2023
Where Our Spirits Reside
About the Show
Where Our Spirits Reside is about love, memory, loss, transformation, grief, celebration, and ultimately – the strength and resilience we build together to heal. We can see and learn from our ancestors everywhere: those that have come before us, a mighty river, an old tree, a little mushroom, an animal, or even the stars themselves. Come pour some creative community gold into the cracks of our somewhat broken world and hearts. All are welcome here.
Forest Theatre Photos by Anna Norwood Photography
Watch The Show
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AnceStars
Where Our Spirits Reside was an amazing collaboration with 6-time Grammy nominated jazz vocalist and storyteller Nnenna Freelon, and her son, Grammy-nominated children’s musician, hip hop artist, and picture book author Pierce Freelon. The show will feature music off of their Grammy-nominated album AnceSTARS.
We also collaborated with Chapel Hill poet laureate CJ Suitt and NC Poet laureate Jaki Shelton Green!
Jaki Shelton Green is the first African American and third woman to be appointed as the North Carolina Poet Laureate. When he appointed her in 2018, Governor Cooper stated that “Jaki Shelton Green brings a deep appreciation of our state’s diverse communities to her role as an ambassador of North Carolina literature. Jaki’s appointment is a wonderful new chapter in North Carolina’s rich literary history.”
CJ Suitt (he,him/they,them) is a performance poet, arts educator, and community organizer from Chapel Hill, NC, whose work is rooted in storytelling and social justice. CJ was recently appointed as the first Poet Laureate of Chapel Hill, NC.
CJ co-directed, produced, and starred in a historical reenactment of the 1947 Freedom Rides, performed at many national and local music festivals, including Gnarnia, Shakori Hills and Bonnaroo, and acted in a production of Hands Up: 6 Playwrights, 6 Testaments. His career as an educator has allowed him to work with young people awaiting trial at the Durham Youth Home, older inmates whose voices have been silenced within the Orange County Correctional Facility, and high school and college-aged men pushing to redefine masculinity in their schools and communities.