The Old Globe Presents A Free Axis Event: BY THE COMMUNITY, FOR THE COMMUNITY

Because our work at The Old Globe each day is to make theatre matter to more people, join us for a free AXIS event and collaborative creative workshop.

By the Community, For the Community combines a public play-devising workshop, a reading presentation, and a performance showcasing the work originated through coLAB workshops.

We invite everyone to participate in developing short, original, curated performance pieces dealing with the theme of "What does community mean to you?" This workshop presentation will include a world-premiere preview reading drawn from works to be presented at the upcoming coLAB events Juneteenth and Stand Down. All ages are encouraged! Come have some fun, be creative, and coLAB with us!

For the third year in a row, two of the Globe's signature arts engagement programs-coLAB (free writing workshops in the community) and AXIS (free Globe event series)-unite in the spirit of creative community collaboration to share the artistry created there. By the Community, For the Community will feature Globe artists Katherine Harroff, Tara Ricasa, Gill Sotu, Soroya Rowley, and Brandon Cerquedo. The writing workshop will be held from 11:30 a.m. to 12:15 p.m. with live music by Cerquedo. Globe artists will provide handouts (suitable for adults and or kids) with creative prompts inspired by our community. AXIS attendees will be encouraged to express themselves creatively through prose, poetry, or visual art in order to contribute to a collaborative performance presentation that will take place later in the day with the Globe artists. At 12:20 p.m. a second coLAB presentation will take place, featuring original works created through coLAB workshops for Juneteenth, Stand Down, and City Heights's 2017 Día de los Muertos.

Arts Engagement Program Associate Katherine Harroff will provide background information on coLAB and the individual presentations to further connect AXIS participants to the project. The presentation/demonstration of original works created on-site will take place from 12:50 p.m. to 1:20 p.m., and will feature the collaborative presentations of the original works created earlier in the day by AXIS participants working with Globe artists to present their original work on the fly. The creative event will finish with a special preview of the new and upcoming coLAB presentations Juneteenth and Stand Down from 1:25 p.m. to1:55 p.m.

Gil Sotu is a performance poet, playwright, DJ and host. He is currently an Artist in Residence at Makers Church and formerly an Artist in Residence at the Jacob's Center for Neighborhood Innovation. Gill is a two-time Grand Slam Poetry Champion, two-time Raw Artist Performer of the Year, and two-time closing presenter at TEDx San Diego. He wrote and performed all the poetic segments to Melissa Adao's dance theatre showcase, Hip-Hop CabHooray!, which won an award for Outstanding Production at the 2015 Fringe Fest. Gill opened for rap legend Talib Qweli at the San Diego Symphony. He is a two-time winner of Toastmaster's "Best Speaker Award" and "Inspirational Award". His work has been commissioned and he has curated shows from for The Old Globe, The SD Symphony, San Diego Fashion Week, NBC's Art Pulse TV, Museum Of Man, & United Way. Gill has had 3 original plays fully produced since 2015 with two others commissioned in 2017. Besides the stage and the page, you can find Gill teaching poetry and performance workshops to schools and organizations all over San Diego County.

Tara Ricasa is a native San Diegan, who graduated from UCLA's School of Theater, Film, and Television. As co-founder and co-artistic director of Vertigo Theater Company, she spent several years in New York producing original works. Tara has also worked with Processional Arts Workshop, Big Apple Circus, BAM, BRIC, LAByrinth Theater Company, and Red Fern Theatre Company. In San Diego, Tara collaborates with Sledgehammer Theatre and Fern Street Circus, and she currently serves as a teaching artist for The Old Globe and La Jolla Playhouse. In her spare time, she enjoys building puppets, skating, and playing capoeira. Proud member AEA. www.tararicasa.com

About AXIS: One of the ways The Old Globe's Arts Engagement team exemplifies its mission to make theatre matter to more people is through a program called AXIS, where free cultural programs on the Globe's Copley Plaza are led by local artists and craftspeople. 9.5 million visitors pass through Balboa Park each year. The Old Globe strives to engage this population as we transform our non-performance space into a participatory art venue, utilizing the Globe's unique physical location as an opportunity for connectivity and creative placemaking. AXIS is an effort to broaden our concept of audience, extending beyond regular ticket-holders and encompassing diverse, multigenerational constituencies from communities across San Diego County. These programs have taken place on Saturdays, but will move to Free Tuesdays in the Park for the summer months.

About coLAB: A program designed to elevate the voices of San Diegans through a collaborative art-making process where the community members become the artists, turning their own stories into theatre. It is a six-week program with the purpose of creating collaborative and original performance presentations for a community festival or event involving the participants.

AXIS is supported by a grant from The James Irvine Foundation. Financial support is provided by The City of San Diego.

LOCATION and PARKING INFORMATION: The Old Globe is located in San Diego's Balboa Park at 1363 Old Globe Way. There are numerous free parking lots available throughout the park. Guests may also be dropped off in front of the Mingei International Museum. For additional parking information visit www.BalboaPark.org. For directions and up-to-date information, please visit www.theoldglobe.org/plan-your-visit/directions--parking/detailed-directions.

The Tony Award-winning Old Globe is one of the country's leading professional regional theatres and has stood as San Diego's flagship arts institution for over 80 years. Under the leadership of Erna Finci Viterbi Artistic Director Barry Edelstein and Managing Director Timothy J. Shields, The Old Globe produces a year-round season of 15 productions of classic, contemporary, and new works on its three Balboa Park stages: the Donald and Darlene Shiley Stage in the 600-seat Old Globe Theatre and the 250-seat Sheryl and Harvey White Theatre, both part of The Old Globe's Conrad Prebys Theatre Center, and the 605-seat outdoor Lowell Davies Festival Theatre, home of its internationally renowned Shakespeare Festival. More than 250,000 people attend Globe productions annually and participate in the theatre's artistic and arts engagement programs. Numerous world premieres such as the 2014 Tony Award winner for Best Musical, A Gentleman's Guide to Love and Murder, Meteor Shower, Bright Star, Allegiance, The Full Monty, Dirty Rotten Scoundrels, and the annual holiday musical Dr. Seuss' How the Grinch Stole Christmas! have been developed at The Old Globe and have gone on to enjoy highly successful runs on Broadway and at regional theatres across the country.

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