A Ritual Play
Celebrating the Resilience and Diversity of Black Womxn of the world. The women of the African Diaspora
Olisa Enrico is an artist, educator and administrator who believes in the unique power of art to cultivate community and culture. Olisa spent her childhood writing music and performing, traversing genres and rooting in hip hop as her primary form of expression. She branched out to theater and found passion for the power of story to reveal and heal.
What does it mean to Black and WomXn in this world? .
How do We, through story, express our Strength, Resilience, Power, and Process?
Dispersed: The Womxn of Region Six
is a collaborative theatrical work which features music, dance, drum and community as we traverse the diverse existence and the commonalities of Black Womxn of the African Diaspora (Region Six of the African Union). Created in the Methodology of Ritual Poetic Drama Within the African Continuum,
Februrary 20, 2021 we hosted an all day virtual convening of Black Womxn, 3 workshops, 9 performances and a panel with Roxane Gay and Ijeoma Oluo. Inspired participants wrote thier perspectives and experiences as Black Womxn, those writings were submitted. The dramaturgy and writing phases took place summer 2021 and along with the writings from February convening were crafted into a script, with 9 original songs. A staged reading was filmed on the langston stage October 2021 and shared with a limited audience for feedback.
Summer of 2022 that script will be revised and devised with a dedicated group of Black womxn performing artists taking the words, transforming them from the page to the stage and discovering theatrical modalities and devices to be integrated into the world premier
In March 2023, at Langston, the audience will be engaged as interactive participants encouraged to talk back, sing with, play with the performers. The stage will be percussive, and the costumes a rainbow of brown, the eternal spirits of life and death completing the circle as we cycle through into transformation.
Support this process by donating
Griot Girlz is currently raising funds to produce this play!
Every story deserves to be told. by donating to this production you are supporting Black women creators, innovators, artists telling our own stories, in our own words. https://www.paypal.com/donate/?hosted_button_id=MTKBU7LDZKKLU
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