2017 - Transmission
Art House Productions and 68 Productions teamed up again to bring the third season of In Full Color, this time in a new month at a new venue. 2017’s shows run February 16 to 19 at Transmission, 150 Bay St., Jersey City, and feature 20 women of color sharing their stories. The hilarious and powerful stories cover everything from the pressure to have children and living in Trump’s America to singing Linda Rondstadt in rollerskates.
A NOTE FROM THE DIRECTOR
Today, you will hear 13 stories painted with shades of joy and tragedy that you may never know, spoken by people who may look nothing like you, and inspired by lands that may look nothing like yours. You may hear words or voices that you have never heard before, but if you listen closely, you will find something very familiar.
You will hear a search for identity and a need for validation. You will hear love and hate, triumph and loss, laughter and frustration, delight and pain. You will see humanity. You will see yourself.
In a dystopia where empathy is our scarcest resource, we hope that you will cultivate what these women — and all of us — need to survive and thrive. Sow the seeds of curiosity in the hopes of harvesting passion. Sow seeds of love and cultivate freedom. Lay your dreams down in fertile earth, and toil under the sun to reap change.
This year, we were inspired by the Japanese senbazuru legend in which folding 1,000 origami cranes grants one a single wish — one thousand parts working together to make a single dream come true. This symbol of hope, peace and vision now colors our stage as a reminder that together, we can make the impossible happen.
We are proud to bring you our third season and to continue giving women of color a platform to share their powerful stories. If you are inspired today, please visit our page Facebook.com/InFullColorPlay and purchase our monologue anthology or find out more about Thinking In Full Color, our educational outreach program. We are thankful for another opportunity to touch minds and hearts, and our wish is to continue reaching even more.
– Summer Dawn Reyes
THIS YEAR’S ART INSPIRATION
Shirin Terhune Vazir holds a BFA in Graphic Design from RISD. Currently Senior Designer at Symrise, she’s worked for MSNBC, W Magazine, NJY Camps and Starwood Hotels. Active in Jersey City’s design community, she won JC’s Bike Rack Design and Reusable Bag Design contests. She enjoys helping feral felines, traveling exotic lands, yoga and biking the JC waterfront. She is also an IFC alumna, debuting her piece “Apple Pie and Baklava” in In Full Color’s original season
FEATURING
in order of appearance
“Stop the World” choreographed and performed by Autumn Perez
Music by Donna Missal
Autumn is a professional freelance contemporary dancer with a B.F.A in Dance from Montclair State University. She has performed works by Jay T. Jenkins, Nicole Smith, Earl Mosley, Jose Limon, Bill T. Jones and more. Additional training/performances include both Alvin Ailey & Parson’s Dance Summer Intensives. Company credits: Freespace Dance II, Sans Limites Dance, & Amalgamate Dance Company (NYC). Currently she is choreographing original work and teaching Dance, Yoga, and Pilates classes all over the Metro area. She is excited to be a part of In Full Color this year and is honored to be performing alongside such talented women!
“African Drum” by Yhá Mourhia Wright
Yhá Mourhia moved to NYC from San José, California, in 2013 to pursue her MFA in Acting at The Actors Studio Drama School (ASDS). Prior to her time in NYC, she performed in regional theatre with prized roles such as Beneatha in A Raisin in the Sun and Nettie in The Color Purple: The Musical. At ASDS, she had the rare opportunity to cultivate and develop original plays Sins Have Come: An American Story, and Détroit: Across The Tracks, and screenplay Small Windows. She is currently producing and writing the second season of her original web-series #LoveMyRoomie and short film Expulsion through her new production company YháWright Productions!
“My Brother at the Canadian Border” by Sholeh Wolpé
Performed by Amel Khalil
Amel is an Palestinian American Actress. Her most recent and notable theatrical work include playing the lead role of “Nardeen” in There is a Field directed by Noelle Ghoussaini and “Amal” in a staged reading of Abrahams Daughters. Other recent credits include the 2016 Vagina Monologues. Film/TV credits include lead roles in shorts, El Mundo Mas Alla, and Shift as well as contributions to Michael Pinckney’s TV pilot series The Trade and Investigation Discovery’s Dark Places. Amel is also a trained Mixed Martial Artist for stage combat and stunt fighting.
