COVID MONOLOGUES Announces Details For Its Virtual Performance

The public virtual performance of Covid Monologues has been set for this Friday February 26, 2021, the one-year anniversary of the first case of community spread of COVID-19 detected in the U.S. Additional performances will be held March 4, 2021 for invited stakeholders and March 11, 2021 for invited schools.

Created by Fulbright alumni and public health researchers Saraniya Tharmarajah and Emily Hurley, Covid Monologues translates public health research on health, behavior and societal aspects of COVID-19 into monologues. Covid Monologues aims to use research-based theatre to creatively disseminate and humanize emerging peer-reviewed to audiences outside of the research community, including lay audiences and policymakers on topics ranging from racial and ethnic health disparities, social media and medicine, and healthcare workers.

Monologues include Black Pain by Christin Cato produced by Two Strikes Theatre, Collective, Angel by Kelleen Blanchard produced by The Strand, Dance of the Dead Inside by Jess Kim produced by Jess Rasp, Get Ready With Me by Britt Willis produced by Single Carrot Theatre, How to be a Carved Horse by Shawn Reddy produced by Single Carrot Theatre, I'm Old School by Reynaldo Piniella produced by Arena Stage, Wrong Disease by Lane Stanley produced by Jess Rasp, and Better Cooking Than Talking by Alli Hartley-Kong produced by Fells Point Corner Theatre.

Free tickets are available for the virtual performance on covidmonologues.com. Following the performance, there will be a moderated discussion with project leads, researchers, and playwrights.

Fulbright Alumni and public health researchers Saraniya Tharmarajah and Emily Hurley received a grant from the U.S. Department of State's Citizen Diplomacy Action Fund to create Covid Monologues, a COVID-19 research-based theater project and virtual performance in partnership with Single Carrot Theatre and Baltimore-based theater artists. In April 2020, the Department of State's Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs invited U.S. citizen alumni of all U.S. government-sponsored exchange programs, including the Fulbright Program, the Gilman Scholarship, and Cultural and Sports Envoys, to apply for small grants of up to $10,000 as part of the Citizen Diplomacy Action Fund Rapid Response funding opportunity. Exchange alumni from across the United States submitted proposals for public service projects that addressed issues related to the COVID-19 crisis and helped build community resilience.