The Brick Theater, Inc. and Rosie DeSantis Present LETTERS IN THE DIRT

Immersive and surreal, LETTERS IN THE DIRT places its audience face-to-face with the insightful Aiyana Jones- a seven-year-old girl fatally shot by police in 2010 during a botched raid in Detroit, now a symbol within the Movement for Black Lives. Structured like a game-ritual, the show lands it audience in a mysterious purgatory the night after Aiyana's killing, where they are greeted by a chorus of black children, invited to play a game, and provided objects that were once a part of Aiyana's life. To "play," the audience must use their objects to guide her through her memories to an understanding of her death. Participants learn her favorite playground games, and dream aloud with her about if "we was all free." All while celebrating black imagination and vulnerability, LETTERS IN THE DIRT creates a vibrant, intimate audience experience personal to all who participate.

LETTERS IN THE DIRT will play at The Brick (579 Metropolitan Ave at Lorimer Street, Williamsburg, Brooklyn) April 11-28, 2108. Tickets ($20) may be purchased online at www.bricktheater.com or by calling 866-811-4111.

Nigel Semaj B. is a New York City based director/choreographer and teaching artist from Washington, D.C. currently pursuing his MFA in Directing at The New School. Recent directing credits include colombinus at Lycoming College, and For Colored Girls at the Kennedy Center American College Theater Festival, which won awards in Ensemble Building and Direction. In addition to his theatrical work, he dedicates his time to social activism as a teacher and advocate of sex positivity and sexual assault awareness.

Rosie DeSantis is a poet, actress, teaching artist, theater-maker, and abolitionist from Detroit. Alum of the Experimental Theatre Wing at NYU, her writing has been featured in numerous national journals, including Rabbit Catastrophe Press as a 2017 finalist for the Pushcart "Real Good Poem" Prize. Her work in the theater has been read at the Billie Holiday Theater, and a number of local performance series. She directed and produced the debut of Letters in the Dirt in Winter 2017 at The Tank and Silent Barn.

The Brick is located at 579 Metropolitan Avenue (between Union Avenue and Lorimer Street) in Williamsburg, Brooklyn on the L & G subway lines (L: Lorimer stop; G: Metropolitan stop). For more detailed directions & further information, visit www.bricktheater.com. The Brick and its non-profit company, The Brick Theater, Inc. were founded in September of 2002 by Robert Honeywell and Michael Gardner. Formerly an auto-body shop, a storage space and a yoga center, this brick- walled garage was completely refurbished into a state-of-the-art theater complex, with a large sprung floor and professional lighting and sound package.

Winner of THE 2009 CAFFE CINO FELLOWSHIP AWARD, The Brick is Williamsburg, Brooklyn's destination for subversive theatrical experiences. Home to the critically acclaimed premieres of Bouffon Glass Menajoree (NY IT Award Winner-Outstanding Play), Samuel & Alasdair: A Personal History of the Robot War (NY IT Award Winner-Outstanding Play), Greed: A Musical Love $tory (NY IT Award Nominee-Outstanding Musical), Red Cloud Rising, Theatre of the Arcade and Suspicious Package (NY IT Award Nominee-Outstanding Play), The Brick has hosted some of downtown theater's most innovative artists, including Young Jean Lee, Kirk Wood Bromley, The Debate Society, Little Lord, Nellie Tinder, Title:Point, Target Margin Theater, Tom X. Chao, New Georges, Jason Grote, Annie Baker, The Mad Ones and Thomas Bradshaw.

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