Sholeh is an Iranian-born poet. She is the recipient of the 2014 PEN/Heim, 2013 Midwest Book Award and 2010 Lois Roth Persian Translation prize. Wolpé’s nine books include four collections of poems, three books of translations and two anthologies. Wolpé’s modern translation of The Conference of the Birds by the 12th century Iranian mystic poet, Attar, is forthcoming from W.W. Norton in March, 2017. Her play, SHAME, a 2016 finalist for both Ashland New Plays Festival, and a semifinalist for Eugene O’Niell National Playwrights Conference in Connecticut, will open the Centenary Stage Women Playwrights festival in New Jersey this April.
“The Touch” by Venida Cheryl Rodman Jenkins
Venida is overjoyed to be returning to the stage after a long hiatus. Her stage credits include a junior high school production of “The Wizard of Oz” where she played Dorothy with her own unique twist…the singing of “Home” from “The Wiz.” She’s also performed in plays with One Accord, a Christian-based music and theatre troupe, and emceed Teaneck’s Terpsichorean Dance Show for the last 15 years. Venida strives to boldly and uniquely use her gifts to spread healing and love, and she encourages others to do the same.
“The Clash Within a Civilization” by Purvi Patel
Purvi developed her love for stories and storytelling as a young girl, listening to her grandmother tell stories of epic proportions. She has been spinning stories in her head ever since. She has previously lived in India, Uganda and Kenya. Since then, she’s worked in the financial services industry, joined the Army, and visited the Grand Canyon and New Orleans. She had a personal epiphany not too long after returning home from Iraq and she began to seriously pursue her love of writing. When she is not working or studying, she can be found curled up with a good romance or writing one.
“Psychotic Break” by Eileen Ramos
Eileen is a queer bipolar Pinay writer with a history of psychoses and depression. As a mental health advocate, she’s the head event and donation space coordinator for The Asian American Literary Review’s “Open in Emergency: A Special Issue on Asian American Mental Health”. Her writing incorporates subverting stereotypes, breaking stigmas, and experimenting with form. She’s currently working on a joint interactive novel & comic book that fictionalizes her experiences. Her first monologue “Aswang Presidente” was printed in the “In Full Color” Anthology. Other past and forthcoming publications include the zines White Man’s Burden, LAKAS, Ano Ba, and Hoax.
“Linda” by Diana Burbano
Performed by Yvonne Hernandez
Yvonne is a writer, actor and playwright. Her plays have been performed at Manhattan Repertory Theatre, the Elektra Theatre at Times Square and the historic Newark Symphony Hall. She is also the writer of “Queer Monologues” which made its debut at Alchemical Studio in the Upper Village in New York City and the writer/performer of her One Woman Show.
Diana is a Colombian immigrant, an actor, and a playwright. Works: Fabulous Monsters, a Festival51 winner, about women in Punk Rock. It was a selection of Oc-Centric Theatre festival in Orange, CA and Barefoot Theatre in NYC. Picture Me Rollin’ was featured at the 35th William Inge Festival. Silueta, (about Cuban artist Ana Mendieta), with Tom and Chris Shelton opened in Spanish at Teatro Tercera Llamada in 2016. Libertadoras, Policarpa and Linda were written for the 365 Women a Year project and have been performed around the world. Caliban’s Island is published by YouthPLAYS.
“Waiting for a Birthday” by Amanda Andrei O’Connor
Performed by Sarah Teed
Sarah is very excited to be a part of In Full Color! Sarah studied theater and acting at The New School, The Simon Studio and The Peoples Improv Theater. She also coaches with Harley Kaplan and studies scenework with Sam Borowski. Outside of acting, Sarah got her master’s degree in neuroscience and education from Teachers College, Columbia University. She is very passionate about edu-tainment, turning her living room into a ball pit and trying out new cheeses. Teedse328@gmail.com.
Amanda is a mixed-race Filipina Romanian American playwright and writer from Virginia. Her plays include Crocodile (The Last Escape), Every Night I Die, Merienda, My Dove, Woohoohoo: Election Day, Reeducating Roses, and Yurchencko’s Defection. Her work has been produced and developed by Single Carrot Theatre, Bucharest Inside the Beltway, Georgetown University, LaTiDo, the Beltway Drama Series, Rorschach Theatre, Dash Productions, and the College of William & Mary. She has taught playwriting and creative writing to high schoolers, artists, and engineers in Virginia, Maryland, Washington D.C., and online. She is a proud alumna of VONA and La MaMa Umbria.
