IS GOD IS Press Release

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE MEDIA CONTACT info@recroomhtx.com | 713-344-1291

PERFORMANCES BEGIN FOR THE HOUSTON PREMIERE OF IS GOD IS AT REC ROOM ARTS

Aleshea Harris Playwright

Comfort Ifeoma Katchy Anaia

Jessica T. Johnson Racine

Brandon Morgan Chuck Hall

Justin Walker Man

Reyna Janelle Angie

Kimberly Hicks She

Grant Eason Riley

Shannon Uphold Scotch

HOUSTON, TX - (June 27, 2022) — Rec Room Arts (Artistic Director Matt Hune, Associate Artistic Director Sophia Watt, Executive Director Stefan Azizi) will begin preview performances on Thursday, July 14 for IS GOD IS, written by Aleshea Harris and directed by Candice D’Meza. Following exciting and award-winning productions at Soho Rep in New York and Royal Court in London, IS GOD IS will make its Houston premiere this summer at Rec Room Arts. Preview performances begin July 14, with an official press opening on Saturday, July 16. Performances will run through August 6.

Award-winning playwright Aleshea Harris blends genres with her epic western play about revenge and the ruthlessness of family.

A modern myth that follows twin sisters who sojourn from the Dirty South to the California desert to exact righteous vengeance.

The sisters are seeking justice and ready to take down anyone who stands in their way. Aleshea Harris collides the ancient, the modern, the tragic, the Spaghetti Western, and Afropunk in this darkly funny and unapologetic new play that examines who we think we are in relation to ourselves and the divine.

The complete cast of IS GOD IS includes Comfort Ifeoma Katchy (Anaia), Jessica T. Johnson (Racine), Brandon Morgan (Chuck Hall), Justin Walker (Man), Kimberly Hicks (She), Reyna Janelle (Angie), Grant Eason (Riley), and Jackson Swinton (Scotch).

IS GOD IS will feature scenic design by Stefan Azizi, costume design by Saida Carter, lighting design by Janessa Harris, sound design by Sean Ramos, projection design by Nicholas Lam, and fight and intimacy direction by Avery Vonn Kenyatta. Robert Jackson is the assistant director and Emma Bacon is the production stage manager.

IS GOD IS COVID Protocol All Rec Room artists and staff have been fully vaccinated and take part in weekly COVID testing. It is recommended that all patrons receive a complete COVID-19 vaccination regimen at least 14 days prior to entering the theater. Boosters are also encouraged for those eligible under CDC guidelines. We recommend that patrons wear a mask inside the theater, however, masks are not required in our building. All policies are subject to change and are dependent on CDC guidance. For complete health and safety protocols, visit https://www.recroomarts.org/safe-return.

BIOS ALESHEA HARRIS (Playwright) Is God Is won the 2016 Relentless Award, an Obie Award for playwriting in 2017, the Helen Merrill Playwriting Award in 2019 and was a finalist for the Susan Smith Blackburn Prize. What to Send Up When It Goes Down, a play-pageant-ritual response to anti-blackness, had its critically acclaimed NYC premiere in 2018 (directed by Whitney White and produced by The Movement Theatre Company), was featured in the April 2019 issue of American Theatre Magazine, and received a rare special commendation from the Susan Smith Blackburn Prize. The play was subsequently remounted at Woolly Mammoth, A.R.T., BAM and Playwrights Horizons. Her newest play, On Sugarland (directed by Whitney White) premiered at New York Theatre Workshop in the spring of 2022. Awards: Windham-Campbell Literary Prize, Mimi Steinberg Playwriting Award, Hermitage Greenfield Prize, Horton Foote Playwriting Award, Arts and Letters Award in Literature from the American Academy of Arts and Letters. Harris is a two-time MacDowell Fellow and has enjoyed residencies at the Hermitage Artist Retreat, Hedgebrook and Djerassi.

CANDICE D’MEZA (Director) is a multidisciplinary artist, actor, director, writer and experimental filmmaker whose work has been featured in numerous film festivals; press outlets: Houston Press, Houston Chronicle, Playbill, American Theatre Magazine; archived with Rice University; and published in The Acentos Review. She has received grants from the Houston Arts Alliance, Red Bull Arts and has been commissioned by DiverseWorks, Catastrophic Theatre, and the Latinx Playwrights Circle. She is currently an Artist-in-Residence with Black Spatial Relics and a BOLD Ventures Grant Awardee for the creation of theater performance.

Her work centers on grief, ritual, liberation, and the Black imagination. She is an advocate, activist, and mother who believes in bringing her kids (and baby) to art working spaces with her. A big huge thank you to her son Tafari for being her production assistant. Love you. Her website is www.candicedmeza.com ROBERT D. JACKSON (Assistant Director) is an actor, director, educational strategist, and producer that utilizes theater, film, television and other live media experiences to push the boundaries of storytelling. Robert is a graduate from New York University where he received a Master of Arts in Educational Leadership, Politics, and Advocacy and a BFA in Drama from New Studio on Broadway at NYU Tisch School of the Arts. He has received artist grants from Houston Arts Alliance, National Endowment for the Arts, and Mid-America Arts Alliance. His passion for activism has led him to found and lead several organizations that aim at empowering low-income and marginalized populations. He is excited and honored to support Is God Is and wants to continue to support the arts in Houston. www.robertdjackson.com TICKETS AND INFORMATION Single tickets are now on sale and range from $5 - $50. Tickets can be purchased at the door or online at https://www.recroomarts.org/is-god-is.

