Brava! for Women in the Arts & The Love Balm Project present Love Balm For My SpiritChild
Created by Arielle Julia Brownwith acting ensemble, Ayoldele Nzinga,
Cat Brooks, Lisa Evans, Anna Maria Luera and dancer, Dawon Davis.
July 11-20th
Fri & Sat 8pm Sun 3pm
Love Balm for My SpiritChild is a play that features the testimonies of Bay Area mothers who have lost children to acts of violence. Actors perform testimonies from the mothers and grandmothers of Kenneth Harding Jr., Oscar Grant III, Kerry Baxter Jr., Christopher LaVell Jones, Daniel Booker, Khatari Gant and others. Created by theater artist Arielle Julia Brown, Love Balm for My SpiritChild was developed at San Francisco Playhouse in early 2013.
Love Balm for My Spiritchild has been performed and featured at 7 stages Theatre in Atlanta, GA, Theatre of Yugen in San Francisco, Eastside Arts Alliance in Oakland, Ca, and Pomona College in Claremont, CA. In addition to performances of the play, site specific performances of the testimonies were performed throughout Oakland, San Francisco and San Jose with support from The Triangle Lab at Intersection for the Arts and California Shakespeare Theatre.
Performances will include post-show discussions led by organizations involved in the prevention and effects of gun violence in our communities:
July 11 - Anita Wills, author of four books and grandmother of slain youth, Kerry Baxter, Jr.
July 13 - Cephus "Uncle Bobby" Johnson - Uncle of Oscar Grant III and Founder of the Oscar Grant Foundation
July 18 - Kenneth Harding, Jr. Foundation (Harding was killed by SFPD after being detained for not having a transfer on MUNI's T-Line)
July 19 - Justice 4 Alex Nieto Committee (Nieto was killed by SFPD while eating dinner on Bernal Hill)
*Purchase Love Balm Tickets as part of Brava's Jumpin' July Theater Package and receive discounts on three Brava productions.
About the play
Love Balm for My SpiritChild was inspired by the revolutionary acts of mothers fighting for justice for their children living and dead. It was specifically inspired by how mothers' memories have served as a vehicle for justice in the cases of the Rwandan Tutsi Genocide. In the wake of tragic and systemic murders like those of Alan Blueford, Trayvon Martin, Amadou Diallo, Emmett Till - Love Balm for my SpiritChild witnesses local mothers who have personally experienced similar loss as they mobilize to bring about awareness and justice for their son’s murders. The performance of these testimonies infuses the collective consciousness of our communities with a renewed and sacred awareness of the precious healing found in mothers’ memories. Participants witness, write and perform their own and others testimonies of revolutionary motherhood.
Arielle Julia Brown is a theatre artist and arts administrator based in Oakland, Ca. Over her 10-year career, Arielle has worked most intimately with 7Stages Theatre, Theatre Without Borders, Destiny Arts Center, La Peña Cultural Center and EastSide Arts Alliance. As a playwright, arts administrator and teaching artist, Arielle’s theatre work is rooted in peacemaking on both local and international levels. Arielle is a 2012-2013 San Francisco Emerging Arts Professional Fellow. Arielle’s international theatre experience includes work in Senegal and East Africa. Arielle received her B.A. from Pomona College where she graduated with honors in Theatre and Africana Studies.