The Black Women Playwrights' Group Presents

The Chinatown Project


BWPG Celebrates 5th Year of the Chinatown Project!

On December 10th, Jefferson Middle School students who participate in The Chinatown Project attended a matinee of The Fantastiks at Arena Stage at the Lincoln Theater! The spectacular performance of this theater classic included magic tricks and fireworks! The story of Boy Meets Girl, Boy Loses Girl, Boy and Girl Reunites was an excellent springboard to our students writing their own scenes and monologues. It was the first day in an American school for one of our students! What a terrific start!

The performance was followed by a visit to the famous Ben’s Chili Bowl, where we were treated to a presentation of the history of the famous restaurant. We also viewed a video about Ben’s Chili Bowl that included footage of President Barack Obama, who made Ben’s one of his first local visits after being inaugurated.

Inspired by the Black Women Playwrights’ Group’s 5-year residency at Flashpoint, the incubator for small arts organizations located in Chinatown, we created The Chinatown Project (CTP), an after-school project for immigrant students at Jefferson Middle School. The focus of the Chinatown Project is on reading and writing within the framework of exposure to the arts. Using theater, which centers on basic human dynamics and how people struggle to change those dynamics, creates an electric learning environment. We read scenes from plays in each class and students are up on their feet doing improvisation to further illustrate the elements of drama. We work on vocabulary and meaning, and students create their own characters and write about them. In turn, their peers then read their work aloud in class and offer constructive feedback. The program includes attending matinee theater performances, a walking tour of Chinatown, and classroom visits by professional actors who read the student scenes.