Brava! For Women in the Arts, in collaboration with New Generation Health Center and the UCSF National Center of Excellence in Women's Health present GIRLTROPOLIS on November 22nd , 2008 at the Brava Theater Center.
On November 22nd, GIRLTROPOLIS will be presented on the main stage of the beautiful and historic Brava Theater Center and serves as a special program for high-school age San Francisco young women to access information on key health topics. It is being produced by Brava! for Women in the Arts in collaboration with New Generation Health Center and the UCSF National Center of Excellence in Women's Health. The first part of the event will provide a safe space for inquiry and will serve as a forum for young women to harness their collective voice empowering them with the knowledge to make wise decisions about their health and well-being.
Then the Glass to Diamonds ensemble will present a multi-media theater play created, written, and performed by a powerful performance group of young women of color. The performance will also include the Brava Theater Academy's Acting Studio performing historically and culturally relevant pieces that reinforce the idea that reproductive health issues have been urgent issues for youth throughout the ages. In the performance piece young women respond to the issues they face such as depression, violence, peer pressure, planning for their futures, sexism, self-esteem and educational barriers. The event will also include a 2 hour resource fair in collaboration with other community partners to provide information and opportunities to GIRLTROPOLIS participants.
Brava Theater Academy's GIRLTROPOLIS will take place at the Brava Theater Center on November 22. The event is free but donations are greatly appreciated and used to directly support our programs. The youth resource fair will take place in Brava Lobby at 1:00 with The performance beginning at 3:00pm. There will be a community reception following the event. Groups are encouraged to contact Irene Faye Duller at irene@brava.org to make group reservations as seating will be limited.
Glass to Diamonds Project:
All research indicates that our targeted group-low-income young women of color from the ages of 14 to 24-are systematically denied access to the information and support that would help them make healthy choices in many aspects of their lives. They are often surrounded by violence; matriculate in broken schools; live with challenged, unresponsive or absent parents and experience the direct results of chronic unemployment and under-employment. They are bombarded by negative and degrading assessments of the female body from music lyrics, peer groups and mainstream culture. They are tempted to numb themselves with poor relationship choices, drugs, alcohol and other addictive behaviors. These teenagers and young women often do not have high expectations and most importantly, the means to achieve them. These factors lead to greater risk of unintended pregnancies or STIs, or lowered self-esteem. Furthermore, each of our targeted neighborhoods has at least four teen pregnancy state-defined "hot spots." One Mission District tract in our project has a teen birth rate three times the state average, while Bayview/Hunter's Point youth have the city's highest rates of STIs. Those who are emancipated, live in foster care, are in the juvenile justice system, and identify as lesbian, bisexual or transgender are particularly vulnerable. We want to address the gaps between each of these neighborhoods that face similar community challenges.
Because we believe each young woman has the potential, particularly when her character is forged by intense pressures, to turn glass into diamonds, we have named our project Glass to Diamonds. This project recruits, trains and then creates original theater with a group of thirty young women in 3 cycles of 10-weeks over an eighteen-month period. The innovative program incorporates theater training, health education, leadership development and other skill-based trainings to empower young women to make wise decisions about their own health and to influence others positively. Participants are actively involved in all stages of program design, creation and information distribution, helping insure that the educational messages produced are relevant to today's youth. The youth educators/actors will then perform in at least 3 large venues including a summer, spring and fall event.
About the Organizations
Through a collaboration, three organizations, with a history of working well together and positive reputations in their respective fields of expertise, have created this project with positive citywide and national implications. Brava! for Women in the Arts is a professional production and presentation organization dedicated to redefining the American stage through theater, music and other arts by women with a special emphasis on lesbians, people of color and youth. New Generation Health Center (NGHC) is a community clinic and education service of the UCSF Department of Obstetrics, Gynecology and Reproductive Sciences operating out of San Francisco's Mission neighborhood. The UCSF National Center of Excellence in Women's Health (UCSF CoE) is committed to improving the health and well-being of women and girls across diverse communities through knowledge of women's health research, comprehensive clinical care service, leadership development, medical education and community-involvement. Together, BRAVA, NGHC, and the UCSF CoE have a combined 66 years of experience serving vulnerable youth from various San Francisco neighborhoods. They share a creative, entrepreneurial and collaborative spirit, and a passion for empowering youth.
