In Full Color 2020
#IFC2020
A new chapter begins...
In Full Color 2020 went virtual with 15 women of color sharing monologues, poems, songs, stories, and dance! We featured live performances by talented BIPOC artists from all over the country and pushing the boundaries of what virtual theater can be.
#IFC2020 was live Oct. 8 and 9. Each night featured a different cast with different stories and included a post-show talkback. See our official trailer below.
Did you miss the show -- and the chance to grab tickets? Relive both shows by purchasing the replays today.
Thursday, Oct. 8
It's Never Too Late (To Come Out)
Dr. Grisel Y. Acosta (IFC15, IFC16)
One Afro-Latinx woman finally comes to terms with her queerness after years of sweeping her bisexuality under the rug.
ABOUT THE WRITER/PERFORMER
Grisel is an associate professor at The City University of New York-BCC, the editor of the anthology Latina Outsiders Remaking Latina Identity, and the author of Things to Pack on the Way to Everywhere, finalist for the Andrés Montoya Poetry Prize and forthcoming from Get Fresh Books in 2021.
Amamantar
Eloísa Pérez-Lozano (IFC18)
The act of breastfeeding is more than nourishment and love, it is also a tradition, passed from woman to woman with loving care.
ABOUT THE WRITER/PERFORMER
Eloísa writes poems and essays about Mexican-American identity, motherhood, and women’s issues. She graduated from Iowa State University with a B.S. in psychology and an M.S. in journalism and mass communications. A 2016 Sundress Publications Best of the Net nominee, her work has been featured in The Texas Observer, Houston Chronicle, and Poets Reading the News, among others. She lives with her family in Houston, Texas.
featuring original dance
by Naja Gordon & Anna Gichan
ABOUT THE DANCERS
Naja Gordon is a New York City native dancer, teaching artist, and writer with Caribbean roots. She received her dance training from the Alvin Ailey American School of Dance (1997-2010), and holds a B.A. in Dance from Bard College. Naja has taught movement classes at BAX/Brooklyn Arts Exchange, The Dalton School, The Abigail Lundquist Botstein Nursery School, as well as in public schools across New York City. Recently, she performed in Sitting on a Man’s Head by Okwui Okpokwasili and Peter Born at Danspace Project, and showcased her own work in the AUNTS WPA Instagram Live performance series.
Anna Gichan (she/her) is a deaf/hoh NYC based dancer, choreographer, performer, teaching artist and co-founder of Union|One a dual national dance collective based out of Monterrey Mexico and NYC. Anna received her BFA in Dance from Rutgers University Mason Gross School of the Arts and at the Jerusalem Academy of Music and Dance. She is the two time recipient of BAX disabled artist space grant and has been supported by Gibney Dance Center, The Cooper Hewitt Museum, and Flux Factory. She uses movement to highlight the energetic beauty found in human connections with others and the self.
Anna and Naja are currently working on a 12-month dance video series highlighting the relationship between them. Their film and dance for Amamantar features video by
Gail Schulman, edited by Anna.
Come With Me
Chau Sa Hoang (IFC16)
After losing one's sense of self, how can you regain your identity?
ABOUT THE SINGER-SONGWRITER
Chau Sa fell in love with acting and singing at a young age. Originally from New York, she attended the Fiorello H. LaGuardia High School of Music, Art & Performing Arts. After graduating, she obtained a BA in Advertising & Marketing Communications from FIT. Subsequent to taking a hiatus, she resumed training with Karl Bury for four years. She then relocated to Los Angeles to pursue more on-screen work. There, she's continued her studies at Berg Studios, in addition to taking various workshops over the years. Through the art of expression, she hopes to illuminate the many areas of the world.
Altar
Dena Igusti (IFC17, IFC18)
(TW: female circumcision) -- One of her cultures calls it a celebration, another calls it mutilation. Both forget the woman it happened to.
