LaDarrion Williams
LaDarrion Williams (born December 3, 1992 in Helena) is a playwright, filmmaker, screenwriter and author.
Williams graduated from Thompson High School in 2011, under theater director Jane Ganey. For a senior project he wrote a play named "Katrina" (later renamed "Concrete Rose") about two strangers trapped in a hospital room during Hurricane Katrina. It was awarded first prize at that year's Alabama State Thespian Festival. He majored in theater at Lee University in Cleveland, Tennessee and, after graduating in 2015, moved to Los Angeles, California.
In addition to writing, producing and filming his own scripts, Williams has written speculative scripts for film and television. Among them are several set in a fantasy "Blackgical Universe," developed from a question he posed on Twitter: "What if Harry Potter went to an HBCU in the Dirty South?" He developed one of those unsold treatments into a young adult novel which was published in 2024 by Labyrinth Road, an imprint of Random House Children's Books. The success of the first volume led Labyrinth Road to offer a three-book deal.
Plays
- "Katrina / Concrete Rose" (2011), premiered 2013
- "Broken Memories" (2015) Chicago Dramaworks
- "Feeding A Monster" (adaptation of a memoir by Veronica Loving and Jazzmine Jackson), premiered April 20, 2018 at Hudson Theater in Los Angeles, California
- "Black Creek Risin'", 2019 Great Plains Theatre Conference in Omaha, Nebraska.
- "Coco Queens" (2019) Eugene O Neill National Playwrights Conference semi-finalist
- "UMOJA" (2022), premiered January 21, 2022 at the Willie Agee Playhouse in Los Angeles, California
- "Boulevard of Bold Dreams" (2021), premiered February 1, 2023 at TimeLine Theatre Company in Chicago, Illinois
Film shorts
- "Concrete Rose" (2018)
- "Blood at the Root" (2020)
- "Unless It's With You" (2021)
- "Katrina" (2023)
Publications
- Williams, LaDarrion (2024) Blood at the Root. Labyrinth Road ISBN 9780593711927
References
- Kortright, Amalia (February 23, 2017) "THS grad makes name as playwright." Shelby County Reporter
- Short, Cody (February 2, 2022) "Alabama native’s play explores Black student unity through co-ed fraternity." WBHM.org
- Short, Cody D. (February 5, 2024) "‘What if Harry Potter went to an HBCU?’: Alabama-born author lands fantasy book deal." AL.com
- Johnson, Marika N. (June 5, 2024) "Ladarrion Williams Left Alabama as Struggling Writer, Returned as NYT Bestselling Author." The Birmingham Times