Join Minority Voices Theatre for a vibrant staging of community stories from Wordcrafters’ StoryHelix
WHEN:
Sunday, Dec 10, 2023
Doors Open: 1pm | Show: 1:30pm | StoryHelix Interviews: 2:45pm
This is an in-person event.
WHERE:
Stage Left at Very Little Theatre
2350 Hilyard St
Eugene, OR 97405
COVER:
Pay From Your Heart: $0-25
Since 2020, StoryHelix has collected local stories, told by local people, about local lives. Stories that make us who we are, as individuals and as a community.
Now we’ve collaborated with Minority Voices Theatre to select a cross-section of these stories which will be told through dance, projections, and theatrical renditions.
The stories have been transformed into a stage play by Eva Osirus of Sirius Rising, who is also directing the production. The play will also weave together choreography by Steph Young of Fermata Dance Collective and Mary and Dania Sollo of Ballet Folklórico Colibrí, and projections by Traci Crimmins.
Stay after the show and add your own stories to the helix! Sign up for your interview slot here to join the Rekindling Mixtape.
Join us for an engaging production of 11 stories from folks in Lane County, both well known and anonymous. Gather at 1pm for a 1:30 performance. Look forward also, to refreshments, community connections, and the honoring of community leaders who have spent their lives creating belonging in Lane County.
This project is made possible in part by sponsorship from The Very Little Theatre and a grant from the Lane Arts Council with support from City of Eugene Cultural Services. Special thanks also to Wesley Church, Xcape Dance, Slice Pizza, and Teryani Riggs for their generous in-kind donations of rehearsal space, nourishment, and photography services!
About the Collaborators on this Event:
About Minority Voices Theatre: MVT, a program of the Very Little Theatre, offers opportunities for members of minority or marginalized communities to participate in the collaborative art of theatre as actors, writers, directors, designers, and audience members–telling the stories that are too often not told.
About Sirius Rising LLC: Sirius Rising LLC is a multimedia company that is cultivating cross cultural experiences, performance art, programs, and community outreach. They offer services including email marketing, bookkeeping, event production, and program creation. Its mission is to inspire paradigm shifts through cultural exchanges that intentionally steward the stories of multicultural peoples. But we know that charity starts in the home, so Sirius Rising projects often happen in collaborations with different organizations in the community. By working with small businesses, private businesses, and charitable organizations across sectors, we can begin to breathe life into our community. Most recent projects have been with Lane Arts Council, Wordcrafters in Eugene, Black Cultural Initiative, and Encircle FIlms.
Sirius Rising LLC was founded by Eva Osirus, who was born and raised in South Florida. Her lineage expands from Ayiti in the Caribbean all the way to the different cultures all over the world. Connecting with the reality that, we are passed a torch and accept the responsibility to pass that torch along still. Eva is a powerful world builder equipt with her dream needle and thread she utilizes longform poetry, freestyle dance, and freedom of her singing voice.
Sirius is the brightest star in the sky, rising through different periods of our lifetimes on earth, many civilizations have built monuments to that star and the wisdom that has poured down from it. May we rise to meet the potential of our own brightness.
Traci Crimmins is an ever-evolving mixed media artist using CRT manipulation, animation, collage and projection to explore the nuance of the human experience, encouraging others to see what’s often overlooked with fresh new eyes. By curating and remixing the world around us, she aims to awaken the childlike wonder inside each and every one of us and leave us with a newfound appreciation of the seemingly mundane. Her work transforms the ordinary into the extraordinary and invokes the magic that ties us all together.
About Ballet Folklórico Colibrí: Colibrí is a community folkloric dance group. For us, dance is about more than artistic expression. We use rhythms and movements to reconnect with and express our roots, telling the story of our lives and communities through dance. Folkloric dance can also enhance a dancer’s psychosocial, physical and cognitive development. We work to build our self esteem and self confidence by identifying and developing our skills. We see this as an important instrument for education towards social change. Our mission is: To reconnect children and teens with their roots and culture by helping them form their own identity through dance and other forms of art. Our vision is: To provide an inclusive and safe place where children and teens can learn through art, thrive as connected individuals, and shine with the light of their own inner radiance.
About Fermata Dance Collective: Fermata Ballet Collective was founded in June 2020 during the global pandemic and the societal movements that reignited the awareness of persistent racism within Eurocentric structures. During this pause and shift in regular arts programming, FBC acted as a refuge for dancers who found their careers and projects on hold, providing opportunities to explore dance art in a respectful manner with a focus on inclusivity. Holding to our namesake of “fermata” meaning “pause,” we will continue to extend our services during the expected and unexpected pauses during a dancer’s career. FBC’s ongoing mission is to diversify ballet in creating renewed paths within dance pedagogy and collaborative performance opportunities with the goal to safely house artists by acknowledging personal experience, creating community opportunities, as well as fostering enriching and inclusive programming, workshops, and events for dancers and the community. Deviating from deeply held norms within traditional ballet environments, Fermata Ballet Collective will cultivate a collaborative approach with an egalitarian structure, foster an environment of inclusivity, and will not condone discrimination against any individual regarding race, color, ethnicity, nation origin, sex, gender, sexual orientation, pregnancy, appearance, religion, age, or ability or other protected classes.
About StoryHelix: StoryHelix, a project of Wordcrafters in Eugene, is a collection of stories about our community that we create together.
About the Project Name: A double helix is the structure of a DNA molecule–what makes a living being who or what it is. Our DNA is shaped by our ancestors’ experiences and environments. If just one of the letters (A, T, G, C) is removed, ignored, or changed, the entire being is altered, even becoming an entirely different creature. Communities are like this as well.
Eugene and Springfield, and the surrounding areas have an uncomfortable history and present surrounding erasure, inclusion, and exclusion. For too long, many in our community have not been heard. StoryHelix hopes to honor our community’s letters, and their juxtapositions, and to weave a new narrative together. Tracing our EUGeneology. Intertwining stories past, present, and not yet imagined.
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