TheatreFIRST We Rise Production

TheatreFIRST kicks off its autumn season with From the Ground Up: An Anthology of Ghost Stories Made New. This new work features 8 plays from different playwrights, all directed by 4 black, female directors - which in and of itself is a landmark achievement.

In our conversation, we speak with Cleavon Smith, playwright, Cheri Miller, director & performer, and Elizabeth Carter, director, about the pieces they are working on. We explore themes of intergenerational trauma, leaving legacies for future generations, redemption, and risk.

We pose the question, what have we been taught to fear… and by whom?

FROM THE GROUND UP: an anthology of ghost stories made new
Opens October 30th, runs thru November 17th
At Waterfront Playhouse & Conservatory, 2020 Fourth Street, Berkeley
Tickets available at theatrefirst.com
Learn more about returning Ohlone land at sogoreate-landtrust.com

“If women aren’t safe in their country, their family can protect them. And if they aren’t safe in their family their country can protect them. But what happens to women when they aren’t safe in their country or in their family?”
- Lali Putri in Far, Far Better Things

Director Katja Rivera and actor Kimiya Shokri join host Cat Petru and guest cultural workers Eri Guajardo Johnson and Nadya Tannous to delve into this critical question and more on this episode of the T1 podcast inspired by Geetha Reddy's original work Far, Far Better Things.

We name and explore the relationship between intimate and state violence against women - and discuss how we can show up for one another. Eri (creator of the Birth Bruja podcast) lends insight as a birthworker with over a decade of work at San Francisco Women Against Rape providing rape crisis support. Nadya, general coordinator of the Palestinian Youth Movement in the U.S., shares boldly and openly about both the violence endured and survival strategies enacted by Palestinian women and youth in their homeland and in diaspora.

Many threads are woven together on this episode; our resilience and our pain. A reminder to take exquisite care of yourself as you listen.

Connect with Eri on Instagram & Facebook @birthbruja
Connect with Nadya & PYM @palestinianyouthmovement

Far, Far Better Things runs April 25 - May 19 at the Live Oak Theater in Berkeley, CA.
Tickets at theatrefirst.com

Far, Far Better Things is a TheatreFIRST & Shotgun Players co-production

Music: 'Malo' by Spanish artist Bebe

“Theatre is dangerous… because it has the chance to be immediately and unstoppably revolutionary.”
- Michael Gene Sullivan, director of Sister Imani, veteran actor, playwright, and educator

On this episode of the TheatreFIRST podcast, join host & theatremaker Tierra Allen for a deep dive dialogue with playwright Cleavon Smith and director Michael Gene Sullivan on T1’s upcoming production “The Last Sermon of Sister Imani.”

Longtime artists, activists, and educators, Cleavon and Michael reflect on the promises and limitations of art as an agent of social change, challenge the norms of whitewashed theatremaking, and speak truthfully about strategies for black liberation.

How can we strategically navigate existing supremist systems and also build the world that we want?

Tune in, share your reflections, and go see The Last Sermon of Sister Imani!
Show runs Feb 14 - March 3. Tickets at theatrefirst.com.

Original music, “Kujichagulia” for Sister Imani, by Kristoffer Barerra.

“How do we share power so that we are continuing to center the folks who experience the most marginalization in this society, and thus actually have the most wisdom about how to change it?” - Tierra Allen, theatremaker, arts administrator, teaching artist, and activist

TheatreFIRST is an arts-as-activism organization. This podcast series is an extension of our commitment to the art and practice of collective liberation.

On this pilot episode, join producer Catherine Petru and T1 artists Tierra Allen and Cleavon Smith for a conversation about what makes San Francisco Bay Area-based arts organization TheatreFIRST so unique, and how we hope this podcast will ripple out into your lives.

Connect with us at theatrefirst.com and weriseproduction.com.

Original sound & music:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LcAz4MFtXZw&t=10s
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-HCEAVR5yXk&t=2s