Peace Out!
Saturday October 16, 2004
7:00 PM – 12:00 AM
Center of Creative Arts (COCA)
524 Trinity Avenue in St. Louis, MO

That Uppity Theatre Company to produce “Peace Out!”

(St. Louis, MO) In one of St. Louis’ largest performance collaborations, That Uppity Theatre Company will produce “Peace Out!” on Saturday October 16, 2004 from 7 PM – 12 AM at the Center of Creative Arts (COCA), 524 Trinity Avenue in St. Louis, MO. This event is co-sponsored by KDHX FM 88.1 and dhTV: Community Media in St. Louis.

Joan Lipkin, Artistic Director of That Uppity Theatre Company, and Deborah Stoddard, local poet, conceptualized this idea. Lipkin and Stoddard first worked together in a poetry performance group about race, “After Rodney,” in 1994.

Now, ten years later, they are collaborating on “Peace Out!,” an interactive performance event scheduled to take place one week after the presidential debates will be held in St. Louis and approximately two weeks before Election Day.

The event will be based on texts from the Poets Against the War Website (www.poetsagainstthewar.org). This Website was founded by poet Sam Hamill in response to receipt of an invitation to the White House the morning after reading of President Bush’s proposed plans for a "shock and awe" attack on Iraq. Of the site’s approximate 16,000 poems, Lipkin and Stoddard have selected 20 to be featured during the central performance aspect of the night.
The event is organized by a core group of women that range from Sarah Shimchick, a 27-year-old recent graduate from the George Warren Brown School of Social Work to Hedy Epstein, an 80-year-old Holocaust survivor and peace activist.

In addition to KDHX FM 88.1 and dhTV: Community Media in St. Louis, several progressive organizations are co-sponsoring the event including: Veterans for Peace, Women’s International League for Peace and Freedom, Equal Housing Opportunity Commission, Human Rights Action Service, St. Louis Justice and Peace Shares, Instead of War Coalition Group, Women in Black, Peace Economy Project, and United Healthcare Justice Fund, among others.

Lipkin has invited both prominent and emerging local choreographers, directors and composers to develop staged interpretations of individual poems, extending anywhere between two to four minutes for the mainstage performance. This performance will take place at 7 PM and repeat at 9 PM.

Confirmed participating theatre companies include: HotCity Theatre, The St. Louis Black Repertory Company, Hydeware, Stray Dog Theatre, and That Uppity Theatre Company, among others. Directors and choreographers include: Gary Bell, Gary Barker, Chris Manelli, Bill Grivna, Linda Kennedy, Alice Bloch, Sara Ann Patz, Dawn Karlovsky, Mary Ann Rund, Emily Petkewich, Marsha Cann, Peghee Calvin, and Ashley Nanney, among others. Carol Schmidt and Mitsu Saito will be adapting some of the poems for music.

All of the poetry will be projected onto the far stage wall and discussions are underway with dhTV to film the performance and event for later cable broadcast. dhTV will also provide films to run throughout the event including Hijacking Catastrophe, Independent Media in a Time of War, and episodes of Shocking and Awesome.

Beyond the staging of work from Poets Against the War, Peace Out! promises to be an interactive event featuring a number of hands-on activities and modes of _expression. In the dance studio, a St. Louis Poetry Salon will be curated by Word in Motion, the collective that produced the National Slam Festival in St. Louis this summer. The Salon will alternate music (TBA) with poetry and feature prominent St. Louis poets, including Michael Castro, Shirley LeFlore, K. Curtis Lyle, and Mama Blue, as well as emerging poets and will offer an open mic.

In addition, attendees will have the opportunity to create their own poetry by writing haikus and displaying them for others to read. Other activities include making origami camels (instead of the traditional cranes), visiting the Peace Boutique and tables staffed by various peace and social justice organizations, or taking a quiet moment at the reflection corner which will feature an installation by visual artist Elisa Forgelman. Food and beverages will be available at a reasonable cost.

The performance event will take place in the evening at COCA on Saturday October 16th and is open to the public. Tickets may be purchased at the door. Tickets are free for veterans, $5 for seniors, students, people under 22, people with disabilities, and self-determined low-income. They are $10 for the general public. Doors will open at 6 PM, with the first performance beginning at 7 PM and a second performance at 9 PM.

For more information, call That Uppity Theatre Company (314-995-4600).