VOICES BE HEARD: THE MUSICAL to be Presented at The Space at Irondale

Girl Be Heard, a Brooklyn based organization that amplifies and celebrates the voices of girls and young women through socially conscious theatre-making, storytelling and performance, will present Voices Be Heard: The Musical, their 2022 Mainstage production, June 21-22 at The Space at Irondale. Written and performed by an international cast of 12 professional young "artivists", ages 17-24, the work features original music and personal narratives of mental health, women's rights, immigration, identity, justice, and issues facing our communities today.

With the company returning live to the stage for the first time in over two years and presenting their very first full-length musical, Voices Be Heard: The Musical follows the lives of six girls living separately in an old New York City apartment building, facing their own day-to-day struggles of survival in the bustling city. Multi-disciplinary to include live performance of monologue, music, and movement, paired with pre-recorded projections of remote ensemble members, a black out plagues the building during a violent thunderstorm to bring up stories that bond the women together in moments of unity, trust, and vulnerability, while girls who inhabited the building from decades past surface through ghostly apparitions. Legacy, growth, evolution, fear, and radical joy mark this night that remind the cast and audiences that the storms of life will always pass, and hope lays ahead.

"In keeping with this year's company theme "Radical Joy", we wanted to create a piece that highlights the struggles of young women caught between chasing their dreams and carrying the burdens of societal, familial, and personal demands with insight, humanity and humor." Explains Angelica Torres, the company's interim Artistic Director. "Voices Be Heard brings together people who seemingly have nothing in common to form unique and beautiful relationships despite individual hardships."

"We are excited to be back on the stage for our first live show since 2019," adds Executive Director Chiwoniso Kaitano. "I'm incredibly proud of our community of young artists and activists who have overcome major obstacles to bring this important and timely work out into the world. We know it will deeply resonate with audiences everywhere."

The Girl Be Heard performing company gives young women of color and gender-expansive youth the opportunity to participate in paid performances throughout their year while connecting artistic practices to social issues.

PERFORMANCE and TICKET INFORMATION

Voices Be Heard: The Musical will be performed June 21 and 22 at 7:00 p.m.

Tickets start at $10 and are available at https://girlbeheard.org/mainstage-2022

VENUE INFORMATION

The Space at Irondale is located at 85 South Oxford Street in Brooklyn, New York. The theater is accessible by Subway: C to Lafayette; B, D, M, N, Q, R, 2, 3, 4, or 5 to Atlantic Avenue/Pacific Street; and G to Fulton Street.

Proof of vaccination is required for all who are eligible to enter the building. Masks must be worn at all times, regardless of vaccination status.

ABOUT GIRL BE HEARD

Girl Be Heard develops,a??amplifies, anda??celebratesa??thea??voices of young womena??througha??socially consciousa??theatre-making. Girl Be Heard (GBH) runs free after-school and weekend programs in NYC and Trinidad and Tobago and centers youth as experts in their own lives. Their education curriculum and methodology are designed to create safe, fun, nurturing spaces for self-expression, grow individual talents (writing, rapping, acting, dancing, singing) and provide opportunities for youth to "be heard" at open mics and ensemble shows throughout the year. As a creative collective, GBH uses performance and personal storytelling to catalyze change around systemic human rights issues youth face around the world, while bringing workshops and performances into detention centers, schools, refugee camps, domestic violence shelters, churches, community centers, theaters, and countless other venues. With economic empowerment is central to their work, GBH also works in partnership with the United Nations, the State Department, and local elected officials to engage and persuade decision-makers to advocate for, invest in, and create policies that protect, empower, and elevate the status of women, girls, and gender non-conforming youth. GBH has toured nine countries (Bermuda, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Canada, Denmark, Switzerland, Taiwan, Trinidad, United Kingdom, and the United States). Girl Be Heard's special advisors and supporters include Lin Manuel Miranda, Danai Gurira, Alicia Keys, Gloria Steinem, Jackie Shapiro, among others.