Asolo Repertory Theatre’s new work development program, Ground Floor, will present a staged reading of Ty Greenwood’s play The Paradox of Education on Monday, Feb. 28, at 7 p.m., in the Cook Theatre at the FSU Center for the Performing Arts. A donation of $5 is suggested, and proceeds will assist the Ground Floor program in supporting new and local artists. The Paradox of Education centers on six Black college students who have been lured into a predominantly white institution (PWI) through a Black Excellence scholarship that promises they will be well taken care of across their tenure on campus. They immediately find out they have been sold a falsity and come to realize that “skin folk ain’t always kin folk,” as the students confront the differences between them. Greenwood’s reading is the first event in Ground Floor’s new Muriel O’Neil American Heritage Commission Series, which is set to commission three plays by BIPOC (Black, Indigenous, and People of Color) playwrights and directors over the next three years, made possible by a generous $75,000 grant from the Community Foundation of Sarasota County.

“Artists who have been historically underrepresented in the American theatre need to have the space and resources to explore in a way they may not otherwise be able to,” said Asolo Rep Associate Artistic Director and Ground Floor Artistic Director Celine Rosenthal, who is curating the series. “This wonderful grant allows artists to do exactly that, and we couldn’t be more delighted to be working with Ty as the commission’s first recipient.”

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