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Blessings! Thrilled to be coming into our I LOVE MYSELF GOLDEN release this Saturday night.

The line-up of artists performing original work created for the event is powerful starring Gloria Basulto, Jesse Bliss, Laura Caustic, Romi Dias, Mike Sonksen, Ella AyitiTurenne, Patricia Zamorano, and Live Music by Tyalana and William of the Concentr8s. This event is supported in part by Poets & Writers through grants it has received from The James Irvine Foundation and the Hearst Foundations. Location : Espacio 1839 in Boyle Heights Date: January 16, 2016 E 1st St, Los Angeles, CA 90033 *Take the Gold Line to Mariachi Plaza After party next-door at East Side Love Chapbook and Companion Book Release Los Angeles, CA― Writer Jesse Bliss and Visual Artist Alfie Numeric unite forces with the chapbook I LOVE MYSELF GOLDEN. After a decade of teaching Creative Writing at Central Juvenile Hall through the Inside OUT Writers program, Miss Bliss found it critical to create a book specifically to cultivate self-love and respect in the young women she encounters in the halls. The book was made to size to fit in their bras and is bound with no staples allowing it to circulate and not be counted as contraband. The pages illuminate, through words and illustrations, the light and love in the hearts of each young women underneath the very difficult life-circumstances they face. The chapbook is a love letter, speaking piercingly to all young women in and outside of the walls. The Roots and Wings Project teams up with Espacio 1839 in Boyle Heights near Central Juvenile Hall, Inside OUT Writers, and KPFK 90.7 FM’s THINK OUTSIDE THE CAGE Radio to bring an evening of theatre, poetry and music that will elicit transformation, elevating the minds and hearts of audience and performers alike. The work will explore the role self-respect and self-love play in dismantling The Prison Industrial Complex, patriarchy and misogyny alike. Excited to see you there! In Appreciation, Jesse

#poetsandwriters #therootsandwingsproject #espacio1839 #alfienumeric #mikethepoet #concentr8s

A RECORD OF LIGHT Is back...at UCSC! The student actors in the Cultural Arts and Diversity Program will be performing it. There are no words for the love we have in our hearts for this play. The cast was phenomenal.... killed it with their performances...biggest props ever to Dez Hope, Carla Vega, Lynn Elishaw, Jeremy Mascia, Marcenus Earl and Marie-Francoise Theodore. And one of a kind producer Peter Woods. Love you all so much. Not to mention the score...Pitch Like Masses killed it with the live musical score! Can't wait for it to run again here in Los Angeles. Please peep the synopsis.. SYNOPSIS The complete sacred knowledge of all human experience is being housed in secret, in a downtown Los Angeles bookstore. Orelia Key, a woman whose spirit moves faster than her body can any longer handle, is determined to access it. On this mission, she encounters denizens of the bookstore, analog people, who in a world of technology, discover the link between body and the substance of the soul.

#recordoflight

The RAW team is re-igniting, percolating, and coming together to move into the next phase. Fresh minds make exciting times!

#TheRootsAndWingsProject

The Roots and Wings Project and Occidental College Student Affairs present ((((((( TREE OF FIRE )))))) (A Staged Reading) Written & Directed by Jesse Bliss Presented for Incarceration Awareness Week When a Magnolia tree catches fire in an aged and ominous women’s prison, three female inmates forgotten and left to perish are jolted as their lives are threatened, into memories of their past that inform the truth of their souls and the urgent need to expose the inhumanity of the prison to the world. Cast: Romi Dias Khanisha Foster Gabriela López de Dennis Elvis Nolasco Mike the Poet and more TBA! Thursday, April 11, 2013 8:00 p.m. Occidental College 1600 Campus Road Los Angeles, California 90041 **Stay tuned for more details on exact location** Q&A with the cast & crew immediately following the performance. A FREE event that is open to the public.

We are so incredibly happy to announce there will be a Staged Reading of TREE OF FIRE next Thursday April 11, 2013 at Occidental College in honor of their Incarceration Awareness Week. We at The Roots and Wings Project are grateful and so excited

Margaret Prescod of Sojourner Truth interviews writer/director Jesse Bliss about Tree of Fire - click through to listen to the podcast. Interview starts at 49:30.

