Social worker transforms her experiences working with refugees into one-woman show!

Baltimore Somali High School artists preview their hip-hop CD!

Somalia on these Shores celebrates World Refugee Day in Baltimore.

Por la Avenida / On the Avenue presents
Somalia on these Shores
Checkered Floors
Written and performed by Cheryl Hamilton
Developed and Directed James Bunzli

with live Somali hip-hop from The Shambara Boyz

Fri-Sat June 20-21 8pm Q&A follows.
Creative Alliance at The Patterson
3134 Eastern Ave  Baltimore
$14, $12 mbrs, stus, sen, kids & 21224 residents.
Adv tix sug.  410-276-1651  www.creativealliance.org

In honor of World Refugee Day, Somalia on these Shores is an evening highlighting Somalian refugees with an unflinching autobiographical one-woman show, Checkered Floors, and a live performance from young Somali hip-hop artists, The Shambara Boyz, one of whom is a student at Patterson High School.  Presented as part of the ongoing neighborhood art series Por la Avenida / On the Avenue at Creative Alliance.

In 2001, Lewiston, Maine captured the attention of nearly every major media outlet in America when 1,500 Somali migrants unexpectedly moved into the community from across the country. National reporters descended on Lewiston to cover a growing campaign to stop new migration, including angry phone calls to city hall from constituents, an unwelcoming letter from the mayor, and the arrival of national hate groups. Seven years later, Creative Alliance will share one Lewiston resident and refugee trainer, Cheryl Hamilton's personal account in the national premier of her one-woman show Checkered Floors.  Hamilton, a first-time performer, transforms her life experiences working with refugees for the stage.

In Checkered Floors, a young woman accepts a job in her hometown shortly after 9/11 as a 'cultural skills specialist' where she must defend a sudden influx of Somali refugees that roils her community. Secretly, she must also defend herself in court against a local resident who assaults her the same year. Trapped between two trials and often unsure what to say to family, the judge, neighbors and the New York Times, Hamilton's story is skillfully directed by Baltimore local and Loyola Professor James Bunzli. An experienced solo performer, Bunzli is most recently known for directing International Slam Poetry Champion Gayle Danley in Naked at Everyman Theater.

According to the United Nations High Commission for Refugees, there are 32.9 million displaced people in the world, 9.9 million of which are refugees. Each year, the United States resettles between 40,000-60,000 individuals across the country. Baltimore's refugee resettlement office is located only a few blocks up the street from the Creative Alliance on Eastern Avenue.

Luisa Bieri de Rios

Creative Alliance
3134 Eastern Avenue
Baltimore, MD 21224
410-276-1651
luisa@creativealliance.org