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Bride/price
MaMa mOsAiC Theater presents WORLD PREMIERE
by Sh Cage, Katie Leo, Jeany Park and Juliana Pegues
Event: Bride/Price
When: December 3-18, 2004 (Wed-Sat, 7:30pm); Post-show discussions: 12/9, 12/16
Where: Mixed Blood Theatre, 1501 S. Fourth Street, Minneapolis
Tickets: $10-$15 (group, student and senior discounts)
Box Office: 612-338-6131
“…women have to bear the pain of our people,
because we are the only ones strong enough who can.”
- Bride/price
Minneapolis, MN, November 16, 2004 – Following enthusiastic critical reception, and audience excitement
for Making Medea (2003), MaMa mOsAiC proudly presents the World Premiere of Bride/price, an engaging
look into how cultural traditions colors women’s experiences and their self worth.
In this performance art theatrical piece, Bride/price follows three identifiable women - Amina, Sunny, and
Tina -- as they give voice to their experiences in marriage and courtship rituals. The play also explores
issues of dowry, arranged marriage, same sex marriage and reproductive rights.
Through challenging and provocative vignettes, playwrights Sh Cage, Katie Leo, Jeany Park and Juliana
Pegues question societal mores and expectations placed on women. "Women's roles are shifting around the
world and at home. It is important to address the root causes of the issues facing women in addition to how
women perpetuate their own destinies, " said Leo, who with Pegues joins Mama mOsAiC Theater with
Bride/price as a playwright and performer.
Inspired by the story of Amina Lawal, the Nigerian female sentenced to death by stoning for committing
adultery and having a baby out of wedlock, the playwrights wanted to address the "imbalances that exist
surrounding the way women’s experiences are colored in the context of marriage and courtship.”
From the play’s start a year and half ago, MaMa mOsAiC collaborated regularly with cast and facilitated
readings with community members, scholars and activists to create a process rich in textures of voices,
dynamics and experiences. "Our process attempts to allow for honesty, challenge, and the steady elevation
of consciousness. It stretches us and those we invited in," said Cage. “Director Heidi Hunter-Batz is an ideal
pair with her extensive movement background and experience working with diverse cultures.”
“I hope people will leave with a desire to examine their lives and the lives of women around the world.
We hope they will leave with a fuller palate in being able to view courtship and marriage,” adds Pegues.
The cast of Bride/price features Sh Cage, Katie Leo, Juliana Pegues and Aamera Siddiqui.
Bride/Price runs December 3-18. Wednesday through Saturday performances begin at 7:30pm
at Mixed Blood Theatre, 1501 South 4th Street, Minneapolis. Tickets for Bride/Price are $10-$15 General
Admission. Students and seniors qualify for discount tickets with valid ID.
About MaMa mOsAiC. Theater's mission is to evoke positive social change through female centered theatre
that is empowering and entertaining. The organization, which grew out of the absence of diverse (female
centered) theatrical work able to ignite change and transformation in our own communities; strives to skillfully
use the tool of theatre to dismantle oppressive behaviors towards women. MaMa mOsAiC was founded in
1999 to create female-centered work while igniting social awareness and outing taboo subject matters
surrounding women’s experiences, globally.
Bride/price
Performance Information
Background: Mama
mOsAiC’s latest original work written by Sh Cage, Katie Leo, Jeany Park, and Juliana Pegues,
Bride/price is an examination of how cultural traditions, expectations, and perceptions surrounding
courtship and marriage color women’s experiences, both negatively and positively. The play canvasses
such varied issues as dowry, arranged marriage, same sex marriage, reproductive rights. The original
work was inspired by the story of Amina Lawal, the Nigerian female sentenced to death by stoning for
committing adultery and having a baby out of wedlock.
MaMa mOsAiC Theater is a women-of-color collective whose mission is to evoke
positive social change through female-centered theater that is empowering and
entertaining.
