Events: #SuiteReality by TS Hawkins debuts in Chicago!

After being honored by a 2017 Surya Bonaly "Reality Check" Award and international publication in WORDPEACE Literary Journal, #SuiteReality debuts in Chicago under the direction of Nicole Michelle Haskins for the #BlackLivesBlackWords I AM...Festival April 27-29th!

ABOUT THE PLAYWRIGHT

TS Hawkins is an international author, performance poet, artivist, and emerging playwright. Plays & short works include: Seeking Silence, Cartons of Ultrasounds, Too Late to Apologize, They’ll Neglect to Tell You, #RM2B, The Secret Life of Wonder: a prologue in G, AGAIN, #SuiteReality, and “don’t wanna dance with ghosts…”. 

Hawkins’ one-act choreopoem, AGAIN, was acknowledged for having the "Best Theater Moment of 2017" along with #SuiteReality receiving the 2017 "Reality Check" Surya Bonaly Award. Books include: Sugar Lumps & Black Eye Blues, Confectionately, Yours, Mahogany Nectar, Lil Blaek Book: all the long stories short, and The Hotel Haikus. Hawkins is most known for the Poetry Master Class, "Thriving Ain't Easy"; a course that infuses health, wellness, and activism through poetry.

ABOUT THE DIRECTOR
Nicole Michelle Haskins is an actor, writer, director, vocalist, and artist. Acting credits:  How to Catch Creation (Goodman Theatre), Father Comes Home from the Wars Parts 1,2 &3 (Goodman Theatre), World Premiere of HeLa (Sideshow Theatre), Spitfire Grill (Refuge Theatre Project – 2018 Jeff Award Nomination for Best Supporting Actress in a Musical), Marie Christine, (Boho Theatre) Our Town, (Redtwist Theatre), The Wiz (Kokandy Productions- Black Theatre Alliance Award Nomination for Best Supporting Actress in a Musical, Jeff Award Nomination for Best Supporting Actress in a Musical, 2017 TimeOut Chicago Theatre Award nomination for Best Featured Performance in a Musical), Parade (Writers Theatre- Jeff Award nomination for Best Production), RENT (Theo Ubique Caberet Theatre- Jeff Award Nomination for Best Ensemble), MidWest Premiere MUTT, (Stage Left Theatre w/Red Tape Theatre), World Premiere of For her as a Piano, (Pegasus Theatre), Proudly Represented by the Fierce Women of Shirley Hamilton, School at Steppenwolf Acting Fellow 14’, Associate Artist with Black Lives, Black Words International Theatre collective and MOSAIC Youth Theatre of Detroit Alum. NicoleMichelleHaskins.com

THE CAST
Qiana McNary, Taylor Raye, Chelsea Turner, and Jessica Nicole

ABOUT THE FESTIVAL

I AM…Fest will consist of an educational program as well as an artistic program to introduce audiences to activists, art leaders, and playwrights from around the globe; hosting a series of leadership development workshops, panel discussions with some of the most exciting and innovative entrepreneurs and creatives, as well as placing a spotlight on lesser-known plays from some of the most exciting international Black female playwrights.

This pioneering festival will culminate in our celebrated Black Lives, Black Words International Ten-Minute Play showcase entirely written and directed by Black Women.  This revolutionary event will culminate with a closing performance of 100 Women of Color performing the USA premiere of ‘The Interrogation of Sandra Bland’; a transcript of Sandra Bland’s arrest transcribed by Black British playwright Mojisola Adebayo and directed by Simeilia Hodge-Dallaway, a noted Black British theatre director and Co-Founder of Black Lives, Black Words International Project.