Emma Goldman-Sherman: Living In Your Power
We can heal. I think it's really important to be in control of what we're taking in so that we don't feel that we have to worry...that we can feel like we can live in our power, we can do things, as artists, that will hopefully push the needle and change the culture and make people think more deeply about what THEY can do if they're not artists. https://media.blubrry.com/firstonlinewithfran/content.blubrry.com/firstonlinewithfran/Emma_Goldman_Sherman_Podcast.mp3 Playwright, Dramaturg, and Teacher Emma Goldman-Sherman (she/they) is an autistic, gender-dysphoric, queer, Jewish, feminist playwright living in New York City. Emma Goldman-Sherman is a playwright who likes to challenge audiences in terms of what we think a play can be. Award-winning playwright Emma Goldman-Sherman creates timeless yet relevant, feminist work that engages on multiple levels to heal what our culture denies. Emma believes in the power of theatre to offer healing and agency to audiences, and their plays tend to be about daunting subjects like war, trauma (including rape, abuse and domestic violence), identity and the conflict in the Middle East. These subjects have touched Emma's life in various ways, so their work is quite personal even if it isn't always autobiographical. Emma’s first memory of live theatre was Peter Pan at Philadelphia’s Playhouse in the Park in the round. At age five, this was life-changing – to be able to help save Tinker Bell with collective applause. She … [Read More...]
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Romy Nordlinger: An Empowering Voice
Learning through The Arts [as] being one of the most transformative vehicles in which we really get to a person’s soul and to realize they’re not alone in their feelings and that is by exchanging [ideas] and THAT is what theatre does…We have everything to gain by stories being told that we need to hear […]
Yvette Heyliger: Lessons to Learn
I am encouraging my students to be students of the world: to look around them, to see what’s happening, see how their lives are affected by world events and the changes of our society because that’s fodder for future plays that they may write or that they may participate in as artists. YVETTE HEYLIGER Playwright/Director/Producing Artist/Author […]
Joan Kane: Speaking Truth
I had to tell my story. I needed to be able to say, ‘Look, I grew up in a time period in Brooklyn where racism was horrific and it was rampant.’ I needed to talk about sexual assault. I needed to talk about survival; how you can have horrible things happen to you. . . […]
Emma Palzere-Rae: Raising Representation Awareness
Theatre is a way to bring people together in a non-confrontational way. You could do theatre as a political act and say it’s a political act; you can do theatre as an art and bring people together in the room to have that experience while people are being entertained and reacting emotionally; that they react […]
The First 100 Stories Campaign
First Online With Fran: The First 100 Stories Campaign National Arts in Education Week, September 8 -14. In July 2010, Congress designated the second week of September as National Arts In Education Week to promote and showcase the immense role arts education has in producing engaged, successful, and college and career-ready students. To that end, First Online with Fran is launching The First 100 Stories Campaign. The Arts continue to be cut from school curriculums across the nation. Despite arts advocacy groups’ efforts to prevent the decline of arts inclusion, the budgetary solution remains to be that the arts are perceived as extra-curricular and disposable. In Chris Cleave’s novel Little Bee, the central character decided to right a wrong by collecting stories: “One story makes you weak. But as soon as we have one-hundred stories, you will be strong.” Similarly, we can do the same for the Arts. Here’s how: Let’s hear it from you: Teachers! Students! Graduates! Parents! … Submit Your Testimonial...
First Online with Fran 
Karen Cecilia: Challenging the New Normal
We’re in a time where we are seeing new voices, new types of voices telling their stories and people create their identity through seeing themselves reflected in work, in all Art, all literature, in any aspect. And if you don’t see yourself reflected EVER then think about how that impacts your life and not only […]