Lydia R. Diamond, Neil LaBute and More Take Part in Center Stage's MY AMERICA TOO Video Series

Baltimore Center Stage announces MY AMERICA TOO, a series of guerrilla street theater videos that address the new civil rights movement. Videos will be released daily, and all will be available to view online by Dec. 12.

Six plays set around the kitchen table and inspired by recent events in America were filmed on the street at locations of high-profile recent killings in Sanford, FL; Cleveland, OH; Ferguson, MO; Staten Island, NY; Baltimore, MD; and Charleston, SC.

Playwrights include Lydia R. Diamond, Larissa FastHorse, Neil LaBute, Kenneth Lin, and Elyzabeth Gregory Wilder, in addition to Center Stage's Kwame Kwei-Armah and Hana Sharif.

"While the world is focused on Baltimore right now, we want to respond to this moment in history," says Center Stage Artistic Director Kwame Kwei-Armah. "This has been the year of the new civil rights in this country. America is a different country today than when I moved my family here from Britain four years ago to become Center Stage's artistic director. Freddie Gray and the Baltimore Uprising brought this national debate literally to the front steps of our theater, and there's no way we couldn't not contribute to this conversation."

MY AMERICA TOO is a production of CS Digital, Center Stage's initiative dedicated to the exploration of the intersection of technology, media, and the performing arts. Other CS Digital projects include My America and Global Sister Cities.

"MY AMERICA TOO supports Center Stage's mission to move into the 21st Century by making theater free and accessible for all," Kwei-Armah says. "We're constantly pushing the boundaries of theater, and we entered new territory with this approach of guerrilla street theater filmed in public locations in single takes."

Videos will be released daily on Center Stage's YouTube and Facebook pages, as well as at www.centerstage.org/myamericatoo.

MY AMERICA TOO SERIES LINEUP:

Middle of the Night
By Neil LaBute
Filmed in Staten Island, NY
Available online Dec. 7

That I Know for Sure
By Elyzabeth Gregory Wilder
Filmed in Sanford, FL
Available online Dec. 8

Safety Measures
By Lydia R. Diamond
Filmed in Ferguson, MO
Available online Dec. 9

Mr. Chen
By Kenneth Lin
Filmed in Baltimore, MD
Available online Dec. 10

Allies
By Larissa FastHorse
Filmed in Cleveland, OH
Available online Dec. 11

Mr. President
By Kwame Kwei-Armah + Hana Sharif
Filmed in Charleston, SC
Available online Dec. 12

In addition to the online component of MY AMERICA TOO, Center Stage will present a live event with MY AMERICA TOO screenings, live performances, and a new civil rights panel discussion at Center Stage at 7:30 p.m. Saturday, Dec. 12, and at 4 p.m. Sunday, Dec. 13.

President and Director-Counsel of NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund Sherrilyn Ifill will moderate the discussion Saturday, and Marc Steiner, host of The Marc Steiner Show on WEAA, will moderate the discussion Sunday.

Two performances courtesy of The New Black Fest (in collaboration with Dominique Morisseau)'s UN-TAMED: Hair Body Attitude - Short Plays by Black Women will be included with selected MY AMERICA TOO performances.

Seating is extremely limited, but the panel discussion will be livestreamed at HowlRound TV and on Center Stage's Periscope (centerstage_md). Questions will be encouraged via Twitter and Periscope. #newcivilrights #myamerica2

MY AMERICA TOO will be one of the last events in Center Stage's building before it closes for a year-long renovation project. Center Stage will continue to produce innovative, world-class theater in the greater Baltimore region while its building undergoes renovations, bringing theater to prisons and community centers, in addition to the final 2015/16 Season mainstage productions at Towson University's Center for the Arts, As You Like It and Detroit '67.

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