West Virginia Public Theatre’s Radio For Our Time is back with another impactful piece – Speaking to My Black Daughter About the Black Lives Matter Protests, I Realize How Much She Already Understood by Sharisse Tracey.
Leading this year’s Radio Theatre For Our Time project is Mya Brown.
Read Mya’s thoughts on the project below:
“As a mother of two Black sons, I have to navigate difficult conversations with them about the world and how they can remain healthy, safe, and productive in it. I take my role as a parent very seriously and it is my duty to raise positive contributors to society. I honor my privilege of parenthood but find it challenging to mitigate the realities of our racist, sexist, ableist, and all of the oppressive structures present in the world. My instinct is to protect my children from the harsh realities but that would be a disservice to them. Sharisse Tracey recognizes the difficulties of parenting young children and riding the fine line of truth for safety or ‘keeping them innocent.’ She writes about that circumstance in her Parents.com article published in June of 2020, Speaking to My Black Daughter About the Black Lives Matter Protests, I Realize How Much She Already Understood. This piece spoke to the fears and successes of parenting that I have encountered and I believe it translates easily to the Radio Theatre for Our Times format of transforming non-performative text into a performance. I am excited for parents and future parents to hear this adaptation. I hope it will inspire conversation and an opening of the minds & hearts of people everywhere. I am extremely grateful to Jerry McGonigle, Glynis Board, and Sharisse Tracey for collaborating with me on this adventure. Enjoy! “
Tune into West Virginia Public Broadcasting on Saturday, April 16th at 3 PM for the live broadcast. If you miss the broadcast, the piece will be available on West Virginia Public Theatre’s Spotify page!