DNAWORKS and Stage West Theatre to Present AFTER ORLANDO

DNAWORKS and Stage West Theatre will present "AFTER ORLANDO: An International Theatre Action in Response to the Pulse Night Club Shooting", a staged reading, post show community dialogue, and reception at Stage West Theatre on Monday, January 30, 2017 at 7:00pm. Admission is free. Donations will be encouraged to benefit Ft. Worth's LGBTQ S.A.V.E.S., a local youth advocacy and service organization.

"AFTER ORLANDO" was originally conceived by NoPassport Theatre Alliance and Missing Bolts Productions in New York City as an evening of commissioned short plays by internationally-acclaimed playwrights to raise awareness of the lives lost in the Orlando massacre on June 12, 2016.

The evening of short plays addresses love, freedom, and community as well as the challenging themes of discrimination, stigma, and violence.

DNAWORKS and Stage West Theatre will produce the staged reading, in a partnership with Cara Mia Theatre Co. and Jubilee Theatre, and features works by J. Julian Christopher, Nathan Alan Davis, Deborah Zoe Laufer, David Lee, Anders Lustgarten, Jennifer Maisel, Winter Miller, Viet Nguyen, Giovanni Ortega, Monica Palacios, Katie Pearl, Sung Rno, Caridad Svich, Aradhana Tiwari, and Ken Urban. The cast is Edyka Chilomé, Ramy Eletreby, Aaron Green, Fernando Hernandez, Denise Lee, Oris Phillips, Jr., KyndAl Robertson, and Jenny Tucker.

The evening will include a community dialogue, allowing audience members the opportunity to engage with the issues raised in the work and to hear each other's stories. This process is at the center of DNAWORKS' mission, which is to catalyze dialogue in response to an artistic offering, providing an opportunity for people to connect more deeply and learn more about one another.

DNAWORKS Co-Director and NoPassport Press board member Daniel Banks directs "AFTER ORLANDO."

For the past five years, NoPassport has organized international human rights "reading schemes" during which members host readings of a chosen play during a particular time period to bring light and awareness to relevant social issues. Past reading schemes have included themes of climate change and female veterans returning from war. DNAWORKS successfully hosted previous NoPassport readings in Santa Fe, New Mexico and is excited to bring this unique project to the Dallas-Fort Worth Metroplex.

Zac Kline and Blair Baker of Missing Bolts Productions note: "As theatremakers, we have the ability to bring together many singular unique voices toward a common goal. We feel it is necessary to give artists a place to respond to the tragedy in Orlando and the current state of the world. We have invited some of the most admired theatre artists worldwide to participate; to share our grief, our anger, our hope and our desire to combat the violence we are now living with on a daily basis." NoPassport founder Caridad Svich remarks: "Making some healing art, some fiery art, some work that just says we can rise up from and through collective mourning."

The evening, made possible by the Tecovas Foundation with support from Ensemble Coworking, will benefit LGBTQ S.A.V.E.S. whose mission is to foster the well-being of LGBTQ students in the public schools of Fort Worth and surrounding communities by promoting safe, egalitarian, and supportive environments and policies.