ABOUT THE WRITER/PERFORMER
Dena (she/they) is a queer Indonesian Muslim poet, playwright, and journalist born and raised in Queens, New York. She is the author of CUT WOMAN (Game Over Books, 2020). She is a 2018 NYC Youth Poet Laureate Ambassador and 2017 Urban Word Federal Hall Fellow. She is a 2019 Player’s Theatre Resident Playwright for her co-written Off-Broadway production SHARUM. She is a 2020 Ars Nova Emerging Leaders Fellow and part of Spotify Sound Up’s 2020 cohort. She has performed at The Brooklyn Museum, The Apollo Theater, the 2018 Teen Vogue Summit, and several venues across the nation.
Suffocate
Glennifer Braker (IFC18)
Under the weight of gender roles and judgment, this young Black trans girl can't seem to breathe.
ABOUT THE WRITER/PERFORMER
Glennifer believes there is urgent need for more representation of trans women and trans WOC, in particular telling their stories and turning their pain, trauma and dehumanization into masterpieces. She is proud to step into her power, to share her story fiercely and unapologetically, and to empower trans women that need to hear that their womanhood is valid, no matter white cisgender patriarchy has told them what they are supposed to look like.
Atlas of Emotions
Daniela Rincon (IFC19)*
Sometimes it's hard to express exactly how you feel. This Hispanic woman navigates her way back to happiness.
ABOUT THE WRITER/PERFORMER
Daniela is a Mexican-born and -raised actress, self-appointed poet and coffee enthusiast better known to her pets and neighbors as the woman who often recites Hamilton from beginning to end. She studied to be an actress but was born to be an emotional mess. Yet, she tries. Her professional experience touches all corners of the realm, from dubbing baby voices, to making Body Positive YouTube videos, to getting the role of her lifetime (Paraíso, 2014), writing, starring and producing a short film and well... Whatever she can try this week! She sings in the shower, she runs races and she will conquer the world. Just you wait!
Featuring the IFC2020 Chorus
Daniela Rincon
Dujuana Sharese
RescuePoetix
Summer Dawn
Stick around after the performances for an interactive post-show talkback!
Friday, Oct. 9
Her
Jessica Muñoz (IFC debut!)
You love her, but do you really know her? Do you see reflections of her island homeland in her eyes?
ABOUT THE WRITER/PERFORMER
Jessica is a storyteller born in Jersey City, NJ. With the stage as her page, she rhythmically explores personal thoughts, feelings and experiences about family, femininity and real life. She shares her explorations because she truly enjoys the art of bringing stories to life and connecting with people. A graduate of College of Saint Elizabeth with a BA in Communications, Jessica has spoken at Level Up Studio’s Empower(HER) Event and performed at the Moth’s “Only on Staten Island” themed story slam, the “Ladies Who Lecture & Lunch” series presented by Hudson County Community College, OpenRoad Poetry at WALK-BYE, and various local open mics.
Doulas
Amanda L. Andrei (IFC17)
A group of doulas help a young mother find peace, joy and healing after giving birth.
ABOUT THE WRITER/PERFORMER
With roots in the Philippines and Romania, Amanda hails from Virginia/D.C. and currently resides in Los Angeles. Her plays include Lena Passes By, Black Sky (Madison New Works Lab; Semifinalist 2019 Screencraft Stage Play Competition; Finalist 2020 New American Voices Festival), and Every Night I Die (Winner 2010 International Bottle Tree Award). Her work has been developed by Pasadena Playhouse, Playwrights Arena, La MaMa, Artists at Play, Son of Semele, Bucharest Inside the Beltway, and others. She is a member of the Echo Young Playwrights group and the Dramatists Guild of America. MFA University of Southern California. www.amandalandrei.com
How Did You Start Pole Dancing
Kitty Hok (IFC16)
TW: sexual assault -- A pole dancer tells us why she took up her hobby, and the real reason, too.
ABOUT THE WRITER/PERFORMER
Kitty is an aerialist and playwright who has been pole dancing since 2011. As a playwright, her work has been read and presented nationwide, including with The Parsnip Ship, Brave New World Repertory, The Living Room Theater, and HBMG Foundation. As a dancer, she has performed on stages in both New York and Los Angeles, including Velvet Brooklyn and LA Unbound. She believes strongly in the transformative and healing power of art in its many forms, and strives to create work that is both empowering and representational of the diverse communities she belongs to.
