Events

walking tour June 17 2023

Reproductive Freedom Walking Tour in Lower Manhattan

Our first public walking tour of the season! June 17, 2023 at 1 pm! ReproFreedomArts.org with Social Justice Tours!

Reserve your spot now for June 17 at 1 pm HERE! (This takes you to the PEEK reservation app!)

The Supreme Court has thrown our right to abortion into disarray. We’re going to keep fighting!

We look at the past, present and future of reproductive freedom — with the latest on national developments and what you can do!

We begin in lower Manhattan near City Hall, and walk through Tribeca, Soho and Greenwich Village.

We’ve fought back before! We can fight back again. New York will be called upon to stand tall, and we’ll do that and more: we’ll fight for every person across the U.S.

Read more.

Listen to this story about the Reproductive Freedom Walking Tour on WNYC/NPR.

Email for additional info: reprofreedomarts@gmail.com

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Coming in June 2023!

WE DISSENT! Voices for Reproductive Rights

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Twelve actors come together in WE DISSENT: VOICES FOR REPRODUCTIVE RIGHTS to offer a dramatic rendition of the dissenting opinion in Dobbs v. Jackson one year ago.
The dissent written by U.S. Supreme Court Justice Elena Kagan is honest, truthful and unambiguous in its support for bodily autonomy, and declares that the majority decision ending the Constitutional right to abortion is simply wrong! In her truths, lie hope.

Featuring: Michelle Liu Coughlin, Isabella Gallegos, Anna Holbrook, Carl H. Jaynes, Emory Kemph, Stacey Linnartz, Aja Mahogany, Tzena Nicole, Abigail Ramsay, Julissa Roman, Claudia Schneider, Conor Weiss

Creative director, Janet Bentley

Script adaptation, Cindy Cooper

A virtual performance. Watch this space for details.

Photo: Janet Bentley/Andy Cohen

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Short Plays on Reproductive Freedom. Download to your device or order in paperback. “Pure gold” –Literary Mgr

 


Livestream our DVD:
Words of Choice on film  In addition to performances, see classic video clips from marches and events in reproductive freedom history!

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Support For Artists Banned for Mentioning Abortion

Details here. Listen on WBAI, Joy of Resistance Radio 

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ABORTION WRITES! Sun Nov 13, 2022

Write Your Own Story! Storytellers Unite!

A Benefit for Planned Parenthood NYC! Writers gathered and created new works, followed by readings, including performances guest artists Claudia Schneider (top), Alinca Hamilton, and the writers themselves! Special guest, Honor Moore.

People lifting their pens and raising their voices!

Sponsored by NYWriters Coalition, Housing Works Bookstore & alinca picReproFreedomArts.org. Read more on our blog!

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Plays that Explore the Path Breaking Journeys of Women Doctors and their Patients, with donations to Medical Students for Choice … featuring Claudia Schneider and Alinca Hamilton

The Goddess of Hygieia — Dr. Harriot Hunt engages Edmonia Lewis to sculpt Hygieia, by Ms. Michael angel Johnson

The Prize — eye surgeon Dr. Patricia Bath convinces a patient to use the laser surgery she has invented, by Cindy Cooper

The Siege — a reproductive health doctor withstands harassment to show up for patients by, Dr. Susan Wicklund

We Have Always Done This– a poem by Judith Arcana

directed by Francesca Mantani Arkus

followed by a short discussion on Girls in STEM by consultant Anita Kishore and on Narrative Medicine by writer and teacher Catherine Rogers

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Now: On Theatre, Activism and Repro Freedom, a podcast by Theatre Revolution, Writer’s Block

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She warned us!

Righteous Words from Justice Sotomayor, now on Soundcloud or on YouTube.

After the state of Texas passed an extreme anti-abortion law known as SB8, the U.S. Supreme Court, but the court looked the other way and permitted SB8 to go into effect.

Justice Sonia Sotomayor did not agree. Here’s what she had to say! Recorded in Whole Woman’s Health v. Jackson. On SoundCloud or on YouTube.

Read our blog, Listen to the Righteous Words of Justice Sonia Sotomayor on SB8

Performed by Abigail Ramsay, directed by Francesca Mantani Arkus, audio engineering and sound design by Janet Bentley.

