Anacostia Playhouse

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Yo-Yo Ma’s Bach Project

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Yo-Yo Ma’s Bach Project

Exploring How Culture connects us.

 

A day of conversation and action

How can culture and the arts build local equity in Southeast Washington, DC?

 

November 30, 2018

 

The Events

 

Mural Creation

Anacostia High School, 1601 16th St SE

9:30 AM

A mural celebrating Anacostia will be designed and painted in partnership with students from Anacostia High School and Turner Elementary, with support from Kennedy Center and Project Create. Free and open to the public.

 

Prelude to Activities

We Act Radio, 1918 Martin Luther King Ave SE

12:00 PM

Yo-Yo Ma plays the Prélude from Bach’s first cello suite to open the day. A moment of reflection on the past, celebration of the present, and hope for the future.

Imagining Equitable Futures

 

Town Hall Think-In

Anacostia Playhouse, 2020 Shannon Pl SE

3:00 PM

District leaders, small business owners, artists, and community members come together to discuss building local equity in a conversation using Playback Theater models, which encourage personal storytelling and reflection. Representatives from across sectors, including business, government, and arts and culture, will participate in an engaging public forum followed by panel conversation. Free and open to the public; space is limited.

 

Small Business Happy Hour & Gallery Opening: “In Between & Black Gold”

Anacostia Arts Center, 1231 Good Hope Road SE

5:30 PM

The Anacostia Arts Center opens a double exhibit in partnership with two Southeast DC galleries, representing six local artists on themes of Afrofuturism and black equity. The small businesses in the arts center and in downtown Anacostia, all with a cultural focus (fashion store Nubian Hueman, micro-business collective and theater space The Den Reading Room & Artist Exchange, Mahogany Books, We Act Radio, Check It, an LGBTQ fashion label, and more) will participate in an open house, with local beer and food, a DJ, and special offers for attendees. A boutique concert featuring celebrated bassist Esperanza Spalding and local performers will pop up in Nubian Hueman, and Yo-Yo Ma will lead the gallery artists in a short public conversation about their work. Free and open to the public.

 

The Bach Project

Yo-Yo Ma set out to perform Johann Sebastian Bach’s six suites for solo setting, in one setting in 36 locations around the world. Alongside each concert is a day of action, a series of conversations and collaborations that explore how culture can help us imagine and build a better future.

 

A Project of

The Bach Project

The Kennedy Center

The Anacostia Arts Center

Nubian Hueman

WE ACT Radio

Anacostia Playhouse

The Den

HBC Theater Company

TribeFest DC

Pinky Swear Productions presents BLIGHT

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Pinky Swear Productions presents BLIGHT

written by John Bavoso

directed by Ryan Maxwell

Can a home be haunted by the actions of its owners? That’s the question at the heart of John Bavoso’s BLIGHT, which will have its rolling world premiere DC production by Pinky Swear Productions at the Anacostia Playhouse beginning in October.

In BLIGHT, Silvia and Cat Henson have just moved from a tiny apartment in Washington, DC, into their sprawling dream home in the small, affluent town of Greenville, Delaware. But the house only happens to be in their price range because it was most recently the home of a teenaged mass shooter and his single mother. Within days of moving in, they’re confronted by a mayor who wants to erase their house from the map, a neighbor who’s on a mission to turn it into a memorial, and an alarmingly chipper consultant who specializes in the macabre. Silvia and Cat are forced to grapple with whether now is the right time to bring a new baby into the world, or let the house create an irreparable rift between them and their new community.

Blight runs from October 19- November 11.

For tickets, click here. 

Visions/Revisions: Anacostia Playhouse New Works Festival

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Anacostia Playhouse New Works Festival

Anacostia Playhouse is pleased to announce the winners of our first-ever new play festival, Visions/Revisions! Eight new and non-produced 10-minute plays have been selected and will be presented as staged readings with professional actors and directors.

These plays address the themes of deterioration and renovation, both physically and socially, over the course of Anacostia’s long history. Anacostia has undergone many physical and social changes from the time of the Nacochtank Native American settlement along the Anacostia River, to the founding of Union Town, to today. These submissions examine the impact of revisionist history on Anacostia and its residents.

