Trinity Rep Announces AMERICA TOO: IT'S OUR HEALTH

Trinity Rep announces that its annual event America Too will return for its fifth year with the theme It's Our Health in partnership with the Business Innovation Factory (BIF). The project began with four community workshops where members of the public were invited to share their experiences with a Lead Artist. These artists will then create a collection of short plays with the stories that were shared during the workshops. Readings of the resulting collection of short plays about health and wellbeing will be held at Trinity Rep on October 21 and 22 at 7:00 pm, followed by an audience discussion on the topics raised during the plays. The event is free and open to the public, though reservations are recommended. To reserve seats please go to TrinityRep.com/americatoo.

The Lead Artists are Dominic D'Andrea, the director of community engagement at Queens Theatre and founder of the One-Minute Play Festival; Val Tutson of Rhode Island Black Storytellers; Meg Sullivan, artistic director of the Manton Avenue Project in Olneyville; and Sokeo Ros, a dancer, storyteller, performer, teacher, and advisor at Case Closed and a program director at Everett Company.

America Too is a Trinity Rep initiative that seeks to reflect on the times in which we live and catalyze community conversation. The genesis of the project was Trinity Rep's participation in The Every 28 Hours Plays in 2015, a theatrical response to the events in Ferguson, Missouri. In addition to the community's relationship to policing and racism, America Too events have also looked at the impact of the repeal of DACA (Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals) and Providence's housing crisis.

America Too is one of Trinity Rep's community engagement projects, and part of the company's Center for Activism and Performance, led by Joe Wilson, Jr., who is also a member of Trinity Rep's Resident Acting Company.

"Health and wellbeing are at their heart social justice issues. Healthcare is a human right and far too many people are being left behind by today's healthcare system. It's time for that to change," says Joe Wilson, Jr. "By bringing artists into the conversation with the community, we can help facilitate raising up these voices on the stage, where they belong. Transforming healthcare starts with personal storytelling, empathy, and engagement because It's Our Health."

For BIF, the event amplifies the real voice and experience of Rhode Islanders to inform its Personalized Medicine by Design (PMxD) project which plans to prototype its transformational personalized wellbeing model focused initially on improving maternal health outcomes for Rhode Island women starting in the 4th quarter of 2019.

"We need to transform healthcare with the experience of individuals and families at the core of new models that unleash personal agency to improve health and wellbeing outcomes. What better way to build an actionable foundation for design than to engage our local community to create, share, and deliver powerful stories of personal health and wellbeing," said BIF founder and Chief Catalyst Saul Kaplan.

Rhode Island's Tony Award-winning theater, Trinity Rep has created unparalleled professional theater for and with its community since its founding in 1963. Trinity Rep strives to facilitate human connection and has been a driving force behind the creativity that fuels and defines the region for more than 50 years. Trinity Rep is committed to reinventing the public square and inspiring dialogue by creating emotionally-stimulating live productions that range from classical to contemporary and innovative education programs for all ages and abilities. Its annual production of A Christmas Carol has brought families together for more than four decades and made memories for over a million audience members. It will return again in 2019 for its 42nd year.

The Center for Activism and Performance at Trinity Rep (CAP) is committed to strengthening the connections between art-making, best civic practice, and social activism. CAP trains performers and performance-makers to use their unique skill sets to solve or mitigate civic problems, while expanding how the public views the utility of performance in addressing challenges in our community. CAP also trains community organizers and activists to use the tools of performance to deepen their practice of social and policy change with new methodologies that prioritize creativity, storytelling, and physical and vocal awareness.

Subscriptions and single tickets are now on sale for the 2019-20 Season, including the world-premiere of The Prince of Providence by George Brant, based on the book The Prince of Providence by Mike Stanton; Fade by Tanya Saracho; August Wilson's Radio Golf; A Tale of Two Cities by Brian McEleney, based on the novel by Charles Dickens; Sweat by Lynn Nottage; and Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street with music and lyrics by Stephen Sondheim and book by Hugh Wheeler.

For more information on our 2019-20 Season, call the box office at (401) 351-4242 or visit Trinity Rep's website at www.TrinityRep.com.

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