Bay Area Children's Theatre Revives Online Production Of A KIDS PLAY ABOUT RACISM

Award-winning Bay Area Children's Theatre announced today that it will be making BACT's Artistic Director Khalia Davis' adaptation of Jelani Memory's critically acclaimed book, a kids book about racism, entitled A Kids Play About Racism, available during Black History Month to engage, provoke conversation and inspire positive social change in concert with announcing their new virtual and national conversation series, Sunday Spotlight with Khalia Davis.

BACT is thrilled to revive the critically acclaimed A Kids Play About Racism, and make it available to everyone nationwide for a limited engagement to continue the conversation about racism.

The show uses the power of theatrical storytelling to give children the tools to participate in this conversation with their grown-ups. This :30-minute lively performance explains to kids what racism is, how to know it when you see and experience it, and ideas for what you can do about it in a creative and engaging way. It contains amazing original Spoken Word and Rap Lyrics created by Davied Morales (who plays the young Jelani) with Music by Justin Ellington adapted and directed by Khalia Davis.

The premiere Sunday Spotlight w/Khalia Davis, will run as an interactive companion piece to the play. Khalia Davis will reunite with the cast as they tackle some difficult topics, share their experiences working on the show, answer questions from young people, and lead everyone in some critical thinking and interactive storytelling activities related to the show.

The play will be available all day on February 20th and 21st, and Feb 26th and 27th in advance of their Sunday Spotlight on February 28th at 11am PST. To RSVP to see the show and for the Sunday Spotlight go to https://www.bactheatre.org/#/outreach-program.

Future Sunday Spotlights will include a focus on Women's History Month in March, Autism Awareness Month in April and Mental Health Awareness Month in May. Artists have the power to encourage young people to open their minds to new possibilities and ideas and explore challenging topics through multiple modalities of art--movement, voice, acting and storytelling. Each of the Sunday Spotlights will include both a conversation with an inspirational artist and opportunities for kids to get up and move in an interactive workshop that explores the monthly topic.

Seeing the play and attending the Sunday Spotlight is free, and donations are accepted to help fund this non-profit theater company who had to close its doors in March 2020 because of COVID-19.

A Kids Play About Racism premiered for a limited time in August 2020 on Broadway Direct in concert with 41 Theatres for Young Audiences across the United States, led by the lead producing team of Bay Area Children's Theatre, Seattle Children's Theatre, and Alliance Theatre in Atlanta. In the show, we learn about the experience of young Jelani who is grappling with why he is treated differently because of the color of his skin. He is joined by all sorts of alter-egos who help him sort through his thoughts and feelings eventually finding pride and excitement in the idea that "Black is not a Color, it's a Culture. "

This new work was adapted and directed by award-winning director and TYA artist Khalia Davis and was brought to life by an entirely Black and BIPOC cast and creative team from across the United States. A Kids Play About Racism utilizes theatre to offer young children and families a way to engage in meaningful conversation about race. All 41 partnering theatres of the original production are members of Theatre for Young Audiences USA (TYA/USA), the national organization representing the field of theatre for children and family audiences. It has so far been seen over 150,000 times.

To learn more about Jelani Memory visit A Kids Book About Racism. To learn more about A Kids play about Racism's original debut in August 2020 please visit https://www.akidsplayabout.org/.

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