US/Them
by Carly Wijs
directed by dr. Natka Bianchini
SUGGESTED DONATION: $25
All proceeds to benefit Save the Children’s Children’s Emergency Fund
Produced in partnership with the Center for International Theatre Development
“Startlingly powerful”
“Funny, devastating… a heartbreaking story about the indomitability of childhood spirit”
“Remarkable. Playful as well as moving”
Independent
Time Out
Guardian
In September 2004, a group of armed terrorists stormed School Number One in Beslan, Russia, taking hundreds of children, their parents and teachers hostage. The ensuing siege lasted three days and left 333 people dead, 186 of whom were children. Us/Them recounts those 3 harrowing days through the eyes of two children: Girl and Boy.
Us/Them is not a straightforward account of this terrible tragedy, but an exploration of the entirely individual way children cope with traumatic situations. Over the course of 60 minutes, Girl and Boy introduce us to their town and school, build the world of their experience, and try to make sense of the incomprehensible.
“That’s just an ongoing debate by adults: why is this happening? A child cannot answer and does not have to answer that question. That is the privilege of being a child.”
Read more from playwright Carly Wijs here.
CAST:
Anna DeBlasio & Quincy Vicks
PRODUCTION TEAM:
Director: Natka Bianchini
Assistant Director: Makeima Freeland
Stage Manager: Annie Malady
Saturday, September 10 & Sunday, September 11, 2022
Performances @ 4pm & 7pm
WHEN
WHERE
128 W. North Avenue
Baltimore, MD 21201
Questions?
boxoffice@sistersfreehold.org
Us/Them is recommended for ages 12 & up.
Content Warning: References to violence & death or dying, loud noises.
Originally created for BRONKS, a theatre company for young audiences, Us/Them had a sell-out run at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe 2016, winning a Scotsman Fringe First Award, and transferred to the National Theatre, London, in 2017.
Us/Them is performed with kind permission from Carly Wijs and Nick Hern Books.
Poster art by Rowan Suder
ANNA DEBLASIO as GIRL
Anna DeBlasio (she/her) - Recent credits: U/S Cinderella in Into the Woods (Arden Theatre - performed all previews & opening); U/S for Sherlock Holmes: The Adventures of the Speckled Band (Walnut Street Theatre - performed); U/S for A Streetcar Named Desire (Arden Theatre). Other select credits include: It Happened in Key West (Fulton Theatre); Guenevere (Camelot); Hermia (A Midsummer Night’s Dream); Vanda (Venus in Fur); Hangar Theatre: The Little Prince, Bunnicula, Talk to Me Like the Rain and Let Me Listen. Anna has taught & devised theatre in Slovakia with Dramatic Adventure Theatre, and currently teaches at Music Theatre Philly. She has also participated in new play development and outreach programs with Baltimore Center Stage, notably PlayLab and Anna Deavere Smith’s Notes From the Field. Training: Shakespeare & Company. BA in Theatre and English, Loyola University MD.
QUINCY VICKS as BOY
Quincy Vicks (he/his) is a Baltimore based performing artist and is excited to debut with Sisters Freehold. His most recent credits include Rent (ArtsCentric), and Hip Hop Adaptation of Julius Ceasar (Fools & Madmen).
He earned his Bachelor of Arts degree in Theatre Arts from Morgan State University. Other credits include: A Raisin in the Sun (Chesapeake Shakespeare Company), Dreamgirls (ArtsCentric/Baltimore Centerstage), The Cosby Satires (Strand Theater Company).
PRODUCTION BIOGRAPHIES
This production is a fundraiser for the Children’s Emergency Fund, which provides Save the Children with the flexibility and capacity to respond rapidly and scale up in emergencies like Ukraine, Yemen, Syria and where needs are greatest globally.
DIrector: Natka Bianchini
Natka BIanchini is a Baltimore-based director and theatre educator. She has directed more than thirty productions on the regional and university level, including musicals, world premieres, devised work, absurdist theatre, and angry feminist rants (the last ones being her favorites). As a resident artist with Iron Crow Theatre, she has directed several pieces including Collective Rage: A Play in 5 Betties, The Mystery of Love and Sex, and Cloud 9. She is the head of the theatre program at Loyola University Maryland and the author of two scholarly books and numerous articles and reviews. Natka holds a PhD in drama from Tufts University and a BA in sociology from Wellesley College. She first encountered Us/Them while attending an international theatre festival in Budapest, Hungary, on behalf of the Center for International Theatre Development (CITD).
ASSISTANT DIRECTOR: Makeima Elise Freeland
Makeima Freeland is Co-Artistic Director of Sisters Freehold. A performer, rhetoric coach, and emerging director, she is an alum of The Center for Visual and Performing Arts program (Suitland High School) and Notre Dame of Maryland University. Directing: 10x10x10 (Fells Point Corner Theatre) & The Sleepover (Sisters Freehold). Assistant directing: Hamlet, presented in Original Shakespeare Pronunciation (Baltimore Shakespeare Factory). Rhetoric coach: As You Like It (Notre Dame of Maryland University) & The Merry Wives of Windsor (Baltimore Shakespeare Factory). Favorite past roles include William Barfée in The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee & Agatha in The Moors (Notre Dame of Maryland University), and Valentine in The Two Gentlemen of Verona (a co-production of Notre Dame of Maryland University & Baltimore Shakespeare Factory). Professional development: Innovation Works BOOST, IW + MC Accelerator, and Best Practices with Theatrical Intimacy Education.
Stage manager: annie malady
Annie Malady (they/them) is based in Pittsburgh and a Loyola University MD alumnus. They have directed Wit and designed costumes for Sin (A Cardinal Deposed). Stage management and crew: The Sleepover (Sisters Freehold), The Legend of Georgia McBride (Mānoa Valley Theatre), Fun Home (Mānoa Valley Theatre), A Short Reunion (Single Carrot Theatre), Bloody, Bloody Andrew Jackson (Loyola University MD), Goldor $ Mythyka (Loyola University MD), Farragut North (Loyola University MD).