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Writer/performer Kirya Yvonne Traber presents a theatrical mixtape at JACK, sharing songs of necessity and stories of longing. For this mix of concert and theater piece, Traber is backed by a four-piece band, with musical arrangements by Emma Alabaster. Featured musicians include Kala Brame (percussion), Alex Marcelo (piano), Emma Alabaster (bass), and Gwen Laster (viola), with a scenic installation by Jacqui Martinez and lighting design by Marika Kent. What We Needed features original music and text by Traber, and was created, in part, through the Lincoln Center Education Community Artist in Residence Program.
This is a workshop production. TICKETS: $15 (www.jackny.org). LOCATION: JACK | 505 ½ Waverly Ave, Brooklyn, NY 11238 | C or G train to Clinton-Washington
Kirya Yvonne Traber is a writer, performer, and cultural worker originally from Northern California now residing in Brooklyn. She is a co-host for PBS's digital series First Person, and an Artist in Residence with Lincoln Center Education. Her work includes plays, Overhead (Estrogenius: Sola Voce, 2014), Both My Grandfathers (Lincoln Center, Clark Studio Theatre, 2015), and Permitted (BAX -Submerge, 2016). Kirya received her MFA in Acting from the School of Drama at the New School, and is the recipient of the California Governor's Award for Excellence in the Arts, Robert Redford's Sundance foundation award for Activism in the Arts, Congresswoman Barbara Lee's Certificate of Recognition, an Astrea Lesbian Writers Fund award for Poetry, and is a former judge for the LAMDA Literary awards in LGBT Drama. Kirya has continuously worked as a facilitator and cultural organizer, with youth and adults, in schools and community-based settings, and within the juvenile justice system.
Emma Alabaster is a bassist, vocalist and composer who grew up in Brooklyn and works in New York as a musician and educator. Her primary project is Decibelists, an experimental anti-gentrification sex pop band she co-leads with Leo Ferguson. Emma has worked with the luminary poet Cornelius Eady as musical director for his band, Rough Magic and in collaboration with many musicians and artists of other disciplines. She is an arts educator in NYC schools, shelters and community centers and was Lincoln Center Boro-Linc's 2017 Artist-in-Residence at Snug Harbor Cultural Center. In her "free time" Emma leads songs and chants at protests with Jews for Racial and Economic Justice (JFREJ) and cuddles her dog.
Arianna "Kala" Brame is a multi-instrumentalist, composer, producer, poet and MC based in Brooklyn, NY. Trained in classical and jazz piano at Westminster Conservatory and Sarah Lawrence College, Kala is also a student of percussion and West African and Afro Latin drumming. Her jazz-inspired hip hop outfit, Kala and The Lost Tribe, has performed on stages in the NYC metropolitan area at venues including Baby's Alright, The Bowery Electric, National Sawdust and had the esteemed honor of playing Blue Note's Late Night Groove Series.
Jacqui Martinez is a Lenca Honduran Artist and Educator, raised in Los Angeles, Pasadena, California. She attained her Bachelors Degree from the University of California Santa Cruz and has her Masters Degree from New York University. Jacqui has exhibited her work, hosted workshops, set designed and has taught in numerous locations in Los Angeles, San Francisco, Santa Cruz, Mexico City, Tanzania, Colorado and New York. Her work varies from visual 2D to entire 3D sets for the theater. She hopes to continue building with artists that enhance perspective and creative skill.
JACK is an OBIE-winning performance venue founded in 2012 in Clinton Hill, Brooklyn and co-led by Alec Duffy and DeeArah Wright. Our mission is to fuel experiments in art and activism, collaborating with adventurous artists and our neighbors to bring about a just and vibrant society. We present about 200 theater, music and dance performances a year and hold community forums on racial justice, gentrification, and police/community relations. JACK's presenting season is made by the National Endowment for the Arts - Art Works program, New York City Department of Cultural Affairs in partnership with the City Council, by the New York State Council on the Arts with the support of Governor Andrew Cuomo and the New York State Legislature, New Music USA's NYC New Music Impact Fund (made possible with funding from The Scherman Foundation's Katharine S. and Axel G. Rosin Fund), Brooklyn Arts Council, The DuBose and Dorothy Heyward Memorial Fund, the Harkness Foundation for Dance, the Mental Insight Foundation, The Santvoord Foundation, The Lida Foundation and M & T Charitable Foundation.
