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Theater Activist Norma Bowles' 'Wake Me Up When It's Over!' Oct. 1

Story posted September 23, 2008

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Norma Bowles.

Theater activist Norma Bowles will present a lecture/demonstration titled "Wake Me Up When It's Over! Using Comedy to Set the Stage for Social Justice" at 8 p.m. Wednesday, October 1, 2008, in Pickard Theater, Memorial Hall. Bowles' presentation is open to the public and admission is free. No tickets are required.

Norma Bowles is artistic director of Fringe Benefits, a groundbreaking theater company with a 17-year track record of collaborating with school and community groups to create plays that promote constructive dialogue about diversity and discrimination issues. Fringe Benefits has traveled throughout the United States and to Canada, England and Australia. Bowles' lecture will feature stories, script excerpts and lessons learned from this theatrical road trip.

Fringe Benefits' theater activism workshops and residencies, the two published anthologies of their plays, Friendly Fire and Cootie Shots, and the award-winning documentary film about their work, Surviving Friendly Fire, narrated by Sir Ian McKellen, have earned the commendations of youth, educators, parents and community leaders.

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Fashion Police.


A number of their productions have used humor to help "build bridges of understanding" with audiences—playing with Colbert Report-inspired tropes to address LGBT issues with university students in Canada, South Park-like characters to break the ice and start a discussion about racism with teenagers in Texas, and golf jokes to warm up an audience of New Hampshire Rotarians in a play promoting Marriage Equality.

Norma Bowles holds a B.A. from Princeton, and an M.F.A. from CalArts and has been conducting "Theatre for Social Justice," acting, commedia dell'arte and new play development residencies at theaters and universities since 1987. She edited Fringe Benefits' play anthologies Cootie Shots: Theatrical Inoculations Against Bigotry and Friendly Fire. Bowles is also a recipient of PFLAG/LA's 2003 "Oscar Wilde Award" and Cornerstone Theater Company's 2002 "Bridge Award" for her work building bridges within and between communities.

Bowles will be available to sign copies of Cootie Shots: Theatrical Inoculations Against Bigotry at a reception in Drake Lobby after the lecture.

"Wake Me Up When It's Over!" is sponsored by the Department of Theater and Dance, and the Gay and Lesbian Studies and Gender and Women's Studies programs. It is presented in conjunction with the opening of the Joseph McKeen Center for the Common Good (as part of the "Theater for the Common Good" series) and produced with assistance from the Alice Cooper Morse Fund for the Performing Arts.

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