Pictured: The female dance team in EmpoWOMENt, choreographed by Bril Barrett and Star Dixon from PEACEBOOK 2017. Photo by Joel Maisonet.

Collaboraction has announced the line-up of 24 world-premiere short pieces for its third annual PEACEBOOK, a free, collaborative city-wide festival of theater, dance, music, visual art and spoken word, all focused on cultivating peace in Chicago.

Cerqua Rivera Dance Theatre, GQ from The Q Brothers, Nancy Garcia Loza, Bril Barrett of M.A.D.D. Rhythm, Sir Taylor of Example Setters Youth Poetry and Hope Dealer Amy Williams are among the artists and activists creating the new works, with each piece lasting seven minutes or less, and range from solos to large collaborations. In total PEACEBOOK unites over 200 artists with communities around the city.

“This is a massive Chicago coalition of artists and activists. We want to encourage Chicagoans to be active, come to PEACEBOOK, experience new neighborhoods and hear new stories. In doing so, we will see our similarities and connections to one another. Only then we can start working together to dismantle oppression and cultivate peace and equity. We are delighted by the diversity and depth of this year’s line-up and look forward to sharing the 24 pieces with Chicago,” said Anthony Moseley, PEACEBOOK Festival Director and Artistic Director of Collaboraction.

The 24 world-premiere works are divided into three “chapters.” Each chapter is assigned to one of three Chicago Park District locations in Chicago’s Austin, Hermosa and Englewood communities.

This season, Collaboraction is embracing the concept and symbol of a Chicago home that has endured time, seen people come and go and witnessed change on its street and in its city. This home is represented in an original painting titled “The House of Power, Love and Hope” by Collaboraction set designer John Wilson the main anchors for this year’s set design, inspired by real homes in Englewood.

PEACEBOOK launches Friday, September 7, on Chicago’s west side at LaFollette Park, 1333 N. Laramie Ave. in Austin. The Friday performance starts at 6 p.m. with a special opening act. Saturday events start at 11:30 a.m. with a Free Community Meal, followed by a pre-show Peace Panel with neighborhood leaders, then PEACEBOOK at 1 p.m. Dr. Marcus Robinson, Managing Director of Collaboraction, will lead a community dialogue session after each performance.

The following weekend, PEACEBOOK travels to Kelvyn Park, 4438 W. Wrightwood Ave. in Hermosa, for shows Friday and Saturday September 14 and 15, then heads to Hamilton Park, 513 W. 72 nd St. in Englewood for performances Friday and Saturday September 21 and 22. Friday shows start at 6 p.m. Saturday events start at 11:30 a.m. with the Free Community Meal, pre-show Peace Panel and performances of PEACEBOOK at 1 p.m.

PEACEBOOK is free but reservations are recommended. For more information visit collaboraction.org.

2018 PEACEBOOK Line-up (from the press release): 

Austin Neighborhood
La Follette Park, 1333 N. Laramie Ave.
Friday, September 7 at 6 p.m. Saturday, September 8
Free Community Meal at 11:30 a.m. followed by a pre-show Peace Panel and performance by Mazi Dance, show at 1 p.m.

American Catracho
By Cerqua Rivera Dance Theatre (CRDT)
Chicago’s acclaimed Cerqua Rivera Dance Theatre presents the third part of a dance and music suite exploring the complexity of the immigrant experience, from the trauma of leaving a birthplace to the challenges of settling in a new homeland.

Somewhere in Uptown
By Andrea Sutherland, directed by Myesha-Tiara McGarner
This testimony, in the form of a monologue, chronicles the experience of a new Chicago resident as they try to find peace and community in their Uptown apartment.

In the Air Tonight
By Andrew Rios, directed by Sean Patrick Leonard
A hilarious spoken word testimony of a young boy's encounter with the police after a misunderstanding with a toy gun in his mom’s new apartment.

Example Setters Youth Poetry
Written and directed by Sir Taylor
Sir Taylor, the legendary director, performer (Jesse White Tumblers, US Men Gymnastics Team, The Lion King on Broadway, Golden Gloves boxer) and teacher who grew up in Cabrini Green leads a powerful ensemble of urban teens all focused on setting the example for the city of Chicago.

Tears for Athwal
By Tyrone Taylor and GQ
In last year’s 17 to (New) Life, audiences traveled with Tyrone Taylor through the committing of his crime – murder. Chapter two in the forgiveness series continues following Taylor’s actual life events. In Tears For Athwal, we meet Taylor again. After 20 years in prison, he is up for parole for the third time. Rejoin Tyrone for a look at his journey on the inside, his third plea to the parole board and his release from prison.

Quiet
By Noelle T. Hedges-Goettl, directed by Rose Shapiro
This spoken word piece shows how a transgender woman escapes the volume of her thoughts and the cruelty of societal judgment by immersing herself in the music from her headphones.

