Curious Theatre Company is a proud partner theatre in
THE BREATH PROJECT
Artistic Director, Gamal Abdel Chasten
Managing Director, Marieke Gaboury
update: Feb. 2, 2021
The Breath Project, a new theatrical initiative formed by Artistic Director and Co-Founder Gamal Abdel Chasten and Co-Founder Marieke Gaboury in response to the current global spotlight on racial injustice against Black people, announced the recipients of the New Play Commission Initiative. Building on the success of last fall’s inaugural The Breath Project Virtual Festival, which featured 24 world premiere works—all 8 minutes and 46 seconds in length—from multidisciplinary theater artists of color from around the country, the New Play Commission Initiative will provide five of those works with $17,000 commissions each to develop full-length plays based on or inspired by their original festival submission. A sixth commission will be awarded in spring 2021.
Fall 2020.
We hope you were able to join us for the first virtual International Festival of The Breath Project on Oct. 24 and 25th, 2021. Our local curator was donnie l. betts.
If you weren’t able to catch the festival online, you can still view all of the amazing work in the Breath Project Archive. The Breath Project plans to move forward with this work into future development and productions. We’ll update here when details are available.
We are so proud that several Colorado artists were part of the International Festival. Direct link to their pieces are listed below:
Note: These performances are intended to be viewed by mature audiences, and contain language and topics that some viewers may find upsetting.
Choosing Sides (excerpt)
written by Josh Richardson (CNV alumni Summer 2020)
Dir. by Betty Hart, featuring James Brunt and Joseph Graves
Black. (excerpt)
written by Lamaria Aminah (CNV alumni Summer 2016, 2017)
featuring Ilasiea Gray and Anastasia Davidson
Waiting for Death
by James Brunt
Acting While Black
by Ilasiea Gray
What Strikes Me
by Sheila Ivy Traister
8:46 Spoken word performance by Panama Soweto
by JC Futrell
The Breath Project, led by Artistic Director and Co-Founder, Gamal Abdel Chasten (founding member of the ensemble theater company UNIVERSES), in partnership with theater companies across the country, was formed to select, curate, and archive work from multidisciplinary theater artists of color who are responding to our current moment in history, and to build relationships between artists of color and producers of live theater in their region.
The Breath Project is planned to roll-out in three phases:
Phase 1: Call for entries to the Breath Project Archive, and a 2020 presentation of selected works in a virtual festival. 100% of any funds raised in connection with the 2020 virtual festival will be given directly to the curating and presenting artists;
Phase 2: Works produced for live audiences, in association with Partner Theaters across the country (as social safety guidelines allow);
Phase 3: The Breath Project is utilized as a tool for activism and education, as an ongoing and living archive of this time in history.
For more information about The Breath Project, and to submit a work to the archive, please visit thebreathproject2020.com.
The Breath Project Presents
08:46
Written & Performed by Gamal ABDEL Chasten
Directed by marieke gaboury
Notice to Viewers from the Artists: This performance served as the impetus for The Breath Project. The performance is intended to be viewed by mature audiences and contains language that some viewers will find upsetting.