The Movement Theatre Company Announces Second Round of Commissions

The Movement Theatre Company (David Mendizábal, Deadria Harrington, Eric Lockley, Taylor Reynolds, and Ryan Dobrin -- Producing Artistic Leadership Team) are proud to announce a second round of 1MOVE: DES19NED BY... commissions for theatrical designers, co-curated by Dede Ayite, Stacey Derosier, and Tony Award winner Paul Tazewell. This round of 1MOVE will amplify the work of Black designers and creative collaborators.

The newly commissioned artists include: Nehprii Amenii, Brittany Bland, Christopher Darbassie, nicHi douglas, Alan C. Edwards, Mika Eubanks, Dominique Fawn Hill, Ramaj Jamar, Andy Jean, Teniece Divya Johnson, Taylor Lily, Nikiya Mathis, Twi McCallum, Kameron Neal, and Teresa L. Williams.

These designers join the first cohort of 1MOVE commissioned artists: Reza Behjat, Stefania Bulbarella, Dina El-Aziz, Edurne Fernandez, María Feuereisen, Megumi Katayama, Ntokozo Fuzunina Kunene, Ao Li, Chen-Wei Liao, Omar Madkour, Rodrigo Muñoz, Yee Eun Nam, Kimie Nishikawa, Riw Rakkulchon, and Wenzheng (Wen) Zhang. First round commissions were co-curated by Clint Ramos and Cha See.

The 1MOVE: DES19NED BY... works are currently available to the public in the virtual gallery, which can be viewed at www.themovementtheatrecompany.org/1move.

The newly commissioned pieces available now include:

The Black Imagination by Christopher Darbassie
$$$Run Me My Money$$$ by nicHi douglas
Coping by Alan C. Edwards
Hey, How's it Going by Mika Eubanks
The Reign & Ms.Education of The Black Phoenix by Dominique Fawn Hill
The Ring of Fire by Ramaj Jamar
Qween Jean's Dream by Andy Jean
ONE Breath by Taylor Lily
Pathways by Nikiya Mathis
2020: The Video Game by Twi McCallum
Cosmetic Surgery by Kameron Neal
Red Beans by Teresa L. Williams

New works by Nehprii Amenii, Brittany Bland, and Teniece Divya Johnson will be made available on the virtual gallery throughout the week.

The Movement will hold a digital Meet the Designers event on Wednesday, July 29 at 4:00pm EST, facilitated by Tazewell, Ayite, and Derosier. To RSVP for this event, please click here: https://themovementtheatrecompany.ticketspice.com/1move-des19nged-bymeet-the-designers-round-2.

1MOVE: DES19NED BY... is a designer-driven initiative where the designer acts with absolute freedom as the lead artist to create digital content in response to the social and political issues affecting their world, namely anti-Blackness, global uprisings, and COVID-19. The Movement has now commissioned 30 designers to dream big in this digital space. Each commissioned designer received $500. In an effort to uplift and support the social justice organizations in our community and beyond, each second round designer was also given an additional $100 to donate to an organization of their choice. These organizations include: Black Hills Legal Defense Fund, Black Trans Femmes in the Arts, The Brotherhood-Sister Sol, CancerCare, DEAFinitely DOPE, Innocence Project, The Loveland Foundation, Lupus Foundation of America, NAACP of Newark, NJ, National Queer and Trans Therapists of Color Network, No Dream Deferred, See Lighting Foundation, S.O.U.L. Sisters Leadership Collective, and more.

Born out of a need to swiftly respond to the many human rights and social issues continuously affecting their communities, 1MOVE is The Movement's digital content series dedicated to creating a brave multi-disciplinary space for their artists and communities to create, respond to, and engage with the current issues affecting their world today. 1MOVE launched in January 2017 with INFINITE: In a "Trump America", which featured musician Corey Wallace, actor/singer Janelle McDermoth, and writer/performer Yadira De La Riva. As the theatre world faces the ongoing effects of the COVID-19 pandemic, The Movement is relaunching 1MOVE with DES19NED BY... to provide a digital space for designers to create and process.

Support for the second round of 1MOVE is made possible by The Lisa Cleff Kurtz & Michael Kurtz Foundation and New Georges. To donate to the initiative and continue supporting the extraordinary work of these designers and future artist opportunities, please visit: https://themovementtheatrecompany.givingfuel.com/1movedesignedby.