March 13-April 19, 2009
The Birds That Are Your Hands
Broom Street Theater
1119 Williamson Street
Madison
Fridays and Saturdays at 8 pm (admission $9)
Sunday Matinees at 2 pm (Admission $6)
Talk Back Sessions scheduled after select Sunday performances:
March 22nd and 29th, April 5th and 12th
Call (608) 244-8338 for reservations.
For more information e-mail birdsarehands(at)gmail.com
or see Broom Street Theater
Against the backdrop of occupied borderlands torn asunder, The Birds That Are Your Hands: 13 Ways to Start a Fire Under Siege is a play that explores disparate yet overlapping tales of tyranny and resistance, from the Occupied Palestinian Territories to the U.S.-Mexico border, illuminating the intricacies of empire erection and the walls that sever the very bodies who build them.
From stony hills laden with olive trees to the blurry haze of a line in the sand among saguaros; from the bullet riddled corridors of an ancient holy city to the metallic prison of a modern metropolis, a tangled collage of stories unfurl drawing attention to the hands of those enclosed by borders, those making the crossing, and those who capitalize on the construction: wielders of stones, bakers of bread, upholders of state. Shepherds emerge alongside Goliaths’ patrol, lovers find themselves to be terrorists, and Ingrid thinks we should all just lay down our arms and play violins.
The politically-charged, provocative performance interrogates coercive population control, racialized state violence, and militarized borders. It does this while foregrounding the voices and stories of those so often deemed "collateral."
Bio of Writer/Director
Madison activist and artist Sol Thea Kelley-Jones has been re-imagining justice-making through the performing arts since her youngest years. In 1999, Sol co-founded Proud Theater with Callen Harty, now Broom Street Artistic Director. Through the years, Sol’s art has reflected her belief in the interconnection between struggles for justice. She has continued to employ the theatrical arts in ever widening circles. After teaching theater in refugees camps in the Palestinian Territories and working on behalf of immigrant rights at Coalicion Derechos de Humanos on the U.S. Mexico border, Sol embarked on her most recent theatrical work, which explores the peoples and militarized landscapes of these two border places.
