A Caribbean American actresses guide to taking charge of one’s creative journey
New York, New York — Haitian American Actress/Writer/Director/Producer Magaly Colimon plays Haitian single-mother “Antoinette Pierre” in Netflix Original Series “Grand Army.” The gritty teen drama premiered on Friday, October 16 to international audiences.
Grand Army gives a glimpse into the lives of New York City teenagers attending a highly competitive public high school. Ms. Colimon plays the mother of lead character “Dominique Pierre” (performed by Haitian American actress Odley Jean). “Antoinette” is a loving single-mother & grandmother striving to provide for her family.
Off-screen Magaly is an award-winning playwright and Founder/Producing Artistic Director of Conch Shell Productions. A Yale School of Drama graduate, Ms. Colimon’s mission and passion is to infuse new Caribbean-American and Caribbean Diaspora voices into the American theater and film industry.
“I have been writing, directing, and producing my work ever since I was in graduate school. I learned early in my career that the only way for a female artist of color to stay excited and vested in an entertainment career is by taking charge of the production process.
Owning our unique voices and unique perspectives of being a human of Color is empowering. We can not wait for someone to give permission to share our creative voice, we have to create our own spaces to connect with our audience.”
Earlier in her career, Magaly founded Brown Rice Productions. She produced short films – “Yes Madame” (screen at Pan African Film Festival, ReelSisters Film Festival and Martha’s Vineyard Black Film Festival), BN4Real a web series, Ah-Ha Moments (a theatre festival in Los Angeles she co-produced with Shana Waterman, Juliette Jeffers, Andenrele Ojo ).
Conch Shell Productions is her first foray into producing works by her Caribbean Diaspora peers with the goal to develop, workshop, and produce new plays that provoke social change. Her play “Silent Truth” is a 2018 O’Neill NPC Finalist, that explores mental health in Haitian Americans.
“The Hunting Season” won the 2018 Planet Connections Outstanding Playwriting of a New Play Award explores racism and police brutality from the viewpoint of an immigrant family.
Ever since the March 2020 shutdown of theatres in New York City, Conch Shell Productions has been live stream presenting readings and full productions of new short plays in collaboration with like-minded arts organizations. The plays address social issues of today – survival, police brutality, systemic racism, race and politics, voting, despair – and pave pathways to hope for audiences. When asked about the benefits of virtual.
This month, October 2020, Conch Shell Productions presents dark comedies as part of #Bluelightseries – in co-productions with HB Studio. The series features new one-act dark comedies on Fridays at 9 pm. On October 23rd the featured plays include “I Married a Black Republican” written by Magaly, and “The Customer Voting Service” by Juan Ramirez, Jr.
On October 30th, the series will present Gretchen Suarez-Pena’s “The Arithmetic of Memory” and Nelson Diaz-Marcano’s “I Saw Jesus in Toa Baja.” Tickets: General admission – $10; Student/senior $5. Time: 9pm EST; 6pm PST For tickets and more information about the plays go to: www.conchshellproductions.com
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