GUN CONTROL THEATRE ACTION 2013
Chiori Miyagawa hosts NoPassport Gun Control Theatre Action in collaboration with force/collision, NY Madness and NYTR an evening of works in support of gun control featuring plays* by Elaine Avila, Neil LaBute, Gab Cody, Cecilia Copeland, Amina Henry, Yvette Heyliger, Zac Kline, Jennifer Maisel, Lynn Manning, Oliver Mayer, Winter Miller, Chiori Miyagawa, August Schulenberg, Saviana Stanescu, Caridad Svich, Gary Winter, and Laura Zam. Cast includes: Jody Christopherson, Reyna de Courcy, Kristen Connolly, Noah Galvin, Yvette Heyliger, Craig Mums Grant, Greg Keller, Jocelyn Kuritsky, Bhavesh Patel, Karin Rosnizeck, Suejin Song, Laura Zam and more. on April 29th, 2013 at 6:30 PM at New Dramatists, 424 West 44th Street, NYC. This is a free, Pen and Swill event at New Dramatists. Starting April 1st: RSVP by phone to New Dramatists 212-757-6960. *These plays and more are published in 24 GUN CONTROL PLAYS (NoPassport Press, 2013) Facebook event: https://www.facebook.com/events/542656169087934/
NoPassport Gun Control Theatre Action History: On January 15, 2013 NoPassport theatre alliance and press invited dramatists, storytellers and poets to send work in the 3-7 minute range and take part in a Theatre Action from January 25-28, 2013 to coincide with the March on Washington for Gun Control organized by citizen-artist Molly Smith and her partner Suzanne Blue Star Boy. On January 19, 2013 NATIONAL DAY OF SERVICE CALL: Just two days before the President Obama's inauguration, Americans will be celebrating the legacy of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. during the National Day of Service. On this day the President will be asking Americans to make an ongoing commitment in their communities, focusing on seven issue areas: health, faith, education, the environment, honoring our veterans, community resilience, and economic development. For the National Day of Service, Twinbiz (Yvette Heyliger, Playwright/Founder) will be supporting this Theatre Action organized by NoPassport and its call for short plays. Twinbiz, writes, directs and produces original works for the theatre, with a special interest in social change. For information about the NYC National Day of Service event hosted by Twinbiz On January 26, 2013 in Washington D.C. NoPassport in collaboration with Theater J (Ari Roth, Artistic Director) and force/collision (John Moletress, founder) curated and hosted a live theatre action at Georgetown University’s Gonda Theatre from 5-6:20 PM after Theater J’s performance of BOGED (TRAITOR): AN ENEMY OF THE PEOPLE. A simultaneous action in collaboration with Pittsburgh PACT was staged on January 26, 2013 co-curated by Kyle Bostian and Tammy Ryan. On February 22, 2013: National Day of Action for Gun Control: 24 GUN CONTROL PLAYS was publised by NoPassport Press edited by Zac Kline and Caridad Svich. The book brings together new work in support of gun control from playwrights Neil LaBute, Elaine Avila, Kyle Bostian, Neil Blackadder, Alex Broun, Gab Cody, Tameka Cage Conley, Cecilia Copeland, Yvette Heyliger, Amina Henry, Zac Kline, Jennifer Maisel, Lynn Manning, Oliver Mayer, Chiori Miyagawa, Matthew Paul Olmos, Ian Rowlands, Tammy Ryan, August Schulenburg, Saviana Stanescu, Caridad Svich, Chris Weikel, Winter Miller, Gary Winter, and Laura Zam. The volume features an essay by Tammy Ryan and a reflection and interview by DW Gregory. Selected works in this volume were presented in collaboration with NoPassport, Theater J and force/collision in Washington D.C. on January 26, 2013, and with Pittsburgh PACT to coincide with the March on Washington for Gun Control led by Molly Smith and Suzanne Blue Star Boy. These dynamic works for theatre are a rousing call to action. A % of the sales of this volume will go toward Amnesty International's Arms Control and Human Rights Campaign: No Arms for Atrocities. ISBN: 978-1-300-76771-8 print on demand paperback 6 X 9 (ebook forthcoming) 78 lbs.US Retail: $15.00. Direct purchase link:http://www.lulu.com/shop/caridad-svich-and-zac-kline/24-gun-control-play...
Why a Theatre Action Now?
NoPassport theatre alliance and press is committed to the advocacy, promotion, production and publication of creative expressions of diversity and difference in theatre and performance. It is also committed to interventionist actions, through theatre-making, in culture toward peace, healing, forgiveness, positive action, and resistance to uncivil actions.
The tragedy at Sandy Hook Elementary in Newtown, Connecticut this December 2012 prefigured by gun-related tragedies sustained in Aurora, Colorado may be viewed (perhaps by some) as tragic, isolated incidents, but it is important to consider how stricter gun control laws may have prevented their occurrence. How do we as a nation in the US reconcile incidents of senseless violence against our citizens, be they young or old? Since the massacre at Columbine High School in 1999, the massacre at Virginia Tech in 2007, and the shooting that targeted Gabrielle Giffords in Tucson in 2011, (to name only three gun-related events in recent US history), national discussion in the arts and media, and halls of law and governance has turned toward how to cope with increased violence in our society and “easy” access to guns. Calls for gun control arise in our culture every time devastating tragedies of this nature occur. Fourteen years after the Columbine massacre, we still ask ourselves what to do?
