Civic Ensemble Springs Into April And May With Exciting Collaborations

This spring Civic Ensemble joins The Cherry, Cornell University's Department of Performing and Media Arts, Hangar Theatre, and Kitchen Theatre Company to bring three provocative new productions to Ithaca audiences. Presented between April 28th and May 17th, these works tackle race and gender in America from three distinct perspectives. See below for the full line-up!

Baltimore

by Kristen Greenidge

Directed by Sarah K. Chalmers

Baltimore tells the story of Shelby Wilson, an African-American resident adviser for a group of freshmen at a college in New England. When a racist caricature is drawn on the dorm door of one of her black students, she is forced to reevaluate her naive belief that she lives in a post-racial society, and she must help strive for peace on campus. The play, Civic Ensemble's second annual collaboration with Cornell's Department of Performance and Media Arts, references true events, including the riots in Ferguson, the Black Lives Matter movement, and the deaths of Michael Brown, Trayvon Martin, Tamir Rice, FrEddie Gray, and Sandra Bland.

When: April 28-29 and May 5-6, Fridays and Saturdays at 7:30pm and Saturday May 6th 2pm

Where: The Schwartz Center for the Performing Arts, 430 College Avenue, Ithaca, NY 14850

Tickets: $15 Adults, $8 Students and Seniors. Tickets available at the Schwartz Center Box Office: 254-2787 or online. Free tickets are available for those who could not otherwise attend the play. Please click here or call Civic Ensemble at 607-241-0195

She Persists

A devised work by women-identified members of the Ithaca community

She Persists is the culminating performance of a yearlong workshop dedicated to developing a community of women. Using the template of consciousness-raising groups that sprung out of the Women's Movement, the women's performance workshop creates a safe space for women to talk about their personal lives and socially relevant issues. The final performance, collaboratively crafted from these conversations, reflects the breadth of the participants' experiences and stories as women-identified members of the Ithaca community.

When: May 11-14, Thursday-Saturday at 7:30pm, Sunday at 4:00pm

Where: Lehman Alternative Community School, 111 Chestnut Street, Ithaca, NY 14850

Tickets: Purchase online for $10 - $20, and Limited number of Pay-What-You-Can tickets at the door or call Civic Ensemble at 607-241-0195.

4 Plays - 100 Years

A collaboration in celebration of women's suffrage

To celebrate the centennial of the Women's Suffrage in New York State, the Hangar Theatre, Kitchen Theatre Company, Civic Ensemble and Cherry Arts commissioned an evening of new short plays. Inspired by the Women's Suffrage movement and funded in part by the New York Council on the Humanities, these plays will be performed together on May 16th and 17th, 2017 at the Kitchen Theatre.

The plays being presented are:

Hangar Theatre: MARCH ON! Script by Fengar Gael Anthem

Music and lyrics by Sheilah Rae

Kitchen Theatre Company: MRS. SATAN AND THE NASTY WOMAN
A short play By Alice Eve Cohen

Civic Ensemble: IN THE PARLOUR by Judy Tate

The Cherry: ESOPUS by Lyrae Van Clief-Stefanon and

DON'T DREAM by Saviana Stanescu,
Soundscape by Annie Lewandowski

When: May 16-17 @ 7:30pm

Where: Kitchen Theatre Company, 417 West State/MLK Street, Ithaca, NY 14850

Tickets: Call 607-272-0403 for information.

Civic Ensemble is a non-profit theatre company that produces new plays by or about women and people of color, re-imaginings of classics, and community-based plays that explore and explode the social, political, and cultural issues of our time. Through the production of plays, after-school and in-school education programs for young people, and civic engagement programs with Ithaca community members, the company works to bring audiences of different races, classes, and experiences together in a public forum on the American experiment.

Photo Credit: Adam Baker

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