ALSO SEE THE EXTENSIVE LIVESTREAMING ARCHIVE OF CLIPS, PROGRAM, OUTREACH TOOLS, LISTENING PACKETS, ACTIVIST CARDS AND RESOURCES HERE
Women’s History Month! March 2013
Our LIVE STREAMING performances generated audiences and attention — in New York, across the state, across the country, and around the world. We were LIVE STREAMING with the first-ever WiredArts Fest produced by VirtualArtsTV on Friday, March 1 at 7 pm, EST time and Saturday, March 2 at 3 pm, EST time
Groups and individuals around the country and the world were invited to participate in a LIVE streaming national and international conversation on choice! And the arts! People could WATCH THIS LIVE from any computer with Internet access! We also performed LIVE in New York at the New Media Center of the Secret Theater in Queens (Long Island City). Viewers were able to interact through Twitter, IM, Facebook during the performance.
Words of Choice and the Wired Arts Fest generated substantial attention.
Read about the first-ever WiredArtsFest on ABC here and Wall Street Journal here.
Read about Words of Choice and the WiredArtsFest here:
Words of Choice, Wired Arts Fest and Women — Works by Women blog with a nice crosspost by Anne Hamilton Dramaturgy.
There is No Such Thing as Traditional Activism by Ashley Paskalis — fem2pt0 blog
WOMEN ARTS: Join the Words of Choice Live Streaming Events Mar 1 & 2 on WomenArts.org blog.
Cindy Cooper on her Play, “Words of Choice,” Reproductive Justice and Body image in Adios Barbie
Read about Words of Choice in BUST Magazine
Women geeks artists create 1st WiredArtsFest and it supports repro rights! on Feministing.
WebWire: Words of Choice and Wired Arts Fest, Together
Words of Choice: Daily News Listings
In a unique hour-long TWEET CHAT sponsored by fem2pt0, Cindy Cooper of Words of Choice joined with cultural critic Soraya Chemlay to discuss feminism, the arts and reproductive rights! @fem2pt0 @choicetheater @schemaly #woclive
In a brilliant review of reproductive justice developments and choice language, Molly M. Ginty concludes with a post about Words of Choice on Women’s eNews.
Words of Choice participation was unique in several ways:
Joining us for a discussion on Friday, March 1: Amanda Marcotte, blogger at Pandagon, writer at RHReality Check, author of It’s A Jungle Out There: The Feminist Survival Guide! and Lori Adelman, a contributing editor at Feministing who works on Every Woman Every Child for the UN Foundation. Joining us for a discussion on Saturday, March 2: Lynn Roberts, founding board member of SisterSong Women of Color Reproductive Justice Collective and an assistant professor at Hunter College, along with award-winning filmmakers Marion Lipshutz, who made The Education of Shelby Knox and other films.
Words of Choice Viewing parties! Local organizations, colleges and groups coordinated house and dorm viewing parties to activate, motivate and educate on prochoice issues. See the Viewing Party Packet here. And a Free Original Poster pdf or jpeg. Also available for downloading, A FREE APP; read more here.
The performances featured Crista Marie Jackson, Carl H. Jaynes and Claudia Schneider, under the direction of Francesca Mantani Arkus, with Artistic Consultant Stacey Linnartz and Stage Manager Kelly Vieau. We used five arts selections from Heather Ault, 4000 Years for Choice. On the producing team were Outreach and Marketing Director Emma Shakarshy; Marketing and Public Relations Consultant Ashley Paskalis; Assistant on Marketing, Tiffany Colasuonno, along with Producer and Creator, Cindy Cooper.
————————————————————————————————
“Words of Choice” Brings Reproductive Rights to Center Stage at the First Ever WiredArts Fest
Pro-choice Production Offers New Venue for Social Justice in an Engaging Activism Based Theater Experience
New York, NY – February 22, 2013 – “Words of Choice,” a dynamic pro-choice theater piece is bringing its show to New York City this March in honor of Women’s History Month and the 40th anniversary of Roe v. Wade. In addition to the two performances, the show is available via live-streaming to audiences across the nation and the globe.
“Words of Choice” weaves together dozens of stories of reproductive rights through poetry, spoken word, oral history, theater and journalism. It is performed by three actors, and showcases a variety of serious, comedic and contemplative pieces. As part of the first-ever WiredArts Fest, Words of Choice will be showcased to hundreds of activists with the shared goal of reproductive and social justice.
“Women’s rights and reproductive freedoms are still under attack. As activists and ambassadors of change, everyone involved with Words of Choice is committed to moving public sentiment and influencing policy makers. We created this event because the use of theater is a way to transmit the pro-choice message, opening hearts and minds, and empowering the movement for women’s full equality and rights,” said Cindy Cooper, creator of Words of Choice.
“Words of Choice” will be performed on March 1 at 7 pm EST and March 2 at 3 pm EST at The Secret Theater in Long Island City. As part of the WiredArts Fest, the live streaming audience will be able to participate simultaneously with tweeting, instant messaging, photo shots and Facebook. After the shows a panel discussion will take place to discuss the pieces and the state of reproductive and social justice. Friday night will feature Amanda Marcotte, blogger at Pandagon, writer at RHReality Check, and author; joining us on Saturday is Lynn Roberts, founding board member of SisterSong Women of Color Reproductive Justice Collective and an assistant professor at Hunter College.
The “Words of Choice” ensemble will include Crista Marie Jackson, Carl H. Jaynes and Claudia Schneider under the direction of Francesca Mantani Arkus; Kelly Vieau is stage manager; Stacey Linnartz is Artistic Consultant.
Tickets and where to watch:
You can watch ONLINE from anywhere for free. Free viewing comes with pop-up ads at any time.
For a mini-payment of $2.50, you can watch ONLINE without the annoyance of commercials.
In-studio theater tickets are $18.00. Discounts available for groups of 8 and for prochoice activists! Email: wordsofchoice@mindspring.com
Location: The New Media Center at the Secret Theatre, 4402 23rd Street, Long Island City, NY 11101. 7, E, M or G Train to Courthouse/23.
Additional ticketing information available at http://www.wordsofchoice.org
For additional information or press inquiries, please contact:
Ashley Paskalis
Marketing and Public Relations Consultant
apaskalis@yahoo.com
or
Cindy Cooper
Producer
wordsofchoice@mindspring.com
@ChoiceTheater
See Upcoming Events.
Get a Viewing Party Packet and Free Poster.
Find out about Free APPS here.
Visit our FACEBOOK EVENTS page for LIVE STREAMING.
Visit our FACEBOOK EVENTS page for NEW YORK In-STUDIO THEATER viewers.
_____________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Words of Choice opens a national and international conversation on reproductive freedom with the first Live-Streaming Performing Arts Festival
February 1, 2013: Words of Choice has joined with VirtualArtsTV in an interactive, online festival tailored to a 21st Century audience. The WiredArts Fest will allow reproductive justice activists and viewers across the country to watch a LIVE theatrical performance and to connect.
New York, NY — Words of Choice: Roe at 40 will be part of the first WiredArts Fest on Friday, March 1 at 7 pm EST, and Saturday, March 2 at 3 pm EST (program starts at 2 pm EST, GMT-5.)
As reproductive freedom takes center stage on the 40th Anniversary of Roe v. Wade, Words of Choice is boldly stepping onto a virtual and live stage to support prochoice voices in the U.S., Ireland, Latin America and across the globe who are working to assert women’s fundamental human right to make their own reproductive rights decisions. Words of Choice is moving the discussion about abortion, contraception, women’s freedom and experiences to a new level with an interactive, electronic exchange with its characteristic storytelling — smart, funny … and endangered! While broadcast via the Internet, the Words of Choice will perform live before a studio audience in New York.
Words of Choice is part of the WiredArts Fest, a live-streaming arts festival produced by VirtualArtsTV, a new venture in New York with Kathryn Velvel Jones as CEO. “Think of a Fringe Festival, but online, where the audience is global, seating is unlimited and viewers can participate in live chat discussions, interact through Twitter and Facebook, while the performance is happening,” writes VirtualArts TV in a press release.
In addition to Words of Choice, the WiredArts Fest, running from Feb. 19, will feature another dozen shows over 12 days. Performances include Abstract Nude, written by Gwydion Suilebhan (a digital play experience), Exit 12 (dance based on AD Roman Baca’s service in the Marines), Sartre’s Huis Clos “No Exit”, Les Muses, White With Some Color, Clippings, Alice and Elizabeth’s One Woman Show, TITS, Grapefruit, and more.
The WORDS OF CHOICE ensemble will include Crista Marie Jackson, Carl H. Jaynes and Claudia Schneider under the direction of Francesca Mantani Arkus; Kelly Vieau is stage manager; Stacey Linnartz is Artistic Consultant. WORDS OF CHOICE, created by Cindy Cooper, includes twelve diverse writings — funny and poignant — woven into a single performance.
The 65-minute Live Streaming performance of Words of Choice will be followed by a 20-minute discussion with reproductive justice leaders, and Live Streaming audiences will be able to interact with participants then, as well.
WORDS OF CHOICE is also helping organizations and colleges to organize house parties to activate, motivate and energize prochoice individuals across the country during the time period in which legislatures are convening and considering restrictive legislation and Obamacare is finally taking shape with contraceptive coverage. Packets of information will help groups connect in a national and international conversation. Emma Shakarshy is the Words of Choice Marketing and Outreach Director.
VirtualArtsTV’s previous project garnered over 50,000 unique views from all over the world with viewers twittering, facebooking and chatting virtual standing ovations, according to the festival organizers. One viewer in Massachusetts wrote, “The thrill of live theatre, the feeling of being a part of it and yet I’m miles away…amazing.” Others viewed from international locations.
Read about the WiredArtsFest on ABC NEWS and in the Wall Street Journal, BroadwayWorld and Playbill.com.
reprofreedomarts.org 