03 Aug OOB Final 30 Countdown – Korde Arrington Tuttle

On day twenty-seven of the Final 30 countdown we usher into the spotlight Korde Arrington Tuttle!

Korde Arrington Tuttle is a multi-disciplinary artist from Charlotte, NC. Recent work includes: the downside of being a fish, which was presented at The New School’s 2015 AfroFuturism Conference and The Leslie-Lohman Museum of Gay and Lesbian Art, in collaboration with THE TENTH ZINE; graveyard shift (The New School); clarity (Obie Award-winning The Fire This Time Festival); who is burning black churches? (The 24-Hour Plays: Nationals 2015); and is developing a new play at this year’s 48Hours in… Harlem (Harlem9). Korde is currently pursuing a MFA in Playwriting at The New School. clarity has received development support from The Fire This Time Festival. See what he’s up on on tumblr, instagram, and twitter via @heykorde.

1.When did you start writing plays? If you had a moment where you realized you wanted to write, what was it?

Although I didn’t realize it, I began writing plays as a spoken word artist in college. My poems were always more cerebral than flashy, and the group pieces (poems written for multiple performers) I wrote slowly morphed into scenes. A handful of mentors helped me find the through lines, and those scenes morphed into plays.

2. How did you come to write your OOB play? Was there a particular inspiration behind its creation? How has it developed?

I wrote ‘clarity’ for my friend and beautiful actor, Reggie D. White. One afternoon, he sent me an article that had recently been published on Blavity.com. An Open Letter To All Gay White Men Who Objectify My Body, the headline read. As someone who often dates outside of my race, I read it knowingly. And as Reggie and I often do, we talked about the intricacies of interracial dating in the ever-opaque gay world. This play was borne out that ongoing conversation.

3. What are 5 words that describe who you are as a playwright?

Contradictory, Invasive, Silky, Intimate, Crock-pot.

4. What/who are some of the major influences on your writing?

The ceremonial and ritualistic nature of both southern churches and athletic events. Tracy K. Smith. Nikki Giovanni. James Baldwin. Kanye West. Lynn Nottage. Christopher Shinn. Suzan-Lori Parks. Ntozake Shange. Caryl Churchill. Toni Morrison. Sarah Ruhl. Branden Jacobs-Jenkins. David Cale. Many more!

5. What’s one fact someone would never guess about you?

I was homeschooled for six years.

6. What are some of your favorite plays?

Some of my favorite plays include: For Colored Girls Who Have Considered Suicide / When The Rainbow is Enuf (Ntozake Shange), Crumbs from the Table of Joy and Intimate Apparel (Lynn Nottage), Joe Turner’s Come and Gone (August Wilson), and In The Blood and Fucking A (Suzan-Lori Parks).

7. Any new projects you’re working on or shameless plugs?

I’ll be presenting two new thesis plays in the spring of 2017. Please connect with me via social media so I can share them with you!

His play clarity will be performed on August 9th at 8:30pm. Cameron enjoys rough sex. Which is fine. However, in the final moments leading up to his picturesque wedding on the Georgia state coastline, one particular sexual encounter with his fiancé demands that he questions his marriage, racial identity, and sexual preferences altogether.