Elevate Winter Series - Part 1: Black Women's Reproductive Health
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The Play
The Fundshack is a magical surrealist play that follows a day in the life of Glaurie Bertramen and her family as they assist a young woman in need of an abortion. Glaurie and her family operate a scrappy, small-scale abortion fund called The Southern Reproductive Freedom Fund, also affectionately known as The Fundshack. The badass entity that is The Fundshack stands defiant and is ready to fight for the lives of women of the South. The play is a dream and a love letter to Black women operating in an oppressive economic and cultural landscape. It starts with a nightmare and ends with a dream.
Following the presentation, Elevate has gathered healthcare professionals to join ChelseaDee in discussing black women's reproductive health.
ChelseaDee
Playwright / Co-director
ChelseaDee is a multi-hyphenate, interdisciplinary creator and arts educator. Specializing in theater-making, she also performs, teaches, curates, facilitates, develops curriculum, directs, and produces arts events. Her focus is creating new works of theater that highlight history and challenge dominant narratives. She has written, performed, and produced her own work such as her new solo show, The Guide to Getting What’s Yours. She is also a teaching artist who has facilitated workshops with the Brooklyn Academy of Music, the New York City Department of Correction, and the New Victory Theater.
Christina D. Eskridge
Co-Director / Producer
Christina D. Eskridge, Founder and Executive Director of Elevate Theatre Company and is thrilled to be co-directing this excerpt from The Fundshack. Additionally, Christina is producing the Elevate Winter Series to Redefine the Stage, ensuring we continue experiencing theater, in a socially distant and innovative manner. Now more than ever, we need stories to entertain, inspire, educate and call us to action. Part 1: Black Women’s Reproductive Health, aims to do exactly that. Christina is excited to ELEVATE this story, bring together health and policy experts and engage in dialogue with the audience.
ALBERTO DENIS
(BA in Theater/Dance, Rhode Island College, summa cum laude)
Stage Manager
The Panelists
Jessica Pinckney
Jessica Pinckney is the executive director of ACCESS Women’s Health Justice, a Reproductive Justice organization funding abortion and other reproductive healthcare. ACCESS removes barriers and builds the power of Californians to achieve reproductive justice. Jessica oversees the organization's work to combine direct services, community education, and policy advocacy to promote real reproductive options and access to quality health care for people in California. No other organization in the state provides the same range of support for people considering or seeking an abortion.
She returns to her home state of California after living for nearly a decade in Washington, DC, where she previously served as vice president of government affairs at In Our Own Voice: National Black Women’s Reproductive Justice Agenda, a national/state partnership with eight Black women’s reproductive Justice organizations, lifting up the voices of Black women leaders on national, regional, and state policies that impact the lives of Black women and girls through strategies such as leadership development, advocacy and policy change, and movement building.
Jessica holds a M.A. in Government with a concentration in Political Communications from John’s Hopkins University and a B.A. in Political Science with an emphasis in Public Service from the University of California, Santa Barbara. She is an avid reader and a loving dog mom to her 8-year old American Bulldog, Pitbull Mix, Apollo. She previously served as the Vice Chair on the Board of Directors for Planned Parenthood of Metropolitan Washington and the Chapter Co-Director for New Leaders Council DC, and remains a relentless advocate and activist in her spare time.
Dr. Elizabeth Garner
Dr. Elizabeth Garner is a women’s health physician with over twenty years of experience. Following her medical education at Harvard Medical School and specialty training at Brigham and Women Hospital, Massachusetts General Hospital, and the Dana Farber Cancer Institute, she was Assistant Professor at Harvard Medical School, where she focused on academic clinical practice, basic science research in ovarian cancer, and teaching and mentorship of trainees and medical students. Dr. Garner joined the Gardasil® Human Papillomavirus vaccine clinical research team at Merck in 2007, and since then has had the privilege to work in several important areas of unmet need in women’s health, holding roles of increasing strategic responsibility in large and small companies and developing deep expertise in clinical trial design and conduct, regulatory strategy, and medical affairs. She joined ObsEva, a Swiss women’s health company, as Chief Medical Officer in July 2019, and was previously Chief Medical Officer at Agile Therapeutics (2014-2019). Garner is a member of the Boards of Directors of Kezar Life Sciences, Pharm-Olam International, the Drug Information Association (DIA), and CorStone (a global non-profit focused on resilience in girls). She is also on the Executive Committee and is current Treasurer of the American Medical Women’s Association. Dr. Garner was a 2019 awardee of the Pharmavoice 100 most inspiring individuals in the life-sciences industry. She is an author on numerous peer-reviewed scientific papers, has extensive experience as a media spokesperson, and is a frequent panelist and speaker on a range of topics including healthcare and women’s leadership.
