MISSING THEM, A Memorial to Lives Lost in the Pandemic, to be Presented by Working Theater

Working Theater will present Missing Them- a living public memorial to our neighbors lost to COVID-19. Missing Them is a live theater event that builds on a collaborative journalism project to name every New Yorker lost to COVID-19 and tell a story about them. In this new play, adapted and developed by Reza Salazar and Anjali Tsui, in collaboration with THE CITY's award-winning MISSING THEM project, we remember and celebrate the people who made New York the city we love, but are no longer with us today.

This new online theater performance, produced by Working Theater, is a collaboration with the two year-old nonprofit news organization, THE CITY. THE CITY's diverse team of 20 journalists are in all five boroughs, City Hall and Albany producing essential reporting and information--holding the city's leaders and institutions to account where they are failing to deliver. Missing Them invites audiences to go beyond the headlines and numbers surrounding the pandemic, and to experience the human stories that live on as we look toward the future and create space to heal.

"The grand project that The CITY began as MISSING THEM a year ago and that has become the new play Missing Them, is at the heart of Working Theater's mission- creating theatrical work that is a forum for the working people of this city to be seen, celebrated and their lived experiences to be acknowledge and valued. This is a no brainer for us. It's for and about the resilience of this city and the people we love," says Tamilla Woodard and Laura Monarque, Working Theater.

"From the outset, MISSING THEM was a project for and with New Yorkers, not just a journalism product. It required collaboration and participation to reach as many people as possible to celebrate the lives of those we've lost due to COVID-19. Working with Reza Salazar, Anjali Tsui and Working Theater is an extension of that mission. Seeing MISSING THEM performed as a theatrical work of art is a fitting way to celebrate these New Yorkers," adds Terry Parris Jr., THE CITY.

Tickets are available on a sliding scale, and a portion of the proceeds from this event will be donated directly to support the continued work of THE CITY's MISSING THEM project. For more information and to reserve your tickets to the live online performance, please visit: https://theworkingtheater.org/events/missing-them/.

In advance of the production, Working Theater and THE CITY invite New Yorkers who have lost someone to COVID-19 to join in a community storytelling workshop April 26th at 6:30pm EST. This free event will lead participants through telling a story and creating a living memorial to those we have loved and lost to COVID-19. To reserve your space visit: https://theworkingtheater.org/missing-them-tribute-writing/.

DETAILS:

Missing Them

May 8 & 9, 2021

7PM ET

Adapted and developed by Reza Salazar and Anjali Tsui, in collaboration with THE CITY's MISSING THEM project

Directed by Reza Salazar

Featuring: Ivory Aquino, Danaya Esperanza, Francis Mateo, Shawn Randall, Adriana Sananes

MISSING THEM project editors: Anjali Tsui, Derek Kravitz, Terry Parris Jr.

Interviews by: Caitlin Antonios, Caroline Leddy, Cathy Shufro, Dean Russell, Elizabeth Picciani, Harpal Singh, Jose Martinez, Luca Powell, Rosa Schwartzburg

MISSING THEM project partners: Columbia Journalism School, Craig Newmark School of Journalism at CUNY and Boston College

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