Manspread Madness
By Donna Latham, directed by Lee Hannah Conrads
This over-the-top theatrical piece brings a comedic perspective to the exploration of peace as women on the subway band together and battle the oppression of a manspreader.

#unapologeticallyblack
By Bril Barrett and Star Dixon
Chicago tap dance legend Bril Barrett choreographs this team of female dancers exploring tap-dance as an effective form of protest and a powerful catalyst for change.

Hermosa Neighborhood
Kelvyn Park, 4438 W. Wrightwood Ave.
Friday, September 14 at 6 p.m.
Saturday, September 15 – free Community Meal at 11:30 a.m.
Followed by a pre-show Peace Panel and performance by Laura Biagi, show at 1 p.m.

Five Families
By Loretta Firekeeper Hawkins
Hawkins’s spoken word piece, a tribute to black men shot by police, promotes peace and understanding among different groups and concludes that humans are more alike than they are different.

Erased
By the Collaboraction Peacemakers, directed by Luis Crespo
Race and equality in Chicago are explored in this short piece written, developed and performed by the Collaboraction Teen Ensemble.

Oak & Pallettes
By Nancy García Loza, directed by Ana Velazquez
García Loza often draws from personal experiences that fluctuate between lived trauma and comedic coping. Her newest theatrical story depicts the citizenship process for her Mexican immigrant family, recalling a key moment of connection between a daughter and her father.

Reflections, Thoughts, and Reminders
Written and co-devised by Avi Roque and Mia Vivens
In this visceral devised piece, Roque contemplates the idea of peace and how to achieve it while examining identity, gender and race in a very binary Chicago.

Heal CTA
By Sophia Pietrkowski and Elenna Sindler
An ethnographic exploration of how public space is navigated by survivors of sexual trauma. Through the depiction of one woman’s commute on the CTA, this piece aims to show how communal respect and understanding are essential to healing.

Hope is My Homie
By Amy L. Williams, directed by Juan Castaneda
A theater piece about the realities of incarceration that highlights what people don’t know about “the visits” – the first hug, the depression, haircuts and fresh uniforms – and the challenges of returning back to society.

Sandusky
By Dani Mauleon, directed by Esteban Arévalo
Bare and straightforward, this devised theater piece about an undocumented student’s journey home is a call to come together in love and rally against hate.

Working
By Chicago Worker Collaborative’s Workers Theatre, directed by Jasmin Cardenas
Dividing black and brown workers strategically allows sky rocketing profits for corporations and temp agencies. Chicago Worker Collaborative’s Workers’ Theatre Collective fights for workers’ rights by revealing the real struggles – exploitation, racial discrimination, poverty, gender violence and more – facing temp workers in the U.S.

Englewood Neighborhood
Hamilton Park, 513 W. 72 nd St.
Friday, September 21 at 6 p.m.
Saturday, September 22 – free Community Meal at 11:30 a.m.,
Followed by a pre-showvPeace Panel and performance by Stanford Bailey and Step Alive, show at 1 p.m.

The Boys in the Hoods
By Frederick Alphonso
Alphonso uses theater to reflect the recent influx of drug use in the youth in Englewood, show awareness to the gentrification in the neighborhood and promote the need for positive change.

Thursday night
Choreographed by Yariana Baralt Torres and Maria Blanco
Dance is uniquely matched with feminism to explore the experience of being a woman, with Torres and Blanco aiming to empower women and inspire unity among them.

Walkout
By Nathaniel Swift
This devised piece explores the perspectives and opinions of students who chose to protest gun violence by walking out. Will these marches do anything to create real change? And what do we do next?

Enough is Enough
By Janice Fields
Janice Fields’s spoken word piece illuminates minds, confronts societal issues and encourages change.

Wind for a Sail
By Katie Angelica Abascal, directed by Abbey Bobzin
In this minimalist satirical play, six privileged extraterrestrials board a spaceship to escape interstellar war, and share their thoughts on traveling with aliens from a different planet and their options for dinner.

Head to the Sky
By Jason Makia Robinson, directed by Madi Delk
This musical piece moves, touches and inspires people to take action and create a better future for those living in Chicago.

Ruh/Ruach
By Shawn Lent
This dance and music collaboration is part of a social intervention addressing insularity and division in Northwest Chicago. The piece celebrates the resiliency and mobility of the human spirit and features apprentice refugee performers. Temporarily, the space is made radically inclusive for religiously conservative performers and audiences.

School Daze
by Emcee Skool, led by PHENOM of POETREE CHICAGO
The vision of Emcee Skool is to develop young artists into community organizers and youth ambassadors for peace under the mentorship of Teh’ray Hale aka PHENOM.