HB40 Balloon March, Reproductive Justice Action League

Arts Justice Organizer, Illinois Caucus for Adolescent Health.

Learn more about ICAH’s culture-shifting youth organizing here.

Designed in partnership with young people ages 15-22, this performative direct action insisted that Illinois Governor Rauner sign the HB40 bill, to make sure that Medicaid pays for abortions in Illinois. We marched with messages on balloons straight to his downtown office, and released them up to his window.

This Boat Called My Body, For Youth Inquiry

Artistic Director, For Youth Inquiry Performance Company.

Watch the recap here.

Centering stories of young people in Illinois who have terminated pregnancies, This Boat Called My Body seats audiences in a metaphor of islands that youth must navigate to access abortion. Through spectacle, dance, opera, and interaction with water, This Boat Called My Body asks us to better understand what reproductive access looks like for all. The play was performed in partnership with the Chicago Park District.

The Scarlet ‘S’ Project

Director, Choreographer and Co-Creator.

Watch a clip here.

Content warning: sexual violence, alcohol poisoning/drugging, self harm, suicide ideation, bullying.

The Scarlet ‘S’ Project is an original, ensemble-devised play and culture shift campaign that uses theatre to address the prevalence of sexual violence in our society, and to eliminate notions that this violence is an acceptable or “normal” part of sex, youth culture, or our lives. Through movement, verbatim docu-style dialogue, and mashups of media and messages, imagination and nightmares, the play tracks the journeys of familiar characters and communities as they grapple with the expectations of gender, sexuality, trauma, and systems meant to support.