Towne Street Theatre Presents IN RESPONSE 2020: Sum Poetry!

After the 1992 riots, the City of Los Angeles appealed to artists with the question Can the Arts Help Heal L.A.? In response, actresses Nancy Cheryll Davis, Nancy Renee, and artist Nathaniel Bellamy, produced a series of readings by multicultural writers centered on universal themes. This series evolved into the Towne Street Theatre (TST) in 1993. "Towne Street was founded to seek justice and heal from racial disparities through the arts," said Nancy Cheryll Davis, TST Artistic Director. In 2015, Towne Street continued its mission with IN RESPONSE.

As the fight for racial justice in America once again reaches a boiling point, we are compelled to raise the voices of artists who offer us important insights into the world we live in today. To further this goal and to continue telling our stories; Towne Street Theatre will present In Response: 2020 Please join us for part one of the Saturday, November 21st at 7:00pm (PST).

Towne Street Theatre's popular spoken-word poetry returns, highlighting the captivating variety of performance art and the meaning of amplifying our voices when action is called for. In addition to poetry, we will also feature videos by emerging artists that further our stories. Sum Poetry debuted in July 2019, curated by Maimouna Camara and Glen Philip, who still curate and host the show, respectively. Artists include Glen Phillip, Maimouna Camara, RJ Wayne, Daphne Jones, Joahn Webb, Starina Johnson, Jaimyon Parker, Sarah Green, Raf Mauro, Joe Kelly, Alex Ubokudom, Cristina Florez, and Ella Turenne.

Part One of our IN RESPONSE 2020 showcase is produced by artistic directors Nancy Cheryll Davis and Nancy Renee along with Teressa Taylor, Veronica Thompson, Kristina Roth and Maimouna Camara.