Bowie State Theater Students to Present Intimate Portraits of #MeToo Survivors

Play Uses Out-of-the-box Performance Techniques & Runs from April 23-28

MEDIA CONTACT: Damita Chambers, dchambers@bowiestate.edu, 301-832-2628 mobile

(BOWIE, Md.) – Bowie State University theater arts students have produced a full-length play that finds inspiration in the #MeToo movement, telling intimate stories of gender-based harassment and abuse. The play runs from April 23-28, 2019, in the Fine and Performing Arts Center, Black Box Theatre.

Under the direction of the Assistant Professor Elena Velasco, BSU theater arts students devised an immersive performance piece that shares the challenges and survival of victims of sexual violence. Through interviews, research and personal narratives, the students’ work gives voice to those who have remained silent for too long. Professor Velasco used her experience as a playwright and facilitator of social justice performance art to guide the students to develop a work to inspire conversations and bring awareness of these important issues.

The production uses out-of-the-box performance techniques to engage an intimate audience of 15 people each, allowing the audience to move in and out of traditional theater performance space. The play also incorporates silk choreography in a liminal space where characters ascend and fall, mirroring the extreme range of emotions experienced in trauma.

The final piece features the work of BSU student theater artists over two semesters: Ryan Anthony, Chamiah Brown, Mecca Bryant, Christina Cole, Rachel Crawford, Delante Dates, Gabrielle Hawkins, Lorenzo Henriquez, Anthony Hillian, Kayla Jackson, Whitney Jefferson, Kaylin Luces, Samuel Martinez, Andreana Miller, Shalom Omo-Osagie, Broderick Pitts, Nicholas Rogers, O'shah Thomas and Kima Williams.

Anthony, one of the student playwrights and actor in the production, said, “The immersive aspect of the show gives the audience no choice but to not only pay attention to the action, but have a level of intimacy that is unlike a traditional theatre experience. The #MeToo movement has allowed light to shed on a subject that had been very dormant for a very long time.”

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About Bowie State University
Bowie State University (BSU) is an important higher education access portal for qualified persons from diverse academic and socioeconomic backgrounds, seeking a high-quality and affordable public comprehensive university. The university places special emphasis on the science, technology, cybersecurity, teacher education, business, and nursing disciplines within the context of a liberal arts education. For more information about BSU, visit www.bowiestate.edu.