The Playwright Directs Her Own Script in World Premiere Production from Actors Bridge Ensemble.

“In much the same way that a piece of evocative music can suddenly whisk you away to another time and place, there are moments in Cynthia Harris’ beautifully written The Calling Is In The Body that can take one just as swiftly to the Nashville of the early 1990s. Almost imperceptibly, Harris’ heartfelt reminiscence – a tribute styled as a “choreopoem” – of a young woman who inspired her to believe in herself and to aspire to more than she might have believed possible at the time, becomes a universal treatise on how every life has meaning far beyond any expectation.

If it were indeed the early 1990s and we were revisiting my life then, it would be set to a score that includes “On and On and On” by ABBA, “Ain’t No Mountain High Enough” by Diana Ross and “Tainted Love” by the Eurythmics – songs that aren’t necessarily from those years, but songs which nonetheless define that era for me and reverberate within my heart from too many nights spent dancing at Warehouse 28 or at The Chute Complex, where most of lgbtq+ Nashville gathered for a sense of community and belonging and where we first encountered the specter of HIV/AIDS in our community. As editor of Dare (which later became Query), “Tennessee’s Lesbian and Gay Newsweekly” I wrote far too many stories about this scourge on our community that some said was deserved while we mourned the loss of lovers and other spirits who had made our lives far more interesting and certainly more colorful than we knew what to make of it at the time.

n those heady early days of the HIV/AIDS pandemic, as everyone grappled with coming to terms with a disease that had rendered making love (which is not how my younger self would have termed it, truth be told), which I had always thought of as a revolutionary act against the heteronormative expectations of society had instead become a potentially lethal act that would ultimately rob our lives of a whole generation of vibrant, creative and essential human beings.

Thus, it was with trepidation that I approached opening night of Cynthia Harris‘ The Calling Is In The Body, fearful that its all-woman cast wouldn’t even mention people like me and would instead leave my band of brothers behind for other writers to consider (which, in and of itself, is remarkably selfish and self-centered of me – it’s people like the women in this show who have largely been ignored in the canon of theatrical works about HIV/AIDS). How lucky am I that my faith in Harris and her cadre of creative souls and their nurturing producing entity Actors Bridge Ensemble that I would be compelled forward to opening night?

For it was there in the sold-out intimacy of Darkhorse Theater that I watched a story being told of a driven and dynamic young woman named Deidre Davenport, whose promising life was cut short by the same scourge that depleted my own family. And, while my emotions still seem right on the surface of my being even as I write days after that eventful evening known as opening night, I can report that the story of The Calling Is In The Body is a universal one, which speaks profoundly of incalculable loss that has either the power to consume us or, conversely or perhaps coincidentally, to inspire us.

As with any memoir, Harris’ The Calling Is In The Body is highly personal and reflective of her own experiences and those of Deirdre Davenport, the aforementioned young woman who changed her life during a chance encounter when Harris was still in high school. Their stories – Cynthia’s, Deidre’s, Bev’s, Mary’s and Cynthia’s beloved grandmother’s – contained therein are told with such conviction, authenticity and truth, that they could be yours, mine or anyone fortunate enough to be among the audience of this Actors Bridge Ensemble production now onstage through Sunday, August 14, at Darkhorse Theater.

https://www.broadwayworld.com/nashville/article/Review-Cynthia-Harris-THE-CALLING-IS-IN-THE-BODY-Is-A-Universal-Tale-of-Love-and-Inspiration-20220810

Photos by Sally Bebawy Photogrpahy

On this World Aids Day, we look at the legacy of a Nashville advocate for those living with HIV

by LATONYA TURNER for WPLN’s This is Nashville

DECEMBER 1, 2022

Much has changed about AIDS since the days when most who were infected died. And the stigma was real. Now, HIV can be treated and prevented. But there’s still work to do, which is why local artist and health educator Cynthia Harris wrote the play, “The Calling is in the Body.”

The play is based on her experience as a teenager in Nashville, when she met a brave advocate who was working to stop the spread of HIV by going public with her own status.

“It’s a hero story,” Harris says. “It’s my thank you to a woman who did something very brave and that we look at as our patron saint of radical visibility.”

