LEARNING TO LOVE
Theatrical One Acts

One-Act Readings
Friday & Saturday Nov 1st/2nd

Harlem School of the Arts

645 Saint Nicholas Avenue

New York, NY 10030

The Gatekeepers Collective presents LEARNING TO LOVE in collaboration with Donja R. Love, an Afro-Queer playwright, poet, and filmmaker from Philadelphia.

Donja writes specifically about Black and Queer folx, for Black and Queer folx. He's the recipient of the 2018 Laurents/Hatcher Foundation Award, the 2017 Princess Grace Playwriting Award. He’s the Lark's 2016 Van Lier New Voices Playwriting Fellow, The Playwrights Realm’s 2016/2017 Writing Fellow, and the 2011 Philadelphia Adult Grand Slam Poetry Champion. His work has been developed at Manhattan Theatre Club, Rising Circle Theatre, The Lark, and The Playwrights Realm. He's the cohost of OffBook, theater's only Black podcast; and he’s the co-founder of The Each-Other Project, an organization that helps build community and provide visibility, through art and advocacy, for LGBTQ People of Color. Select stage plays include: The Love* Plays, and soft.

Along with Donja, The Gatekeepers Collective team has refined an intergenerational development process in which narrative theatrical works reflect stories of self-acceptance as a rite of passage on the way to Queer/same-gender love.

Theatrical One Acts presents the work of three young Queer African-American playwrights who have been partnered with older SGL men in dialogue about their respective journeys from varying degrees of invisibility and self-denial to self-acceptance and love are reflected in the One-Acts plays they have crafted.

Featuring:

“Discipline” By Darrel Alejandro Holnes; directed by Phillip Christian Smith (FRIDAY)

“House of Lepers” by Gary Marshall Holman; Directed by John-Martin Green (SATURDAY)

“Love Birds: Or How to Fix a Broken Heart in a Day” by Maleek Rae; Directed by Amani Meliyah (SATURDAY)

CO-SPONSORED WITH:

Maleek Rae (They/Them)

IG: MaleekRae

Maleek Rae is a multidisciplinary artist from the Eastside of Detroit, MI, who has made a name for themselves in the entertainment industry as a rapper, writer, actor, and producer. With a strong foundation in acting, Maleek graduated from the prestigious SUNY Purchase BFA acting conservatory, which has enabled them to excel in various roles across television, film, and theater.

As a writer and rapper, Maleek exercises their creative muscles through lyrical flows and hard-hitting punchlines, which can be heard throughout their debut mixtape "Ghetto Alchemy: Vol 1". This fusion of artistic expression allows them to convey powerful messages and tell stories that resonate with audiences. Their latest play, "Ghetto Alchemy: A Lunchroom Survival Guide", has received developmental support from The Tank and SPACE on Ryder Farm's Greenhouse Residency.

Maleek is an active member of several artistic communities and initiatives. They are a 2024 Gatekeeper Collective Learning To Love Fellow, a 2023-24' Institute fellow with Target Margin Theatre, and a current member of LIT Council, a developmental intensive for playwrights at The Tank.

Additionally, they are part of the 2024 EMERGE cohort at Brooklyn Art Exchange.
Throughout their career, Maleek has remained grounded by crediting their faith and hard work as the keys to their success. With their unique blend of talents and dedication to their craft, Maleek Rae is an artist to watch in the years to come.

Gary Marshall Holman (He/Him)

IG: Damnit_Gary

Gary Marshall Holman is a Brooklyn-based actor, playwright, and screenwriter. He began his acting career studying theater at Purdue University. His stage credits include Now Go and Smite, Moby Dick The Musical, as well as staged readings of The Last Days of Judas Iscariot and The Brothers Size. His most recent film credits include the web series, Talks With Myself (Dir. Roger Omeus) and the feature film I Used to Be (Dir. Nyala Moon). 

Holman is participating in the 2024 Gatekeepers Collective - Learning to Love fellowship. His one-act play, Black Coffee Politics, was produced by the Rogue Theatre Festival in New York City, in 2019 with the 13th St Repertory Theatre. Holman’s short film Thanks for Everything Mr. Perry, premiered at the Queer Voices: NYC Film Festival and has been screened at the New York Lift-Off Film Festival. 

Darell Alejandro Holnes (He/They)

IG: blackboytraveljoy

Darrel Alejandro Holnes is an Afro-Panamanian American writer, director, and producer. Holnes is the author of Stepmotherland, winner of the Andres Montoya Poetry Prize from Letras Latinas and the International Latino Book Award in Poetry, and Migrant Psalms, winner of the Drinking Gourd Poetry Prize. His play Black Feminist Video Game was produced by The Civilians for 59E59 Theaters, Oregon Shakespeare Festival, Center Theater Group, and more, winning an inaugural Anthem Award from The Webbys. Bayano had a workshop production at the National Black Theater and will have its world premiere at True Colors Theater in Atlanta. His play Bird of Prey was recorded for the Parsnip Ship podcast at JACK, and Starry Night was a finalist for both the Eugene O’Neill Theater Center’s National Playwrights Conference and the Princess Grace Award in Playwriting.

Holnes’ short film Marimacha premiered at the New York Latino Film Festival and has been screened at over two dozen festivals worldwide, winning several awards, including Best of the Fest at Pride Film Fest, Best LGBT Short at the LA Independent Women Film Awards, Best LGBT+ Short Film from the Sierra International Film Weekend, and the Director’s Choice Award from Cinema Diverse. He is currently developing the short film Oliverio through his initiative, The Greater Good, which recently co-presented a reading of the work he directed at BAAD where he is a CRNY Artist-in-Residence. Holnes is a MacDowell fellow, a Lincoln Center Director’s Lab member, and a member of The Civilians R&D Group, Page 73’s Interstate 73 Writers Workshop, and other groups. Holnes also founded the Candela Playwrights Summer Fellowship. Holnes has received numerous accolades, including a National Endowment for the Arts Literature Fellowship in Creative Writing (Poetry) and the C. P. Cavafy Poetry Prize from Poetry International. He will next direct a play at the Kitchen Theater Company in Ithaca, NY.