Venue: Mixed
Blood Theater 1501 South 4th Street, Minneapolis
Tickets: $10-$15; $8 (December 2 Preview)
$15/door; $13/advance; $10/groups of 8 or more + senior and youth discount
Box Office: 612-338-6131
www.mixedblood.com
Playwrights: Sh Cage
Katie Leo
Jeany Park
Juliana Pegues
Actors: Sh Cage, Katie Leo, Juliana Pegues, Aamera Siddiqui
Director: Heidi Hunter-Batz
Choreographer: Elizabeth Wawizonek, Ellena Schoop
Video Design: Tr Rts Media Production (e.g.bailey, Nickolas Bocheck)
Cast: Aamera Siddiqui
Katie Leo
Juliana Pegues
Sh Cage
Designers: Susan Boeckman - Set Designer
Alicia Vegell - Costume Designer
Philliip Marten - Lighting Designer
Chad Dudycha – Sound Designer
Press: In-Fin Tuan, (651) 602-9711 direct or ituan@mac.com
Bride/price
Performance schedule
Thursday, December 2, 2004 7:30PM PREVIEW
Friday, December 3, 2004 7:30PM OPENING
Saturday, December 4, 2004 7:30PM
Wednesday, December 8, 2004 11:00AM Student Matinee
Wednesday, December 8, 2004 7:30PM PAY WHAT YOU CAN
Thursday, December 9, 2004 7:30PM POST-SHOW DISCUSSION
Friday, December 10, 2004 7:30PM
Saturday, December 11, 2004 7:30PM
Wednesday, December 15, 2004 7:30PM ASL-INTERPRETED PERFORMANCE
Thursday, December 16, 2004 7:30PM POST-SHOW DISCUSSION
Friday, December 17, 2004 7:30PM
Saturday, December 18, 2004 7:30PM CLOSING
Bride/price
Principal biography
Heidi Hunter Batz (Director)
Heidi Hunter Batz received theater training from Viterbo College, the National Theatre Conservatory and
the Saratoga International Theatre Institute and education in design from Lowthian College. A core artist
of Pillsbury House Theatre she thrives on creative collaboration. Heidi is pleased to be returning to work
with Mama Mosaic. She has worked in the capacity of director, designer or performer with other local
theatres including Theater Mu, Stages Theatre Company, The Burning House Group and Commonweal
Theatre and is a member of the Guthrie Theatre’s Community Advisory Group. Heidi values theatre as
essential to social change.
Sh Cage (playwright, actor, producer)
Sh Cage is an inter-diciplinary artist and playwright who also splits her time administratively between
Mama Mosaic Theatre, Tr Rts Endeavors and The MN Spoken Word Association(MNSWA). Some of
her most noted performances to date include; Barbarina in Theatre De La Jeune Lune's Green Bird,
Woman in Brown in Penumbra Theatre's For Colored Girls, Nephtys in Pangea World Theatre's Osiris,
and ensemble work in Mama Mosaic's Making Media and The Bi Show. She has worked with other area
theatres including: Pillsbury House Theater, Illusion Theater, Great American History Theatre, Alchemy
Theatre, The National Theater for Children and has had small roles in the feature films; Factotum, Joe's
Somebody, and Drop Dead Gorgeous. As a playwright she has co-written 5 plays with MaMa mOsAiC
and most recently her first solo play Famous Amos was produced by Illusion Theatre. Her next play in
development is titled Triptych. In addition to acting, playwrighting and filmwork. Sh is a poet and enjoys
working in the community.
Jeany Park (playwright)
Jeany Park is an established actor in the Twin Cities, having performed at several area theatres
including Penumbra Theatre, Great American History Theatre, Illusion Theatre, Mixed Blood Theatre,
Pillsbury House Theatre and Theater Mu. †Trained with her MFA from the University of Wisconsin-Madison, she has also acted professionally in Chicago and Madison, and appeared on film and
television. Jeany is a founding member of the women of color theatre collective Mama Mosiac, with
whom she has written and performed in Journals, and The BI Show, and co-wrote The Menstruation
Project. Jeany has been awarded the Many Voices Residency for playwriting at the Playwright's Center,
where she was recently been appointed an associate member. †Her full length play, Falling Flowers, has
been produced by Theater Mu and she recently performed in the History Theatre's production World War
II Stories.