This New Works Festival will be held November 15–17 at the Anacostia Playhouse located in historic Anacostia in Washington DC. The festival is an opportunity to introduce new playwrights to Washington’s theater community and establish relationships between writers, producers and directors.

Our winning line up:

Anacostia Bound

Playwright: Debbie M. Jackson

Director: Bryanda Minix

 

Struggles on the Stoop

Playwright: Breonna Young

Director: Bryanda Minix

 

Anacostogia

Playwright: Deidre “Creative Soul” Gantt

Director: Jared Shamberger

 

What to Old Ana is the Lion of Anacostia

Playwright: John H. Muller

Director: Jared Shamberger

 

Modern Geography

Playwright: Darien Mitchell

Director: Charlotte La Nasa

 

The Water of Her Noblest Rivers

Playwright: Andrew Martineau

Director: Charlotte La Nasa

 

Grand Opening

Playwright: Alan Sharpe

Director: Teshonne Powell

 

The Eight

Playwright: Rahima Rice

Director: Teshonne Powell

 

Plays are separated into Group A and Group B.

 

Group A, performing November 15 at 8 PM and November 17 at 3 PM includes

Anacostia Bound, Grand Opening, Modern Geography, and What to Old Ana is the Lion of Anacostia

 

Group B, performing November 16 at 8 PM and November 17 at 8 PM includes

Struggles on the Stoop, Anacostogia, The Water of Her Noblest Rivers, and The Eight

 

All tickets are PWYC and available by clicking here.

Young Playwrights’ Theater- Silence is Violence: Mothering While Black

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Young Playwrights’ Theater presents,
Silence is Violence: Mothering While Black
True stories and reflections on Black motherhood from the young women of Olaiya’s Cradle through spoken word poetry, monologues and more. Featuring Zipporah Brown, Tamieka Chavis, Ayesis Clay, Kenya D. Morris and Chinna Palmer.

Healer and activist Erika Totten, co-creator of Black Lives Matter DC and founder of Unchained Visioning, will facilitate an interactive discussion following the performance.

We’re proud to partner with Sasha Bruce Youthwork and its program Olaiya’s Cradle, a service program for young women who are mothers.

Dates: October 23 & 24
Time: 7pm – 9pm

This event is $15 for adults and FREE for young people 18 and under.

Mnemonic – Industry Night

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Fiercely relevant to today’s turbulent political climate, Theater Alliance’s production, Mnemonic, uses physically driven storytelling and 21st century technology to reveal a shared humanity in a world that is always moving—by choice or circumstance.

Praised as “a compelling tale for the era of the global village” (Variety), this groundbreaking show—which was created and originally devised by the British theater company Complicite and directed by Simon McBurney—has been updated to reflect American touchstones and world events.

Mnemonic brings to life several interrelated stories. The narrative moves from the journey of a modern woman, Alice in search for her long-lost father in Eastern Europe, to her partner Virgil whom she suddenly left nine months ago, to the discovery of a 5,000 year-old iceman and an investigation into his mysterious fate. These stories will be woven together with vivid movement led by Colin Hovde and Dody DiSanto—director of the Center for Movement Theater and a teaching protégé of Jacques Lecoq himself—alongside expressive visuals from projections designer Patrick W. Lord.

Mnemonic features Scenic Design by Tony Cisek, Lighting Design by William K. D’Eugenio, Sound Design by Matthew M. Nielson, Costume Design by Danielle Preston, and Properties by Alex Vernon.

CAST

Virgil – Carlos Saldaña
Alice – Teresa Spencer
Ensemble – Jon Reynolds
Ensemble – Vanita Kalra
Ensemble – Elena Day
Ensemble – Jonathan Martin*
Ensemble – Michael Burgos
*Member Actor’s Equity Association

From March 16 to April 9: Thursday–Saturday at 8 PM; Sunday at 3 PM

TICKETS

Tickets for Mnemonic are available at www.theateralliance.com or by calling 202.241.2539.

Click here for tickets

Full-Price Adult $ 40 (no online ticketing fees)
Student/Student/Military $ 30 (no online ticketing fees)

Group Sales: Groups of 10 or more qualify for group discounts. Please call 202.241.2539 for more information or contact the box office at info@theateralliance.com

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