* * *

Thursday: With the blockage of Sen. Dianne Feinstein’s assault weapons ban what’s in store for gun control in the United States? We speak to Professor Dr. Henry Giroux. And we get an update on the fluid situation in the Congo, where M23 rebel leader Bosco Ntaganda has sought the protection of the US embassy in Rwanda. Reports are he has asked to be sent to the International Criminal Court. Kambale Musavuli of Friends of the Congo fills us in on this developing story and other updates on the ground. Also, for our weekly “Earth Watch,” Rue, of the Texas East End Tar Sands Blockade discusses sex, race and class in the blockade movement and in the environmental movement generally. And last we hear from Jesse Bliss, director of the new play “Trees of Fire” playing at the Rosenthal Theater in the Inner City Arts complex in Downtown Los Angeles Sojourner Truth, Thursday March 21st 7-8am.

#SoundCloud #sojournertruthradio #News #Congo #M23 #Rwanda

mikethepoetla

This week in #LA Letters..

The modern women’s movement emerged from the abolitionists in the mid-19th Century. Courageous figures like Maria Stewart, Harriet Tubman, Susan B. Anthony, the Grimke Sisters, Sojourner Truth, and Elizabeth Cady Stanton campaigned against slavery and for women’s suffrage. The persuasive influence of these pioneering women took Antebellum America by storm and helped turn it on its head.

I’ve often said “three generations on the same stage, all the ancestors on the same page.” This week L.A. Letters shows the kindred ideas of three generations of women thinkers over the last 150 years.

In 1848, over 150 women and 30 men gathered in Seneca Falls, New York to promote women’s rights and protest male supremacy.

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Friend of The Roots and Wings Project Mike ThePoet Sonksen includes a beautiful write up of TREE OF FIRE in his wonderful LALetters column featured on KCET DEPARTURES.

#Tree of Fire #Mike the Poet #Inner-City Arts Rosenthal Theater

Writer Gabriela Lopez de Dennis did a write up of TREE OF FIRE, opening THIS FRIDAY!?b>

Brown Paper Tickets Ticket Widget Loading... Click Here to visit the Brown Paper Tickets event page.

#Tree of Fire #Gabriela Lopez de Dennis #LAThtr

Tickets for Tree of Fire on sale now!

Tree of Fire is finally here!

You can purchase tickets for the world premiere production at Brown Paper Tickets

Brown Paper Tickets Ticket Widget Loading... Click Here to visit the Brown Paper Tickets event page.

AUDITIONS for TREE OF FIRE - Saturday January 26, 2013

TREE OF FIRE

Written and Directed by Jesse Bliss

The Roots and Wings Project is proudly going into production with TREE OF FIRE, a play written by Jesse Bliss. TREE OF FIRE opens International Women’s Day - March 8, 2013 at Inner-City Arts’ The Rosenthal Theater in DTLA. This play has a rich, four-year history of staged readings and excerpt performances at Lincoln Heights Jail, S.P.A.R.C. at the Old Jail in Venice, and Theatre of Note.

Production Information The Roots and Wings Project is holding auditions for TREE OF FIRE, a play written by Artistic Director Jesse Bliss. We are casting for three female actors.

Tree of Fire - Synopsis When a Magnolia tree catches fire in an aged and ominous women’s prison, three forgotten female inmates are left to perish. As their lives are threatened, they are jolted into memories of their past that inform the truth of their souls and the urgent need to expose the inhumanity of the prison to the world. Character Breakdown JOSEFINE (African American, 30-40 years old): Josefine is brash, funny, soulful, and daring - a true spitfire. A former prostitute, she was incarcerated for drug charges years ago and has kept catching cases in prison ever since, but nothing can damper her spirit. Requires robust acting ability.   ALMA (Latina, 30-40 years old): With a passion for knowledge and writing, Alma survived serious illness and drug addiction to dedicate her time in prison to exposing truth about the Prison Industrial Complex and her own life experiences through writing. Requires robust acting ability. MAYA (Latina or African American, 30-40 years old): Traumatized by the murder of her treasured son and the irrevocable choices made thereafter, Maya, strong and spiritual, struggles to love herself and find purpose in her existence as a denizen of the prison. While the character does require singing ability, the casting director’s primary interest for this character is robust acting ability.

