A quarterly play or musical discussion group devoted to exploring works by artists who identify as BIPOC, LGBTQ+, disabled, and all marginalized genders.
Our 2024 TRL programming continues to deconstruct the Western canon with engaging works focused on distinct categories.
Quarter One: The Spectacle of Exploitation
Harvest by Manjula Padmanabhan
Skin Song by Katherine Gwynn
Date: Thursday, April 18th, 2024
Time: 7:30-9:30pm CST
(5:30-7:30 PST/6:30-8:30 MST/8:30-10:30 EST)
Price: FREE*
*This is a Community Event so it is free and open to all. However, if you would like to make a donation to help cover the costs of paying our actors & special guests, that would be greatly appreciated. Suggested Donation $5.
Synopses: Harvest — A dark satire, Harvest tells the story of an impoverished family and the Faustian contract they enter into with a shadowy international corporation: fabulous wealth in exchange for the organs of one of its members. As Ginni, the glamorous American woman who hopes to receive the organs, invades their one-room home via an interactive video device the play lays bare the transactional nature of human relationships – even the most intimate ones.
Skin Song —A woman is brought to shore. She cannot be heard. Her name is not Undine. In this loose retelling of The Little Mermaid, there is a Selkie who can dance but not speak, a Deaf woman who signs to the sea, a silent chorus, and a Lobsterman who hates being a Lobsterman. Incorporating ASL, shadow-voicing, projection, dance, and music, Skin Song is a play about being silent and voiceless and the difference between love and possession.
Plays: Skin Song can be found on NPX here. Harvest can be purchased here. Please contact us if you have any further questions.
Discussion format: Actors will be reading scenes from the play and/or we will listen to select songs to kick off our discussion. This will provide a jumping off point as well as some context for people who are unable to read it ahead of time. The Thumbprint Team will be facilitating an open conversation where we hope that people will feel confident to bring their thoughts and experiences to the discussion. Additional materials will be provided to you in our Welcome Packet to dig in further to the study of this work, if you so choose to use them.
You do not need to have read the material beforehand to participate.