Guerrera
Cinthya Iveth Hernandez (IFC19)
A Latina woman remembers her godmother not for her illness, but her strength.
ABOUT THE WRITER/PERFORMER
Cinthya is a U.S Army Veteran and Mexican-American playwright currently residing in California. In 2014 she graduated from Texas Tech University with an MFA in Performance and Pedagogy. This will be her second time participating with this great organization led by incredible and talented women. Her monologue #NOTYOUTOO! was a part of In Full Color 2019. She is thrilled to be a part of this year's In Full Color 2020 this time, however, as a playwright and performer.. Her plays have been developed and produced in Massachusetts, New Jersey, and Texas. Her most recent reading held via Zoom was of her play Little Boots. It was part of the Femme Fatale Play Festival another great organization that supports and promotes female artists.
Good Morning America
Dujuana Sharese (Bloom Virtual Summit & in her words Alumna, IFC debut!)*
A spoken word master shouts out some of the many Black lives that matter and that stand against bigotry and hatred.
ABOUT THE WRITER/PERFORMER
Dujuana is a transformed sistah who has been gifted sound and energy by her creator. Through her bounty, she harvests writing, spoken word, poetry, comedy, master of ceremonies, acting, voice over and podcasting. The nutrition she supplies is truthful and comically sobering. If you want to be fed, contact her at dujuanasharesess@gmail.com
Going Back
Tantra-zawadi (Bloom Virtual Summit Alumna, IFC debut!)
A Black woman reflects on her late father, racism, injustice, the blues, and the ever-present power of love. Featuring music by Edde Yohan Baba Bey
ABOUT THE WRITER/PERFORMER
Tantra-zawadi, Brooklyn-born performance poet and international recording artist, is a 2020 Brooklyn Arts Fund grantee! She is the author of three books of poetry, alifepoeminprogress (Chuma Spirit Books), Gathered at Her Sky, and Bubbles: One Conscious Breath (Poets Wear Prada). A passionate educator and instigator, she has collaborated with The Senegal-America Project, Betty Makoni’s Girl Child Network Worldwide, and Black Art in America. To learn more, or to hear her latest house music releases, please visit: https://www.traxsource.com/artist/29323/tantra-zawadi or http://tantrazawadi.com/.
Featuring the IFC2020 Chorus
Daniela Rincon
Dujuana Sharese
RescuePoetix
Summer Dawn
Stick around after the performances for an interactive post-show talkback!
Production Team
Director
Summer Dawn
Summer is the founder and director of In Full Color, both the show and the organization. She's also the co-founder of 68 Productions and the winner of the Permanent Career Award in Literature from the Society of Arts and Letters-NJ and the N.J. Governor's Award in Arts Education. She's also an events coordinator, arts journalist, writer, actress, activist and teaching artist. In case you were wondering, she's Chinese, Filipino and Spanish.
She curates, directs, produces, markets and administrates all aspects of In Full Color's annual theater show. She does everything from spend three hours working with each performer to develop and perfect their piece and our graphic design to creating the show's multimedia elements. But don't tell her not to work too hard -- that Chinese work ethic slaps different when it's the only real connection to your roots you got!
Technical Director
RescuePoetix
RescuePoetix™ is a New Jersey native with deep family roots in Puerto Rico. Writing since she could remember, she found her performance voice and fell in love with Jersey City’s underground Arts diversity. She has over fifty original works recorded and developed collaborations from all corners of the world. Releases are available at a variety of online portals. RescuePoetix™ poetry is motivational, uplifting and empowering; designed to connect on a level far deeper than what the eye can perceive. Spinning verses in Spanish and English, her words weave stories of strength, growth, experience and love in its many evolving forms. @rescuepoetix
She is an In Full Color Board Member and Alumna of IFC19 and the Bloom Virtual Summit.
Assistant Technical Director
Crystal M. Davis
Crystal is the author & creator for Crystal Letters. She was born and raised in Jersey City. You can see her creativity through her abstract paintings, photography and poetry. Crystal is a freelance writer, editor and through Crystal Letters, she provides writing and marketing services in JC and NYC.
She is an in her words Alumna and was featured in our Quarantine Cuties IG Live series!