ABOUT THE SHOW:

Scheherazade is no longer a Queen staving off execution by her cruel husband but a woman condemned to death by the criminal justice system.

1001 Nights: A Rock Opera is a feast for all five senses featuring stories from the Middle East, North Africa, India, China and Greece and a predominantly original musical score consisting of Hip Hop, Rock and World Music.

We will explore what it means to be the “minority” in terms of ethnicity, religion, sex and sexual orientation within society particularly as it relates to the American prison-industrial complex.

Like the original 1001 Nights our cast features a wide array of characters from many places. Through diverse casting calls we wanted to counteract the issues “minority” performance artists often face: a lack of opportunities to depict many characters at all, let alone major characters, let alone themselves outside of stereotyped caricatures.

It is also a major goal of ours to maintain our ties within the community. Part of the purpose of our shows is not only to spread dynamic information among diverse audiences but also to show that art can and does have a real impact in transforming the community especially where needed the most.

We have had an ongoing relationship with The Kandake House in Harlem– an organization that strives to offer a holistic approach to keeping low-income women and their children out of prison. In the past we have offered free dance and self-defense workshops to their clients and given their clients and staff discounted tickets to shows. It is an organization and community we plan to engage with our rock opera.

We’ve been a part of Global Water Dances in NYC for the past 3 years and we’ve also done community workshops the the POC/LGBT group the Audre Lorde Project. We make a point of producing work at the WoW Cafe Theatre — an consensus and volunteer run theatre collective of women and trans people and have also produced for TED Med.

Our former incarnation BDFC would host monthly street art dance events in the NYC subway system in order to raise money for a new group every month. These groups have included MADRE, The Schomberg, GEMS, The Sadie Nash Leadership Project, the Coalition for the Homeless and many more.

For 1001 Nights we would like to collaborate in some way with The Kandake House and MADRE again thanks to their work in incarceration-prevention and international women’s rights respectively.

In a country that incarcerates 25% of the world’s prisoners but only contains 5% of the world’s population, shouldn’t it be wrong to let this dream die?

Here are some of the facts:

– About 75% of those incarcerated in federal prisons are imprisoned for non-violent crimes. In state prisons the number is around 50%

– Many well-known corporations use prison labor as a form of free or cheap labor. Prisoners have been known to add “Made in USA” tags to clothing made in other countries.

– The notorious revolving door to prison (repeat incarceration with harsher sentencing) often revolves around non-violent drug offenses, flubbed probation terms and the inability to get jobs due to discrimination.

– The majority of the illegal drug users “white” though most people incarcerated for illegal drug use are “of color.”

– Sexual abuse, whether by prison authorities or fellow inmates, is still a huge problem in prisons particularly for women and trans people. In California prisons, women were still being coerced into sterilizations as late as the year 2010.

– It costs thousands more to execute a prisoner than to imprison them for life.

– In 2013, crime rates in New York City reached an ALL TIME LOW. This corresponded with a 60% DECREASE in police practices such as “Stop and Frisk.”

OUR STORY MUST BE TOLD!!!

If we reach our fund-raising goal of $5000 the money will be used for:
– buying costumes and props
– buying concessions for audience members
– stipends for performers
– creating promotional materials
– musical licenses
– rehearsal space

IF WE EXCEED OUR GOAL we can also:

– purchase artwork from artists of “at-risk” populations @ the artist’s asking price to use in a guerrilla art exhibit…artwork LIKE THIS:
Drawing by Yeniel Hernandez Drawing by Yeniel Hernandez

– give away free food to the general public during free, guerrilla-theatre promotional events

– make sure our audiences are as comfortable as possible in the heat of Summer!

– take this show on the road. Help us make 1001 Nights: A Rock Opera bigger and better and get the message out to a wider audience!

WE ARE A FAMILY HERE and we want to make sure we can take care of our artists and our audiences to our utmost ability. No donation is too small. If you can’t donate PLEASE SPREAD THE WORD about our KickStarter Campaign! We love you and we hope to see you at the show August 22, 23, 29 and 30 at the WoW Cafe Theatre in the East Village, Manhattan!!!

Help us create this exciting new work: www.kickstarter.com

***NO DONATION IS TOO SMALL***
Even if you can’t donate yet please spread the word about our campaign!