The BIPOC Play-Reading Festival is an integral part of The Straz Center’s commitment to expanding our Inclusion and Diversification of our artistic offerings. We are excited to present and celebrate these richly talented members of our BIPOC community who touch our lives through the genius of their playwrighting. We are happy to announce this series as a new all-day festival in which we offer the opportunity to experience an up close and personal hearing of excerpts written by these talented writers.
10:35-11:45AM………………………………………………….Play 1
My Hair is my Superpower, written by Sir Curtis Kirby III
11:55AM-1:05PM…………………………………………………Play 2
The Pride of Puerto Rico, written by Hector Melendez-Figueroa
1:25-2:25PM……………………………………………………..Play 3
On The Banks of my Distant Shore: A Journey Home written by Fahnlohnee Reeves
2:25-2:35PM……………………..Q&A session with playwrights
PLAYWRIGHTS
Hector Melendez-Figueroa Emerging Latino playwright Hector Melendez-Figueroa was born in Puerto Rico, raised in the Bronx, New York, and now resides in Tampa, Florida. In 2015, he joined the LAB Theatre Project in Tampa, where his World Premiere play, The Wendy House, was produced in 2021, garnering a number of awards including Finalist, Best Theater Production, Creative Loafing: Tampa Bay– “Best of the Bay.”; Winner, Best Play, Broadway World Awards: Regional, Tampa; Runner Up, Best Production of the Year, Broadway World Awards: Regional, Tampa. He has also served as Lighting Designer and crew on multiple LAB Project productions as well as performed in several of them, both at LAB and the Straz Center for the Performing Arts. His short films, The Color of My Life, premiered on the 48hrs Film Challenge, and The Working Man was done for YouTube company Artistic Outcast Production.
Hector Melendez-Figueroa’s The Pride of Puerto Rico
A hard-hitting drama set in the South Bronx. Raul Mendez is an amateur boxer who’s living
under his father’s shadow (Victor Menedez) an ex professional boxer, who’s haunted by his
last fight. Raul wants to quit boxing and pursue his dreams of becoming a playwright, but
his father is against Raul chasing his dreams and wants him to become a professional
boxer. Secrets, lies and unresolved conflicts play out as the relationship between father
and son is crumbling before our eyes.
Sir Curtis Kirby III
Sir Curtis Kirby III, Bois Forte Band of Ojibwe and African American descent is enjoying his third year directing the Ikidowin Youth Theater Ensemble. He is honored to be selected as Emerging Artist for a Twin Cities PBS: TPT special to air in June. Kirby is mentored by Dipankar Mukherjee, Artist Director of Pangea World Theater and has participated in the Next Generation Theater Director’s Institute for the past two years. This year, he has been awarded a two-year fellowship with Pangea World Theater for Directing. He has worked with Bonnie Morris of Illusion Theater and Tye Defoe for two performances at The Guthrie Theater, Water is Sacred (2017) and Stories of the Drum (2019). Kirby is the assistant director for Five Weeks, Sabra Falling and Mother Courage, and Hecuba for Pangea World Theater.
Sir Curtis Kirby III’s My Hair is My Superpower Stories through the spirit of my hair, signifying major life changes; navigating life as an
Indigenous Black Latinx male.
Fahnlohnee Reeves
Fahnlohnee Reeves is a multi-faceted performer, artist, writer, and creator born in Liberia, West Africa, and educated in the United States. She brings her joy for life, her love of story, and her passion for sharing and creating with others to both her professional and performing endeavors. She was a vocal performance major at Loyola University and a theatre arts/communication major at Dillard University. However, she credits the most indelible lessons learned from the incomparable “University of Life”! Fahnlohnee is an award-winning singer and an accomplished film, television, and theatre actress. Most recently, Fahnlohnee was thrilled to make her debut in the Tampa Bay region with St. Pete’s American Stage Theatre as Beatrix in This Girl Laughs, This Girl Cries, This Girl Does Nothing, as well as playing the lead role of Ayamma Okafor at Freefall Theatre’s Nollywood Dreams. Ms. Reeves is ecstatic beyond words to debut her works at the Straz Center’s 2025 BIPOC Play-Reading Festival! Fahnlohnee insists she is “incessantly grateful to God”! With her unwavering faith and dedication to empowering, healing and transforming the world around her through the power of art, music and storytelling, Ms. Reeves brings unique performing style and personality to all that she does!
Fahnlohnee Reeves’ On the Banks of My Distant Shore: A Journey Home
In this truth tale with a contemporary flair that celebrates African traditions, folk songs and
storytelling, a young girl embarks on a journey of many lifetimes from Africa to America.
Escaping war, surviving abuses and navigating the rich tapestry that is sewn from her
courage to continue, she holds steadfast to her faith and dreams beyond the horizons she
sees. A heartwarming tale of self-acceptance, faith, courage, and the healing power of the
imagination!
Emerging Latino playwright Hector Melendez-Figueroa was born in Puerto Rico, raised in the Bronx, New York, and now resides in Tampa, Florida. In 2015, he joined the LAB Theatre Project in Tampa, where his World Premiere play, The Wendy House, was produced in 2021, garnering a number of awards including Finalist, Best Theater Production, Creative Loafing: Tampa Bay– “Best of the Bay.”; Winner, Best Play, Broadway World Awards: Regional, Tampa; Runner Up, Best Production of the Year, Broadway World Awards: Regional, Tampa. He has also served as Lighting Designer and crew on multiple LAB Project productions as well as performed in several of them, both at LAB and the Straz Center for the Performing Arts. His short films, The Color of My Life, premiered on the 48hrs Film Challenge, and The Working Man was done for YouTube company Artistic Outcast Production.
Sir Curtis Kirby III, Bois Forte Band of Ojibwe and African American descent is enjoying his third year directing the Ikidowin Youth Theater Ensemble. He is honored to be selected as Emerging Artist for a Twin Cities PBS: TPT special to air in June. Kirby is mentored by Dipankar Mukherjee, Artist Director of Pangea World Theater and has participated in the Next Generation Theater Director’s Institute for the past two years. This year, he has been awarded a two-year fellowship with Pangea World Theater for Directing. He has worked with Bonnie Morris of Illusion Theater and Tye Defoe for two performances at The Guthrie Theater, Water is Sacred (2017) and Stories of the Drum (2019). Kirby is the assistant director for Five Weeks, Sabra Falling and Mother Courage, and Hecuba for Pangea World Theater.
Fahnlohnee Reeves is a multi-faceted performer, artist, writer, and creator born in Liberia, West Africa, and educated in the United States. She brings her joy for life, her love of story, and her passion for sharing and creating with others to both her professional and performing endeavors. She was a vocal performance major at Loyola University and a theatre arts/communication major at Dillard University. However, she credits the most indelible lessons learned from the incomparable “University of Life”! Fahnlohnee is an award-winning singer and an accomplished film, television, and theatre actress. Most recently, Fahnlohnee was thrilled to make her debut in the Tampa Bay region with St. Pete’s American Stage Theatre as Beatrix in This Girl Laughs, This Girl Cries, This Girl Does Nothing, as well as playing the lead role of Ayamma Okafor at Freefall Theatre’s Nollywood Dreams. Ms. Reeves is ecstatic beyond words to debut her works at the Straz Center’s 2025 BIPOC Play-Reading Festival! Fahnlohnee insists she is “incessantly grateful to God”! With her unwavering faith and dedication to empowering, healing and transforming the world around her through the power of art, music and storytelling, Ms. Reeves brings unique performing style and personality to all that she does!