An Evening of New Work
Performances by UNC Students
February 11-12 at 7:30pm
At Swain Hall Black Box Theatre
The 2021-2022 Process Series season continues with a performance featuring four UNC Chapel Hill students. Evening of New Work by Students is a diverse program ranging from dance duets to historically set plays. A graduate student performance by AhDream Smith explores identity, legacy, land ownership, and Black wealth in /up·rooted/. Undergraduate performances include Dear Life Traveler by Anabelle and Rainey Scarborough, which focuses on the significance of unpredictable loss through movement explorations, Smirit Se by Grace Yannotta is a play that illuminates generational trauma, and Beyond the Roots by Imani Williams manifests as a reflection of the tragedies and triumphs of Summer 2020.
The four pieces in this performance vary in genre and represent diversity in voice, yet each one dives into explorations of identity and losing one’s grounding. These students reflect our uncertain times by shining a light on our humanity. Please join us and become part of the artistic process. Each performance is followed by a talk back with the artists where audience members will be able to offer reflections of their experiences with the works.
About The Artists
AhDream Smith is an actor, director, dancer and visual storyteller. She is set to receive her MFA in Acting at UNC-CH in May 2022. /up·rooted/, is a solo performance that explores the humanity of the individual and what it means to lose: lose land, your house, your name, your legacy and not have anything to pass down to future generations. How does the race of a person intertwine with lost identity? How do you grow up without roots?
Anabelle and Rainey Scarborough are 22-year-old creatives at UNC-Chapel Hill pursuing Media & Journalism with a concentration in Advertising/PR, and minoring in Studio Art. Dear Life Traveler is a dance duet and media performance that questions how important human connectivity is during disruptive circumstances when one loses everything and understands nothing, while also admiring the beauty of nature’s unpredictability.
Grace Yannotta is a junior majoring in English and History with a Minor in Writing for the Stage and Screen. Smirit Se is a play about a Czech student in Iowa learning English as he confronts his national identity and cycles of generational trauma following the dissolution of the Soviet Union.
Imani Williams is a senior majoring in Communications and double minoring in Entrepreneurship and Media & Journalism. Beyond the Roots was created to reflect and digest the times of Summer 2020. It is a journey that highlights the black experience, specifically for a girl growing up in Atlanta who chooses activism.
