What is Thumbprint Reads & Listens (TRL)?
A free community gathering over Zoom in which we dissect plays and musicals authored by and centering less celebrated voices in theatre. Through this program we choose to uplift all underrepresented groups, including but not limited to: women, the LGBTQ+ community, the Racial Global Majority (BIPOC/AAPI/SWANA), disabled folks, Neurodiverse folks, and all marginalized bodies.
For 2024, we continue to deconstruct the Western canon, offering great inclusive alternatives to the very typical white-male-centered works that dominate the theatre world’s performance seasons and higher education curriculums. As part of our programming this year, we feature works that are part of 4 distinct categories: The Spectacle of Exploitation; White Saviorism, White Audacity; Systemic Failures of the U.S.; and You’re on Native Land.
We meet quarterly. See below for specific dates.
How does it work?
Unlike other book clubs, you do not have to read the material beforehand to participate. You may view prerecorded scenes from each play read by actors in our community. (If you are an actor and would like to be involved, add yourself to our Actor Database). This will provide a jumping off point for our night of discussion as well as some context for people who are unable to read the plays ahead of time. The Thumbprint Team will be facilitating an open conversation where we hope that people will feel confident to bring their thoughts and experiences to the discussion. Each session of TRL features special guests. Additional materials will be provided to you in our Welcome Packet to dig in further to the study of the chosen texts, if you so choose to use them.
Quarter One: The Spectacle of Exploitation
Date: Thursday, April 18th, 2024
Time: 7:30pm-9:30pm CST
Harvest
By Manjula Padmanabhan
Skin Song
By Katherine Gwynn
Quarter Two: White Saviorism, White Audacity
Date: Thursday, June 6th, 2024
Time: 7:30pm-9:30pm CST
Off-White; or the Arab House Party Play
By Alyssa Haddad-Chin
Polar Bears, Black Boys, and Prairie Fringed Orchids
By Vincent Terrell Durham
Quarter Three: Systemic Failures of the U.S.
Date: Thursday, August 15th, 2024
Time: 7:30pm-9:30pm CST
Blacktop Sky
By Christina Anderson
Spay
By Madison Fiedler
Quarter Four: You’re on Native Land
Date: Thursday, October 24th, 2024
Time: 7:30pm-9:30pm CST
Quantum
By Tara Moses
Ady
By Rhiana Yazzie
Looking Back…
2023 - Even More Deconstruction
Quarter One: Women/Love/Revolution
love i awethu further by a.k. payne
Mama, I Wish I Were Silver by Amanda L. Andrei
Quarter Two: Queer Empowerment
At the Wake of a A Dead Drag Queen by Terry Guest
The End of Incorporated Filth by Chloé Hayat
I Wanna Fuck Like Romeo & Juliet by Andrew Rincon
Quarter Three: Epic Journeys
Anon(ymous) by Naomi Iizuka
Quarter Four: The Bloody American Dream
Layalina by Martin Yousif Zebari
Selling Kabul by Sylvia Khoury
Watch 2023 scenes here.
2022 - Deconstruction Continues
Quarter One: Gender Diversity in STEM
In McClintock’s Corn by Carolyn Gage
Annie Jump and the Library of Heaven by Reina Hardy
Quarter Two: Queer Love/Experiences
BLKS by Aziza Barnes
Scissoring by Christina Quintana
Quarter Three: Echoes of Immigrants
Endlings by Celine Song
We’ve Come Undone by Kayhan Irani
Quarter Four: Disability & Neurodivergence
Emily Driver’s Great Race Through Time & Space by A.A. Brenner and Gregg Mozgala
Sapience by Diana Burbano
Watch 2022 scenes here.
2021 - The “Instead Of” Series
November - American Moor by Keith Hamilton Cobb
September - What Would Crazy Horse Do? by Larissa FastHorse
August - House of Desires by Sor Juana Inés de la Cruz
July - Cambodian Rock Band by Lauren Yee
June - Sankalpan by Lina Patel
May - Playwrights’ Symposium: Theatre of the Future
April - Bella: An American Tall Tale by Kirsten Childs
March - Kill Move Paradise by James Ijames
February.- Mojada by Luis Alfaro
January - The Summer in Gossensass by Maria Irene Fornes
2020 - Contemporary Works
December - Abraham’s Daughters by Emma Goldman-Sherman
November - Zomo the Rabbit: A Hip Hop Creation Myth by Psalmayene 24
October - They Don’t Talk Back by Frank Henry Kaash Katasse
September - Love Person by Aditi Brennan Kapil
August - El Grito del Bronx by Migdalia Cruz
July - The Bubbly Black Girl Sheds Her Chameleon Skin by Kirsten Childs