Inst. for the Study of Women and Gender in the Arts and Media
SPECIAL ANNOUNCEMENTS
Institute Fellows Lynsey Addario and Lynn Nottage win
Pulitzer Prizes!
Congo/Women Portraits of War: The Democratic Republic of Congo
Pulitzer Prizes!
Lynsey Addario has been awarded the Pulitzer Prize as part of the New York Times team for International Reporting. Her photographic work was part of the New York Times coverage of the war in Afghanistan for the magazine cover article Talibanista (Sept 7, 2008).
Lynn Nottage has been awarded the Pulitzer Prize for her play Ruined. Co-produced by the Goodman Theatre and the Manhattan Theatre Club, Ruined premiered in Chicago in November 2008 to widespread critical acclaim.
June 11, 2009. 8pm performance, panel discussion immediately following.
Chicago Dramatists, 1105 W. Chicago Avenue
Institute/Goodman Theatre Fellow, Nambi E. Kelley, premieres her latest play, Hope VI, at Chicago Dramatists Theatre from May 29 through July 12. The Institute is co-presenting a post-show panel discussion on July 11, on the occasion of a special benefit for the National Public Housing Museum. Participating panelists include: Ilesa Duncan (Director, Hope VI); Keith Magee (Executive Director, Public Housing Museum); and Jane M. Saks (Executive Director, ESB Institute).
Hope VI follows the story of six-year-old Hope Graves, a highly spirited and funny young girl who has become strangely quiet. After she and her multi-generational family are displaced from the Robert Taylor Homes, they struggle to survive in a squalid motel room and await placement through the U.S. Department of Housing’s “HOPE VI” program. With a perpetually out-of-work father, a mother with anger management issues, and an ailing grandmother, Hope’s only escape is through her imaginary television friend. At one time, the Robert Taylor Homes was the largest project in the country. The drab, concrete high-rises housed up to 27,000 people, 95 percent of whom were unemployed. Despite drugs, crime, and poverty, the Homes were also a place of hope and community for its residents. Ms. Kelley crafts a powerful story that addresses the on-going debate about the HOPE VI program’s achievements and failures. On a deeper level, she weaves a poignant journey of a family’s goodbye to the only home they have ever known.
Tickets for July 11: $35, VIP includes pre-reception at 7pm; $25 General Admission; $10 Chicago Housing Authority Residents.
(312) 633-0630 or www.chicagodramatists.org.
Discussion and Book-Signing with Bonnie Greer
June 12, 2009. 6:00pm
Art Institute of Chicago, Millennium Park Room
Author, playwright and critic Bonnie Greer will discuss her latest book, Entropy, at the Art Institute of Chicago, in a program co-presented by the Institute, Chicago Foundation for Women, and the African Women’s Development Fund. Chicago-native Bonnie Greer studied with David Mamet before moving to New York to study at the Actors Studio with Elia Kazan. Ms Greer has lived in Britain since the late 1980's. Ms Greer regularly contributes articles to the Guardian, Telegraph, Independent and Marie Claire as well as offering commentary on TV and radio. She has been a judge for many prizes including the Orange Prize for Fiction. Her latest play, Marilyn and Ella, will be moving to the West End this year. Ms Greer is currently the Vice Chair of the Board of Trustees at the British Museum.
Ruined Benefit and Panel Discussion
June 14, 2009. 2:00pm
Manhattan Theatre Club, New York City Center, 130 W. 56th Street
The Institute and numerous partners join in co-sponsoring a forum on the conflict in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) through a benefit performance of Institute Fellow Lynn Nottage’s play, Ruined, and a historic post-show discussion. Congolese women will participate in a forum about the impact on Congolese women and citizens, and how each and every one of us can play a role in bringing an end to the unnecessary suffering of the women of Congo. This program is part of the Institute’s continuing Congo/Women initiative and educational campaign. Proceeds support for the work of Friends of the Congo and Congo Global Action.
Tickets: $75 (888-584-6510) or (202-884-9784).
Lynn Nottage has been awarded the Pulitzer Prize for her play Ruined. Co-produced by the Goodman Theatre and the Manhattan Theatre Club, Ruined premiered in Chicago in November 2008 to widespread critical acclaim.
Institute Executive Director Jane M. Saks honored at
BPI 40th Anniversary Celebration
Hope VI Benefit Panel Discussion BPI 40th Anniversary Celebration
Jane M. Saks to be awarded the "40 Who've Made a Difference" Award by Business Professionals for Public Interest, as part of BPI's 40th Anniversary Celebration on Friday, May 1, 2009.
Mark your calendars: The Institute will be closed from the end of business day Thursday, July 30, 2009 through Monday, August 10, 2009.
Mark your calendars: The Institute will be closed from the end of business day Thursday, July 30, 2009 through Monday, August 10, 2009.
June 11, 2009. 8pm performance, panel discussion immediately following.
