Are you wondering about these two events happening on Monday night?
Here is a little more info for you to get excited.
BUT FIRST - TICKET LINKS
MORE ABOUT THE SHOWS
ALL ABOUT MARIE GODDAMN MARIE  “There is just so much hurt, disappointment, and oppression one can take... The line between reason and madness grows thinner.” ~Rosa Parks Marie, GODDAMN MARIE!, is a Magical Realist, Absurdist, Dark Comedy, Horror story about creole and black women and girls (age range from 10-70) striving to claim power and agency over their lives through political and supernatural means in 1870s New Orleans. They were able to install TWO African-American men into the office of Governor of Louisiana in the late 19th Century. This play blends genres. This play and its telling should be impossible. It attempts to deconstruct the prominent “-isms” (racism, sexism, colorism) and phobias (transphobia, homophobia, xenophobia) that still plague our society to this day. **This play includes derogatory language and content about racism, colorism, antisemitism, ethnicity, misogyny, transphobia, pedophilia, white slavery, sexual assault and rape. Some subject matter may be triggering for some. Black and Creole women and girls have never been depicted like this on the American stage. TIME/SETTING: Early 1870s New Orleans Playwright's Notes: This story is told with the use of historical events and amalgamations of figures from history in a plausible "What if?" framework. While this play isn't entirely 100% accurate in regard to timing of events, it is still based in truth. The concept of time is experimented with in this play. Time unfolds in various ways depending upon where the action is happening in the house. BIG QUESTIONS Marie GODDAMN MARIE! ASKS: What is racism/misogyny/transphobia? How does it work? At a granular level, how does a racist's/ misogynist's/ transphobe's mind work? What are they willing to sacrifice to remain hateful? What does radical forgiveness look like in public? What happens to those without remorse or repentance? What happens to the oppressed when they regain their agency and dignity? What was the quality of life for varying expressions of femininity in this time period? What was the life of a trans woman like in 19th century New Orleans? What social constructs negatively affected the women? How can I get the audience to accept the possibility of humanity evolving past these isms, phobias and normalized systems of oppression? WHY THIS PLAY AT THIS TIME? The world in too many aspects seems to be de-evolving. There aren't enough stories being told with BIPOC (Black, Indigenous, and People Of Color) women having power and agency or finding/demanding/obtaining their power and agency. What does the life of a fully emancipated BIPOC woman look like? I want audiences to shift their paradigm and think of the world without these oppressive systems and put in the work to make that vision become reality. Featuring: Mila Besson (Narrator/Stage Directions) Chris Wight (Cazelar and Mr. Pike) Frank Pagliaro (Franklin and Josephine) Jordan Tierney (P.B.S. Pinchback) Sarah Doneghy (Odette) Edwina Morales (Danielle) Archi Patel (Audrey) Giovanna K Brown (Mae) Debra Khan-Bey* (Thea) Marie Louise Guinier* (Marie) Yeauxlanda Kay* (Salome/Playwright) *appears courtesy of Actors Equity Association | EXPANSION at La Mama Shares NIGHT 1  EstroGenius Co-Producer and Curator maura nguyen donohue brings you incredible artists Sheree V. Campbell, Rachel Deforrest Repinz, Enya-Kaila Jordan, Mar Talavera-Tejeda and more!  Sheree V. Campbell offers flux/flow/grow layers of her voice and music  If I Could Just Reach Out and Touch It, by Rachel DeForrest Repinz is an intimate multi-sensory performance exploring girlhood, grief, and how to make the perfect pot of coffee. Utilizing experimental approaches to audio description and accessibility as creative praxis, the cast invites audiences to be immersed in their world.  Ebonic Bodies in Motion, by Enya-Kalia Jordan. If Black feminism is to womanism, as purple is to lavender, then the Ebonic body is my jam, acting as a joyful celebration of us ratchet Black girls as scholars and innovators - This choreographic work is a Black ‘fly gurl’ (i)teration of "Ebonic Bodies in Motion: Discerning the Metaphysical Emergence of African American Vernacular Embodiment” which centers Black women in Brooklyn, their knowledge systems, and African American Vernacular English (AAVE). This work celebrates and cultivates dance performance, prioritizing Black women’s embodiment as expressed across the body, movement, sound, and aesthetics. It imagines AAVE as soul communication expressed as both spoken and movement languages voiced from the Black "fly gurl's" prerogative. This developing choreography work plays with projection, and light to discuss how the Ebonic body transcends and is viewed from moment to moment. It also utilizes colloquialisms, poetic verse, and documentary to compliment Black women's stories told through movement.This multi-module project (written research, oral stories, choreography, documentary, pedagogy) is apart of Enya-Kalia Jordan's practice-based dissertation research, which utilizes a decolonial activist methodology, asking the audience to consider which bodies are traditionally considered changemakers and culture creators  Por Debajo de la Rodilla, by Mar Talavera-Tejeda is a dance piece that explores the human urge to be saved, seen, and forgiven by a higher power and entity. This work research is guided by the perspective that the body has its unique language that speaks for us, revealing hidden truths that transcend our consciousness and carry our ancestors' wisdom, memories, and knowledge. |