Jennifer Chase (Jacinta Chaminade) playwright/performer/songwriter
“The ache for home lives in all of us, the safe place where we can go as we are and not be questioned.” --- Maya Angelou
My work is character-driven. Whether my characters are historical or contemporary, African or American, autobiographical or fictional, refugees or rebels; They tell the truth. Whether my characters find themselves in my musicals or monologues, dramas or dreams, solo-pieces or songs, they tell the truth.
My characters tell the truth.
Through them, I aim to uncover your curiosity about their seemingly exotic differences and stories. Like us, my characters are guided by a fundamental ache for home. You follow them and embark on their emotional journeys until you find yourself experiencing something familiar. Our shared truth.
My work leverages that “something familiar” to self-discovery. It’s what gives us hope, love, identity, and perseverance.
At aJENNda Productions, we recognize the power of storytelling through performing arts projects which combine music, theatre, and dance, encourage global collaboration and exchange, examine history through a contemporary lens, and promote cultural understanding.
We work with projects that demonstrate merit and intellectual integrity, particularly in the areas of cultural tolerance. We create, develop and produce original works from the page to the stage.
“Majigeen,” the musical is a story of female empowerment through historical and contemporary lenses. Collaboration is currently underway with the UCAD (University of Dakar /Cheikh Anta Diop) in Senegal for production in Senegal. Playwright/musician and founder of aJENNda productions, Jenn Chase was the recipient of an APAP/Andrew Mellon Foundation-funded Cultural Exchange Fund (2020) travel grant to continue the collaboration in the summer of 2020 (now postponed due to COVID 19.)
Past partners and supporters have included: Arquetopia Artists Residency (Oaxaca, Mexico,) APAP, the Museum of Science and History (MOSH), Cummer Museum of Art and Gardens, National Parks Services, City of Nantes France, Theâtre Universitaire (France); Players by the Sea Theatre; The University of North Florida, Florida State College at Jacksonville, Sister Cities, Alliance Française, Mayo Clinic Humanities in Medicine program, The Bolles School, Douglas Anderson School of the Arts, CAP 21 Musical Theatre Conservatory NYC, L’Ordre des Chevaliers Bretvins and the Jacksonville Community Foundation.
Learn More: https://jennchase.com