Read more and listen here.

THE CALLING IS IN THE BODY, presented by Actors Bridge Ensemble, tells the story of a Nashville hero and early HIV advocate in the early 90s as the pandemic was growing internationally and changing culture and language around sex, safety, and intimacy. It is the story of her memory and legend as told by a young high school student who searched for closure after losing contact, a nurse practitioner and HIV/AIDS care trailblazer who befriended her, and a woman in recovery who commits to her cause and champions her work.

BY CYNTHIA C. HARRIS
AUGUST 5-13, 2022
DARKHORSE THEATER

Destinee Monét is Deidre
Teacora Sherrill is Cynthia
Nicole Mason is Ms. Mary
Rachel Agee is Bev
Lisa Yolanda Treece is Grandma

Actors Bridge Ensemble proudly presents this World Premiere production written and directed by Cynthia C. Harris

Friday – Saturday, August 5-6 at 7:30 p.m.

Sunday, August 7 at 5 p.m.

Thursday – Saturday, August 11-13 at 7:30 p.m.

Saturday, August 13 at 2:30 p.m.

Darkhorse Theater

4610 Charlotte Ave

Nashville 37209

Tickets are $25 in advance, $30 at the door

Tickets: https://bit.ly/ABE-TCIITB
THE CALLING IS IN THE BODY is a choreopoem telling the story of a Nashville hero and early HIV advocate in the early 90s as the pandemic was growing internationally and changing culture and language around sex, safety, and intimacy. It is the story of her memory and legend as told by a young high school student who searched for closure after losing contact, a nurse practitioner and HIV/AIDS care trailblazer who befriended her, and a woman in recovery who commits to her cause and champions her work.

Saturday, March 12 at 3 p.m.

Script Reading of THE CALLING IS IN THE BODY by Cynthia C. Harris, which will have its World Premiere with Actors Bridge in August.

Make a donation of any size to support the production of this beautiful new play and secure your seat for the reading on March 12th. https://ci.ovationtix.com/35263/store/donations/46919

Program Details

Diversity in Arts Leadership (DIAL) internship program, administered by Americans for the Arts and national partners, matches undergraduate students from backgrounds underrepresented in arts leadership with dynamic communities, energetic host arts organizations, and mentors, to guide students’ personal and professional growth throughout the summer. In 2021, the nationwide, competitive selection process will grant paid, ten-week, remote internships with organizations based in New York City, New Jersey, and Nashville. Summer 2021 programming will be fully virtual.

To ensure an immersive and well-rounded experience, the summer includes:

• Remote work placement at an arts nonprofit in one of three national locations
• $4,500 pre-tax summer work stipend
• 30+ hours of professional development workshops, facilitated discussions, and site visits through DIALogue Fridays
• Individual mentor pairing
• A national intern cohort + robust alumni network

The DIAL MENTOR’s role is a critical component of the summer experience. The mentor would take an interest in the overall experiences of the mentees, both work and life, as well as provide space for the mentees to talk about their successes, challenges, and concerns.

https://www.metroartsnashville.com/post/dial-mentors-2021

On Tuesday, December 8th, I entered the temporarily closed, Nashville Public Library to discuss Race and Class for a series sponsored by Nashville’s Human Relations Commission. Our group’s Just Conversation was moderated by my good friend and colleague Jacquelyn Favours, MPH of Health Leads. The base of our conversation was Chapter 12 of Ibram Kendi’s How to be an Antiracist. Our panel of three Black Nashvillians centered around Kendi’s hypothesis that class racism must be eliminated through both antiracist and anticapitalist policies. The Just Conversation series will be shared through various social media platforms beginning in January 2021. The goal of the series is described below:

We believe the final product of all the episodes will engage residents throughout the region in actively discussing and thinking about race, racism, racial equity, and reconciliation in their communities, neighborhoods, organizations, faith groups, and other areas of their lives. Obviously, with the pandemic, many people and groups are not able to take part in these discussions within their communities. This will provide them with that opportunity.

