 Questions; 10 Things I Hate About You; Wendell & Vinny; and Hope and Faith, among others. Stage credits: the international mega-hit MAMMA MIA! (original Broadway company); the 2005 Tony Award-winning revival of LA CAGE AUX FOLLES; and Stephen Sondheim's SATURDAY NIGHT at Second Stage. La Jolla Playhouse: THE WIZ directed by Des MacAnuff; MEMPHIS directed by Christopher Ashley; LETTERS TO OBAMA; and MOST WANTED. Mr. Washington's political drama, BLUEPRINTS TO FREEDOM: AN ODE TO BAYARD RUSTIN, concerning the openly gay Civil Rights icon and his making of the 1963 March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom, had successful developmental workshops at the McCarter Theatre and La Jolla Playhouse under the direction of Phylicia Rashad before enjoying sold-out world premiere co-productions at La Jolla Playhouse and Kansas City Repertory Theatre in 2015, winning Outstanding New American Play by the Edgerton Foundation; the San Diego Critics Circle Award for Outstanding New Play and Outstanding Leading Actor in a Play for his portrayal of Mr. Rustin. He is penning a stage play about Dr. Maya Angelou at the request of her estate and The Caged Bird Foundation. He was seen with Anne Hathaway and Jake Gyllenhaal in Ed Zwick's feature film Love and Other Drugs as Richard. Training: B.F.A. New York University Tisch School of the Arts; Journalism minor. He is a Presidential Scholar in the Arts and serves as a National Reviewer and Masterclass instructor for National YoungArts Foundation and is a member of the Broadway Inspirational Voices.

    Book Information

    Publisher BPPI
    Publication Date 5/12/2023
    Pages 74
    ISBN 9780881459692

    Special Notes

    If original stage producers credits appear in bold below, all licensees are required to include them in the following form on the title page in all programs distributed in connection with performances of the Play and in all advertising in which the full cast appears in size of type not less than ten percent (10%) of the size of the title of the Play:

    The World Premiere of BLUEPRINTS TO FREEDOM: AN ODE TO BAYARD RUSTIN
    Produced in 2015 by La Jolla Playhouse
    Christopher Ashley, Artistic Director & Michael S. Rosenberg, Managing Director
    and
    Kansas City Repertory Theatre
    Eric Rosen, Artistic Director & Angela Lee Gieras, Executive Director

    In addition, the following must appear within all programs distributed in connection with performances of the Play:

    Blueprints to Freedom: An Ode to Bayard Rustin is produced
    by special arrangement with Broadway Play Publishing Inc, NYC
    www.broadwayplaypublishing.com

    Related Plays

    $15.00
    Juneteenth Street
    Reginald Edmund
    $15.00
    2019 Black Theatre Alliance (Chicago) Award for Best New Play

    Play Description

    JUNETEENTH STREET is the journey of a family, a church, and a community after the death of their patriarch and head pastor. His loss not only leaves the family reeling, but now the community and church are at risk of being torn down due to gentrification promoted by one of their own.

    Production Info

    Cast: 6 total (3 female, 3 male, all characters are African American)
    Full Length Drama (about 100 minutes)
    Minimal Set Requirements
    Contemporary Costumes
    $15.00–$15.95
    Looped
    Matthew Lombardo
    $15.00–$15.95

    Play Description

    LOOPED depicts an actual 1965 recording session in which an intoxicated Tallulah Bankhead required eight hours to dub a single line from her final movie Die! Die! My Darling! while antagonizing the film editor assigned to the job.

    Production Info

    Cast: 3 total (1 female, 2 male)
    Full Length Comedy (about 100 minutes)
    Single Set
    Contemporary Costumes
    $15.00–$15.95
    The Orange Grove
    Tom Jacboson
    $15.00–$15.95

    Play Description

    A small Lutheran choir in its death throes provides the backdrop for this Chekhovian warning of the impending doom of mainline Protestantism in America. Laughter through tears with nice lemon bars.

    Production Info

    Cast: 9 total (4 female, 5 male)
    Full Length Comedy (about 100 minutes)
    Minimal Set Requirements
    Contemporary Costumes
    $15.00–$15.95
    Special Forces
    John Fisher
    $15.00–$15.95

    Play Description

    An action-adventure about a mission behind enemy lines during the Gulf War.

    Production Info

    Cast: 6 total (1 female, 5 male)
    Full Length Drama (about 90 minutes)
    Multiple Sets
    Contemporary Costumes
    $12.95–$100.00
    Ten Percent Revue
    Tom Wilson Weinberg
    $12.95–$100.00

    Play Description

    A paean to gay life and its idiosyncrasies, TEN PERCENT REVUE has proven a hit across the country with audiences of all persuasions. An uncompromisingly delightful musical revue.

    Production Info

    Cast: 4 total (2 female, 2 male)
    Full Length Comedy (about 75 minutes)
    Minimal Set Requirements
    Contemporary Costumes
    The Deploration of Rover
    Robert Chesley

    Play Description

    Fido is angry that Rover, in spite of being sick, continues to act on his desires.

