Lillian Brown to present one-woman play performance Friday
Lillian Brown, visiting professor of theatre, will present a solo performance of her original play “The OREO Complex” Friday, July 8. The performance will begin at 7 p.m. at The Heist, 114 Watson St. Brown is using the performance as a preview/workshop before she takes the show on the road.
“The OREO Complex” is an exploration of internalized segregation, a celebration of resilience, a practice of rigorous patience, honesty and veneration of ancestors from the African and black diaspora. It chronicles the experience of OREO Girl, a black female, navigating predominately white institutions. For her, it is a voyage to embody an unapologetic performance of blackness despite the obstructions that erupt from a lineage of assimilation and perfectly polished respectability. Most importantly, it is a revolution to be seen and heard authentically as human.
“I wrote it shortly after the deaths of George Floyd and Breonna Taylor when I was hiding in my apartment amidst chaos invading the streets,” Brown says. “There was a lot of virtue signaling by my ‘friends’ online. Something I like to call fast-food activism. I felt invalidated. Why did my ‘friends’ choose to invest themselves in the general and all-encompassing theme of #blacklivesmatter when I was standing right beside them all along? Must I be asphyxiated for 9 min 29 seconds before people realize my life is worth protecting too?”
After the performance, there will be a discussion about Brown’s process devising the work. Complimentary refreshments will be provided.
Tickets are available for $10 here.
Brown will be performing her show at the Capital Fringe Festival in Washington, D.C., and the St. Louis Fringe Festival in Missouri this summer.
Related Posts
Student-written papers place in sociological association competition
Jacqueline Clark, professor of sociology and the Helen Swift Neilson Professor of Cultural Studies; Kaeley Miller ’24 of Norway, Michigan; and Alison DeNamur ’25 of […]
Othon, Willoughby among collaborators receiving major National Science Foundation grant
A National Science Foundation grant worth more than $259,000 over four years has been awarded for an interdisciplinary research study led by Associate Professor of […]
Lillian Brown to appear in ‘The Mousetrap’ in Milwaukee
Assistant Professor of Theatre Lillian Brown will appear in a professional production of “The Mousetrap” Nov. 25-Dec. 17 at Next Act Theatre in Milwaukee. Agatha […]
Applied music lesson students to present recital Dec. 7
A variety of musical solo and chamber works will be presented in a concert Thursday, Dec. 7, at Ripon College. The recital will begin at […]