By Elyse Trevers
Although New York is slowly reopening, schools will still remain closed.
As a result, an estimated 850,000 New York City kids are missing meals every day. Over the entire country, that means close to 33 million children are going hungry. The statistics are staggering and heartbreaking. Before the COVID-19 pandemic, one out of seven children was food-deprived. Now it is estimated that one out of four children is going hungry. These numbers are shocking. No child should go hungry!
If, like me, you are missing theater, you can get a taste of theater and “do good” at the same time. Make a donation to “No Kids Hungry” and enjoy original theater. Founded by playwright Catya McMullen and director Jenna Worsham, The Homebound Project has enlisted acclaimed writers and performers to put their time sheltering at home to good use. There are three editions, two of which ran for only four days and was centered around a theme with all profits going to “No Kid Hungry.”
Edition 3 will stream June 3-7. Check out homeboundtheater.org for the schedule, tickets and donations.
Edition I featured 10 monologues with different takes on the prompt: “Home.” The recorded monologues in Edition 2 were about “Sustenance.” Award-winning actress Mary Louise Parker explains in the introduction how sustenance is more than food. It refers to the way we “sustain and fortify ourselves. “
The very first monologue followed up on that theme in “Comfort Food,” a piece by Ann Washburn, when actress Ngozi Anyanwu noted that bread can feed you but won’t sustain you. “Rage is as pervasive as the virus and will turn prayer into action.”
Some of the monologues referred to the current pandemic directly and were very easy to identify with. Other seem to touch on it indirectly.
Edition II was composed of several monologues and the acting and writing were uneven. Some really resonated for me while others didn’t interest me as much, either because of the presentation or the acting. However, the viewer reaction depends upon individual taste. Participating actors in the second edition included Utkarsh Ambudkar, Ngozi Anyanwu, Nicholas Braun, Betty Gilpin, Kimberly Hébert Gregory, Hari Nef, Mary-Louise Parker, Christopher Oscar Peña, Taylor Schilling, Babak Tafti, and Zachary Quinto.
Participating playwrights included Brittany K. Allen, Ngozi Anyanwu, Will Arbery, Adam Bock, Sarah DeLappe, Lily Houghton, Marco Ramirez, Bryna Turner, Anne Washburn, Loy A. Webb, and David Zheng.
The three programs were designed to run for an hour and midway through, they stop for a five-minute intermission, suggesting that the viewer do whatever he or she would normally do during a regular theater visit.
My favorite piece was a particularly touching one by Loy A. Webb entitled “These Hands,” featuring Kimberly Hebert Gregory as a woman who explains that she’s been invited to the Humanity Gala. Once there, she realizes that, unlike the others on line, she has no gift to lay at the altar of humanity. One person has brought intelligence, another beauty, another wealth. Finally the woman explains that she has been a nurse for 15 years and her hands have touched many people. Healthcare workers are our acknowledged heroes in this pandemic, so the narrator and the hands she offered to humanity are certainly a gift.
While we shelter at home, we can watch cable, network TV and a myriad of shows and movies streaming online. “The Homebound Project” offers viewers an opportunity to help hungry children while enjoying new theater from the comfort of their homes for a minimum donation of $10, less than the cost of a ticket at the local movie theater.
Edition 2 ran from May 20 until 7 pm May 24. In the final monologue, Quinto said he asks people what they have been missing while quarantined. Some answered, laughing, walking, cramming into a diner booth.
According to “The Homebound Project’s” website, the first two editions are no longer available.
During this difficult time, while we are yearning for friends and vacations, children are missing meals. We can help them.
Edition 3, based on the theme “Champion,” will stream June 3–7.
To make donations and buy tickets- contact: homeboundtheater.org
