Dr. Heidi Rose to Present Two Solo Works at Bongo Java After Hours Theatre

Heidi Rose, Ph.D., professor and director of graduate studies at Villanova University will perform two pieces from the performance trilogy Words & Music on Wednesday, Jan. 18 at the Bongo Java After Hours Theatre on Belmont Avenue. The one-night performance is sponsored in part by the Jewish Studies department of Vanderbilt University.

"I have been living with grief and loss for a long time, and the only way I've been able to keep present and keep finding joy is through performance that gives the lost selves a voice and new reality," said Heidi Rose, writer and performer of the performance trilogy Words & Music. "Performance provides a space and method for living with people both here and not-here. I use the stage to speak truths that have no other place of expression, to find vulnerability, to open up and dig deep into relationships and past moments, to conjure the selves of those I miss."

Words & Music is a trilogy solo performance that examines love and loss across generations. Dr. Rose will perform two of the three pieces on January 18, including Mirror Image and Good Enough. Mirror Image explores a story of two cousins born five months apart to twin mothers and further discovers how these individuals both complement and contradict one another. The second piece, Good Enough explores one man's journey to realize his potential, along with a personal account of World War II.

Dr. Rose is a performer and scholar at Villanova University and holds a bachelor's degree in theatre from Northwestern University, a master's degree in communication and performance studies from Emerson College and a doctorate in communication and performance studies from Arizona State University. Her teaching and research focus on performance, culture and identity, and her research on deaf culture and the poetics of American Sign Language has been published in Text and Performance Quarterly, Language in Society and The Journal of Applied Communication Research. Her co-edited book, Signing the Body Poetic: Essays in American Sign Language Literature (University of California Press), is the first-ever bilingual and bicultural book/DVD devoted to ASL literary theory and criticism.

Mirror Image and Good Enough will be performed on Wednesday, Jan. 18 at Bongo Java After Hours Theatre, beginning at 7:30 p.m. Tickets are $15 for adults and $5 for students and can be purchased online at bit.ly/2hVRxvQ and at the door (cash and check only). The After Hours Theatre is located at 2007 Belmont Avenue above Bongo Java.

Heidi Rose, Ph.D. is the professor and director of graduate studies at Villanova University. Dr. Rose holds degrees from Northwestern University, Emerson College and Arizona State University. Rose's teaching and research focus on performance, culture and identity and her research on Deaf culture and the poetics of American Sign Language has been published in Text and Performance Quarterly, Language in Society, and The Journal of Applied Communication Research. Rose's research has been supported by grants from the National Endowment for the Humanities and the Waterhouse Institute for the Study of Communication and Society. The trilogy of auto/biographical solo works, Mirror Image, Good Enough and Twin, have been performed at colleges and universities across the United States.