Chicago Dramatists, 1105 W. Chicago Avenue
Institute/Goodman Theatre Fellow, Nambi E. Kelley, premieres her latest play, Hope VI, at Chicago Dramatists Theatre from May 29 through July 12. The Institute is co-presenting a post-show panel discussion on July 11, on the occasion of a special benefit for the National Public Housing Museum. Participating panelists include: Ilesa Duncan (Director, Hope VI); Keith Magee (Executive Director, Public Housing Museum); and Jane M. Saks (Executive Director, ESB Institute).
Hope VI follows the story of six-year-old Hope Graves, a highly spirited and funny young girl who has become strangely quiet. After she and her multi-generational family are displaced from the Robert Taylor Homes, they struggle to survive in a squalid motel room and await placement through the U.S. Department of Housing’s “HOPE VI” program. With a perpetually out-of-work father, a mother with anger management issues, and an ailing grandmother, Hope’s only escape is through her imaginary television friend. At one time, the Robert Taylor Homes was the largest project in the country. The drab, concrete high-rises housed up to 27,000 people, 95 percent of whom were unemployed. Despite drugs, crime, and poverty, the Homes were also a place of hope and community for its residents. Ms. Kelley crafts a powerful story that addresses the on-going debate about the HOPE VI program’s achievements and failures. On a deeper level, she weaves a poignant journey of a family’s goodbye to the only home they have ever known.
Tickets for July 11: $35, VIP includes pre-reception at 7pm; $25 General Admission; $10 Chicago Housing Authority Residents.
(312) 633-0630 or www.chicagodramatists.org.
Discussion and Book-Signing with Bonnie Greer
June 12, 2009. 6:00pm
Art Institute of Chicago, Millennium Park Room
Author, playwright and critic Bonnie Greer will discuss her latest book, Entropy, at the Art Institute of Chicago, in a program co-presented by the Institute, Chicago Foundation for Women, and the African Women’s Development Fund. Chicago-native Bonnie Greer studied with David Mamet before moving to New York to study at the Actors Studio with Elia Kazan. Ms Greer has lived in Britain since the late 1980's. Ms Greer regularly contributes articles to the Guardian, Telegraph, Independent and Marie Claire as well as offering commentary on TV and radio. She has been a judge for many prizes including the Orange Prize for Fiction. Her latest play, Marilyn and Ella, will be moving to the West End this year. Ms Greer is currently the Vice Chair of the Board of Trustees at the British Museum.
Ruined Benefit and Panel Discussion
June 14, 2009. 2:00pm
Manhattan Theatre Club, New York City Center, 130 W. 56th Street
The Institute and numerous partners join in co-sponsoring a forum on the conflict in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) through a benefit performance of Institute Fellow Lynn Nottage’s play, Ruined, and a historic post-show discussion. Congolese women will participate in a forum about the impact on Congolese women and citizens, and how each and every one of us can play a role in bringing an end to the unnecessary suffering of the women of Congo. This program is part of the Institute’s continuing Congo/Women initiative and educational campaign. Proceeds support for the work of Friends of the Congo and Congo Global Action.
Tickets: $75 (888-584-6510) or (202-884-9784).
Septmber- October 2009. United Nations Lobby Exhibition Space, 405 E. 42nd Street, New York, NY.
* with a special reception and program October 12, 2009.
Congo/Women is an internationally touring photography exhibition and educational campaign that raises awareness of the widespread sexual violence facing women and girls in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC). It is co-produced by the Institute and Art Works Projects, with major funding by UNFPA, the United Nations Populations Fund, and Humanity United. The exhibition features powerful photographs by award-winning photojournalists Lynsey Addario (Pulitzer Prize Winner and Institute 2008 Fellow), Marcus Bleasdale, Ron Haviv, and James Nachtwey that convey the strength and courage of Congolese women. Accompanying essays contextualize the impact of the crisis from a range of perspectives. An advocacy partnership with Enough Project’s Raise Hope for Congo campaign provides tools to demand action and involvement from the global citizenry. This project will illuminate the global epidemic of gender-based sexual violence that faces women and girls worldwide. Over the next two years, the project will tour selected venues throughout the U.S., Europe and Africa, visiting universities and community centers to build awareness among as wide an audience as possible.
For additional tour information visit, www.congowomen.org.
Pouring Tea: Black Gay Men of the South Tell Their Tales
Spring 2010
Co-production and educational partnership with About Face Theatre.
The Institute is partnering with About Face Theatre to co-produce a full production of Institute Fellow, E. Patrick Johnson’s Pouring Tea: Black Gay Men of the South Tell Their Tales in 2010. Johnson’s development of the script was supported with a Summer 2008 Institute Fellowship. The work evolved from Johnson’s scholarly text, Sweet Tea: Black Gay Men of the South—An Oral History, which was published in 2008 by University of North Carolina Press. The Institute and About Face Theatre will develop the full production and the partnership of a national tour after its premiere in Chicago.