Passage Theatre Company Presents an Outdoor Reading of The OK Trenton Project
written by David Lee White, Richard Bradford and the members of The OK Trenton Ensemble
directed by C. Ryanne Domingues
This play is being developed through Passage Theatre’s PlayLab Program.
WHEN: June 12th at 5:00pm
WHERE: Amphitheatre inside of Mill Hill Park, Corner of Broad St and Front StTrenton, NJTICKETS: In lieu of tickets, Passage is recommending a suggested donation of $10 per person or $25 for groups of four. Funds will be used to pay artists participating in this event. Reservations will be required and can be made online at www.passagetheatre.org.
Social distancing and other precautions to ensure the safety of the audience and performers will be in place. Audience members will be seated in pods distanced 6 feet apart from each other. Masks are required for patrons when they are not seated in their pods; however, they can be removed once seated.
The OK Trenton Project is a documentary-style play about the reaction to a community sculpture entitled “Helping Hands,” which was designed and built by local students and installed on a vacant city-owned lot in Trenton, NJ. Following concerns that the sculpture too closely resembled a gang symbol and could send the wrong message to residents, the piece was ultimately removed. Told through the words of Trenton’s law enforcement, city officials, artists, residents, and students, this play tells the story of what one piece of art can mean to a community.
The project’s ensemble consists of Kevin Bergen (he, him, his), Richard Bradford (he, him, his), Carmen Castillo (they, them, theirs), Jonathan Conner (he, him, his), Jane Cox (she, her, hers), Victoria Davidjohn (she, her, hers), Ryanne Domingues (she, her, hers), Kara Jönsson (she, her, hers), Alexandra Kostis (she, her, hers), Dara Lewis (she, her, hers), Bruce Lindsay (he, him, his), Robin Shane (she, her, hers), Wendi Smith (she, her, hers), Yoshinori Tanokura (he, him, his), and David Lee White (he, him, his). Some of these individuals are actors in the show, while others are designers, writers, stage managers, or visual artists. As an employer, Passage Theatre Company supports an individual’s right to use gender inclusive pronouns when identifying themselves without judgements or assumptions. Please help us honor our artists’ right to choose by using the pronouns indicated alongside their name when referencing them individually.
Audience members are encouraged to bring seat cushions for maximum comfort during the reading.
Passage is pleased to announce that the Wegmans grocery store in Princeton, NJ, has generously donated bottled water for the performers and patrons to consume during the outdoor event. Passage is sincerely grateful for Wegmans’ support of this project and that of the community of Trenton.
Passage’s Artistic Director and the Director of The OK Trenton Project, C. Ryanne Domingues, says “We are incredibly excited to return to in-person performances, and to do so with a show that is so close to our community. We have all been apart for so long, and we thought this would be a great way to wave to our neighbors and have a shared (socially distanced) experience to kick off the summer months. We are sharing the script of THE OK TRENTON PROJECT at this stage in its development so that local residents can ask questions and give feedback about the piece. We've been working on it for years, and now it's time for the community to see what we've been up to!” Passage’s PlayLab creates and develops new work in order to advance and diversify the art-form and our collective culture, affording emerging and established playwrights a platform for sharing diverse perspectives on complex and important issues. Passage’s PlayLab has two main components: Devised Work and New Play Development. As part of the PlayLab program, The OK Trenton Project is being developed into a full production which will be premiering at Passage in February of 2022.
