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Project Start Date <br />(no earlier than July <br />1, 2020) <br />February 17, 2021 <br />Project End Date (no <br />later than June 30, <br />2021) <br />June 17, 2021 <br />Project/Program <br />Summary <br />Among those made more v ulnerable by the COVID-19 pandemic are <br />v ictims of intimate partner v iolence, especially those sheltering with <br />their abusers. To spotlight the needs of this v ulnerable population, I <br />will perform and digitally record an original monologue, Sometimes I <br />Sing, at UNC, then re-stage the show or offer screenings of the <br />recording to Orange County social serv ice agencies to enhance their <br />staff training, public education and fundraising efforts. <br />Set in rural Iowa in 1901, Sometimes I Sing portrays a woman <br />conv icted of killing her abusiv e husband. She tells her story to an <br />unseen female reporter seeking absolution for her role in the <br />woman’s conv iction. The show has been called “mesmerizing” <br />(Columbia Daily Tribune), “a tour de force” (Law Professor) and “a <br />seamless weav ing of history, hardship…and redemption” (Former <br />Editor/Ms. Magazine). <br />My monologue was inspired by the work of early-twentieth-century <br />journalist-turned-playwright Susan Glaspell. In 1916 Glaspell <br />premiered her one-act masterwork, Trifles, based on a murder trial <br />she cov ered for the Des Moines Daily News. In 1917, she adapted the <br />play as a short story called “A Jury of Her Peers.” In both, Glaspell <br />indicts the many systems that keep a battered woman in an abusiv e <br />env ironment. The play and story were also textual acts of <br />redemption, after the woman whose trial she cov ered was conv icted. <br />Since 2010, I hav e toured Sometimes I Sing – often paired with Trifles <br />or “Jury” – to festiv als, univ ersities, conferences and theaters. W hen <br />possible, I follow the show with a talkback panel featuring <br />representativ es from a local women’s shelter. For the last decade, <br />the performance has prov ided an effectiv e window into v iewing this <br />still potent social issue, prompting conv ersation and inv iting action <br />within communities. <br />I’ll perform Sometimes I Sing for an upcoming festiv al produced by <br />UNC’s Communication Department Artist-in-Residence Joseph Megel <br />as part of his Process Series. The proposed festiv al dates are <br />February 17-21, 2021. Depending on the course of the pandemic, the <br />festiv al may be presented liv e or liv e-streamed from a media studio <br />in Swain Hall. Audiences will include the public and faculty, staff and <br />students from the Departments of English, American Studies, <br />Communication and Dramatic Art, the School of Journalism and <br />Media, and the Law School. <br />My show will be digitally recorded at that time. I hav e inv ited Patricia <br />L. Bryan, Glaspell Scholar and UNC Law Professor, plus the Director <br />DocuSign Envelope ID: 695A1714-C7AB-4D4B-8382-68F21FCD9EA9