THE FLIGHT
The Flight is an inventive piece of theater that satirically tackles issues of racism, identity, and the manipulation of Black American history through the transformative power of personal narrative. Through a series of vignettes, The Flight weaves a quilt of memories that proves to be a powerful journey. Join three misguided bLACK Airlines Flight Attendants as they take you on an intimate journey into The Flight is performed by Collective Colour, three New York-based female artists who believe in reconstructing history through original performance.
Shelah Marie, Heather Holmes and LaChrisha Brown each contribute their own artistic skills and writing to reinforce the idea that history belongs to all of us, and should not be hegemonized to only a few icons. Shelah's background in writing and Performance Studies guided the concept of The Flight, while Brown, having strong roots as a vocal performer, coached the other women on how to add musicality and vocal performance to the production. Heather, who has a background as an international performer, adds her subtle strength to the performance.
Running time: 75 minutes (excluding talk-back & optional post-show workshop)
WHO IS COLLECTIVE COLOUR?
Shelah Marie (producer, actress, writer) genuinely believes that her tool to change the world is performance and this shows through her diverse and impressive range of projects. Shelah started her professional acting career while studying Theater at Florida State University. While at FSU, she was fortunate enough to earn the International Programs Anniversary Scholarship from FSU and The Davita Foundation Scholarship to study at The Theatre Academy London in London, England. In the Summer of 2010, Shelah left Florida to study performance at Tisch School of the Arts at NYU, who at the time was ranked as The #1 School for Performance and Theater Studies.
On stage, Shelah brings her subtle, yet arresting presence to her performances. She has performed in South Florida at The Mosaic Theatre, The AAPACT and The M Ensemble in Miami, and at wellknown NYC venues such as LaMaMa, The Brooklyn Lyceum and Tisch School of the Arts. But Shelah’s role in the theater is not limited to acting — she is also a playwright and is working on her second play, The Flight. Her first play, ordinary affects, was an official selection of The Harlem Arts Festival and The 2012 Myrna Mynkoff New Play Festival at St. Francisville Transitory Theatre in Louisiana. In addition to her work as a performer, Shelah takes pride in providing high quality arts education. She created and facilitated arts education programming in Miami, New York City, San Rafael, Haiti and Hohenfels, Germany, Kingston and Montego Bay. Shelah most recently performed charity acting workshops with The RuJohn Foundation alongside actors Raven Symone (The Cosby Show), Lance Gross (Temptation: Confessions of a Marriage Counselor) and Lamorne Morris (Fox's New Girl).
Heather Holmes (actress, writer) originally from Houston, TX, Heather attended Spelman College and the University of Houston, where she earned her bachelor's degree in English Literature with a concentration in creative writing, and minor in film studies. While there, she worked for the literary journal GULF COAST, a nationally distributed magazine that features fiction, non-fiction, poetry, and art from both well-known and lesser established artists. Heather earned her MFA in acting from The New School for Drama, and is a member of Milkwood Theater Company with whom she has been a teaching artist in residence at Roanoke College, in Roanoke, Virginia. She is a traveller and storyteller, an avid listener, and hopes to learn to dance as if nobody is watching.
Her recent theater credits include: The Promised Land (Orkater, Over Het Ij Festival, Amsterdam); The New Yorkers (Orkater, De Parade, Amsterdam); Johnathan Livingston Seagull: A Skate Play (McCarren Skate Park, Brooklyn); Le Histoire du Soldat (Mannes School of Music & NSD, NYC), You Don't Know Jack (NSD, NYC).
LaChrisha C. Brown (producer, actress, writer) As a company member of Rady n’ Bloom, LaChrisha has been a current pioneer in the creation of new works and experimental theater. LaChrisha was recently invited to collaborate in the prestigious Harlem 9’s 48 Hour Play Festival. LaChrisha received her MFA in Acting from the New School for Drama and her BFA in Theater Performance from The University of North Texas. LaChrisha has worked as a theater teacher for Upward Bound in Denton, TX and for The Gretna Art Camp in Gretna, LA. During her time as President of the Social Culture for the Arts and Talented, LaChrisha produced and directed the stage sensations, Voices (The Slave Narratives) and Voices Now.
LaChrisha is a member of the indie gospel group United Voices and has credits for her lead vocals on both of the group’s albums, After The Heart of You and Still Standing. LaChrisha has been recognized for her work as Lady Anne in Richard III, Lady in Red in for colored girls who have considered suicide when the rainbow is enuff, Mattie Campbell in Jubilee Theater's production of Joe Turner's Come and Gone and Tinkerbell in Peter/Wendy. LaChrisha is very excited about her work with Collective Colour.
THE FLIGHT & EDUCATION
The Flight not only serves as a source of entertainment for its audiences but it is a theatrical educational piece that features an interactive post show talkback with Collective Colour as they address issues of identity politics, institutionalized racism and how that effects personal histories.Optional post-show talkback and/or workshop can be facilitated directly following the performance and require no set-up or materials.
Optional talk-back: 10-15 minutes
Optional interactive post-show workshop: 30- 35 minutes
Please note due to the active nature of the post-show workshops, Colour Collective requests a maximum of 30 participants. Please arrange to organize the participants selected in advance.
Flight 2013 was commissioned as part of UNI's Black History Month programming. The performance concluded in a post-show talkback with the cast.
Drei Colour will be performing an excerpt of a new work-in-progress play about the black experience. They are excited to be performing at The Long Hallway in association with 1242 Pacific Productions, a company devoted to site-specific, experimental performance.
Performance of "The Flight" as part of The University of Northern Iowa's Black History Month programming.
An preview performance of "The Flight"
NYC Premiere of "The Flight"
A performance of "The Flight" as part of Furman University's Black History Month programming.
"The Flight" was perfomed as celebration of the 8th annivesity of The African Burial Ground being a National Monument.