NOW PLAYING...
Freedom Isn’t Finished: Black Midwest Voices Project
Freedom Isn’t Finished: Black Midwest Voices Project is a dynamic staged reading festival celebrating bold new work by Black playwrights from and connected to the Midwest. Rooted in the belief that stories are not complete until the community experiences them, this festival invites audiences into the creative process to witness, reflect, and engage with powerful new voices. Through a series of six short plays, the festival highlights diverse perspectives on identity, history, resistance, and liberation — honoring the unfinished work of freedom in our lives and communities.
Festival Plays & Playwrights1. Cut Short by Shawntai Brown
Set against the backdrop of Summer 2020, two former colleagues — and perhaps more — reconnect via Zoom to confront a silence that cost one their career and the other their integrity. Cut Short explores the complexities of friendship, accountability, and fear in a racially divided world.
2. Hattie by Krystle Dellihue
It is Oscar night, 1940. Hattie McDaniel is about to make history as the first Black person to win an Academy Award — but she’s told she cannot sit at the same table as her white co-stars. This poignant piece examines the high cost of breaking barriers and the quiet resilience required to claim space.
3. WWFD (What Would Fannie Do?) by Krystle Dellihue
A cynical young college student who believes his vote doesn’t matter is transported back to Mississippi in 1963 to witness the harsh realities of the fight for the ballot. This play bridges Civil Rights history and modern apathy, reminding us that freedom depends on each generation’s choices.
4. Sad and Low by Brandon Foxworth
In an intense and urgent exploration of mental health and brotherhood, four Black men on the verge of suicide find their separate realities merging into a shared mental space. Faced with a decision between devastation and the courage to stay, this piece challenges narratives around masculinity and survival.
5. Black, White, Gray by Vickie G. Hampton
In a 1950s Alabama laundromat, a Black man uses a simple white shirt to disrupt the local power structure and entrap the law in its own system of segregation. This masterful piece explores the moral and legal ambiguities of protest and resistance.
6. Different by Brooke Lindley
A compelling examination of identity and belonging, Different asks us what it means to be seen, heard, and valued when we don’t fit the norms — and how difference can become strength.
Performance Details📍 Location: Carver Center – Kalamazoo Civic Theatre
📅 Dates: February 12 – 15
Join us for a celebration of new voices, powerful storytelling, and communal exchange. Freedom Isn’t Finished isn’t just a weekend— it’s an invitation: step into the room with us, experience the work in motion, and help give these stories their breath and momentum.
Freedom Isn’t Finished: Black Midwest Voices Project is a dynamic staged reading festival celebrating bold new work by Black playwrights from and connected to the Midwest. Rooted in the belief that stories are not complete until the community experiences them, this festival invites audiences into the creative process to witness, reflect, and engage with powerful new voices. Through a series of six short plays, the festival highlights diverse perspectives on identity, history, resistance, and liberation — honoring the unfinished work of freedom in our lives and communities.
Festival Plays & Playwrights1. Cut Short by Shawntai Brown
Set against the backdrop of Summer 2020, two former colleagues — and perhaps more — reconnect via Zoom to confront a silence that cost one their career and the other their integrity. Cut Short explores the complexities of friendship, accountability, and fear in a racially divided world.
2. Hattie by Krystle Dellihue
It is Oscar night, 1940. Hattie McDaniel is about to make history as the first Black person to win an Academy Award — but she’s told she cannot sit at the same table as her white co-stars. This poignant piece examines the high cost of breaking barriers and the quiet resilience required to claim space.
3. WWFD (What Would Fannie Do?) by Krystle Dellihue
A cynical young college student who believes his vote doesn’t matter is transported back to Mississippi in 1963 to witness the harsh realities of the fight for the ballot. This play bridges Civil Rights history and modern apathy, reminding us that freedom depends on each generation’s choices.
4. Sad and Low by Brandon Foxworth
In an intense and urgent exploration of mental health and brotherhood, four Black men on the verge of suicide find their separate realities merging into a shared mental space. Faced with a decision between devastation and the courage to stay, this piece challenges narratives around masculinity and survival.
5. Black, White, Gray by Vickie G. Hampton
In a 1950s Alabama laundromat, a Black man uses a simple white shirt to disrupt the local power structure and entrap the law in its own system of segregation. This masterful piece explores the moral and legal ambiguities of protest and resistance.
6. Different by Brooke Lindley
A compelling examination of identity and belonging, Different asks us what it means to be seen, heard, and valued when we don’t fit the norms — and how difference can become strength.
Performance Details📍 Location: Carver Center – Kalamazoo Civic Theatre
📅 Dates: February 12 – 15
Join us for a celebration of new voices, powerful storytelling, and communal exchange. Freedom Isn’t Finished isn’t just a weekend— it’s an invitation: step into the room with us, experience the work in motion, and help give these stories their breath and momentum.
|
|