Vena Cava Productions Presents ANIMAL CRACKERS and SURVIVING THE SWITCH

Taking a two pronged approach aimed at community involvement and outreach, Vena Cava Productions is presenting a staged reading of the new play ANIMAL CRACKERS along with a series of free, touring movement workshops, SURVIVING THE SWITCH, designed to fuel discussion and explore issues surrounding social awareness of the racial divide in our communities. The reading will be broadcast March 20th as a YouTube premiere, allowing for real time commenting by viewers and the innovative touring workshops, designed and led by Kwame David Lilly, run throughout the month at area parks. This initiative is made possible by The City of Dallas Office of Arts and Culture.

ANIMAL CRACKERS examines the difference between truly comprehending what life is like for people of color versus efforts made to appear to understand. Zoe Kerr, founder of Vena Cava Productions, began developing the concept and the script in 2018 seeking input from script advisors Jonathon Norton and Sasha Maya Ada and involving other BIPOC artists throughout the process by cultivating a safe and conscientious environment where their contributions have been fostered and will continue to be throughout the life of the work. ANIMAL CRACKERS takes place one month after the 2016 Presidential election as De'Von Roberts, a Black teenager, returns home from school for winter break ready to relax with his white adoptive family and to try and forget the real world for a while. After a racial slur is spray-painted on the front of De'Von's family's home, tensions rise within the family and De'Von comes to realize that his mother and siblings will do anything to show him that they are "woke".

A staged reading of the play, produced to be a filmed and streamed offering, will be broadcast March 20th at 7:00PM CST as a FREE YouTube Premiere, allowing viewers to comment in real time about what they are seeing and offer feedback to the show's creators. It can be accessed through:venacavaproductions.com

Cast: Jaelon Wingham, Merri Brewer, Mitchell Stephens, Beth Glivie, Brian Witkowicz and Ania Lyons

Creatives:
Produced by Bren Rapp
Directed by Zoe Kerr and Kwame David Lilly
Lighting Design by Jonah Gutierrez

*Cast and crew safety has been a priority of this project with rehearsals taking place via Zoom. As part of the streamed reading's production, individual plexiglass units will be used separating each actor for filming, occurring on a closed set with a small crew adhering to strict COVID protocols.

SURVIVING THE SWITCH is a movement workshop designed to recognize the complexity of code switching, the practice of alternating between a variety of physical/verbal language structures in conversation depending on the social situation, as used by people of color as a means to survive in society. Participants will be guided through a movement session that explores "appearing approachable" to others through movement and gestures, seemingly simple as single actions but becoming more difficult when layered and combined. Workshops are FREE and open to all and adhere to COVID-safe protocols, outdoors. Masks are required and participant distancing will be in effect.

Registration is FREE by email: kwamelilly@gmail.com
All Workshops are at 6:00PM
Dates and Locations:
March 3 and March 5- Timberglen Park: 3800-3940 Timberglen Road, Dallas, TX 75287
March 10 and March 12- Lake Highlands Park: 9500 E. Lake Highlands Drive , Dallas, TX 75218
March 17 and March 19- Park in the Woods Park: W. Wheatland Road, Dallas, TX 75249

Vena Cava Productions is a multimedia artistic collective that focuses on telling stories that stride confidently off the beaten path in terms of subject matter, style, and approach.

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