The Broken Queen, a play written by Jenny Fitzpatrick, artistic director and creator of Blackbird Dance Theatre, made its first “outreach tour” trip to Scottsville, Kentucky on September 13, 2018. As said in the vlog, this show touches on a woman’s life after death. When “La Reina” makes the choice to die, she follows a heart-eating raven into a garden where she is met with several doll friends. La Reina decides to give pieces of her heart to the dolls to grow and tend to. Through this, she sees several parts of herself and her life live and die again.

What made this trip so special was being in Jenny’s hometown. We got to perform in the high school she attended. I’ve had the honor and privilege to be a part of the professional, adult company (Senior Company), for two years now. To me, no trip or experience we’ve shared as a company has been as special. In this vlog, I only captured a few of many beautiful moments: moments I will forever cherish. We were given the opportunity to give back. We had all become accustomed to a community that was used to seeing our work or seeing any kind of art for that matter. All of Allen County Scottsville High School’s students hadn’t seen an arts council sponsored event in 10 years!

As I said in the vlog, I was definitely apprehensive about this trip. Although I was excited to get to spend it with the people I love the most, I was very anxious about how this show would be perceived. Scottsville is a small Kentucky town. Versailles, as we know, is also a small Kentucky town—a town I’ve performed in since elementary school. Performing for youthful audiences was always a negative experience for me. People would shout homophobic slurs, throw things on the stage, and just be outright disrespectful during any performance. So, going into a town similar to Versailles, I already “knew” how it was going to play out. Boy did they prove me wrong! The reactions from our audience, both the school and public performance, were powerful enough to send chills down your spine. A student of Allen County Scottsville High School came to both of our performances that day. I think we may have given each other something beautiful that day. She is both a digital and traditional artist, and she created wonderful digital pieces of characters from the show. You can visit her Instagram page @top_hat_turtle to see her pieces inspired by the show, as well as her other amazing artwork.

In this mostly silly vlog, I hope that you will see how much of a family we truly are. To me, there’s no other way to do it. Trust, collaboration, and honesty are mantras the company abides by in order to truly tell stories like this one. I care so deeply for my Blackbird “family,” and I couldn’t let this experience go by without documentation.

These vlogs aren’t over! The last weekend of September will mark our second “outreach tour” trip. The “birdies” will be flying all the way to Somerset, Kentucky to perform The Broken Queen again at the Virginia Cinema. So, stay tuned for Episode 2 of “The Broken Queen Tour!” I hope you enjoy and thank you for reading/watching!

For more information about Blackbird Dance Theatre, visit this website: https://www.blackbirddancetheatre.com/

For more information about our up and coming performance venue, you can read this article:

http://www.somerset-kentucky.com/news/local_news/blackbird-dance-performance-will-bring-virginia-space-to-life-again/article_f1072e13-9e07-5bb4-9b91-43eb283057c5.html