Donkeysaddle Projects

"Donkeysaddle Projects" works in the intersection of art/storytelling and social justice

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I AM TROY DAVIS: A Theatrical Protest to the Death Penalty

A performance of I Am Troy Davis to protest the death penalty. Performers are people directly impacted by the death penalty and state violence.

New York, NY, US

$25,279 raised of $15,000 goal
57 donations
-2592296 minutes left

Fiscally Sponsored by Fractured Atlas

Moving the needle (The I AM TROY DAVIS event)

Dear supporters (and apologies to those of you who may be on multiple lists, thus receiving this email more than once!)

Hoping that your holiday season is filled with warmth, love and joy!

I wanted to send this reflection below, which my colleague LaChrisha Brown wrote as one of DSP's end-of-year appeals. It is a moving overview of the I Am Troy Davis event, including statements of impact from the performers and audience. (Plus--photos!!)

You can view the event livestream here (it starts at 7 minutes into the video.)

Many thanks for what you helped make happen!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Best wishes for 2020 and beyond--may it bring us closer to justice and freedom for all,

Much appreciation,

Jen

(From LaChrisha:)

Dear friends and supporters,

Two weeks ago, I experienced some of the most influential days of my life. The I Am Troy Davis theatrical protest (the story of an innocent man executed in Georgia, performed by death row exonerees, and family members of people currently on death row, or who were killed in acts of state or racial violence) was nothing short of transformative.

Your donation helped create this transformative work!

The I AM TROY DAVIS theatrical protest began with music from
Songs in the Key of Resistance (SKOR)

I had no idea what to expect at our first rehearsal. Never had I collaborated with such a diverse group of participants, all of whom had endured horrific levels of trauma. I sat in reverence as the participants entered the space, feeling their powerful presence. As each member introduced themselves, speaking to what they had been through, who they were here for, and why they show up for this type of work, I remember thinking, “This level of honesty and expression of truth is the only way to be free.”

The resilience and courage it took the impacted family members to get onto the stage and relive some of the most painful moments of their own lives required everything that they had inside. It required all of us to stand as a community and tell our truth, unadulterated and without apology.

Gwen Carr (mother of Eric Garner who was killed by the NYPD in 2014) called our experience together “unforgettable.” Airickca Gordon-Taylor (whose cousin Emmett Till was brutally lynched in Mississippi in 1955) said, “My spirit is full and life changed from this experience.” Delia Perez-Meyer, whose brother Louis Castro Perez is an innocent man on Texas’s death row, called it “perhaps the one most important endeavor I have embarked on in my 63 years of life.” Ron Davis (father of 17-year-old Jordan Davis who was murdered in 2012 at a gas station in Jacksonville, FL for listening to loud music) said, "[DSP] created a wonderful space for impacted people to continue to heal…our wounds are so deep, and we rejoice whenever we can move the needle. I believe we definitely moved the needle."

Image 1: Sabrina Butler-Smith, the first woman to be exonorated from death row, portrays Troy Davis's nephew De'Jaun.
Image 2: Troy Davis's family sits in the front row of the packed audience at Rattlestick Theatre

These reflections from the I Am Troy Davis performers highlight a truth we know: amplifying the stories of those most impacted by injustice is one of the most powerful ways to move that needle. Comments from audience members corroborate this. One called the event “art resonating as an act of revolutionary protest,” another, who watched via livestream, thanked DSP for the “powerful witness you offered me and many others,” a third said the raw intimacy of the experience “fostered empathy, solidarity, and the will and hope to fight together. I am shaken but empowered.”

The level of commitment and passion we brought to this theatrical protest is the same level of commitment and passion we bring to all our work. At Donkeysaddle Projects, we use storytelling to fight for the lives and freedom of our loved ones. We commit to standing with and for each other, and for a better future for humanity.

As Cephus “Uncle Bobby X” Johnson (whose nephew Oscar Grant was murdered by the Bay Area Rapid Transit Police in 2009) told the audience, “It’s my prayer that you heard [the Davis] family’s pain and that you join us in bringing about real freedom and justice for all of us.”

We hope you will join us in that struggle, and that you will make a donation that feels meaningful to you.

With much gratitude,
LaChrisha Brown
Donkeysaddle Projects Facilitator

Thanks to you, we met our goal! Now we want to STRETCH it!!

