SPEAK - Performances From Women in the Yampa Valley
SPEAK is an hour long performance written and performed by women living in the Yampa Valley. The performance will feature a variety of styles from spoken word, to slam poetry, to stand-up comedy, to dance. Inspired by the likes of 2 Dope Queens and Eve Ensler, SPEAK is a telling of the female experience in all its humor and tragedy in the modern, mountain world.
- SPEAK Creator, Emily Waldron (2016)
SPEAK 2022: Resistance and Resilience
For SPEAK 2022, we focus on sustaining our wellbeing while refusing to accept the conditions that undermine it. Audre Lorde stated that “Caring for myself is not self-indulgence, it is self-preservation, and that is an act of political warfare.” In a world where oppression and violence against women is pervasive and urgent, we invite SPEAK 2022 submissions to be brave and soft at once, to embrace boldness and radical self-love at once, to share their stories of resistance and resilience.
WHEN: Saturday May 7th, 2022 | Doors open at 6:30pm | Show: 7-8pm | After-show social & discussion: 8pm
WHERE: Standard Art Gallery, 907 Lincoln Ave, Steamboat Springs, CO 80487. Cash bar will be open.
Pre-sale tickets & Member price: $15
Non-member tickets at door: $20
Tickets will include a copy of Art Things zine, featuring some of this year’s Speak pieces.
*Half of net profit of this event will be donated to Advocates of Routt County
SPEAK 2021 - VULNERABILITY: Courage, Compassion, Connection
Last year, our SPEAK theme centered around Power and Leadership. Performers explored structures of patriarchy, challenging hypocrisy, and reflecting on the role of choice in power. This year, after the harrowing trials and seemingly insurmountable strains of 2020, we are proposing a new challenge for the theme for SPEAK. We invite our participants to embrace VULNERABILITY. Renowned shame researcher, Brene Brown, describes vulnerability as the culmination of courage, compassion, and connection. We’re not sure what your 2020 looked like, but we needed a lot of courage, compassion, and connection to make it through this year. For SPEAK 2021 submissions, we invite you to be courageous in your imperfections, choose not to numb, and honor your intrinsic belonging in this world. Get vulnerable for this year’s SPEAK because YOU ARE ENOUGH. (Written by Speak Performer Megan Wykhuis)
SPEAK WEEK
SPEAK 2020: Power & Leadership was adapted to the virtual space last April into a week-long video series. Our participants’ powerful performances can be found HERE.
For SPEAK 2020, we focus not only on the force behind those bridges, but also the force that shapes our entire social landscape, our decisions, our behaviors, and sometimes our feelings of worth in the world. 100 years ago, women had no autonomy before the law. We could not vote, we could not work, we could not get an education, own property, or get elected. Much has changed since then, but how much? Still, today, though laws have changed, a more elusive force seems to challenge those of who seek to shape our society. It can make us strong or silenced; celebrated, or ignored; weak or resilient.
- SPEAK 2020 Director, Sarah Valentino
