Paris Crayton III

Paris Crayton III

Paris Crayton III is an award-winning playwright, actor, and director. He has written over 50 plays, 21 of which have been produced around the country. He was one of ArtsATL "30 under 30" and Atlanta Journal Constitution's "Artist to watch." Creative Loafing named him 2014's "Best Local Playwright" Critics have called him "a powerful dramatist" and praised him...
Paris Crayton III is an award-winning playwright, actor, and director. He has written over 50 plays, 21 of which have been produced around the country. He was one of ArtsATL "30 under 30" and Atlanta Journal Constitution's "Artist to watch." Creative Loafing named him 2014's "Best Local Playwright" Critics have called him "a powerful dramatist" and praised him as "One of the most important playwrights of our time." His plays have been presented and/or workshopped by Working Title Playwrights, Stage Door Players, Classical Theatre of Harlem, Aurora Theatre, Atlanta Black Theatre Festival, Beth Marshall Presents, Indianapolis Fringe Festival and more.

Plays

  • Welcome to the Blue Swan
    Jimmy Earl Brown and his entourage at the Blue Swan, a hole-in-the-wall lounge in St. Louis, Missouri, ready themselves for a championship dart game with four grand on the line. But when Sugar, a recently released ex-convict, gets hired as an exotic dancer, darts aren’t the only games being played. Trying to escape past traumas, Jimmy Earl must decide between holding on to a turbulent long-term relationship or...
    Jimmy Earl Brown and his entourage at the Blue Swan, a hole-in-the-wall lounge in St. Louis, Missouri, ready themselves for a championship dart game with four grand on the line. But when Sugar, a recently released ex-convict, gets hired as an exotic dancer, darts aren’t the only games being played. Trying to escape past traumas, Jimmy Earl must decide between holding on to a turbulent long-term relationship or leaving behind the only life he knows.
  • Only Some of God's Children or Mississippi Magnolias
    Set two days after the 1963 March on Washington, John Malachi Curtis, and his best friend, William Cochise Brown, return home to Mississippi to unpack all of the emotions left over from the March, only to find, John's son, Ezekiel, has been attacked during a sit-in protest. Betty, John's wife, wants to leave Mississippi for good but the promise of land and remnants of love makes John unwilling to do...
    Set two days after the 1963 March on Washington, John Malachi Curtis, and his best friend, William Cochise Brown, return home to Mississippi to unpack all of the emotions left over from the March, only to find, John's son, Ezekiel, has been attacked during a sit-in protest. Betty, John's wife, wants to leave Mississippi for good but the promise of land and remnants of love makes John unwilling to do so. Only Some of God's Children or Mississippi Magnolias is a story of five different flowers just waiting to bloom.
  • Birth of an Artistic Director
    After a scathing letter is written to the American theatre by the BIPOC community, one artistic director must decide how to continue a life in the arts. Sharp and deeply funny, this play asks the question; who gets to decide what theatre is and how it should be made?
  • Chasing Gods
    It’s summer 2016. Only weeks have passed since the country witnessed the deadliest, recorded act of violence against the LGBTQ community. From the pulpit of Holy Ground Baptist Church, Pastor Deirdre Curtis condemns the tragedy’s victims in the name of God and Christianity. As if Deidra’s controlling, judgmental ways have not already alienated herself from her husband, Immanuel, and her two children, Elijah and...
    It’s summer 2016. Only weeks have passed since the country witnessed the deadliest, recorded act of violence against the LGBTQ community. From the pulpit of Holy Ground Baptist Church, Pastor Deirdre Curtis condemns the tragedy’s victims in the name of God and Christianity. As if Deidra’s controlling, judgmental ways have not already alienated herself from her husband, Immanuel, and her two children, Elijah and Olivia, the loss of one of their own further strains the fragile family. Playwright Paris Crayton III explores a family searching to love and co-exist with a matriarch whose religious devotion threatens each members’ healing and growth. Chasing Gods is an artistic experiment in “radical empathy”—extending compassion and understanding even to those whose ideas and beliefs challenge our own.
  • Stuck
    Jacob Charles has just received news that his girlfriend of three years is expecting their first child but he can't seem to stop having dreams about someone else. He tries to unpack all of these thoughts through therapy. Little does he know that his therapist, Whitney Armstrong, is going through her own problems trying to manage a relationship with a married woman.
  • Brothers of Affliction
    Tempers flare and old wounds are reopened in Brothers of Affliction, an unflinchingly raw look at the relationships of three troubled siblings and the dark secrets that bond them. As the brothers — boozehound Chris, cokehead Shane, and hothead Tyriq — try to outdo one another with tales of their unhappy childhoods, each reveals his hopes, fears, and insecurities about the world around him.
  • The Best Game
    A highly driven NYU student takes a risky detour when she decides to seek out her long-lost father. A 19-year-old perfectionist, Leann finds her estranged dad online and tracks down the out-of-work artist in St. Louis, where their tumultuous confrontation results in revelations for both.
  • Broken
    Five women come together and discuss life after losing their children to gun violence. These women search for strength after experiencing tragedy.
  • Chainz
    A young teen has been gunned down and his killer set free, which leads to protests around the country. One protest, in particular, gets out of hand and lands four men from four different walks of life in a holding cell at the local police station. Through sadness, anger, joy, and tears these four men learn about each other...and more importantly, about themselves...being endangered species in America