Zola Dee

On Freeing Fire

Writer and performer: Zola Dee

Director: Vanessa Brooke Agnes

How does the Black body get free? On Freeing Fire mixes blood memory, nostalgia, and poetry to unpack this question, while conjuring folktales of the past, present, and future. Through navigating tales of healing, intergenerational trauma, and grief, On Freeing Fire captures the process of one woman finding herself, loving herself, and freeing herself. 

Zola Dee is a playwright, screenwriter, and performer whose works are deeply invested in exploring Black Americana, African diasporic religions, and imagining freer worlds for the Black collective body. Her most notable work GUNSHOT MEDLEY: Part 1 was Ovation Award recommended and published in Routledge’s Contemporary Plays by Women of Color.  Her other plays include Smile, Goddamnit, Smile; Rain, River, Ocean; and Father, Father. Her work has been seen and/or developed with Rogue Machine Theater, Collaborative Artists Bloc, The Playwright’s Center, Hi-Arts, CalArts Center for New Performance, and the Edinburgh Fringe Festival. Zola was just recently granted the NEXT commission from Antaeus Theatre Company in Los Angeles. While most of her artistic career has been based in Los Angeles, she is currently living in Minneapolis where she is a Jerome Fellow at the Playwright’s Center. She is a current member of East West Players Playwright’s Group. Other accomplishments include: member of Many Voices Fellow 2021-2022, CTG Writer’s Workshop 2019-2020 , 2017-2018 Core Apprentice at The Playwright's Center and the 2018 Alliance of Los Angeles Playwrights Diversity Fellow. Collaboration and community building is foundational to Zola’s mission as an artist. She currently works in the performance wing at the Walker Art Center and is a writing consultant for Meow Wolf. She has also worked for institutions such as The Guthrie Theater, Pasadena Playhouse, and The State Theater of California where she worked as the Artistic Associate under Danny Feldman. She is a graduate from California Institute of the Arts with a BFA in Acting and a minor in Creative Writing. While at CalArts, she studied with Nataki Garrett, Aleshea Harris, Doug Kearney and Tisa Byrant. She is currently managed by Management 360 in Los Angeles. For more information visit www.zoladee.com or follow her on Instagram @iamzoladee. 

Emily Michaels King

CHICKEN WING

I think I could eat you. I would. If it came to that. But for now. I’ll just eat. Me. For now… CHICKEN WING is a solo performance by Emily Michaels King that rearranges movement and direct address to examine archetype, stagecraft, and the self: the ish, the centered, the expression. When they placed the order for you and put you in the microwave, did a rubber duck pop out? A movie star? You have to look at this show sideways. It’s about picking your poison. Saying the stuff that makes you sweat. Admitting who you’ve always been when you look dead in the mirror. Doing your thing. CHICKEN WING celebrates confession and finally finding your role in the fairytale of it all. 

Emily Michaels King is a performing artist based in St. Paul, Minnesota exploring authentic expression and human depth through movement, multimedia, and visual compositions. Her work has been presented at the Walker Art Center, the Guthrie Theater, Candy Box Dance Festival, and the Southern Theater, among others. Emily is known for her fearless personal work, provocative style, and collaged solo performances, including: her award winning show MAGIC GIRL, multimedia online work DIGITAL, and IN PERSON, a companion to DIGITAL. Pairing minimalism and subtlety with cacophony and bared irreverence, Emily’s works employ the lush landscape of the inner world and the power of unapologetic vulnerability. They combine movement with text, graphics, sound, and technology to focus on themes of self-discovery and reclamation, womanhood, and bold expressions of personal truth. www.emilymichaelsking.com

CHICKEN WING features loud sounds and flashing lights.