LOCAL SPOTLIGHT
Moving the Mountain , Abby Palen Award-winning, punky, and bright, Moving the Mountain uses unconventional storytelling to illustrate joy’s ability to smash our demons so that we can kiss them goodbye. Abby Palen is an award-winning creative storyteller. Raised in Kentucky, they have traveled and studied across the country. From crafting puppets in Vermont, to keeping bees in Alaska, there’s a story in every place that they have been. As a result of being present in these stories and searching for more experience, this creates the backbone of Abby’s artistic work. The relationship between authenticity and creativity, and how the two constantly inform each other is the spice that pulls everything together. For Abby, the truth has layers, and creativity helps access a new layer of truth. Additionally, authenticity has layers, and experience helps peel them away. With this delicate pulling and peeling, all of their creative stories are born…
Resilience, Mia Rae Smith Resilience is an autobiographical solo performance that follows the experience of an African American woman accessing mental health care for her anxiety disor- der, while highlighting the correlation between race, anxiety, and the healthcare disparities that communities of color face while trying to find treatment. Mia Raye Smith is an international award-winning writer and solo performer who was born in Detroit, Michigan, with an African American, Creole, and Acadian heritage from Louisiana. Spending her teenage years growing up in Queens, New York, it was there that she developed her characters from multicultural backgrounds. Mia’s performances flow through one single actor, playing characters from those various cultural backgrounds, genders, and ages. Studying Acting at William Esper Studio, Mia has gone on to produce and perform at numerous college campuses and theater festivals. She is a recipient of the Queens Council on the Arts Grant, the International Centre for Women Playwrights Grant, and most recently, the Dramatist Guild Mental Health Grant. Mia is a multi-hyphenate creative who strives to create boundary-breaking stories that reimagine American theater.
To Myself, To Myself, To You, To Mysel f, Eric Braman To Myself, To Myself, To You, To Myself traces a journey back to self through the radically queer act of self love, self acceptance, and forgiveness using poetry, story, and metaphor. Eric Braman is a poet, theatre maker, and professional storyteller living in Springfield, Oregon. They were raised in Michigan, where a tenacity for niceties and a love for nature was born. Since coming out, their queer identity has pushed their art to explore themes of masculinity, mental health, and queer possibility. They are inspired by the dualities of themself and the communities they have called home.
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March 2022 | The Business Review
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