The Neo-Political Cowgirls Presents Andromeda’s Sisters Arts and Advocacy Forum – Timely Two-Day Event

Andromeda’s Sisters Arts and Advocacy (Remote) Forum will be held on August 14 and September 3. The event will “Shine the light on writing by female-identifying playwrights and poets, artists, choreographers and social justice fighters.”

Presented by The Neo-Political Cowgirls (NPC), an organization founded in 2007, “To make theater work for and from the perspectives of women and the under-represented in our society and world,” this year’s annual fundraiser will be held virtually via Zoom and be presented in two evenings, “One of the monologues written by female identifying playwrights, and another of social justice and advocacy.” All funds raised will directly support the theater work and arts education outreach of NPC. Additionally, funds from the September 3 event will also benefit RFK Human Rights and the non-partisan Integrity For America. 

Friday, August 14 (Arts)

The theater arts program will present a reading of monologues written by female-identifying playwrights. Participants include Blythe Danner (Will & Grace, Huff), Joy Behar (The View), Lucy Boyle (​The Blue Deep), Dipti Bramhandkar (​The Accident), Lynn Grossman (TriQuarterly, Story Quarterly, Equator Magazine), Tanya Everett (The Public, HERE, The Tank), Catherine Curtin (Homeland, Stranger Things, Orange Is The New Black), Laura Gomez (Orange Is The New Black), Florencia Lozano (Narcos, As The World Turns), Welker White (​The Irishman, Goodfellas, The Wolf Of Wall Street), Sarah Bierstock (Honor Killing), Choreographer Vanessa Walters, Artist Mia Funk, and actors Ellen Dolan, Portia and Nehassaiu De Gannes. 

Thursday, September 3 (Advocacy)

This event, co-produced by Richard Solomon, founder and CEO of Vantage Point Consultants, and co-founder and Vice President of the Board of Directors for the Illinois Holocaust Museum, will consist of a conversation with Integrity First For America (IFA) Executive Director Amy Spitalnick and attorney Roberta Kaplan about ​IFA’s landmark lawsuit against the two dozen neo-Nazis, white supremacists, and hate groups responsible for the August 2017 Charlottesville violence​. The second portion of evening will feature Kerry Kennedy, President of Robert F. Kennedy Human Rights, as she speaks about the organization’s tireless work pursuing equality and social justice at home and around the world.

According to Kate Mueth, Founder and Artistic Director of The Neo-Political Cowgirls, “The fundraiser is an opportunity for not-for-profit social justice organizations and leaders to speak about their work; for audiences to network and get engaged in advocacy and creative exploration; and for female-identifying playwrights and actors to be celebrated through their stage work. ​Andromeda Sisters​ is a fundraiser for the dance theater company, The Neo-Political Cowgirls, an organization created for women in theater to help increase the female voice in the narrative of our society’s stories nights.”

Referring to the difficulty involved in organizing a virtual event, Mueth revealed, “The mental focus and abstract work is what is hardest, I’ve found, in building this as a remote program. We all know this type of technology for theater programming is not ideal or beautiful in execution, but it is what we have, and for that reason alone, it is worth doing as it allows us to come together and be inspired, even if in a most imperfect and challenging way. We are looking through the dirt-smudged glasses these days in order to find our common humanity. And there’s something quite divine in that action.”

Recognizing our unsettling and disturbing times of late, the mission of NPC resonates particularly deep, as stated, “Our fundamental passion lies in the power of making, hearing, and speaking stories with all humans welcome at the table to explore, share, celebrate and better understand our human condition.”

Mueth concluded, “I’m hoping the audience leaves with a sense of the urgency, necessity and importance of promoting the stories, creativity and courage of women in this world. I’m hoping their curiosity and activism gets stoked and they understand that the change we are needing in the world requires all of us to step up to support one another, to take risks, and to actively tune in to facilitate these needed changes. Showing up for one another in this way is practicing a trust in abundance and appreciating the energy to be gained through learning from one another. We women are leading the charge here and we have to get clear ourselves if we are going to be well suited for the job at hand to fight for human rights, the environment and global peace.”

For more information go to www.npcowgirls.org.