Temple Theaters to Present BEING HEARD Fall Festival in November

It's time to be heard. Temple Theater's fall festival incorporates multiple original productions all under one common theme of "Being Heard." The free festival will include six theatrical events: WRESTLIN' 'RONA, LIVING PAGES, LOOK OUT NOW, 8, BLACK ROSES IN THE GARDEN, and JANE: ABORTION AND THE UNDERGROUND.

BEING HEARD will take audiences on an emotional journey, tackling relevant topics such as the COVID-19 pandemic, LGBTQ+ rights, racial injustice, abortion rights, and more. Featuring Temple students, performances are at Temple's Tomlinson Building in both the Randall and Tomlinson theaters at 2020 N. 13th St, Philadelphia. Reservations can be made at tufallfestival22.my.canva.site.

"Telling stories verifies our existence," notes Peter Reynolds, assistant chair and head of the musical theater department at Temple. "it is powerful when we see our personal story told onstage, poignant when we hear our personal voice amplified."

During the COVID-19 shutdown, theater artists were unable to tell powerful and prominent stories live and in-person. Reynolds points out that this festival is an opportunity for artists to have their necessary voices heard. "This festival was a chance to provide opportunities to our talented students to practice their craft and art for live audiences," Reynolds says. "Stories significant to and resonant with this moment in time were selected."

The BEING HEARD Fall Festival will take place Nov. 4 to 17. A full list of times and locations for individual productions is below, along with cast/creative team details and plot summaries. All performances are free, and reservations can be made at tufallfestival22.my.canva.site.

Productions include:

WRESTLIN' 'RONA

Written & directed by Kimmika Williams-Witherspoon

Nov. 4-6 | Randall Theater

Featuring Gabrielle Atkins, Avery Hannon, Lucia Herndon, Mya Lomax, Gerson Malave, Kira McFadden, Jeremy Mitchell, Amber Murray, and Amadou Tounkara

By culling personal narratives, auto-ethnography and poetic ethnographies of so many that lived through quarantine, stay-at-home-orders, mask mandates and social distancing, WRESTLIN' 'RONA gives face and voice to the pain, sorrows, joys, comedy, loneliness, fears and endurance of our community. Williams-Witherspoon's play had a previous reading last year.

LIVING PAGES: New Play Readings

Curated by Jenny Stafford

Nov. 9 | Tomlinson Theater

Comedic and dramatic, ridiculous and heartbreaking, this evening of new monologues, scenes, and 10-minute plays will feature developing work by Temple playwriting students. Stafford, who joined Temple's faculty as Head of Playwriting this year, shares her excitement to "give new playwrights a voice ... in the midst of starting a new wave of playwriting at Temple."

LOOK OUT NOW: Acting Monologues

Curated by Donna Snow

Nov. 11 | Tomlinson Theater

Featuring Christopher Berbano, Gladia Boldt, Allie Brower, Anna Chandless, Lysia Mogford, Olivia Neiderer, McKenna Soderberg, Sophie Stringer, Ashley Sydnor

Acting V students present a showcase of monologues that they will be performing in New York City and Chicago early next year. Each performer will present two contemporary and two classical monologues.

8

Written by Dustin Lance Black | Directed by Vanessa Sterling

Nov. 12-13 | Tomlinson Theater

Featuring Jacob Challenger, Anna Chandless, Josaiah Fickess, Roman Fosco, Jennifer Garcia, Connor Graham, Zach Holzberg, Tristan Jenis, Raveer Jay Gan Julian, Danny Kandra, Julia Kolesar, Michael Kozlowski, Max Lynch, Gerson Malave, Jack Mandish, Olivia Neiderer, Ellie Racunas, and Dennis Trowbridge

A concert-style performance that uses transcripts to faithfully recreate the story surrounding California's Proposition 8, a law that stripped the freedom to marry away from gay and lesbian couples. Director Vanessa Sterling says she is excited to depict "a time in our country when the justice system really worked as it was intended to" - but also wants audiences to keep in mind that these events are not as far in the past as we'd like to think, and serve as an uneasy reminder of how quickly human rights can be taken away out of fear and prejudice.

Content Warning: 8 discusses homophobia and the trauma of so-called "conversion therapy."

BLACK ROSES IN THE GARDEN

Written by Camille James | Directed by Christina Foye

Nov. 14-15 | Tomlinson Theater

Featuring Jaylyn Anderson, Re'ana Green, Jayla Phelps, Briana Tucker, Gabrielle Vaughan, and Bre Washington

In one of the many back alleys of Harlem is a bar where the queer Black women of society gather to be free from the roles assigned to them. Here four flowers find their strength to blossom, growing through kinship and community. Director Christina Foye is one of the leaders of Theatre Underground, a student organization dedicated to the Black community of Temple Theaters, and says that this fully-staged production - their first-ever - will offer an opportunity to "present the stories of voices that have been silenced."

JANE: ABORTION AND THE UNDERGROUND

Written by Paula Kamen | Directed by Cheyenne Barboza

Nov. 16-17 | Tomlinson Theater

Featuring Sonia Avni, Sallie Brower, Olivia Brown, Megan Chiodo, Paige Hollenbeck, Ryan Jacob, Kyla McDermott, Shannon Mohan, Semaja Murphy, Andrew Saravay, Videll Singleton, McKenna Soderberg, and Mackenzie Toler

Based on interviews with women who ran a legendary underground abortion service in Chicago before Roe v Wade, JANE is timely, urgent, and provocative. This will be a concert-style presentation.

Content Warning: JANE speaks frankly about abortion and abortion rights in America.

COVID POLICIES FOR THE 2022-23 SEASON

Temple University is currently hosting events in compliance with regional, city-wide, and CDC guidelines. Visit the university's COVID-19 Resource Hub for additional information. With current rising positivity rates, we encourage audience members to be masked, following current guidelines on indoor venues from the city of Philadelphia. Because protocols may change, we recommend audiences be prepared for the possibility of mandatory masking, and check Temple Theaters' website or social media accounts for updates before attending their performance.

Also, Temple University is following the city of Philadelphia's Aug. 13, 2021 mandate requiring full vaccination at higher education institutions. The university has implemented the mandate that all students, staff, faculty, and contractors (unless specifically exempt) must be vaccinated. It takes all members of the Temple University community working together to keep ourselves and everyone safe and healthy. Audiences are strongly encouraged to be vaccinated to contribute to the health of our campus. #VaxUpTU

ABOUT TEMPLE THEATERS

Located on the northern edge of the Avenue of the Arts, Temple Theaters, is the production arm of the Department of Theater, a program that has established itself as a destination for some of the finest university theater training in the nation. Temple University's Department of Theater offers undergraduate and graduate degrees in acting, design, directing, musical theater, playwriting and theater education. As part of Center for Performing and Cinematic Arts, the School of Theater, Film and Media Arts offers hallmark programs in theater, film and media arts that engage students with nationally and internationally recognized faculty and fuse the high-quality training with rigorous scholarship and artistry.

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