PORT TOWNSEND — Key City Public Theatre and the Mandala Center for Change will join forces for “Be a Light: The Art of Taking Action!,” featuring an interactive performance and community dialogue with the Poetic Justice Theatre Ensemble.
This free participatory event will be at 5:30 p.m. today at the Key City Playhouse, 419 Washington St.
The performance will be followed by a social gathering with a no-host bar at 7 p.m. in the lobby.
“Be a Light” is part of the larger, national Ghostlight Project (www.the ghostlightproject.com), said Marc Weinblatt, Mandala Center for Change and Poetic Justice founder.
In each time zone across the country, members of the theater community — from Broadway to regional theaters to high schools and colleges and community theaters — will come together at the same time.
“Gathering inside and outside hundreds of theaters in more than 40 states, people will join in a collective, simultaneous action, together creating ‘light’ for all people,” Weinblatt said.
“Inspired by the tradition of leaving a ‘ghost light’ on in a darkened theater, artists and communities will make or renew a pledge to stand for and protect the values of inclusion, participation and compassion for everyone — regardless of race, class, religion, country of origin, immigration status, (dis)ability, gender identity, age or sexual orientation.”
Said Denise Winter, Key City Public Theatre artistic director: “This event is a reminder that our theater is a place of inclusion for all people.
“We have artists and subscribers from across the cultural and political spectrum. Everyone is welcome here.”
The evening will include theatrical reflections of audience story sharing around what it means to be “a light” and to take action. It will also invite people to offer pledges for the future. All experiences and opinions are welcome.
“It’s incredible. I have never seen people as activated as they are these days,” Weinblatt said.
“With this project, as with all our work, we hope to inspire even more people to do what they can do. But we have to have fun in the process. Theater can be a playful and nourishing way to keep our human flame burning.”
For more information, phone 360-379-0195, email info@keycitypublictheatre.org or see keycitypublic theatre.org. More information also is available at 360-344-3435, by emailing info@mandalaforchange.com or by visiting www.mandala forchange.com.