IS GOD IS begins performances on Thursday July 14 and will run through Saturday August 6, with an official press opening on Saturday, July 16.

The performance schedule is Wednesday through Saturday at 7:30 p.m.

All performances are downtown at Rec Rom, 100 Jackson Street 130C, Houston, TX 77002

IS GOD IS ABOUT REC ROOM ARTS Rec Room Arts is a non-profit theater organization whose mission is to develop innovative performances by emerging and established artists in order to energize a new generation of audiences for the arts. Rec Room Arts is interested in providing unique and enjoyable experiences through theater that enhance the cultural imagination and social wellbeing of Houston. Rec Room believes in the theatrical examination of individual experiences and operates under the principles that theater shapes behaviors, patterns, and the collective unconscious. Furthermore, Rec Room believes in the importance of making the overall experience of going to the theater pleasurable. Therefore, audiences are invited to arrive early and stay late to socialize in our bar.

Matt Hune is Artistic Director/Co-founder; Stefan Azizi is Managing Director; Sophia Watt is Associate Artistic Director.

FACT SHEET HOUSTON PREMIERE 2017 OBIE AWARD WINNER 2019 HELEN MERRILL PLAYWRITING AWARD WINNER 2016 RELENTLESS AWARD WINNER SUSAN SMITH BLACKBURN PRIZE FINALIST

IS GOD IS

Written by Aleshea Harris Directed by Candice D’Meza Opening Press Night: Saturday, July 16, 2022 | Closing: August 6, 2022 Wednesdays - Saturdays at 7:30 p.m.

Tickets: $5 - $50 Rec Room, 100 Jackson Street, Houston, TX 77002 Website: www.recroomarts.org Phone: 713-344-1291 A modern myth about twin sisters who sojourn from the Dirty South to the California desert to exact righteous revenge. The sisters are seeking justice and ready to take down anyone who stands in their way. Aleshea Harris collides the ancient, the modern, the tragic, the Spaghetti Western, and Afropunk in this darkly funny and unapologetic new play.

Full-resolution images and photo credits available at: https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1_Z92EAsjtY9O1Bf59EsY5IG-EyiVzZdM?usp=sharing

###

IS GOD IS REC ROOM ARTS’ 2022 THEATRE SEASON: Houston Premiere 2019 Pulitzer Prize Finalist 2017 Susan Smith Blackburn Prize Winner 2015 Relentless Award Winner

DANCE NATION

Written by Clare Barron Directed by Sophia Watt January 13, 2022 - February 5, 2022 Somewhere in America, an army of pre-teen competitive dancers plots to take over the world. And if their new routine is good enough, they’ll claw their way to the top at the Boogie Down Grand Prix in Tampa Bay. But in Clare Barron’s raucous pageant of ambition and ferocity, these young dancers have more than choreography on their minds, because every plié and jeté is a step toward finding themselves, and a fight to unleash their power.

Houston Premiere 2018 Obie Award Winner 2015 Relentless Award Winner

IS GOD IS

Written by Aleshea Harris Directed by Destyne Miller March 19, 2022 - April 2, 2022 Is God Is is a modern myth about twin sisters who sojourn from the Dirty South to the California desert to exact righteous revenge. Winner of the 2016 Relentless Award, Aleshea Harris collides the ancient, the modern, the tragic, the Spaghetti Western, and Afropunk in this darkly funny and unapologetic new play.

Houston Premiere 2018 Obie Award Winner

HURRICANE DIANE

Written by Madeleine George Directed by Lily Wolff May 5, 2022 - May 28, 2022 Meet Diane, a permaculture gardener dripping with butch charm. She’s got supernatural abilities owing to her true identity—the Greek god Dionysus—and she’s returned to the modern world to gather mortal followers and restore the Earth to its natural state.

Where better to begin than with four housewives in a suburban New Jersey cul-de-sac? Pulitzer Prize finalist Madeleine George pens a hilarious evisceration of the blind eye we all turn to climate change and the bacchanalian catharsis that awaits us, even in our own backyards.

Houston Premiere

PUT YOUR HOUSE IN ORDER

Written by Ike Holter Directed by Matt Hune October 20, 2022 - November 12, 2022 A romantic-comedy/horror/thriller about a first date that spirals into a race against an invading force. When the city around them begins exhibiting signs that something is terribly wrong, Caroline and Roland quickly have to learn to trust each other to stand a chance against the horrors outside the gate. This Houston premiere from one of Chicago’s hottest playwrights (Exit Strategy, Sender) explores new beginnings at the end of the world.