HartBeat Ensemble Announces First Women's Theatre Festival Presentation For 2019

HartBeat Ensemble kicks off its 2019 WTF! (Women's Theatre Festival), a three-event series celebrating the artistic endeavors of women and non-binary playwrights, with Tonille Simone Watkis's No Boxes Allowed. Watkis, a resident of Bloomfield, CT, premiered this solo show in 2014 at the Soho Playhouse in Manhattan as a capstone project for her Adelphi University degree in Theatre Arts. She has subsequently performed this piece on identity and self-empowerment in various venues. No Boxes Allowed will be performed at HartBeat Ensemble's Carriage House Theatre for one performance only on Friday, April 12th at 7:30pm.

Written and performed by Tonille Simone Watkis, No Boxes Allowed hilariously depicts the playwright's journey from childhood through adolescence and beyond as she attempts to build her self esteem as a plump brown skinned girl and daughter of Jamaican immigrants in melting pot America. Over the last five years, Watkis has enjoyed touring and performing her autobiographical one woman play for audiences across the United States and Jamaica, reminding audiences that each person contains much more than one box can hold.

Tonille Simone Watkis has been making a name for herself in the pageant world since the age of six. She was crowned Miss Jamaica Supranational 2018 and in 2019 she will travel to Poland to compete in the prestigious international Miss Supranational Pageant amongst contestants from 84 other countries. In 2016-2017, Tonille was named Miss Black USA and served as a goodwill ambassador to the Republic of Sierra Leone, Cuba and Jamaica. She was also an ambassador of ORS Olive Oil Hair care's No Stereotypes campaign. Tonille put her gifts and talents as a performer and arts educator to good use to collaborate with the Jamaica Ambassador programs to provide arts education to under privileged youth in Jamaica.

Tonille is also a trained actress. She graduated with a Bachelors of Fine Arts degree in Theatre from Adelphi University in New York and a diploma in Classical Acting from the London Academy of Music and Dramatic Art in England. She has performed on notable stages including: The SoHo Playhouse, Theatre 54, Hartford Stage, Heartbeat Ensemble, and more.

You may now see Tonille hosting The Chat It Up Show on Access TV Network. Tonille has also appeared on a number of other tv and radio programs across the country including Steve Harvey's morning show.

HartBeat Ensemble's WTF! (Women's Theater Festival) is series of new works centered around political and social themes. The goal is to offer playwrights the opportunity to present their work in progress, receive feedback from the audience through talk-backs, and build a sense of place at the Carriage House Theater. Other 2019 WTF events are scheduled for May 3 and 17, 2019.
Tickets

HartBeat Ensemble presents No Boxes Allowed at the Carriage House Theater, 360 Farmington Ave., Hartford, on Friday., April 12 at 7:30 p.m. The performance will be followed by a talk back with the artist. Tickets are $15 general admission and $10 for students, senior and Let's Go Arts cardholders. For tickets, visit hartbeatensemble.org or call (860) 548-9144. No one will be turned away due to lack of funds.

HartBeat Ensemble's WTF presentations are supported in part by Department of Economic and Community Development, Office of the Arts, Greater Hartford Arts Council's United Arts Campaign, and Travelers.

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