Audition Date

Saturday, January 26, 2013

10:00 AM to 7:00 PM

Call Back Date

Sunday, January 27, 2013

9 AM to 1 PM

Audition Location will be sent upon receipt of resume/headshot submission

Pay Rate: Actors will receive a stipend per show. *AEA and Non-Union - 99 Seat Plan

Performance Location and Dates

DTLA @ Inner-City Arts’ The Rosenthal Theater - 720 Kohler Street Los Angeles, CA 90021

Tech Week: March 4 – March 7

Performance Dates: March 8-March 31, 2013

Friday and Saturday 8 PM, Sundays 2 PM

Rehearsal Start Date

Saturday February 2, 2013

To audition, please email us at [email protected] the character you wish to audition for in the subject heading. Please come to the audition with your favorite one minute monologue, your headshot, and resume. Please prepare to read sides from the script.  Please visit our website at www.therootsandwingsproject.com

The Roots and Wings Project Mission Statement

The Roots and Wings Project is a politically charged, socially transformative theatre company dedicated to giving voice to the unnamed, unspoken and misunderstood through theatrical innovation and multi-media collaboration. Fusing traditional theatre with hip-hop, poetry, music and visual art, the company unites a wide range of audiences from different communities around the world.

Interview with Jesse Bliss of The Roots and Wings Project

Visit Original Link

RAW Founder Jesse Bliss sits down with Santana Westbrook of TruthSeekers Radio to talk about the upcoming production of Tree of Fire. She shares the "Who, What, and Why of this passion project four years in the making.

To listen to the show in its entirety click here.

You can find Santana Westbrook and crew on Facebook or subscribe to TruthSeekers Radio on iTunes.

#TruthSeekers Radio #Jesse Bliss #The Roots and Wings Project #Tree of Fire #Santana Westbrook

L.A. writer, educator and performer Mike the Poet Sonkenson features RAW founder Jesse Bliss in his L.A. Letters column for KCET.

Big Ern blowing minds wide open at TURN THE PAGE: A Literary Force at The Last Bookstore.

Very excited to be visiting our friends at Truth Seekers Radio tonight! 1am-3am. We'll be talking about he movement on Tree of Fire, the success of Turn the Page: A Literary Force. Tune in!

"The dysfunction of the nation's prison-industrial complex is increasingly in the public consciousness, thanks, in large part to a handful of news outlets and intrepid documentarians -- and the literary and theatrical efforts of groups like the Los Angeles Poverty Department and InsideOut Writers, which work directly with current and former inmate populations to create powerful, dramatic pieces for the public. InsideOut partners with progressive performance company the Roots and Wings Projects in presenting Turn the Page: A Literary Force, a staged reading event based on the upcoming production of the play Tree of Fire by Jesse Bliss." - Shana Nys Dambrot

The performances were harrowing and beautiful at TURN THE PAGE: A Literary Force. Big Ern electrified the room, emitting a level of love known to few on this planet. Audience members and artists alike were crying from being so deeply moved.

Turn the Page: A Literary Force was a resounding success! Thanks to everyone who participated and came through!

We move with fire and gratitude and continue the conversation and awareness creating with TREE OF FIRE. Please view, share and forward. This important play needs to come to life and you can be a direct part of that. Love and Blessings,

The Roots and Wings Project.

The Roots and Wings Project unites with Inside OUT Writers for Turn the Page : A Literary Force. Inside OUT Writers Alumni share stories of surviving incarceration and re-entry. Professional writers tell tales of surviving The Prison Industrial Complex from first-hand experience: the foster care system, parent's incarceration, and an educator's perspective.

Stellar Line-up includes Jimmy Wu, Khanisha Foster, Patricia Zamorano, Lamar Glover, Sho' EslaBomba Kilson, Ernest Shepard, and Geri Silva. A Q&A to follow the storytelling.

Come be a part of a critical conversation about juvenile injustice and the Prison Industrial Complex at The Last Bookstore.

“When prisons are privately run there’s less accountability, less transparency, and the motive, the sheer motive is profits.” Monica Hopkins – Executive Director, ACLU Idaho

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