As citizens and artists, let us raise our voices in protest and mourning; every step we take toward the making of work that encourages a more just society counts.
How can theatre transform and speak poetically to our lives? How can we let art live within us and see our world anew? How to continue to engage civically in the nexus between art and practice and life?
NoPassport asks these questions with any conference, reading, publication, spoken word salon or scholars symposium it stages. The same is true with this 2013 call for action.
BASIC GUIDELINES
All work must be in the three-seven minute range. Must be able to be performed script in hand. Monologues, poems and two-person scenes are encouraged, due to the lo-fi nature of this theatre action. All work presented during January 25-28, 2013 theatre action is performed free of charge and all rights to work belong to the individual authors. This theatre action is curated by Caridad Svich, playwright and founder of NoPassport along with playwright and dramaturg Zac Kline. Further information and guidelines will posted on this webpage in the following weeks.
PLAY SUBMISSIONS: First deadline January 15, 2013. National Day of Service deadline January 19, 2013.
NoPassport is an unincorporated alliance and a sponsored project of Fractured Atlas. NoPassport is devoted to the advocacy, publication and production of cross-cultural work that celebrates aesthetic difference and diversity. Donations for NoPassport’s work may go directly to www.fracturedatlas.org/donate/
PRESS RELEASE
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Media Contacts: Caridad Svich | nopassport2013forguncontrol@gmail.com, and Karin Rosnizeck (force/collision) | |press@force/collision.org | 401-369-5080
NEIL LABUTE, MATTHEW PAUL OLMOS, JENNIFER MAISEL, OLIVER MAYER, WINTER MILLER, IAN ROWLANDS AND MORE SUPPORT NOPASSPORT’s GUN CONTROL THEATRE ACTION WITH THEATER J AND FORCE/COLLISION ON JANUARY 26, 2013 in WASHINGTON D.C.
New York, NY and Washington D.C. – NoPassport theatre alliance & press founded by 2012 OBIE-award winning playwright Caridad Svich will stage a free theatre action to support gun control in collaboration with Theater J (Ari Roth, Artistic Director) and interdisciplinary arts ensemble force/collision (John Moletress, founder) and Twinbiz (Yvette Heyliger, founder) at Georgetown University’s Gonda Theatre in Washington D.C. on Saturday, January 26, 2012 at 5:00 pm, following Theater J’s performance of BOGED (TRAITOR): AN ENEMY OF THE PEOPLE. This theatre action will feature new work by playwrights Neil LaBute (reasons to be pretty), Jennifer Maisel (The Last Seder), Oliver Mayer (Blade to the Heat), Winter Miller (In Darfur), Matthew Paul Olmos (I put the fear of mexico in ‘em), Ian Rowlands (Welsh Arts Council), Gary Winter (13p), August Schulenburg (Flux Theatre Ensemble, NY), Caridad Svich (The House of the Spirits) and more under the direction of the force/collision ensemble.
This free theatre action will consist of readings of new work to coincide with the March on Washington for Gun Control organized by citizen-artist Molly Smith and her partner Suzanne Blue Star Boy. Actors currently scheduled to take part in this event include Jocelyn Kuritsky (core member, Woodshed Collective, New York), Rachel Zampelli, Mark Krawczyk, Frank Britton, Howard Wahlberg, Dexter William Hamlett, Sue Jin Song and Karin Rosnizeck. The lead dramaturge for this NoPassport theatre alliance event is Zac Kline.
About the companies involved: NoPassport theatre alliance and press was founded by playwright Caridad Svich in 2003 and is committed to the advocacy, promotion, production and publication of creative expressions of diversity and difference in theatre and performance. (www.nopassport.org). Based in Washington D.C. Theater J produces thought-provoking, publicly engaged, personal, passionate and entertaining plays and musicals that celebrate the distinctive urban voice and social vision that are part of the Jewish cultural legacy and frequently partners with those of other faiths and communities, stressing the importance of interchange among a great variety of people wishing to take part in frank, humane conversations about conflict and culture (www.theaterj.org). Force/collision was created by theatre director John Moletress for the purpose of bringing together artists of mixed disciplines in order to spark dialogue and create space for the presentation of new work (www.force-collision.org). Twinbiz, founded by playwright Yvette Heyliger, writes, directs and produces original works for the theatre with a special interest in social change.
As part of the call for the National Day of Service, NoPassport and Twinbiz invites writers and theatre venues to join this theatre action. For direct enquiries send to nopassport2013forguncontrol@gmail.com Tickets to the NoPassport Gun Control Theatre Action at The Gonda Theatre are free. Directions to the Gonda Theatre are on Theater J’s website. For more information visit http://www.nopassport.org/gun-control-theatre-action-2013
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