By Philip Dawkins
Directed by Natsu Onoda Power
Playing January 5-29, 2017
A Trans Icon:
Charm
By Philip Dawkins | Directed by Natsu Onoda Power
Associate directed by KenYatta Rogers
At the Atlas Performing Arts Center, Lang Theatre
January 5-29, 2017
Meet Mama Darleena Andrews, a 67 year-old transgender woman and the inimitable etiquette instructor at “The Center,” an organization for Chicago’s homeless and LGTBQ youth. Her students are as diverse in background as they are in identity, united by a feeling of other-ness in the heart of a city that’s left them behind. But for “Mama Darlin,” triumph over poverty and prejudice begins with lacing up and fitting in—playing the part with class and with charm.
B'Ellana Duquesne (The T Party) stars as 'Mama,' inspired by the heartwarming true story of Chicago trans icon Miss Gloria Allen, under direction of visionary artist Natsu Onoda Power (The T Party).
Charm runs two hours and twenty minutes, with one fifteen minute intermission.
"Charmed by Charm"
Read the Press
“OUTSTANDING...MOSAIC THEATER HITS HOME RUN”
“UNFORGETTABLE...A MUST SEE”
Calendar & Tickets
Calendar
Box Office
Atlas Performing Arts Center
1333 H Street NE
Washington, DC 20002
Box Office
202-399-7993 ext 2
Box Office Hours
M-Sat: 10:30am-5:30pm
Sun: 10:30am-1:30pm
Box office does NOT take calls two hours prior to a show's curtain, but will return all voice messages left during that time.
Will Call opens one hour prior to curtain.
Patrons who arrive late will be seated at the discretion of management.
Opening Night: Sunday, January 8 at 7:30 PM
FIRST 8 PERFORMANCES
Thur Jan 5 at 8PM | Post show discussion with artistic staff
Fri Jan 6 at 8PM | Post show discussion with artistic staff
Sat Jan 7 at 8PM
Sun Jan 8 at 3PM
Sun Jan 8 at 7:30PM | Opening Night, SOLD OUT
Thur Jan 12 at 11AM | Cast talkback
Fri Jan 13 at 8PM | Happy Hour at 7pm
Sat Jan 14 at 3PM | Captioned performance with ASL interpreted post show discussion
Sat Jan 14 at 8PM | Captioned performance, a Tribute to Casa Ruby, with ASL interpreted post show discussion. Proceeds from tickets purchased via this link support Casa Ruby.
FULL RUN
Sun Jan 15 at 3PM | Captioned performance, with ASL interpreted post show discussion
Sun Jan 15 at 7:30PM | Captioned performance
Wed Jan 18 at 8PM | Captioned performance
Thur Jan 19 at 8PM | Cast talkback
Fri Jan 20 at 8PM
Sat Jan 21 at 3PM | Post show discussion
Sat Jan 21 at 8PM
Sun Jan 22 at 3PM | Cast talkback
Wed Jan 25 at 8PM | Post show discussion
Thur Jan 26 at 8PM | Post show discussion
Fri Jan 27 at 8PM | Happy Hour at 7pm and Post show discussion
Sat Jan 28 at 3PM | Peace Café
Sat Jan 28 at 8PM
Sun Jan 29 at 3PM
Announcing:
Local Voices Bookstore
Celebrating & Centering the work of
Trans Gender Nonconforming Artists of Color
Reva & David Logan Foundation
Community Engagement Series:
Compelling Dilemmas: Transforming Identity
All discussions are free and open to the public,
and begin immediately after scheduled show time.
Photos & Media
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Meet the Artists
Philip Dawkins (he/him/his) (Playwright)'s works include The Homosexuals (About Face Theatre), Le Switch (About Face Theater, The Jungle), and Failure: A Love Story (Victory Gardens Theater), all of which were nominated for the Joseph Jefferson Award for Best New Work; and Miss Marx: Or The Involuntary Side Effect of Living (Strawdog Theatre) and Charm (Northlight Theater), both of which won the Joseph Jefferson Award for Best New Work. This fall, he performed the world premier of his solo play, The Happiest Place on Earth at the Greenhouse Theater Center (co-production with Sideshow Theatre Company). Look for his musical adaptation of Dr. Seuss’s The Sneetches (with composer, David Mallamud) at Children’s Theater Company in Minneapolis this winter. Philip teaches playwriting at Northwestern University, Loyola University Chicago, his alma mater, and through the Victory Gardens ACCESS Program for writers with disabilities. His plays, including his plays for young performers, are available through Playscripts, Inc. and Dramatic Publishing.
Natsu Onoda Power (Director) is a DC-based playwright/adapter/director/designer. Most recently she wrote and directed Wind Me Up, Maria! A Go-Go Musical, with Charles “Shorty Corleone” Garris, at Georgetown University. Other recent plays include The T Party (writer/director, DC’s Forum Theatre; Boston’s Company One Theater), A Trip to the Moon (writer/director/illustrator, Synetic Theatre), Astro Boy and the God of Comics (writer/director, Studio Theatre; Company One Theatre, Elliot Norton Award for Outstanding Director in Small Theatre, 2015). Directing credits include David Henry Hwang’s Yellow Face (Theater J) and Young Jean Lee’s Songs of the Dragons Flying to Heaven (Studio Theatre). Her set design has been seen at Company One Theater, Imagination Stage, Forum Theatre, Synetic Theatre, and The Hub Theatre, among others. She is the Artistic Director of the Davis Performing Arts Center at Georgetown University, and is an Associate Professor in Georgetown’s Theater and Performance Studies department, where she has directed War with the Newts (adapted from Karek Capek), On the Origin of Species (adapted from Charles Darwin), The Omnivore’s Dilemma (adapted from Michael Pollan), Madness and Civilization (adapted from Michel Foucault), and other productions. Natsu holds a Ph.D. in Performance Studies from Northwestern University, and is the author of God of Comics: Osamu Tezuka and the Creation of Post World War II Manga (The University Press of Mississippi, 2009). She is a member of the Forum Ensemble and the Studio Cabinet.
B'Ellana Marie Duquesne (Mama) Her life as Jack Eng included stints as a radio broadcaster, WFL football player, businessman, and high school drama teacher. In 2012 she revealed a long hidden personality of B'Ellana Duquesne when serving as hostess at MoMos, a DC restaurant. The visibility at "Homos at MoMos" led to additional performing opportunities including a role in The T Party, written and directed by Natsu Onoda Power. B’Ellana is very excited to be working with Natsu again on Charm. While now living almost entirely in female mode, she believes that freedom of gender expression is essential to a happy life and defines herself as gender-fluid.
