AMPLIFY: First Stage’s annual BIPOC Virtual Short Play Series

This spring, First Stage launched AMPLIFY–First Stage’s BIPOC Virtual Short Play Series, lifting the voices of playwrights and creativity of stage directors who identify as Black, Indigenous and People of Color. This series expands First Stage’s commitment to new play development and our mission to ensure that the stories we tell and the tellers of those tales reflect the wonder and complexity of our community. In addition, with the understanding of the power of connection young people feel when they see themselves and their stories onstage, the AMPLIFY Series’ virtual plays center on the young person’s point of view.

Thanks in part to funding from the Milwaukee Arts Board, First Stage was able to provide the AMPLIFY Series productions to the community free of charge this season.

The first AMPLIFY Series play, COPPER HORNS IN WATER, streamed from April 16 to May 16, 2021. If you missed it, a recording of the performance is still available on YouTube.

Written by Ty Defoe and directed by Johamy Morales, COPPER HORNS IN WATER celebrates the Anishinaabe oral storytelling tradition. The idea about Copper Horns in Water talks about the Underwater Panther with Copper Horns that appears in many anecdotes; a lot of Wisdom Keepers teachings from cultural knowledge that has been handed down from generation to generation. Layering in a graphic novel form of storytelling, COPPER HORNS IN WATER also explores the fight for climate justice as a form of racial justice.

Ty Defoe, playwright

“As an artist, a lot of my work operates at the intersections of cultural traditions as well as being very much alive as a contemporary native person. For future generations to come to really understand and know at this time during Zoom and the virtual ways we need to connect, what could really be a prolific offering for them? That was the impetus of this work.”  ­- Ty Defoe

 

The play’s hero is a young and curious Underwater Creature named North, who earns their Copper Horns—a coming-of-age ritual that gives them power under water. North soon learns the importance of their horns when they need to summon their strength—and with the collective power of their friends—to save the day. Students from Milwaukee’s Indian Community School performed this fun-filled story for the entire family.

As an alumni of both First Stage and Indian Community School, Ty Defoe played a pivotal role in connecting our organizations—an experience Ty describes as coming home.

 

Prior to the casting and rehearsal process, First Stage facilitated after-school virtual workshops for the Indian Community School students in January. This workshop series covered the basics of acting, what it means to be in a First Stage virtual Theater Production, and how to prepare a video audition. All participating students were invited to audition for Ty’s play.

Indian Community School was critical in the development of COPPER HORNS IN WATER and First Stage is grateful for their partnership and help in creating this production with their students and staff. First Stage looks forward to continuing our relationship with Indian Community School.

Learn more about COPPER HORNS IN WATER through our Enrichment Guide and Virtual Talkback.

The second AMPLIFY Series play, UNMUTED, streamed from April 30 to May 30, 2021. If you missed it, a recording of the performance is still on available YouTube.

Preliminarily referred to as “Zoom of the Flies” during the writing process, UNMUTED is written by Alvaro Saar Ríos with music/lyrics by Deborah Wicks La Puma and directed by Anna Skidis Vargas.

Alvaro Saar Ríos, playwright

When the substitute gym teacher is kicked out of the Zoom Room of a virtual gym class, the students take over! As the group starts a game of “SorD” (Secret or Dare), they discover more about each other’s lives on the other side of the screen—their frustrations with online school, their love for tacos on Tuesdays and, most importantly, what they miss.

UNMUTED aims to honor Milwaukee’s cultural heritage—particularly families that live across multiple languages and cultures. This lively new musical is in English with some Spanish lyrics.

 

Learn more about UNMUTED through our Enrichment Guide and Virtual Talkback. 

AMPLIFY is supported in part by a grant from the Milwaukee Arts Board and the Wisconsin Arts Board with funds from the State of Wisconsin.