Featuring work from The Sống Collective, The Eagle Project, Teatro Luna, KC Melting Pot Theatre, The Movement Theatre Company, the Hawaiian Theatre Program of the Department of Theatre and Dance at the University of Hawai‘i at Mānoa, and Golden Thread Productions with Crowded Fire Theatre.
New York, NY - Theatre Communications Group (TCG), the national organization for theatre, announces that on Wednesday, August 12th, their 3rd Annual Theatres of Color celebration goes online with Too Legit to Quit: A Theatres of Color Virtual Event. The free event will feature music from DJ Ushka, the premiere of We Will Always Be Here by Ty Defoe & Kate Freer, the African Heritage Youth Theatre, an Art2Action showcase with multidisciplinary artists, and interactive breakout sessions with Theatres of Color. The evening will also honor and explore the social justice role that Theatres of Color play in their communities, and conclude with calls to action offered by representatives from Networks of Color. RSVP for this event here.
“The annual Theatres of Color celebration has been a joyful highlight of our National Conference the past two years,” said Teresa Eyring, executive director, TCG. “Thanks to the leadership of Elena Chang and Sarah Machiko Haber, that celebration has moved online and kept the same creative energy and community-building spirit. While Theatres of Color face rising challenges, from the impact of the pandemic to resurgent and structural racism, their work remains more indispensable than ever, and they must be celebrated and supported.”
“We’re honored to be working with such fierce BIPOC artist-activists for this year’s Theatre of Color celebration,” said Elena Chang, director of Equity, Diversity & Inclusion Initiatives, TCG. “Their courageous pieces are a testament to the resiliency of Theatres and Artists of Color, and demonstrate the power of the arts, social justice, and community-building in a virtual space.”
Art2Action Artistic Director and showcase curator Andrea Assaf states, “It’s extremely exciting to participate in the 3rd Annual TOC Event, and to witness the strides TCG is making in centering artists of color in this critical time. I’m thrilled to have the opportunity to spotlight the inspiring work of these artists, who against all odds, are truly ‘Too Legit to Quit!’”
The Art2Action Showcase features:
- William S. Yellow Robe Jr., playwright and member of the Assiniboine Tribe from the Fort Peck Sioux and Assiniboine Tribes, offering his reflections, “COVID - White Man’s Virus + History.”
- Kristina Wong, performance artist, writer, and elected representative of Koreatown Los Angeles, will perform an excerpt from Sweatshop Overlord as part of the Auntie Sewing Squad.
- Anu Yadav, actress, playwright, and cultural worker, will share a piece from Meena’s Dream.
- Ifrah Mansour, multimedia artist, educator, and Somali refugee, will offer poetry.
- Spirit McIntyre, a gender-expansive cellist, lyricist, vocalist, sound healer, wellness advocate, and Reiki practitioner, will share their piece about Black Lives Matter.
- Sunder Ganglani was the dramaturg and will present Charlotte Braithwaite’s voting-themed work, Casting the Vote.
The interactive breakout sessions will use Zoom breakout rooms to spotlight shows from Theatres of Color with productions interrupted by current pandemic, including:
- Golden Thread Productions and Crowded Fire Theatre Company’s (San Francisco, CA) co-production of On The Periphery, a tender portrayal of the lives of social outcasts in Istanbul’s urban slums mirroring the displacement, migration, and gentrification in the Bay Area.
- KC Melting Pot Theatre’s (Kansas City, MO) production of Lewis J. Morrow’s Baybra’s Tulips, a visceral tale of a brother and sister, Baybra and Tellulah, who must identify the boundaries of sibling love after Baybra returns home from ten years in prison.
- Teatre Luna’s (Chicago, IL) The Times is built on and with responses from Women of Color around the country to our decaying relationship to truth in a genre-defying piece of political theatre structured as an immersive meditation.
- The Eagle Project (New York, NY) will share an excerpt of The Rabbit Play by Opalanietet Pierce, remarks on decolonizing wealth from Iakowi:'he'ne Oake, and a Q&A with them both.
- The Sống Collective (New York, NY) will present excerpts from an online storytelling event called Collective Stories that includes video, song, a monologue, and a Q&A.
- The Movement Theatre Company’s (New York, NY) 1MOVE is a digital content series born out of a need to swiftly respond to the many human rights and social issues continuously affecting communities.
- The Theatre program at the University of Hawai‘i at Manoa is renowned for its Asian theatre productions and course offerings, as well as programs in Western and Hawaiian theatre (acting, directing, history, theory), design, playwriting and TYA (theatre for young audiences).
Theatre Communications Group (TCG) exists to strengthen, nurture, and promote professional theatre in the U.S. and globally. Since its founding in 1961, TCG’s constituency has grown from a handful of groundbreaking theatres to over 700 Member Theatres and affiliate organizations and nearly 8,000 Individual Members. Through its Core Values of Activism, Artistry, Diversity, and Global Citizenship, TCG advances a better world for theatre and a better world because of theatre. TCG offers its members networking and knowledge-building opportunities through research, communications, and events, including the annual TCG National Conference, one of the largest nationwide gatherings of theatre people; awards grants and scholarships to theatre companies and individual artists; advocates on the federal level; and through the Global Theater Initiative, TCG's partnership with the Laboratory for Global Performance and Politics, serves as the U.S. Center of the International Theatre Institute. TCG is North America’s largest independent trade publisher of dramatic literature, with 18 Pulitzer Prizes for Drama on the TCG booklist. It also publishes the award-winning American Theatre magazine and ARTSEARCH®, the essential source for a career in the arts. In all of its endeavors, TCG seeks to increase the organizational efficiency of its Member Theatres, cultivate and celebrate the artistic talent and achievements of the field, and promote a larger public understanding of, and appreciation for, the theatre. TCG is led by Executive Director/CEO, Teresa Eyring and Deputy Director/COO, Adrian Budhu. www.tcg.org.
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