Dear supporters,

I am thrilled to let you know that, due to your generosity, the I AM TROY DAVIS campaign has met its $15,000 fundraising goal! This enables us to produce an incredibly powerful event on December 8, in protest to the death penalty and all forms of state and racial violence.
We now have a stretch goal of $20,000-- which will enable all the post production work on the documentary film, and a strong impact campaign for the film.
Please do share the campaign link and let your communities know about our stretch goal!
And--I hope you will follow the LIVESTREAM of the performance on Sunday December 8 at 3:00 pm EST. Details at: www.donkeysaddle.org

In solidarity and with deep gratitude,
Jen Marlowe
Author/producer, I Am Troy Davis

It is so exciting that we met our campaign goal! Can you help us reach $25,000? The additional funding will enable all the post-production work for the documentary film, including creating an incredible impact campaign! And, it will enable an exhibit of the artwork of Billie Allen (an innocent man on federal death row) in early 2020!

PROJECT OVERVIEW:
A staged reading of I Am Troy Davis (adapted by Phillip Montgomery from the book by Jen Marlowe and Martina Davis-Correia, with Troy Davis) will be performed in NYC on December 8 to protest the death penalty. Troy was an innocent man on Georgia’s death row, who was executed in 2011. Performers will include family members of current death row prisoners, death row survivors, wrongfully convicted people and their family members, family members of people killed in acts of state or racial violence. The process (and the culminating event) will strengthen resistance to the death penalty through communal storytelling, foster understanding of capital punishment’s connection to wider systems of state violence, and nurture visions of alternate realities where our society no longer cages or kills fellow humans. The entire process will be turned into a documentary film, amplifying the impact.

PERFORMERS:

Airickca Gordon-Taylor (cousin of Emmett Till, lynched in Mississippi in 1955)
Aisha Salaam-Malone (sister of Yusef Salaam, from the Central Park 5 case)
Akeem Browder (brother of Kalief Browder, a teen held in Rikers in pre-trial solitary confinement)
Cephus “Uncle Bobby” Johnson (uncle of Oscar Grant, killed by BART police in 2009)
Delia Perez Meyer (sister of Louis Castro Perez, on TX death row with an innocence case)
Eric Taylor (actor-activist)
Gwenn Carr (mother of Eric Garner, killed by NYPD in 2014)
Lawrence Hayes (former death row prisoner in NY State)
Lee Wengraf (organizer and author)
Phyllis Prentice (married to death row exonoree Shujaa Graham)
Ron Davis (father of Jordan Davis, a 17-year-old shot and killed in 2012 in Jacksonville, FL)
Sabrina Butler (exonerated from MS death row)
Sera-Lys McArthur (actor-activist)
Shujaa Graham (exonerated from CA death row)
Yvette Allen (sister of Billie Allen, an artist on federal death row with an innocence case.)

The event will also include Billie Allen's artwork, a post-performance discussion with the participants, and a call to action.

THE FILM:

The entire process and performance will be filmed, so that a documentary film version can be created (directed by screenwriter Phillip Montgomery) with the goal of amplifying the project’s impact. Filming will also include interviews with participants, reflecting on the process and connecting Troy and the Davis family’s story to their own.

WHAT YOUR DONATION ENABLES:
$250 provides a stipend for one participant-performer

$350 provides transportation for one participant-performer

$500 provides accommodation for two participant-performers

$750 provides one day of shooting for the documentary film

$1,000 provides stipends for four participant-performers

$1,500 provides two days of shooting for the documentary film

PARTNER ORGANIZATIONS:
Donkeysaddle Projects is producing the I Am Troy Davis event in partnership with the ACLU, Amnesty International USA, Blackbird, Death Penalty Action, the Jordan Davis Foundation, Legal Defense Fund, Love Not Blood Campaign, the Mamie Till Mobley Memorial Foundation, the People’s Forum, Rattlestick Playwrights Theatre, Sankofa, Witness to Innocence and 8th Amendment Project.

For more info and for tickets: www.donkeysaddle.org

Rewards

Copy of I AM TROY DAVIS

Donate $100.00 or more

Amount over $18.00 is tax-deductible.

You will receive a free copy of I AM TROY DAVIS

Signed copy of I AM TROY DAVIS

Donate $200.00 or more

Amount over $18.00 is tax-deductible.

You will receive a signed copy of "I Am Troy Davis" by author Jen Marlowe