Nothing Rhymes with Juneteenth by Idris Goodwin

Mad Cow Theatre in partnership with Black Theatre Girl Magic presents

Nothing Rhymes with Juneteenth

by Idris Goodwin

Plays and Conversations for an Antiracist Tomorrow “Theatre is where we see ourselves and wrestle with our beliefs. Through the stories of others we reflect on our own.

Since racism lives at the intersection of misinformation, ego and unchecked power, the arts must counteract by cultivating personal reflection, learning, conversation and compassion.”

— Idris Goodwin IDRIS GOODWIN is a multidisciplinary arts leader and creative community builder. Across two decades he’s forged a multi-faceted career as an award-winning script writer for stage and screen, Break Beat poet, director, educator, and organizer. He is the new director of The Colorado Springs Fine Arts Center at Colorado College.

The author of Free Plays: open source scripts for an antiracist tomorrow, Goodwin is committed to using the arts to spark meaningful conversation.

MAD COW THEATRE, in partnership with BLACK THEATRE GIRL MAGIC, presents digital readings of five short plays by award-winning playwright, poet and changemaker Idris Goodwin to spark conversation about race in America for multi-generational audiences. With the support of Theatre for Young Audiences (TYA/USA), Goodwin has offered these plays to serve as a catalyst for action. Each of these short works, written to be read across the multi-generational spectrum, offer different insights about disconnects in racial conversation and the Black experience in America. Scripts and more can be found here: shttp://www.tyausa.org/freeplay/

CAST & CREW

THEATRE SPARKS

Director.......................................................................................... Elaina Walton Stage Manager....................................................................... Imani Champion* Dramaturg...................................................................Lynne Streeter Childress Pete...................................................................................Jairis Adelayde Carter Jean...............................................................................................Corey Edwards JAIRIS ADELAYDE CARTER (Pete) is a current student at Stella Adler’s Art of Acting Studio in Los Angeles, California.

Before moving to Los Angeles, Jairis received her undergraduate degree in Theatre from a small liberal arts college in Berea, Kentucky. There she received the award Actress of the Year for her leading roles as Ms. Patt, Lawanda, and LaLa Lamazing Grace in George C. Wolfe’s The Colored Museum. This is Jairis’s first role with the Mad Cow Theatre, and she is very excited and grateful for this opportunity and future opportunities to come. To keep up with Jairis’s creative journey she welcomes you to follow her on Instagram @peacelovejairis.

IMANI CHAMPION (Stage Manager) is an AEA stage manager and freelance production manager based in NYC. Credits include, Broadway: Grand Horizons, My Fair Lady.

Selected Off-Broadway: Nollywood Dreams, The Wrong Man (MCC); Coriolanus, Mobile Unit: The Tempest and A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Public Works: Twelfth Night and As You Like It (The Public Theater); Derren Brown: Secret, Marie & Rosetta (Atlantic Theater Company); Morocco & MASS MoCA theatre labs with the Sundance Institute.

B.A. Theatre Studies, Montclair State University.

*Member of Actors’ Equity Association

LYNNE STREETER CHILDRESS (Dramaturg) is a playwright, actor, teaching artist, singer, director, and the founder and artistic director of Building Better People Productions, a professional theater company based in Annapolis, MD, that does shows for young audiences all based in themes of kindness, respect and the things that make us all better people. This is her 26th year in professional theater, with much of that experience in theater for young audiences. This includes performing at the Kennedy Center, Arena Stage and Adventure Theater, and teaching for institutions like the Folger Shakespeare Library. Through all those experiences, Lynne has seen firsthand how theater can communicate the most important things in the clearest and most interesting ways, especially to young people.

Lynne lives in Annapolis, MD with her husband and son.

COREY EDWARD (Jean), a native of Norfolk Virginia, is a graduate of Norfolk State University with a Bachelor’s in Drama & Theatre (‘19)He was currently featured with the Norfolk State University Theatre Company in its collaboration with the Virginia Arts Festival, in the production of A Soldiers Play by Charles Fuller in the role of Private Louis Henson. Some of his other credits include TopDog/ Underdog, Fences, The Color Purple, Ruined & Our Town.

ELAINA WALTON (Director) is an actor, theatremaker, and Gainesville, Fl native with an MFA in Acting from the University of Florida and a B.A in Theatre from the University of West Florida. She is also the co-host of Ghostlight: Illuminating Black Artists, a podcast that analyzes and discusses the contemporary significance of plays by Black playwrights. Some of Elaina’s professional credits include Chasing George Washington, Dreamgirls, Rent, WHITE, and Hills On Fire.

Instagram: @itselainawalton

ABOUT THE COMPANIES MAD COW THEATRE is a 501(c)(3) arts organization funded by the State of Florida, Division of Cultural Affairs; the Downtown Development Board; the Florida Theatrical Association; Orange County government through the Arts & Cultural Affairs program, and members of the Central Florida community like you. Mad Cow’s mission is to produce highly entertaining works of theatre to an ever-widening audience – promoting, enhancing, and celebrating the human condition through art. We celebrate the word and the actor through a combination of passionate, skillful acting and compelling, insightful writing, all nurtured by an attentive and ever-changing process. www.madcowtheatre.com BLACK THEATRE GIRL MAGIC is a community of Brown and Black identifying women with a mission to create a racially just, equitable, and accessible entertainment industry for Black and Brown women. They work to drive a cultural shift in theatre institutions to create safer spaces for the BIPOC community through public discourse and national legislation. BTGM aims to eliminate racist and ableist barriers of entry into all sectors of the entertainment industry. In addition, they elevate the valuable anti-racism work of other Black Woman-run organizations by sharing their resources and platform. BTGM is in the process of becoming a recognized non-profit organization and can be found at www.blacktheatregirlmagic.org.

We wish to express our gratitude to the Performers’ Unions: ACTORS’ EQUITY ASSOCIATION AMERICAN GUILD OF MUSICAL ARTISTS AMERICAN GUILD OF VARIETY ARTISTS SAG-AFTRA

through Theatre Authority, Inc. for their cooperation in permitting the Artists to appear on this program.

Saturday, Oct. 3, 1:00 p.m.­(EST) — Black Flag Saturday, Oct. 17, 1:00 p.m.­(EST) ­— Act Free