Details
Meet and Greet in the Lobby at 6:30PM.
Doors open at 7:00 PM.
Performance at 7:30 PM, followed by a talkback.
Run time: approximately 100 minutes with a talkback, no intermission.
Content Advisory: Silhouettes explores abortion and reproductive health care, including frank discussion of emotional and physical risks women face in seeking care. The show contains strong language and discussion of intimacy.
SILHOUETTES
A new musical centering Black & Asian Solidarity in Repro Justice, in concert. One night only.
Two strangers. One choice. A connection no one saw coming.
Naima, a Black woman in her thirties, and Ashley, an Asian American woman just starting college, have almost nothing in common. Different lives, different ages, different worlds. The one thing that brings them together is a decision they’ve each made: to seek an abortion. As their stories unfold side by side in the same clinic waiting room, they discover their connection runs deeper than either of them could have imagined.
Composer and lyricist Ari Afsar and bookwriter Jordan Ealey started writing Silhouettes just a month after Roe was overturned, to capture what this moment means for all of us and where we go from here. Five actors and a four piece band bring it to life in a concert staging, two weeks before the midterms and just blocks from the Capitol.
More than a show
Silhouettes is built to bring people together. Earlier this year, the show played two sold out nights in Dallas, where half the audience was new to theater and many met their local abortion funds for the first time right in the lobby. Now it comes to DC.
Theatergoers, artists, organizers, advocates, and policymakers are coming together for an evening of music and real conversation. Arrive early to meet the leading national reproductive justice organizations behind this event, then stay after the curtain as their leaders join us for a live talkback. Audience questions are welcome.
Produced by Analog Media
Analog Media creates live experiences where art, culture, and policy meet, bringing new musicals to communities and partnering with local organizers to turn a night at the theater into lasting action.
Creative Team
Ari Afsar (Music and Lyrics) she/her is a Bangladeshi American composer, lyricist, and storyteller. She originated Eliza in the Chicago company of Hamilton, and her Hamildrop “First Burn” has over 74 million streams. With Pasek & Paul, she wrote songs for Sony’s Lyle, Lyle, Crocodile, including “Carried Away,” sung by Shawn Mendes. Her musical I & You (with Lauren Gunderson) had a co-production world premiere at McCarter and Olney Theatre and has been optioned by Tony winner Kevin McCollum. An American Idol alum and star of Netflix’s top 10 movie Wedding Season, Afsar is also a Dramatists Guild Foundation Fellow and ASCAP Foundation award winner. @ariannaafsar
Jordan Ealey (Book and Additional Lyrics) (they/she) is a multidisciplinary Black feminist artist-scholar. As a playwright and librettist, they write character-driven dramedies exploring intimacy and politics. Their plays and musicals include: SILHOUETTES (book & additional lyrics); WOMEN WITHOUT VIRTUE (Single Carrot Theatre); LIFT EVERY VOICE (Out of Hand Theatre); and SELF PORTRAIT WITH DIRTY HAIR (The Keegan Theatre). Jordan has worked with organizations such as Round House Theatre Company, Latiné Musical Theatre Lab, Theatrical Outfit, Mosaic Theatre Company, Rorschach Theatre, and Hush Harbor Lab, among others. Currently, Jordan is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Black Studies at the University of Rochester. They are an Artist Ambassador with the New York Civil Liberties Union and volunteer their time toward advancing reproductive justice through their work with the Rochester Sexual and Reproductive Justice Task Force and New York Abortion Access Fund.