Poetic Theater Productions presents Poetic License, our second annual festival of new poetic theater, January 21st through January 27th, 2013. All performances will take place at The Wild Project, 195 East 3rd Street. Tickets range in price from $5 to $15 and can be purchased at the door on the day of the performance or online at the link above.
This year’s line up includes 45 LGBT, youth, Black, white, Latina, Veteran, Native American and Asian American artists writing about war, mental health, identity, love, politics and memory in Juarez, Ghana, Iraq, Afghanistan, Vietnam, and all over America.
FEATURING:
the return of 2012 Poetic Theater Productions’ sell out shows from Culture Project’s 2012 Women Center Stage Festival:
Foreign Bodies by Eboni Hogan
Directed by Nicole A. Watson
Featuring Eboni Hogan, Samantha Cooper, Ayo Onek Cummings, karen Eilbacher, Joell Jackson & Teniece Divya Johnson
Lighting & Projection Design by Brad Peterson, Sound Design by Sean Hagerty
Documenting six months of pure madness in Accra, Ghana – an ongoing battle with mental illness, whirlwind romances, endless nights of bar-hopping, and one unruly appendix.
Friday, January 25 @8PM & Sunday, January 27 @2PM
faith written and performed by Caroline Rothstein
One woman’s gut-wrenching struggle to cope with the expectations and turmoil of coming of age.
Co-presented by Timberline Knolls in association with NORMAL
Directed by Alex Mallory
Lighting Design by Brad Peterson, Sound Design by Sean Hagerty
Saturday, January 26 @8PM
OBAMATRY written & performed by Darian Dauchan
a spoken word remix on the 44th president of the United States of America
Produced in association with Bowery Arts + Science, Ltd.
Directed by Jennifer McGrath
A multimedia solo show consisting of live looped songs, beat-boxing and a collage of satirical poems and presidential soundbites chronicling from candidacy, to presidency, to present day. A virtual rhetorical conversation on the subject of America between a Poet and a President.
Monday, January 21 @7PM
Generation Now
15 youth performers from viBe Theater Experience, Girl Be Heard, Earsay Youth Voices & Urban Word NYC perform a collection of coming-of-age stories & perspectives on the world as 2020 approaches.
Tuesday, January 22nd @ 8pm
Student Tickets $5
How To Stay by Kate Foster with Dalton Ridenhour, Anna Gothard and Brooklyn duo Into Doubt
A coming of age, coming out, coming home story with poetry, monologue, vocals, piano, ukulele, and classic musical theater from the 1940s.
Tuesday, January 22 @10PM
Breaking Our Silence featuring Joanna Hoffman, Storm Thomas, Charan P Morris, and Elliott D. Smith
4 vibrant LBTQ poets share their experiences of coming out, finding love and crashing through the barriers of shame and silence to emerge into a new world.
Wednesday, January 23 @8PM
Black Girls Don’t Smile Mosaic in Front of Strangers written and performed by Mahogany L. Browne
with dance choreographed & performed by Keomi Tarver
directed by Kamilah Forbes
co-presented with Hip Hop Theatre Festival
Come witness the transformative journey of a women in the heart/cracked globe of a city where apples, lights and love seek refuge. Where stereotypes are challenged and blackness finds safety in a woman’s smile.
Thursday, January 24 @8PM
From Table to Stage created by Warrior Writers NYC
written & performed by Marie DeLuc, Anthony Gonzales, Nicole Goodwin, Jennifer Pacanowski, Joseph Wade, and Donte Wright
Original Veteran writing in a staged, multimedia performance that explores a range of experiences from recruitment to homecoming, from surviving war to the quest for life.
Sunday, January 27th @8pm
And the 6@6 Reading Series (all shows @6PM, all tickets $5 at the door!)
Tuesday: Shatter The Sky by Sean Christopher Lewis
Slam poet Gods and Punk Rock furies. Take three plays from the Oresteia and throw them into a modern blender: A verse play about violence, its cycles and what it means to challenge fate.
Wednesday: The Will To Knowledge by Takeo Rivera
A ghost writer caught in a love triangle. An exploration of race, desire, trauma and queerness.
Thursday: Love in a Time of Blood Quantum by Tanaya Winder
featuring an all Native American cast
The relationship between a man and a woman in light of historical trauma and contemporary issues that affect Native American communities such as blood quantum, alcoholism, rape and suicide.
Friday: Braided Sorrow by Marisela Trevio Orta, directed by Norma Medina
A young girl comes to Juarez, Mexico to find work, but becomes enmeshed in the series of lethal traps awaiting young female workers for which that city is now infamous.
Saturday: She Who Struggles by LaTonia Phipps, directed by Ilana Becker
Gentrification. Rejection. Forgiveness. A one act that follows two women Rita (white) and JoAnne (black) in gentrified Harlem. JoAnne’s entire world changes when Rita moves onto her block. JoAnne being one of the only two black families left states, “We have a right to keep our block looking like us.” With all their differences we come to realize that these two woman have something gripping in common.
Sunday: Untitled conceived and directed by Natalia Duong
featuring writing by Angie Chau, Tom Deedy, Janis Butler Holm, Lan Ngo, John Phalen, Alice Shapiro, Chris Soucy, julie thi underhill and Andrew Pham
Developed around the excavation of memories of war, family, grief, anger, and love long interred by women of the Vietnamese diaspora
Co-presented with Project Agent Orange
Festival kick-off party January 21 after Obamatry! Featuring a live DJ & excerpts from festival shows!
THE FESTIVAL SCHEDULE
Monday January 21st – Inauguration Day & Martin Luther King Jr Day
7PM Obamatry written & performed by Darian Dauchan
followed by our festival kick-off party featuring live DJ and excerpts from festival shows
Tuesday January 22nd
6PM 6@6 reading of Shatter the Sky written by Sean Lewis
8PM Generation Now written & performed by viBe Theater Experience, Girl Be Heard, Earsay Youth Voices & Urban Word NYC
10PMHow To Stay: a cabaret in development by Kate Foster
Wednesday January 23rd
6PM 6@6 reading of The Will To Knowledge written by Takeo Rivera
8PM Breaking Our Silence featuring by Joanna Hoffman, Charan P Morris, Storm Thomas & Elliott D. Smith
Thursday January 24th
6PM 6@6 reading of Love in a Time of Blood Quantum written by Tanaya Winder
8PM Black Girls Don’t Smile Mosaic in front of Strangers written by Mahogany L. Browne, Co-Presented with Hip Hop Theater Festival
Friday January 25th
6PM 6@6 reading of Braided Sorrow written by Marisela Trevio Orta
8PM Foreign Bodies written by Eboni Hogan
Saturday January 26th
6PM 6@6 reading of She Who Struggles by LaTonia Phipps
8PM faith written & performed by Caroline Rothstein, Co-Presented with Timberline Knolls
Sunday January 27th
2PM Foreign Bodies written by Eboni Hogan
6PM 6@6 reading of Untitled conceived by Natalia Duong, Co-Presented with Project Agent Orange
8PM From Table to Stage written & performed by Warrior Writers NYC