Diversity day at Middlesex School

This is a nice write up of how the students at Middlesex explored identity through Diversity Day, with reference to both the talk I gave at their Assembly on human rights and video, as well as the performance of RASH and the Q&A that followed with the students.

And they quoted me in answering one of the questions  "You have a responsibility to know what is going on the world.  One day, you may be in a position of influence or power; use it wisely, take risks and listen to your gut.".

RASH at Middlesex School

This week I travelled twice to Concord, Massachusetts to speak and perform at Middlesex School - a highly regarded New England prep school.  I have never visited a boarding school before and was fascinated by the experience in contrast to my own public school experience in Glasgow.  On Tuesday I spoke at the morning assembly about the work of WITNESS and how the documentation of human rights abuses through video is changing the world.  Today I performed RASH at the school's Annual Day of Diversity.  I was amazed at how engaged and present 400 students could be at 10 in the morning! It was definitely one of my favourite audiences.  On both occasions, students had the opportunity to ask questions which were smart and thoughtful, and many of them came up to speak to me afterwards.  They were an impressive group in more ways than one and I really enjoyed meeting them.  I am so looking forward to performing at other schools in the future. Thank you so much to Brian Smith, the Acting Dean of Students & Director of Diversity for inviting me to share my experiences at Middlesex.   And thanks to Corinne Woods, our wonderful stage manager and to the team at All for One Theater Festival for helping to make this happen, especially Michael Wolk.
Here are some photos that I took whilst I was there.

 Arriving at Middlesex

 My first ever ride on a yellow school bus! Me with Corinne Woods, RASH stage manager

The dressing room.

This week at the All for One Theatre Festival

It's been a great week so far at the All for One Theatre Festival.  Today, JTA published a review of RASH and the background to the story.  On Monday, I spoke on a great panel with RASH director Jen Nails, and two other performers and directors called Directing the Solo Show.  Today I observed Matt Hoverman in action teaching a workshop called Telling Your Story: The Art of the Autobiographical Solo Show.  Tomorrow RASH director Jen Nails teaches a workshop called Solo Show Boot Camp. You've got to click on that link just to see the great photo of Jen!

You have three more days to catch some of the other shows at AFOfest and of course, yours truly, will perform RASH a final time on closing night at 7pm on 20th November.  Audience numbers are looking good and I'm really looking forward to it.  Afterwards, I will see P.J. Walsh's solo play: Over There - Comedy is His Best Weapon if you want to join me.  It will be an evening of war, although I know that Over There is supposed to be very funny and I'm sure having met P.J. that he will be wonderful to watch.  Where will you be on Sunday night?

Pre-show preparations

Chatting to Michael Wolk, Executive Director of the AFOfest before the show

Getting ready in the dressing room before the show

Talking to the tech team before the show

Warming up on stage before the show

 Jen Nails, RASH director (Right), Patrick and Corinne, Tech team (Left)

Opening night at the All for One Theatre Festival for RASH

Thanks Coco for taking the pictures!

Before, during & after

Thanks to Coco who came to the theatre to take photos of me as I was getting ready for the play, warming up on stage and greeting the crew last Sunday. See post above for a wee selection.  Thanks also to Mari and Richard for filming the show - they will be sharing some of the material on the WITNESS facebook page. It was a great performance and I've been so touched by all the amazing emails I've received from people over the last few days, some who I know and some who I don't. Thank you! One down, one to go!

WITNESS Jenni Wolfson!

Here's what the All for One Theater Festival blogged about yesterday.

An All For One shout-out to Jenni Wolfson, who tonight will be at her day job as Managing Director of Witness, which is throwing it's 7th Annual Focus For Change Benefit at Roseland.  In this video, Jenni talks about her show RASH and gives us a shout-out.


Jenni Wolfson //// All For One Theater Festival from All For One on Vimeo.

RASH in the news

Recently RASH got some press.  Check out this interview in The Local East Village. Gabbi Lewin asks me some questions about how I ended up in human rights and Rwanda, and how the play came into being.

Michael Wolk, the Executive Director of the All for One Theater Festival I'm a part of wrote a blog post about my double life that sometimes melds into one.