James Scruggs wrote and produced a multi channel video installation called
Disposable Men, a piece about the mayor-approved NYC police shootings of
unarmed black men, it had a private showing in DUMBO in May of 2000. In May
of 2002 he performed Disposable Men, the performance piece, at BAX Theatre
in Brooklyn. In June, 2002 he was selected to participate in a Summer
Institute for emerging performance artists at The Kitchen. Also in June of
2002, based on Disposable Men, the installation, he was awarded a
Performance Art Grant from Franklin Furnace to complete a work in progress
showing of Disposable Men in New York State in 2003.
Also in June of 2002, he performed Touchscape, a work in progress, it is a
solo theatre piece using spoken word with video, a raw, close-up emotional
snapshot of the sensual life of several contemporary urban men. for the Queer
at Here Festival, at Here, in downtown NYC. Touchscape was chosen to open The
Voices From The Edge Festival, a celebration of African American Writers at
The New Perspectives Theatre, NYC, in September 2002. He performed an excerpt
of Disposable Men, in a group show for Performance Mix at HERE in November,
2002. He is currently a member of The Board of Directors for The Field, NYC’s
largest non curated arts organization.
He was one of seven writers chosen to
be a part of Naked Angels Writers Lab where his ten minute play, Thuggish, was
performed in February of 2003. Similar to their Issues Projects, this is an
evening of ten-minute plays directed and performed by Naked Angels members,
all plays deal with the topic of The opposite of fear. In March 2003 he was
selected to be a resident artist at HERE Arts Center. He performed a workshop
version of Disposable Men for CULTUREMART at HERE Arts Center in January 2004.
In March 2004 he was invited to continue his residency at HERE and Disposable Men
was chosen to be included in the season of shows produced by HERE, and
was performed in February 2005. In August 2004 he was the technical director
of the panel selecting the Rockerfeller MAP grants. In September 2004 he was
the video designer for ORPHEUS, a HERE Production directed by Kristin Marting.
In January 2005 he received a major grant from Edith and Bel Geddes Grant for
an upgrade in design work on Disposable Men. In February 2005 he received a
fellowship from The New Jersey State Council on the Arts for artistic excellence.