The Artists
Linda Kuriloff (Glaurie)
Linda is an actor turned creator, Career Coach, and Assistant Director at a Senior Center. After work, she writes, performs, and produces to express her creativity. She is currently producing interview shows, “Shift Happens” with Geoffrey Owens as host on IGTV and “Shift Happens OVERTIME” on Youtube. In November, she’ll release her book, “Rethink and Grow Fans: Go From Yearning to Earning as a 24-Hour Actor” on Amazon. Follow @Lindakuriloff on Instagram to see what she’s up to next! Her solo show, Linda Means to Wait, is also available on Amazon.
Alverneq Lindsay (Vivica)
Alverneq Rene Lindsay is a Brooklyn native and graduate of Atlantic Theater Company’s Acting Conservatory. She is overjoyed to be working with Elevate Theatre Company and ChelseaDee. As a performer, writer, and arts administrator, she is interested in exploring how audiences relate to the moral complexity of the anti-hero. As an arts advocate, she believes artists have the ability to generate empathy plus joy and hopes to help increase arts access through her administrative work. She is grateful to her friends and family for their love and support and would like to thank everyone involved in The Fundshack, for calling attention to the reality of so many Black mothers and children, in an effort to enlighten and encourage dialogue. Huge thanks to ChelseaDee!
Maya Carter (Angel)
Maya is an interdisciplinary performer, teaching artist, and theater-maker based out of Brooklyn NY. As an artist educator, Maya seeks to dismantle oppressive power structures + amplify the voices of marginalized communities by decolonizing access to artistic practice. They also facilitate the development of new contemporary plays and ensemble-devised work in various capacities, including: Direction, Dramaturgy, Movement Direction/Choreography, Script Consultation/Editing, Deviser/Writer. Pre-Quarantine projects include: The Gap by Makaela Shealy, and Stumpwater with Sacred Circle Theater. Currently, Maya is cultivating ease + softness; while assisting the Revolution in the ways that they can.
Princess Jacob (A)
Princess Is thrilled to be making her Elevate Theatre Company debut in The Fundshack! Princess is a multidisciplinary actor based in New York. She studied at Studio Acting Conservatory, The Freeman Studio, and The She-Collective with Erica Jensen. Regional credits include The Christians (Baltimore Center Stage) and Self Portrait with Dirty Hair (Keegan Theatre's Womxn on Fire Festival). In the virtual space, Princess appeared in this year's 24 Hour Plays Viral Monologues and launched her lifestyle brand, @proudartistco!
Organizations to further explore
Native-Land.ca is a website striving to map Indigenous lands in a way that changes, challenges, and improves the way people see the history of their countries and peoples.
Website run by the nonprofit organization Native Land Digital.
The American Medical Women's Association
Website
Access Womens Health Justice
Website
Philadelphia Alliance for Labor Support (PALS)
Website
SPARK Reproductive Justice NOW
Website - Instagram
In Our Own Voice: National Black Women's Reproductive Agenda
Website - Instagram
Black Women's Health Imperative
Website - Instagram
Black Women for Wellness
Website - Instagram
The Afiya Center
Website - Instagram
SisterLove,Inc.
Website - Instagram
Women With a Vision
Website - Instagram
New Voices for Reproductive Justice
Website - Instagram
SisterReach
Website - Instagram
SisterSong Women of Color Reproductive Justice Collective
Website - Instagram
Women's Health
Website
All Above All
Website - Instagram
National Network of Abortion Funds
Website - Instagram
Yellowhammer Fund based in Alabama
Website - Instagram
Access Reproductive Care - Southeast
Website - Instagram
Kentucky Health Justice Network
Website - Facebook
New Orleans Abortion Fund
Website - Instagram
Mississippi Reproductive Freedom Fund
Website
Acknowledgements from Elevate
Thank you to the unwavering support of our donors.
We are humbled by the talent on our redefined stage and thank our performers and stage managers.
Thanks to our incredible panelists for sharing their expertise and experiences with our community to educate, inspire and provoke action among us all.
A huge thank you to the health and advocacy organizations doing work to support our communities.
We thank our unbelievable playwright, Miss ChelseaDee without whom this event never would have happened. We are indebted to you for the love and insight you share through The Fundshack!
Finally, those behind the scenes, Mr. Kendrick Strauch thanks for the dope music! And Mr. Wesley Wells, we could not have done this without your program and event management skills, you've made it all possible!
Acknowledgements from the Playwright
To Linda Villarosa and Ema O'Conor, thank you for your righteous journalism.
To the panelists, thank you for all the frontline work you have done and will continue to do.
To my ancestors, the Granny midwives of the American South, thank you.
To my family and friends, thank you for being my community and my muse.
I am because you are.
To the actors and Alberto, thank you for your genius and your generosity.
To the sound and video editor for the Nightmare Visual, Neruda A. Williams, thank you for making art with me.
Last but never least, big love and thank yous to Christina Eskridge- my co-director, a scrappy theater producer who believed in this scrappy play, and a true colleague and friend.