Verge Theater Company to Host Virtual Discussion About the Future of Theater

Radically Reimagining our Institutions and Structures will take place online on ThursdayERICA CICCARONE NOV 17, 2020 1 PM0 Tweet Share (Nashville Scene 1.17.20)

From left: Cynthia C. Harris, Lauren Elysse Fitzgerald, Nettie Kraft

In October, the small-but-mighty Verge Theater Company kicked off conVERGEnce, a series of conversations with theater makers and arts professionals that address contemporary issues in the industry from the sound booth to the board room. Ahead of that virtual discussion, Verge board member Tessa Bryant told the Scene that conVERGEnce will not exclusively be about racial bias in theater, but that anti-racist policies and practices will be a recurring theme.

The conversation continues at 7 p.m. Thursday, Nov. 19, with a session called Radically Reimagining our Institutions and Structures. According to the press release, this discussion will address how to build “a more equitable, just and accessible theater community in Nashville by listening to local experts and taking action.”

The session will be led by Lauren Elysse Fitzgerald, lead executive strategist for Strategize619, who has years of experience shepherding artists of stripes through the process of idea to creation to execution. Breakout sessions will be led by activist, educator and artist Cynthia C. Harris (the creator of 2019’s excellent How to Catch a Flying Woman) and Verge artistic director Nettie Kraft. 

The  Mississippi Center for Cultural Production recently announced their first round of artists funded through the Rural Performance/Production Lab (RPPL). They selected six artists from Louisiana, Tennessee, Arkansas, and Mississippi. Cynthia C Harris, MPH was selected to take part in the initial cohort. As a selected artist, she will receive funding and a three-week residency at the Sipp Culture Artist Residency House in Utica, Mississippi in August. (Read Full announcement here)

2020 Rural Performance/Production Lab Advisors

More about the Sipp Culture Rural Performance/Production Lab

In 2018, Actors Bridge was awarded a Catalyst Grant from Metro Arts to create a Directors Inclusion Initiative to train emerging directors of color.

Actors Bridge is a female-led company with a deep commitment to equity, diversity, and inclusion. In the last 5 years, at least 50% of our plays were written by, directed by and starring women or people of color, far outpacing the national averages where the majority of theater companies are still led by white men producing work written and directed by other white men. We are strong in terms of gender equity across our programming, but we are lacking in racial and cultural equity in the stories we tell.
As a training program, we offer year-round acting classes and writing workshops. It is a natural extension of our mission to add director training to our programming and giving emerging directors an opportunity to participate in our Meisner Technique training to develop a vocabulary and tools for eliciting truthful performances from actors.

Our process began in the fall with conversations with leaders of several African American theater companies to determine the most effective way to structure the program to deliver meaningful content.

In January, 2019 we began meeting with our initial cohort of 7 emerging directors. Each cohort member selected a local mentor. In addition, the cohort has monthly check-in meetings with project consultant Jon Royal and ABE producing artistic director Vali Forrister. Every-other-month, we convene a panel of local theater professionals to discuss their aspect of the playmaking process (designers, producers, actors, stage managers, etc.). There are also guest faculty from the Southeast who will lead weekend intensives.

In 2019, we received funding from the Tennessee Arts Commission and Metro Arts to produce a Festival of Plays directed by members of our cohort and to give them access to some of Nashville’s most established designers to bring life to their visions. The Festival will take place in May 2020. Date and location TBA.

VISITING FACULTY AND WORKSHOP TITLES:

Kristi Papailler, MFA, University of Louisville: “Directing African American Theatre: Tools for Engaging Afrocentricity, Blood Memory and Archetype in Concept, Blocking and Direction”

Millicent Jonnie, Florida State University, “Conventional and Unconventional Approaches to Directing”

ADVISORS TO THE PROGRAM:

Leah Lowe, PhD – Chair, Department of Theatre, Vanderbilt University
Paul Gatrell, MFA – Chair, Department of Theatre and Dance, Belmont University
Shawn Whitsell, Artistic Director, Destiny Theater Experience
Jon Royal, freelance career director
Pierre Johnson, board member, Actors Bridge Ensemble
Cynthia Harris, board member, Actors Bridge Ensemble

Funded in part by grants from: