BAR FOR BAR: A JUSTICE CHOREOPOEM

BROADWAY ADVOCACY COALITION | 2021|

Work-in-Progress 

Synopsis

In the summer of 2021, the fatal arrest of a popular sex worker in Austin’s historically Black eastside upturns the lives of everyone on her street in this poetic take on potential futures.

Bad Bxtch is a club dancer whose drive home is interrupted by a local patrol team. After telling the officers they won’t be doing them any favors, things escalate and soon their name is a mantra everyone in the city mourns. Or is it? What if--what if there had never been a patrol team? What if—what if everyone lived at the end of the story? #Misdemeanors #Solicitation #CashBail

About the Project

Bar for Bar is a scripted oral history and anthology series of community testimonies, original spoken word, and hip-hop performances spotlighting the social justice issues that profoundly affect the everyday lives of millennials. Featuring real stories from justice-impacted people and original poetry, this is a collection intended for both readers and performance.

In the abolitionist movement, every campaign to change policy hinges on the ability of the organizer to effectively tell their story. As many talented Black and Latinx writers and performers are also justice impacted, this program will serve as the intersection for their passions, and a way for them to advocate as a community for changes to national and regional policies.

Bar for Bar is a theatrical story-telling experience, much like Ntozake Shange's much-celebrated For Colored Girls When the Rainbow is Enuf, in that each production will alternatively integrate movement, instrumentation, lighting, and other elements to heighten the audience’s emotional experience. Dynamic performances from a rotating cast of writers and vocalists will answer the question: What does it mean to be alive right now--and how do we redefine joy for ourselves?