Jinah Parker's SHE to Run Off-Broadway

Choreographer, playwright, and dancer Jinah Parker's momentous and timely work SHE will run March 31 - May 19 at the Gym at Judson in Manhattan. This moving work of dance-theater-"a Choreoplay"-opens up all-too-necessary conversations about sexual trauma, systemic racism, women's healing and ownership of their bodies, and the undoing of rape culture. The show, in development for two years, arrives Off-Broadway just as these crucial conversations about sexual violence have erupted in the mainstream, as allegations against powerful men have given fire to women and driven the #MeToo movement and subsequent Time's Up Defense Fund, exposing the extent of the systems that heretofore have silenced and shamed survivors, and providing pathways to justice and accountability. Having played to sold-out audiences at HERE Arts Center in Spring 2017, SHE continues its journey-with a newly revamped script, new cast members, and new direction from Tamilla Woodard-in this movement of reckoning, in telling the stories of survivors and giving voice and body to pain as a step toward liberation, healing, and empowerment.

SHE joins the themes of The Vagina Monologues and For Colored Girls, interlinking stories about sexual violence and racialized abuses. Parker met and interviewed a number of women generous enough to share their own stories of surviving sexual abuse; in an earlier iteration of the piece, these women delivered their stories and danced alongside trained performers. Through this process, Parker also began weaving her grandmother's story into the work-and her own. She explains, "I realized-throughout the research, throughout this process of working with the survivors, continuously talking to them, going through their words, creating dance out of them-that I had my own story of abuse. I thought, 'If I have been putting this in the back of my mind and didn't know for years, how many other women are living in the dark, or suppressing something that happened to them?' And what better a way to regain a sense of self, when something has physically been taken away, or when your body has been abused, than to use your body to reclaim it?" SHE uses a foundation of modern dance with elements of jazz, street jazz and ballet to bring these stories into dancers' bodies, while actors simultaneously deliver them through monologue and expressionistic interactions.

SHE intersectionally addresses sexism and racism in a poignant consideration of the abuses suffered by Sandra Bland, described by Parker as a "metaphorical rape"-a matter of powerful systems stripping someone of their being. Unlike the women the audience hears from who can reclaim their narratives of abuse, the violation of Sandra Bland ended in death; this is a woman who, among the many tragic, mysterious, and infuriating elements of her story, is no longer around to tell it. Says Parker, who takes on the role of Bland, "I wanted to give her a voice."

This new iteration of SHE is bolstered by direction from acclaimed theater director Tamilla Woodard, whose production of A Midsummer Night's Dream with Masterworks Theatre Companywas a New York Times Critics' Pick, and whose interactive-theme-park-of-American-racism, 3/Fifths (a collaboration with writer James Scruggs and co-director Kareem Fahmy), was deemed a "relentlessly provocative, intricately imagined satire" by the paper. Woodard says, of stepping in to direct SHE, "I feel privileged to be able to engage with this incredibly dynamic work and artist tackling issues of such current social and cultural discourse. Jinah is creating a powerful conduit for dialogue, reflection and healing."

The performance is soundtracked by an unmissable array of female voices, including Aretha Franklin, The Supremes, Amy Winehouse, Mahalia Jackson, Madonna, and Laura Nyro. Stylistically, Parker references Martha Graham, in her channeling drama and pain through jolts and tensions in the body, while her intensive research process and politicized and pedagogic approach reflect the late choreographer/anthropologist Katherine Dunham. Parker refers to her own aesthetic as "Distorted Beauty"; her choreography does not ignore the ugly, but rather seeks beauty through acknowledging and working through it.

Parker bears a Master's Degree in Dance Education, and has taught dance full-time through both the Buffalo and New York Departments of Education. Her background as an educator has shown her the importance of dialogue, particularly with heavy and potentially triggering subjects. The choreographer emphasizes consistently aiming to engage and bring in men as audience members for SHE. "We know they need to be a part of this conversation in order to find solutions," she says. A number of performances will be followed by talkbacks, opportunities for audiences to process what they have seen, to be as open to sharing their expressions-of community, or frustration, or release, or empowerment-as they choose. Parker recalls that, last Spring, a woman in the audience during a talkback expressed the desire to suddenly scream; as a collective whole, everyone in the audience screamed with her.