“Acting Tammy J” by Paula Ralph Birkett
Paula explores stories of trials and triumph, so listeners can imagine their own path of possibilities. Paula began her professional career in musical theater working throughout the NY Tri-State; recording R&B, Gospel and Dance; and touring Italy and the UK as a featured vocalist with ensembles. She is currently the vocalist in progressive jazz group Tyrone Birkett | Emancipation, and is preparing for her debut music release entitled #SomethingBetter. Paula has written and performed monologues to accompany her release, for which Acting Tammy J is an excerpt.
“The Spill” by Summer Dawn
Summer is the founder and director of In Full Color and its educational outreach offshoot Thinking In Full Color. She is also the co-founder of 68 Productions and has worked with Art House Productions in several capacities since 2008, when she and her acting troupe were their first Emerging Artists. She is a 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. You may also know her as a former Hudson County arts journalist.
“I Cried Today” by Sky Ortiz
Performed by Ashlei Hardenburg
Ashlei is a Jersey City local with Puerto-Rican heritage who is so thrilled to be joining the “In Full Color” cast and crew for the first time! After graduating from Vassar College, she pursued a career in film and television, working on such shows as “Daredevil,” “Jessica Jones,” and “Orange Is The New Black.” Currently, she is freelancing on various independent feature films and commercials, as well as participating in such prevalent shows as this one. Thank you to all of the amazing writers/contributors whose bold and beautiful words continue to shape our experiences.
Sky is a Jersey City native, artist and special needs mom.
“Before dawn, when you have a black, 18-year-old son,” by Tuere T. S. Ganges
Performed by Audrey Martells
Audrey was thrilled to have made her theater debut as the understudy for the role The Lady under the direction of Susan Stroman. Television and film credits include Chicago (Miramax Motion Picture) and Blue Bloods. Audrey has also built a successful career as a songwriter for such gifted legends like George Benson and Randy Crawford. She is also accomplished vocalist and has sang background with Whitney Houston, Jewel, Britney Spears, Joan Osborne, Steven Van Zandt among many others.
Tuere writes and teaches in Baltimore, Maryland. A 2009 recipient of the Archie D. and Bertha H. Walker Foundation Scholarship to the Fine Arts Work Center in Provincetown, her flash fiction was also nominated for a Pushcart Prize in 2010. Her fiction has won prizes at the Philadelphia Writers Conference; and has appeared in Mythium Literary Magazine, Wigleaf, and Fiction Circus. Her monologue, “Black. Belly. Box.” was performed in the 2016 production of In Full Color and appeared in the anthology of the same name. She is currently a contributor for BlackSciFi.com.
“How to Catch the 7:43 a.m. Q60 Bus” by Nancy Méndez-Booth
Nancy is a fiction writer and teaches writing and Latina/o literature and culture at colleges and universities in New York and New Jersey. Nancy’s work has appeared in print and online, including Latina, Poets & Writers, Salon, OZY Media, The Jet Fuel Review, KGB Bar Literary Magazine, Philadelphia Stories, and Wordrunner eBooks. Nancy has read and performed at various Northeast venues including Cornelia Street Cafe, The Moth, and The Midtown International Theatre Festival. She posts regularly on her blog. Nancy currently seeks representation for and publication of her fiction manuscripts.
“MY ISLAM” and “How To Leave a Man and Country” by Dena Igusti
Dena is an Indonesian-American poet from Queens, NY. She is a writer for the website Muslim Girl, and her work has been featured in Quail Bell Magazine and Teen Vogue. She is also the co-founder of ReLITerate Word, a non-profit literary magazine that uses its proceeds to donate to a different cause every month. She often uses her poetry to write about the intersections of her identity as a Muslim Asian American.
THE CREW
in alphabetical order
Daniel Guiducci (Photographer) is a Jersey City native who loves exploring the depths of the urban jungle armed with nothing but his curiosity and trusty camera. You may also know him as DJ Dan Joseph.
Summer Dawn Reyes (Director). See bio in cast list.
Lance A. Michel (Lighting/Technical Director) has worked in theatre, dance, live music and live event production for over 20 years. Lance graduated from San Francisco State University’s Theatre Arts Department, with a Sound Design Degree, and an emphasis in Theatre Management.
Alicia Ruth (Set Designer) is a visual artist, science enthusiast, and passionate animal, environmental and human rights advocate. She is a the founder and executive director of TEDxJerseyCity, She Leads World, In Theory, and The Foundation for Wonderment and Awe. She is a believer in compassion, curiosity and a total capsaicin junkie.
Special thanks to Transmission and Howard Brunner for taking in our show and helping amplify the voices of women of color.
Thank you also to LITM, 140 Newark Ave., the site of our opening night after-party.