Juliana Pegues (playwright, actor)
Juliana Pegues is a mixed-heritage Chinese American†writer, performer and activist living in
Minneapolis. She has worked for organizations such as Asian Immigrant Women Advocates, Women
Against Military Madness, Asian American Renaissance, Mango Tribe, and Guerrilla Wordfare. Juliana's
one-woman shows have been performed at the Walker Art Center and Intermedia Arts, and her spoken
word poetry has been heard/seen at numerous Twin Cities venues. She recently worked with the Arab
American arts organization Mizna to write a play about the connection between the Middle East and the
Midwest titled With Love From Ramallah. The play was produced at Mixed Blood Theater in May 2004.
Juliana is also a consultant, artist educator, and joined Mama Mosaic as an Associate Artistic Director for
the 2004 year to work on Bride/price. After that time she will continue working with Mosaic as an
ensemble Associate Mosaic Artist.
Katie Leo (playwright, actor, producer)
Katie Leo is an actor, writer and educator. She has performed in numerous Theaters in the Twin Cities
including her one-woman adaptation of The Yellow Wallpaper for the Fringe Festival 2002. She is a
member of Mu Associated Actors Group (MAAG), a Resident Artist at Stages Theatre Company, and a
certified Montessori elementary teacher. As a writer, Leo has been published in The Journal of the Asian
American Renaissance in the Twin Cities and HardKore Journal out of Chicago and won a journalism
award from Indiana’s Intercollegiate Press Association. She is currently adapting the Newberry Award-winning children’s novel A Single Shard for the stage. She is a graduate of Indiana State University.
Theater Mu shows—most recently Of Hope and Courage (fall 02). Other Twin Cities’ work includes Lue
Ming in In the Heart of America with Outward Spiral Theatre, Benvolio in Romeo and Juliet with Stages
Theatre Company, and Ann in Yellow/Blonde, a one-woman adaptation of The Yellow Wallpaper for the
Fringe Festival. As a writer, Ms. Leo has been published in The Journal of the Asian American
Renaissance in the Twin Cities and HardKore Journal out of Chicago. She studied journalism in college,
winning an award for Best Opinion Article from Indiana’s Intercollegiate Press Association. She recently
adapted the Newberry Award-winning children’s novel A Single Shard for the stage and is working on her
first solo play, Coersion through a Many Voices Residency at the Playwright Center.
Aamera Siddiqui (actor)
Aamera Siddiqui joins Mama Mosaic for their production of Bride/price. Previously Aamera has worked
with a number of theater companies in the Twin Cities including, Mixed Blood Theatre, Illusion Theatre,
Outward Spiral Theatre, The Gaia Collective and more. Aamera also uses theater and performance as a
teaching tool in her Residencies with Young Audiences of Minnesota. She has recently co-founded
Exposed Brick Theater which is dedicated to telling the untold story.
(Tr Rts Media Production) (artistic collaborator)
e.g.bailey and Nicholas Bocheck (video design)
Tr Rts Media Productions (TRMP) is a entity of Tr Rts Endeavors, a multi-disciplinary artistic entity
founded by e.g. bailey in 1997. TRMP is a partnership between e.g. bailey, Nicholas Bochek and Sh
Cage. e.g. bailey is an award-winning multi-disciplinary artist, who works in theatre, film, spoken word
and radio. He is the Artistic and Executive Director of Tr Rts Endeavors, and written several plays and
screenplays, and is the co-director of award-winning spoken word film, village blues. Nicholas Bochek, a
video artist recently moved to the Twin Cities from Door County, Wisconsin to attend Music Tech. Sh
Cage is a playwright, actor, and administrator. Tr Rts Media Production has produced video works for
such performances and theatre productions as the Langston Hughes Project's Ask Your Mama: 12
Moods for Jazz, a spoken word, jazz and video performance of Langston Hughes' last epic work; J. Otis
Powell!'s Stigmatism; and is currently developing a series of PSAs, commercials and radio spots for the
African American Men Project.
Ellena Schoop (Choreography)
Ellena is honored to be a part of the Bride/price project. Drawn to the spirit of the drums it’s rhythm, it’s
flight, it’s many stories…Ellena studied and performed Senegalese dances from Mali, Senegal, Ivory
Coast-Hatian from Djola Branner. Dancing since 1987, she has performed in many venues such as the
Southern Theater, Minnesota History Center amongst others. She had the opportunity to participate in a
workshop community performance with Chuck Davis African American Dance Ensemble (AADE) at the
Ordway. She also studied Tap and Jazz.
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