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Updated 10/13/2021

Red Sage Stories/Playback Theatre & Art for Social Change

  • M

    MA

Institution/Business Type: Performing Group

Red Sage Stories: Playback Theatre & Art for Social Change.

A Dorchester/Roxbury based performance troupe of predominately People of Color, multi-cultural, multi-lingual, and intergenerational.We create space for story telling, healing and empowerment for individuals and communities of diverse backgrounds through Playback Theatre and other performance art forms. Combining other performative arts such as staged readings and full production of devised plays with Playback Theatre troupe makes us unique. We are also the only Playback Theatre troupe that regularly performs with an ASL interpreter as part of our company (presently, on leave). As artists, we strive to offer our audiences and collaborators an entertainingly aesthetic experience that is, at the same time, an invitation to increased creativity. We are constantly honing our own skills. As activists, we see our troupe as a resource for individuals, community groups, and endeavors working towards social equity and justice. We aim for our work to inspire informed action. Red Sage Stories began in January 2017 as part of a Creative City Project, "The Table/La Mesa: THE WELCOME PROJECT", funded by NEFA.  Founder/director Melissa Nussbaum Freeman trained interested Dorchester/Roxbury artists in Playback Theatre and other performance skills in order to dramatize stories told by community residents. This effort resulted in a group of 8 performers. The project took off and so did Red Sage Stories! Since its beginnings, RSS has performed over a 100 times at 31 different venues including monthly performances at Haley House Bakery & CafĂ©, Roxbury. Other important performances have included the 31st Trauma Research Conference;In 2019, Red Sage Stories began work on "Store(d) Stories" dramatizing the stories of immigrant shop owners in Jamaica Plain. This was our second grant from NEFA's Creative City program. And, then, boom. The pandemic. We revamped the concept with the focus on the shopkeepers' navigating the covid-19 crisis. We went on-line and didn't look back. Since then, we have also trained a new company in VT; keynote performer for Arts Equity Conference; featured performer and workshop for Exhale Retreat: Cultivating Respect for Our Abortion Experiences; and performed for the Woodrow Avenue Neighborhood Association Christmas party. Community support is at the heart of our work.      Each performance is crafted responding to the needs of the hosting group and their audience considering the personal, community and social forces at play.      

Find Me

Melissa Nussbaum Freeman
Job Title: Founder/Director
Phone: 857-753-0297
Address:
572 Columbia Rd
Upham's Corner
Dorchester, MA 02125

Social Media:

About

Overview

Institution/Business Type:

Performing Group

Legal Status:

Nonprofit - Unincorporated

Year Founded:

2017

Overview

Institution/Business Type:

Performing Group

Legal Status:

Nonprofit - Unincorporated

Year Founded:

2017

Disciplines

Primary Discipline:

Theater - Storytelling

Additional Disciplines:

  • Music - Rap / Hip-Hop

Activities and Services

Activities and Services:

  • Arts Criticism / Journalism
  • Arts for Social Change / Creative Activism
  • Arts and Health
  • Community Arts
  • Creation of a Work of Art (Including Commissions)
  • Performance / Concert / Reading
  • Public Art Projects (In Free, Public Spaces)
  • Residency - Community
  • Residency - In School
  • Wedding / Parties / Private Gatherings
  • Workshops / Demonstrations / Master Class
Seasons Active: spring, summer, fall, winter
Events Per Year: 30

Communities

Populations Engaged:

  • Adults
  • Businesses
  • Elders
  • Families
  • General Public
  • Immigrant Populations
  • Incarcerated (or Formerly Incarcerated) individuals
  • LGBTQ Populations
  • Native American Tribes
  • Nonprofits
  • People with Disabilities
  • School Groups
  • Teens
  • Veteran/Active Duty Military Personnel
  • Youth-At-Risk

Languages Available:

  • American Sign Language
  • Arabic
  • Creole
  • French
  • Portuguese
  • Spanish

Geographic Reach:

  • Town / City
  • County
  • Multi-County Region
  • State
  • Multi-State Region
  • National
  • International

Accessibility of Services

Accessibility of Services:

  • Access accommodations for people who are Deaf and hard-of-hearing

Since Sept 2018, an ASL interpreter is part of Red Sage Stories events.

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