This Saturday, May 21, theatergoers are invited to join ArtYard in Frenchtown for a reading of Whittier, a new docudrama by TyLie Shider. Whittier is a neighborhood in Minneapolis, close to where the murder of George Floyd took place. Shider’s new play follows residents of Whittier grappling with that tragedy, as well as the stresses of life during the lockdown of 2020. A playwright, poet, and journalist, TyLie Shider is also the inaugural playwright in ArtYard’s artist residency program, curated by Deonté Griffin-Quick. We spoke with Shider, Quick, and director Andrew Binger about bringing Whittier to the stage.
About the author: Christopher Benincasa is an Emmy Award-winning arts and culture journalist. He produced content for NJ PBS for a decade before co-founding PCK Media. Christopher currently works as a freelance producer, video editor, writer, and communications specialist for a diverse set of commercial, non-profit, and government clients. His work has been featured on various PBS stations, and in American Abstract Artists Journal, The Structurist, Paterson Literary Review, and JerseyArts.com.
Content provided by Discover Jersey Arts, a project of the ArtPride New Jersey Foundation and New Jersey State Council on the Arts.