ATLANTA — Atlanta’s True Colors Theatre has been awarded a grant of more than $500,000 from the Mellon Foundation to support its artistic mission and expand opportunities for young performers.

Artistic Director Jamil Jude said the funding will help launch a new high school monologue competition centered on the work of Black playwrights.

“The commission of 50 Black playwrights to write new monologues for students, so 10 students, from 10 cities from across the country all are competing,” Jude said.

Jude said the competition will feature monologues written specifically for the program.

“Where students are learning, and learning to then recite the monologues of contemporary Black playwrights that wrote monologues specifically for this program,” Jude said.

He said the grant will help the theater continue its tradition of Black storytelling.

“This money is to go in further on our artistic vision and continues to thrive at the intersection of artistic excellence and artistic engagement,” Jude said.

Jude also noted that this is the second time True Colors Theatre has received a grant of more than $500,000 from the Mellon Foundation.

“This is the second time that we’ve been awarded this grant amount,” Jude said.

True Colors Theatre was founded in Atlanta by Tony Award winner Kenny Leon in 2002. Leon has also been elected chair of the American Theatre Wing’s Board of Trustees.

WSB Radio’s Lisa Nicholas contributed to this story.