Event Title
Hands Up: Six Testaments
Location
7:30pm April 10 and 11 at Sandefur Theatre
Type of Presentation
50 minute presentation
Audience Type
High school students, High school teachers or counselors, College students, College teachers or advisors, High school parents, College parents, Other
Description
Last year, the New Black Fest in New York commissioned 10-minute works on Trayvon Martin, race and privilege, which were successfully presented in Akron by the Center for Applied Theatre and Active Culture (CATAC) and Ma’Sue Productions with support from UA’s Center for Conflict Management at Balch Street Theatre. This year the New Black Fest commissioned a series of monologues called “Hands Up: Six Testaments,” a project inspired by events in Ferguson, Mo., where in August 2014 a police officer fatally shot Michael Brown, an unarmed black teenager.
I propose that the UA Theatre Program produce a staged reading of “Hands Up” on the UA campus in Sandefur Theatre on April 10 and 11 at 7:30pm in conjunction with the Black Male Summit. The readings consist of six 10- to 15-minute monologues or “performance essays” by black male playwrights exploring topics related to the well-being of black men in a culture of institutional profiling, racism, and police violence. The performances will be followed by a discussion about the protests and debates that have come in the aftermath of Mr. Brown’s death and the deaths of other young African-American men across the country.
The six “testaments” to be featured are: “Superiority Fantasy” by Nathan James, “Holes in My Identity” by Nathan Yungerberg, “They Shootin! Or I Ain’t Neva Scared…” by Idris Goodwin, “Abortion” by Glenn Gordon, “Walking Next to Michael Brown” by Eric Holmes and “How I Feel,” by Dennis Allen II. The New Black Fest was founded in 2010 with a mission to develop and support new work among playwrights from the African diaspora.
“All of the work is in response to Ferguson or the state of the black male in this country,” Keith Josef Adkins, the artistic director of New Black Fest said in an interview about commissioning the works. The playwrights are mostly emerging writers. All are between 30 and 40 years old but come from diverse backgrounds, Mr. Adkins said. Their work is meant to “dig deeper into their personal politics instead of six guys saying the same thing.”
The UA Theatre Program will produce these plays in a staged reading format featuring students, faculty, and community actors and directors. The entire event will last about two hours.
Hands Up: Six Testaments
7:30pm April 10 and 11 at Sandefur Theatre
Last year, the New Black Fest in New York commissioned 10-minute works on Trayvon Martin, race and privilege, which were successfully presented in Akron by the Center for Applied Theatre and Active Culture (CATAC) and Ma’Sue Productions with support from UA’s Center for Conflict Management at Balch Street Theatre. This year the New Black Fest commissioned a series of monologues called “Hands Up: Six Testaments,” a project inspired by events in Ferguson, Mo., where in August 2014 a police officer fatally shot Michael Brown, an unarmed black teenager.
I propose that the UA Theatre Program produce a staged reading of “Hands Up” on the UA campus in Sandefur Theatre on April 10 and 11 at 7:30pm in conjunction with the Black Male Summit. The readings consist of six 10- to 15-minute monologues or “performance essays” by black male playwrights exploring topics related to the well-being of black men in a culture of institutional profiling, racism, and police violence. The performances will be followed by a discussion about the protests and debates that have come in the aftermath of Mr. Brown’s death and the deaths of other young African-American men across the country.
The six “testaments” to be featured are: “Superiority Fantasy” by Nathan James, “Holes in My Identity” by Nathan Yungerberg, “They Shootin! Or I Ain’t Neva Scared…” by Idris Goodwin, “Abortion” by Glenn Gordon, “Walking Next to Michael Brown” by Eric Holmes and “How I Feel,” by Dennis Allen II. The New Black Fest was founded in 2010 with a mission to develop and support new work among playwrights from the African diaspora.
“All of the work is in response to Ferguson or the state of the black male in this country,” Keith Josef Adkins, the artistic director of New Black Fest said in an interview about commissioning the works. The playwrights are mostly emerging writers. All are between 30 and 40 years old but come from diverse backgrounds, Mr. Adkins said. Their work is meant to “dig deeper into their personal politics instead of six guys saying the same thing.”
The UA Theatre Program will produce these plays in a staged reading format featuring students, faculty, and community actors and directors. The entire event will last about two hours.