THE SIGNPOST FELLOWSHIP
Why Have One Fellow...
WHEN YOU CAN HAVE THREE?!
WHEN YOU CAN HAVE THREE?!
Yeah, we knew we weren't gonna meet these three and not wanna just give them all the things, so we dug deep and figured out a way to make all of them fellows.
KWEIGHBAYE KOTEE
Kweighbaye will be paired up with her first-choice mentor, Cori Thomas, who is the perfect guide and advocate for her for so many reasons, chief among them an allergy to not helping and shared Liberian ancestry. Kweighbaye will also receive $750 to spend however she feels will help her on her quest to get her work out there. (Though, we're hoping for a script-reading so we can get an invite.)
Kweighbaye's Bio:
Kweighbaye Kotee is a Liberian-American writer, film producer and entrepreneur. As the founder of the Bushwick Film Festival in Brooklyn and Starlit Pics, an LA-based production company, her film industry expertise has led to speaking invitations at prestigious events and institutions like TEDx, JPMorgan Chase, SAG-AFTRA, Google, Société Générale, Blackstone, and various universities. Her global impact includes co-producing a UN-backed women's peace film festival in West Africa and leading a Masterclass on film festival strategy in South America.
Kotee’s commitment to empowering women of color in the industry has garnered her recognition in a national PopSugar/Delta Airlines campaign and accolades from Lucy Liu. She has also been featured in various media outlets, including NBC, Fox, NY1, Deadline, and Pix11.
Having immigrated to the U.S. due to the Liberian civil war, she attended public school in Newark, received a Wight Foundation scholarship to Blair Academy before earning a B.S. in Media, Culture, and Communications from NYU.
Currently, she is developing film/tv projects sourced from BFF Alumni and working on her own debut feature film—a compelling story of an astronomer's transformative journey to her late grandmother's West African village after a significant life event.
Kweighbaye will be paired up with her first-choice mentor, Cori Thomas, who is the perfect guide and advocate for her for so many reasons, chief among them an allergy to not helping and shared Liberian ancestry. Kweighbaye will also receive $750 to spend however she feels will help her on her quest to get her work out there. (Though, we're hoping for a script-reading so we can get an invite.)
Kweighbaye's Bio:
Kweighbaye Kotee is a Liberian-American writer, film producer and entrepreneur. As the founder of the Bushwick Film Festival in Brooklyn and Starlit Pics, an LA-based production company, her film industry expertise has led to speaking invitations at prestigious events and institutions like TEDx, JPMorgan Chase, SAG-AFTRA, Google, Société Générale, Blackstone, and various universities. Her global impact includes co-producing a UN-backed women's peace film festival in West Africa and leading a Masterclass on film festival strategy in South America.
Kotee’s commitment to empowering women of color in the industry has garnered her recognition in a national PopSugar/Delta Airlines campaign and accolades from Lucy Liu. She has also been featured in various media outlets, including NBC, Fox, NY1, Deadline, and Pix11.
Having immigrated to the U.S. due to the Liberian civil war, she attended public school in Newark, received a Wight Foundation scholarship to Blair Academy before earning a B.S. in Media, Culture, and Communications from NYU.
Currently, she is developing film/tv projects sourced from BFF Alumni and working on her own debut feature film—a compelling story of an astronomer's transformative journey to her late grandmother's West African village after a significant life event.
QUENTIN NGUYEN-DUY
Quentin Nguyen-duy's first-choice mentor, christopher oscar peña, will bring that realness and strategic thinking that every writer needs when faced with the uphill battle of breaking into the industry. The $2500 he also gets will buy him some much-needed time off his day-hustle as a personal trainer.
Quentin Nguyen-duy's Bio:
Quentin Nguyen-duy is a mixed Việt-American playwright, actor, and screenwriter hailing from the farmlands of Southern Oregon. His play AMPUTEES was first produced as part of the Boston University 2019 Fringe, CapeCod, and ArtsEmerson festivals, as well as in 2021 by Sanguine Theatre Company. He recently served as a staff writer on the digital operatic series DESERT IN, which was a finalist for the 2022 Noteworthy Project. Currently, he is writing a selection of one-act plays for the Sống Collective's 2023 Việt Writers' Lab. He holds a high school degree from Interlochen Arts Academy, and studied creative writing for one year at Oberlin College before transferring and graduating with a BFA in Theatre Arts from Boston University.
His work is committed to telling the stories of those who live in the in-between spaces, and by doing so, contextualizing the narrative of outsiders like himself. He’d like to give a big shout out to his teachers Kristin Leahey, Kirstin Greenidge, and his mentor chris peña.
Quentin Nguyen-duy's first-choice mentor, christopher oscar peña, will bring that realness and strategic thinking that every writer needs when faced with the uphill battle of breaking into the industry. The $2500 he also gets will buy him some much-needed time off his day-hustle as a personal trainer.
Quentin Nguyen-duy's Bio:
Quentin Nguyen-duy is a mixed Việt-American playwright, actor, and screenwriter hailing from the farmlands of Southern Oregon. His play AMPUTEES was first produced as part of the Boston University 2019 Fringe, CapeCod, and ArtsEmerson festivals, as well as in 2021 by Sanguine Theatre Company. He recently served as a staff writer on the digital operatic series DESERT IN, which was a finalist for the 2022 Noteworthy Project. Currently, he is writing a selection of one-act plays for the Sống Collective's 2023 Việt Writers' Lab. He holds a high school degree from Interlochen Arts Academy, and studied creative writing for one year at Oberlin College before transferring and graduating with a BFA in Theatre Arts from Boston University.
His work is committed to telling the stories of those who live in the in-between spaces, and by doing so, contextualizing the narrative of outsiders like himself. He’d like to give a big shout out to his teachers Kristin Leahey, Kirstin Greenidge, and his mentor chris peña.
ADITI PRADHAN
Aditi will receive her mentorship from her top choice-- humble bad-ass, Madhuri Shekar-- who, in addition to having a sweet, saintly disposition, has one of the sharpest dramaturgical minds in the known galaxy. Aditi will also get $750 which we're hoping she will spend on that new laptop she mentioned during her interview.
Aditi's Bio:
Aditi grew up in a neighborhood that was 80% Asian American, shaping her interest for different cultures from a young age. She has a degree in Political Economy from UC Berkeley, where she learned about systems of power and themes across cultures and times. Aditi loves to explore familial relationships and South Asian culture in her writing. She currently works as Digital Marketing Manager at the Sundance Institute and is a member of New West, the Ensemble Studio Theater’s program for playwrights under 30. In high school, she was nominated as “Most Dependable,” which is still the highest honor she’s ever received.
Aditi will receive her mentorship from her top choice-- humble bad-ass, Madhuri Shekar-- who, in addition to having a sweet, saintly disposition, has one of the sharpest dramaturgical minds in the known galaxy. Aditi will also get $750 which we're hoping she will spend on that new laptop she mentioned during her interview.
Aditi's Bio:
Aditi grew up in a neighborhood that was 80% Asian American, shaping her interest for different cultures from a young age. She has a degree in Political Economy from UC Berkeley, where she learned about systems of power and themes across cultures and times. Aditi loves to explore familial relationships and South Asian culture in her writing. She currently works as Digital Marketing Manager at the Sundance Institute and is a member of New West, the Ensemble Studio Theater’s program for playwrights under 30. In high school, she was nominated as “Most Dependable,” which is still the highest honor she’s ever received.
CONGRATULATIONS, Y'ALL!
SO EXCITED TO SEE WHAT YOU GET INTO!
SO EXCITED TO SEE WHAT YOU GET INTO!
ABOUT THE FELLOWSHIP...
So whenever Chisa's gotten an email about a grant, fellowship, or research opportunity from her scholarship program or from the university where she teaches, nine times out of ten, it's been for some science-y shit or finance-y crap. Which, you know, is useless and alienating if you're a writer interested in the entertainment industry.
So this here's the tenth out of ten.
The Signpost Fellowship is a six-month situation intended for a person of color age 18 or over who's interested in shadowing a professional playwright or screenwriter of color. What that looks like is entirely up to you and your Writer-Mentor but could involve:
Oh, and there's $2500 in it for you.
Possible Writer-Mentors (click name for info):
Interested in applying?
So this here's the tenth out of ten.
The Signpost Fellowship is a six-month situation intended for a person of color age 18 or over who's interested in shadowing a professional playwright or screenwriter of color. What that looks like is entirely up to you and your Writer-Mentor but could involve:
- being invited to meetings, auditions, rehearsals, and events
- giving and receiving feedback on script drafts
- performing dramaturgical research
- fielding bottomless requests for bios and headshots
- figuring out wtf to do with a stack of 1099s
Oh, and there's $2500 in it for you.
Possible Writer-Mentors (click name for info):
- Betty Shamieh
- C.A. Johnson
- Charly Evon Simpson
- Chisa Hutchinson
- Christine Toy Johnson
- christopher oscar peña
- C. Julian Jiménez
- Cori Thomas
- C.Q. Quintana
- Diana Son
- Idris Goodwin
- Jiehae Park
- Kristoffer Diaz
- Lori Sykes Roper
- Madhuri Shekar
- Matthew Paul Olmos
- Nambi Kelley
- Reginald Edmund
- Timothy Huang
- T.J. Young
Interested in applying?
DAMN, GIVE US A MINUTE.
WE JUST GOT DONE WITH THIS APPLICATION ROUND.
CHECK BACK AGAIN IN THE SPRING.
WE JUST GOT DONE WITH THIS APPLICATION ROUND.
CHECK BACK AGAIN IN THE SPRING.
Interested in supporting?
Drop a message below sharing what your superpower is (i.e. mentoring, advocating, promoting, reading, etc.)
Drop a message below sharing what your superpower is (i.e. mentoring, advocating, promoting, reading, etc.)
OR!
You could just drop some ducats.
All donations go directly to the fellowship fund.
You could just drop some ducats.
All donations go directly to the fellowship fund.