Reconsidering Pipeline Playbill
Reconsidering Pipeline Press Release
Reconsidering Pipeline Cocktail
Every Thursday New Stage will release a Virtual Play Reading or a New Stage Dialogue. The plays will be original new works presented as part of the Eudora Welty New Plays Series or Mississippi themed plays for the Mississippi Play Series. The New Stage Dialogue will include conversations with New Stage artists and community partners on a variety of topics in relation to New Stage productions. The virtual series continues New Stage’s mission to develop original, and Mississippi themed work, and enables the theatre to keep employing artists. These online experiences are a project of the new Thursday Night Plays, Conversations & Cocktails with New Stage Theatre Series that debuts in September! We’ll also share a signature cocktail recipe that connects to the evening’s play or topic. These will all be ONLINE events. To register for these FREE (donations welcome!) events, simply click to our Box Office. Registration is Required. Receive a direct link to that night’s online experience after registration. Let’s gather together!
Coming September 10, 2020 @ 7 p.m.
Reconsidering Pipeline: Scenes & Conversations from Pipeline by Dominique Morriseau
A Virtual Dialogue
New Stage Theatre continues Thursday Nights Virtual Plays, Conversations, and Cocktails with Reconsidering Pipeline: Scenes & Conversations from Pipeline by Dominque Morriseau on Thursday, September 10 from 7:00 p.m. to 8:30 p.m. This event will include a conversation with the cast and special guest commentary on “Dismantling the Cradle to Prison Pipeline” with Oleta Fitzgerald, Southern Regional Director of Children’s Defense Fund.
Artistic Director Francine Thomas Reynolds says, “When we had to close our production of Pipeline because of COVID-19, I felt the show was having a strong impact on the audience members. “This show is an absolute gem! The playwright is a genius. I’m a better mother, teacher, human for having seen this show,” wrote one patron to an actor in the company. Our virtual theatre allows for more people to get a glimpse of this story of a mother’s fight to give her son a future is deeply moving. As families are grappling with how to learn during these times, our Reconsidering Pipeline presents scenes and conversation that will resonate within our community and bring a powerful conversation about education to the fore.”
In Pipeline, recently featured on Live from Lincoln Center on PBS, Obie Award-winning playwright Dominique Morisseau presents an urgent conversation about the state of the American education system presented against a backdrop of landmark African-American literature. Nya, an inner-city public high school teacher, is committed to her students but desperate to give her only son Omari opportunities they’ll never have. When a controversial incident at his upstate private school threatens to get him expelled, Nya must confront his rage and her own choices as a parent. But will she be able to reach him before a world beyond her control pulls him away?
Oleta Garrett Fitzgerald has devoted her life to the pursuit of justice and equality for all. As Director of the Children’s Defense Fund’s Southern Regional Office, Oleta has placed special emphasis on education, including early childhood education, children’s healthcare access, and breaking the insidious cradle to prison pipeline pattern, which is all too prevalent in communities of color. Oleta is the Regional Administrator for the Southern Rural Black Women’s Initiative for Economic & Social Justice (SRBWI). SRBWI operates across 77 counties in the Black Belts of Alabama, Southwest Georgia, and the Mississippi Delta. She is also the principal for an innovative project, the Supporting Partnerships to Assure Ready Kids (SPARK) Initiative, which has operated in more than 12 Mississippi school districts. Oleta’s public service career began long before she assumed her position at Children’s Defense Fund.
Vondaris “Von” Gordon is a native of Moorhead, Miss. in Sunflower County. He joined The William Winter Institute to develop and coordinate youth programs as Youth Engagement Coordinator. He attended the University of Mississippi, where he was a student leader and helped organize the first Statewide Student Summit on Race. He served as a founding board member of the Winter Institute and the only student representative. Von has worked in the private sector in franchise and corporate multi-unit restaurant operations and in business development for one of Pepsi’s top franchise bottlers. Von is the married father of two, and he is passionate about equipping youth to build stronger communities through education, empowerment, and racial healing.
Also participating in the discussion will be cast members Jaymi Horn, Kyle Devin Hunter, Sharon Miles, and Jo Ann Robinson:
