Shawn Whitsell & Collaborators
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WITHIN REACH
Encore Presentation at Shades of Black Theater Festival
Sunday, September 7th at 3PM
Darkhorse Theater (4610 Charlotte Ave)​
CURATED & DIRECTED BY
Shawn Whitsell
WRITTEN BY
Terrancé Akins
Dee Hammonds
Varia Merritt
Andru Pritchett
Bobby Robertson
Ashlee Sellars
FEATURING ORIGINAL ARTWORK BY
Jima Akhenjah-Weaver
PERFORMED BY
Terrancé Akins
Jalen Dukes
Dee Hammonds
Pa(i)ge Hodge
Leonard Ledford III
Maya Antoinette Riley
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Within Reach is a powerful world premiere that centers the voices of Nashvillians with lived experience of incarceration. Conceived and directed by theater-maker and activist Shawn Whitsell and created in collaboration with an ensemble of artists impacted by the carceral system including visual artist and photographer Jima Akhenjah-Weaver and playwright Bobby Robertson, this urgent new work offers an unflinching look at the systemic injustices of the prison industrial complex and a deeply moving celebration of the resilience of the human spirit.
Told through firsthand stories, Within Reach invites audiences to witness the resourcefulness, creativity, and unbreakable strength of people too often pushed to the margins. This revelatory new live performance builds a temporal bridge between the free and incarcerated worlds and urgently reminds us that no one is beyond reach.



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