Southern Theatre Artist Collective Presents Reflections On The Pandemic In New Show

What's the best way to get through the pandemic? We Reckon: A Southern Chronicle believes it's by telling your story about it, which they will show at their online production May 14, 2021 at 7:00pm.

Last summer, Maranda DeBusk and Amina S. McIntyre set out to simply aid in moments of catharsis and healing by hiring artists to interview everyday people. Inspired by the 1930s Works Progress Administration (WPA) Federal One project, there was an interest to capture the narratives of people from doctors to students to persons who've stayed in the house the entire year. We Reckon has developed a mode of collecting individuals throughout the southeast, analyze how these stories are similar and how they are unique, devise performative pieces from the narratives, and present them to the community and the region.

"We Reckon is a community story telling initiative rooted in our collective experiences of the global pandemic, the movement for racial justice, and our 'new normal,'" say DeBusk. "Through this work we demonstrate how our struggles are in many ways different, but they are also in many ways the same; and how while we are going through these times separately, we are in this together."

What culminated was a 3 phase process of interviewing, listening, and devising/refining story into a the 75 minute devised. Devisers include Bridgette Burton, Daniel Guyton, Hank Kimmel, Stefnie Cerny, and LaDonna Williams. Actors are Brooke Bradley, Anthony Goolsby, Caitlain Hargraves, Suzanne Roush, Mia Kristin Smith, and Markell Williams.

We Reckon: A Southern Chronicle, is funded in part by Out of Hand Theatre, C4Atlanta, and Georgia Humanities.

The We Reckon: A Southern Chronicle production takes place online Thursday, May 13, 2021 @ 7pm EDT. Tickets are free via Eventbrite. Donations appreciated and accepted.