    Production Info

    Cast: 3 total (3 male)
    Short Drama (about 30 minutes)
    Minimal Set Requirements
    Contemporary Costumes
    $15.00
    The Abdication
    Ruth Wolff
    $15.00

    Play Description

    Why, having become Queen in childhood, would Christina of Sweden give up the throne? Confused about her sexual identity and religious beliefs, and thwarted in love, she decides to abdicate, convert to Catholicism, and throw herself, for life, on the hospitality of the Vatican. Once there, this proud but troubled woman is stunned to discover that, before she can be received by the Pope, she must submit to intense questioning by Cardinal Azzolino. At first she sees him as an adversary. But then, against all rules and expectations, Christina finds herself falling in love with her inquisitor. A probing exploration of the nature of woman, whether queen or commoner, is the subject of this highly original play.

    Production Info

    Cast: 10 total (4 female, 6 male)
    Full Length Drama (about 140 minutes)
    Minimal Set Requirements
    Period Costumes
    $15.00–$15.95
    Gunpowder Joe
    Anthony Clarvoe
    $15.00–$15.95

    Play Description

    Hounded out of his native England, Joseph Priestley hoped to secure a sanctuary along the banks of the Susquehanna. Would this refugee find America, that great experiment, to be the true democracy he had championed from across the sea? Would he finally be free to pursue his religion, his science, and his political beliefs in this new “land of liberty”? Controversy continued to swirl around him. Revolutionary comrades turned into bitter political opponents when it came time to actually govern the country they founded. The immigrant Priestley was drawn into the vortex of America’s first major crisis. “Freedom of Speech” had yet to be tested, and Priestley’s admirers John Adams and Thomas Jefferson were engaged in a deeply polarized debate over the fate of our fledgling nation.

    Production Info

    Cast: 8 total (3 female, 5 male, doubling, bit parts)
    Full Length Drama (about 120 minutes)
    Minimal Set Requirements
    Period Costumes
    $15.00–$15.95
    Questa
    Victor Bumbalo
    $15.00–$15.95

    Play Description

    While cruising for sex in a back alley, Paul kills a young man. He rushes to his sister's apartment drenched in blood, and she helps him cover up his crime. Her husband, Nicholas, is not pleased to see Paul as Paul was dating his best friend, Kevin, who has died of an AIDS related illness. Lori the mother of the murdered young man goes to her priest for comfort. It turns out she is having an affair with him.

    Production Info

    Cast: 7 total (2 female, 5 male)
    Full Length Drama (about 100 minutes)
    Multiple Sets
    Contemporary Costumes
    $15.95
    Hungry
    Richard Nelson
    $15.95

    Play Description

    THE GABRIELS trilogy chronicles a year in the life of a neighboring family who reunite in real time at three different points across 2016 to celebrate, remember, and wait for the world to change. History and politics, art and culture, love and hate are all on the table as the Gabriels gather in the kitchen of the house they grew up in — ultimately revealing the deep, human impact of one of the most extraordinary years in American history. Part One, HUNGRY: To the rhythm of peeling, chopping and mixing, HUNGRY places us in the center of the Gabriels’ kitchen. The family discusses their lives and disappointments, and the world at large and nearby, as they struggle against the fear of being left behind and the challenge to find resilience in the face of loss.

    Production Info

    Cast: 6 total (5 female, 1 male)
    Full Length Drama (about 100 minutes)
    Single Set
    Contemporary Costumes
    A Bird’s Eye View
    Kermit Frazier

    Play Description

    Two Black male figures search for purpose and companionship in a disruptive, destructive, principally white world.

    Production Info

    Cast: 2 total (2 male)
    Short Drama (about 25 minutes)
    Single Set
    Contemporary Costumes
    $15.95
    That Hopey Changey Thing
    Richard Nelson
    $15.95

    Play Description

    The Apples reflect on the state of their family and discuss memory, manners and politics as polls close on mid-term election night 2010 and a groundswell of conservative sentiment flips Congress on its head.

    Production Info

    Cast: 6 total (3 female, 3 male)
    Full Length Drama (about 100 minutes)
    Single Set
    Contemporary Costumes

    Contact Info

    BROADWAY PLAY PUBLISHING INC
    148 W 80th St, NY, NY 10024
    Open: Mon – Fri, 8am – 6pm EST
    Tel: 212-772-8334
    info@broadwayplaypublishing.com
    www.broadwayplaypublishing.com

    Company Info

    • About Us
    • Shipping Info
    • Refund Policy
    • Privacy Policy
    • Submissions
    • Contact Us

    Pages

    • Home
    • The Plays
    • Performance Rights
    • Authors
    • FAQs
    • Blog

    Newsletter Sign Up

    • This field is for validation purposes and should be left unchanged.
    © Broadway Play Publishing Inc.  All Rights Reserved.

    ‹ › ×