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POETRY READING ON ZOOM

October 25, 2022! Poetry Babes and ReproFreedomArts: A Reading to Benefit Planned Parenthood of Northern, Central and Southern New Jersey.

Planned Parenthood Write On Fundraiser Instagram Post

Featuring Marina Carreira, Lynne McEniry, Kathy Kremins, Claudia Cortese, Grisel Y. Acosta, PaulA Neves, Ysabel Y. Gonzalez, and Tamara Zbrizher

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StatueFest Put A Woman on A Pedestal! A celebration of women who deserve a statue, in collaboration with New Shokan Kitchen Island Project. June 4 and 5, 2022, outdoors, in Figment at Snug Harbor Cultural Center on Staten Island. Read more.

Prior: Live on Stage, Sept 30 and Oct 1 2021 in Manhattan; Zoom performances, March, April, May, June 2021. 25 writers, 26 performers … all with monologues about a wide diversity of women who deserve statues. Read more about the history of the project our blog.

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Please see our Events at a Glance as well as a list of Past Performances to see where we’ve been and where we’re going!

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ReGeneration: Our Reproductive Freedom Then & Now

“Gen Z” and “Gen Roe” come together to create a groundbreaking virtual performance piece about our Reproductive Freedom over time. August 26. 2020.

Watch on YouTube

Six GenZers, 16-23 years old, interview six people who marched and wrote and advocated for reproductive freedom and social justice in the decades past, and create monologues. A fresh take that shares our dreams and hopes for reproductive freedom, justice and human rights.  ReGen Interview Pairs no logo

Selections:

We have always done this by Judith Arcana, performed by Jaye Austin Williams
Thoughts from Charlotte by Elliot Stewart, performed by Elliot Stewart
Under Construction by Aleina Dume, performed by Julissa Roman
Further by Isabella Gallegos, performed by Isabella Gallegos
The Heart of Abortion and Other Love Stories by Charlotte Taft and Shelley Oram, performed by Charlotte Taft
A Come to Jesus Moment by Emory Kemph, performed by Emory Kemph
3 Notes to Hold Each Other by Ava Elizabeth Novak, performed by Ava Elizabeth Novak
You Can Sit Anywhere by Cassandra Medley, performed by Dawn Elizabeth
a love song by Manju Bangalore, performed by Manju Bangalore

See the YouTube playlist, or get links to individual Zoom selections on YouTube

See Who’s Who Cast, Interview Partners, Artistic team at this link.

Post Show discussion with: Aleina Dume (Gen Z), Tracia Banuelos (Board, Abortion Conversation Projects), Shireen Rose Shakouri (Campaign Manager, ReproAction)

Alinca Hamilton, Workshop Leader, Director; Stacey Linnartz, Workshop Leader, Coach;
Produced by Cindy Cooper; Declan Zhang, Zoom Producer, Sound Consultant; Emory Kemph, PR, Graphics and Social Media.

Read on Broadway World; Read on Up the Creativity Blog

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We were proud to cosponsor of Say Their Names, an evening of Plays and Monologues by BIPOC Honor Roll! Playwrights, about Black, Indigenous and Women of Color, including Latinx women, who died at the hands of law enforcement. Watch an archive on our FACEBOOK page.

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READINGS, RESILIENCE, AND REPRODUCTIVE FREEDOM!
A Virtual Event. Artists and Advocates Respond in a Time of Crisis

A Virtual Event via ZOOM with the National Institute for Reproductive Health — actors, writers and activists.  

The Progressive: Staging a Defense of Reproductive Rights

Watch selections on our YouTube playlist! Get links to individual selections on YouTube.

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Actors and presenters:  Dr. Grisel Acosta, Cait Cortelyou, Kimiye Corwin, Alinca Hamilton, Yvette Heyliger, Crista Marie Jackson, Carl H. Jaynes, Stacey Linnartz, directed by Francesca Mantani Arkus. Co-produced by Cindy Cooper.

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Writers: Jacqueline E. Lawton, Dr. Grisel Acosta, Melissa Bell, Justice Harry A. Blackmun, June Jordan, Dr. Susan Wicklund, Marge Piercy, Esosa Edosomwan, Mary Ann Sorrentino, Jessica Feder-Birnbaum, Florynce Rae Kennedy and Alix Olson.

Download Performance Program

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