SCHEDULING AND TICKETS

SHE will be presented at NYC's The Gym at Judson (243 Thompson Street) from March 31-May 19. Preview performances are March 31, April 3 and April 5 at 7:30 pm and April 1 at 4:00pm, with an opening on Friday, April 6 at 7:30pm. Performances April 7, 10, 12, 13, 14, 17, 19, 20, 21, 24, 26, 27, 28, and May 1, 3, 4, 5, 8, 10, 11, 12, 15, 17, 18, and 19 begin at 7:30; performances April 8, 15, 22, 29 and May 6 and 13 begin at 7:00pm; performances April 8, 11, 15, 18, 22, 29, May 6, 9, 13 and 16 begin at 2:00pm. General Admission tickets are $50, while tickets for Young People Under 30 with I.D., Senior Citizens with I.D., and people in Groups of 5 or More are $30. They can be purchased at https://www.jinahparker.com/tickets.

ABOUT JINAH PARKER

Jinah Parker is a multi-faceted creative force from Buffalo, New York. A dancer since the young age of four, her work is inspired by the tenacity of Debbie Allen and the endless intellectual curiosity of Katherine Dunham. Parker received a Masters Degree in Dance Education from New York University and a B.A. in Dance from the University at Buffalo, where she was inducted into Phi Beta Kappa National Honors Society. Prior to her graduate studies, Parker was a member of Dayton Contemporary Dance Company II (DCDC2), Lehrer Dance. She also participated in regional productions of AIDA and Beauty and the Beast. During her studies at NYU, Parker began working with Alpha Omega Theatrical Dance Company, where she had the honor of performing numerous works by Eleo Pomare; and with Annabella Gonzalez Dance Theater, where she soon became a commissioned choreographer.

Today Parker's work has led her to teach internationally and become highly recognized for her expertise around youth choreography. She has worked as a full-time dance educator in both the Buffalo and New York City Departments of Education, and at the university-level as a semester substitute instructor and guest artist. Parker now teaches part-time at The Dalton School. Her specialties are in modern technique, dance composition, and curriculum writing. Parker was recently awarded a 2017-2018 CUNY Dance Initiative Residency at Brooklyn College, and wascommissioned to create a curriculum for Nadine Bommer Dance Company-one of Israel's major artistic institutions. In addition, her previous work, "Statement Pieces," premiered at the Obie-Award winning Dixon Place in New York.

ABOUT Tamilla Woodard

Tamilla Woodard is a theatre director who works both nationally and internationally. She is co-founder of PopUp Theatrics, a partnership creating site impacting theatrical events around the world and in collaboration with international theatre artists. Currently, she is serving as the Artistic Director of The Five Boroughs/One City Project, a multi year initiative of The Working Theater. The project will support the commissioning and development of 5 Playwright/Director teams working in collaborations and creating theatrical works in response to working class communities in all 5 boroughs of New York City.

Woodard is a past Time Warner Directing Fellow at the Women's Project Theater Lab, a Usual Suspect at New York Theatre Workshop, alumnus of The Lincoln Center Directors Lab and artistic affiliate with New Georges. She graduated from The Yale School of Drama's Acting program and is the recipient of The Charles Bowden Award from New Dramatists and The Josephine Abady Award from The League of Professional Theatre Women. Her work has been presented and developed at the Working Theater, NYTW, New Georges, HERE, The Lark, The Actors Theatre of Louisville, PS122, DR 2, The Culture Project, Urban Stages, Dance Theatre Workshop, The Kitchen Theatre and for festivals and theaters around the US and Internationally. She has also directed, taught and facilitated workshops at Colleges and Universities around the country, notably: New York University Tisch Graduate Acting, Suny-Purchase, Pace University, Fordham University, University of Connecticut, Webster Conservatory of Theatre, AADA and Queens College.

Photo Credit: Mickey Hoelscher