THE MIGRATION PROJECT, a theatrical docudrama exploring human migration and our efforts to claim home, opens November 14th in a collaborative workshop production with ZUZI! Dance Company. (press release)
Playwright Eugenia Woods utilized input from refugee, immigrant and indigenous communities to shape this theatrical work. The play weaves together stories of 5 central characters from Mexico, The Hopi Nation, China, Zimbabwe, and one composite character representing the voices of refugee women from Iraq, Egypt, Ethiopia and the Democratic Republic of Congo. Blending actual interview material with dramatic writing, Woods’ play examines what compels these characters to leave home, what they are forced to leave behind, and how they attempt to create a new home in a foreign land.
Director Marc David Pinate of Borderlands Theater and Choreographer Nanette Robinson of ZUZI! are partnering in creating the physical language of the play, set against Artist/Scenic Designer Wesley Creigh’s sculptural installation.
In the past year, THE MIGRATION PROJECT has engaged community participation through public art activities at The Tucson Museum of Art, the Hopi Foundation’s Owl and Panther Project and ZUZI! Dance Company. Woods has been gathering data for the project for over a year, interviewing migrants who have left their homes for safety, for survival, for love, for freedom, for peace, for a sustainable relationship of self to place.
Performances will be held November 14, 15, 21 and 22 at 7:30 pm.
ZUZI! Theater, 738 N 5th Ave, Tucson
Tickets are $18, general admission. $15 for students, seniors and military.
Opening night is free thanks to a generous grant from the Tucson Pima Arts Council. Tickets will be offered on a first come-first serve basis with project participants receiving priority seating. Donations are welcome.
Ticket reservations made be made by email at themigrationprojecttucson@gmail.com or by calling 520 975 4021.
Full house tonight for the opening of this play, focusing on powerful, personal stories of men/women immigrants, some refugees (i.e. China, Iraq). The difficulties of “leaving home” for a foreign land are explored, as is loneliness & being unwanted, gender identity, economic hardships, assimilation into a new culture. Audience was asked to ponder” What is home?”