JAG TALKS: Lillie J. Harris & Jarvis Green

 

Thursday, June 18th at 2PM

LIVE on INSTAGRAM
 

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Seven Days recorded a conversation between Jarvis and Lillie Harris, a 28-year-old cartoonist from Maryland who just completed their first year at the Center for Cartoon Studies in White River Junction. Read more here.

 

ABOUT JAG TALKS

JAG TALKS is a bi monthly one-hour LIVE online conversation with national artists to discuss Black theatre, Black art, Black organizing, Black joy, Black critical thought, Black fantasy, Black history, and more during a time of death, betrayal, and a global pandemic.

Stay tuned for more conversations.

Our programming is free and open to the public, just make sure to register in advance! All artists who contribute to these important online gatherings are compensated. If you're in the position to make a gift to support our work, we hope you'll consider doing so—even $5, $10, $25 makes a big difference.

 

THE JAG TEAM

Producing Artistic Director: Jarvis Green

Company Manager: Tamara Waraschinski

Operations Manager: Serena Nelson

 

BOARD OF DIRECTORS

Co- Chairs: Jackie Fischer & Vincent Mack

Treasurer: Nancy Grant

Alka Dev

Marcela Di Blasi

Jameson Davis

Felicia Swoope

 

ABOUT JAG

JAG Productions was formed in 2015 with the mission to produce classic and contemporary African- American theatre; to serve as an incubator of new work that excites broad intellectual engagement; and thereby, to catalyze compassion, empathy, love, and community through shared understandings of the humankind through the lens of the African-American experience.

 

HISTORY 

JAG Productions was born in 2015 in the small town of White River Junction, VT with the mission to produce classic and contemporary African-American theatre; to serve as an incubator of new work that excites broad intellectual engagement; and thereby, to catalyze compassion, empathy, love, and community by connecting with the full breadth of the human experience.

 

Our fourth season opened with the world premiere of Nathan Yungerberg's play Esai's Table; a dream that was born in 2018 at JAGfest, our new works festival, where the play received a staged reading. This beautiful show transports audience and characters on a mystical journey in which we experience the lives of three young Black men, and redefine what it means to be human. The vision to do a world premiere in the Upper Valley for the community that nurtured and supported its development will came to life in October 2019 at Briggs Opera House in White River. The play will subsequently transfer Off-Broadway to the Cherry Lane Theatre in New York City. Esai's Table marks a pivotal moment for JAG as it's first world premiere, first Off-Broadway transfer, and first co-production.

 

What does it mean to create a space for African American theatre in rural New England?

JAG has become an incubator for the vulnerability we need to access individual and collective transformation. JAG has meant as much to the Black artists who come to the Upper Valley to share and develop their craft, talents and insights on stage as it has to our community that is consistently moved, stretched, and inspired - and continues to return for more exceptional performances. Serving as a vehicle for change, JAG has used theatre to catalyze community dialogue around critical issues of race, gender, sexuality, and identity and has played a central role in carving spaces for Black folks and people of color in the predominantly white town of White River Junction, Vermont.

 

Beyond theatrical productions and events, JAG works to bring its mission and values to the public through outreach programs such as a free student matinee program, educational support materials, and guest speaking engagements. JAG partners with Dartmouth College, Lebanon High School, Cherry Lane Theater, White River Indie Festival, and other area organizations to bring artists for workshops and public panel discussions. Topics have ranged from discussing the limitations and possibilities of curating Black experiences in white institutions, to reflecting on the afterlives and the legacies of the transatlantic slave trade through the lens of Black theatre artists and Black queer and feminist artists, and most recently reveling in Aretha Franklin's legacy and her pursuit and love of opera.

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