Cris Eli Blak to Write Abingdon Theatre Company's First Full-Length Play Commission

Abingdon Theatre Company announced that previous Carolyn Halpert Artist-in-Residence, Cris Eli Blak, will write the company’s first-ever full-length new play commission.

The project, conceived by Chad Austin and commissioned by Don and Nancy Watson, will be based on the “icon of Manhattan song and style,” Bobby Short. Abingdon Theatre Company will develop the piece as part of its upcoming 33rd season.

Bobby Short, a singer, pianist, recording artist, author, actor, producer, and philanthropist, performed at Café Carlyle for over three decades. Short, best known for his interpretations of Cole Porter’s compositions, also recorded and performed songs by Duke Ellington, Bessie Smith, and more, and received three Grammy Award nominations.

Blak is a staff writer on the series Power Book III: Raising Kanan and is the inaugural winner of the Black Broadway Men Playwriting Initiative, the 2024 Charles M. Getchell New Play Award, and the Atlanta Shakespeare Company’s inaugural winner of the Muse of Fire BIPOC Playwriting Festival. He is currently an artist-in-residence with Abingdon Theatre Company, a 24-2027 Core Writer with the Playwrights Center, and a member of the Evolving Playwrights Group with Circle X Theatre Company.