Are you the first in your family to: Grow up in this country? Graduate high school? Go to college?
Speak English? Be an activist? Be openly LGBTQ+? Be incarcerated? Be drug free?
Break a silence? Be a feminist? Be an artist?  Are you First Generation?

First Generation brings together young adults ages 15-22 who self-identify as "first generation,” for artistic training, leadership development, and inter-generational mentoring. Forming an artistic ensemble, members create original multi-lingual physical theater performances based on their life experiences, conversations and discoveries with a focus on social justice.

First Generation members may be the first in their family to grow up in the United States, the first to speak English, to graduate high school, go to college, to be openly LGBT+, be an activist, a feminist,  or many other firsts. Participants include youth recently arrived in this country and youth who are court-involved. First Generation youth train with professional artists and are mentored by college students, graduate students and community elders. We support each other, build on our strengths, cultivate ambition, and become leaders who build enduring, intercultural networks.

In First Generation, we talk about the complexity of embracing individuality while honoring one’s family and community cultures. The Ensemble creates powerful, high-quality performances that engage the public in dialog about social, cultural, and generational issues. Our performances also invite audiences to celebrate our humanity and our connection through the arts.

Family and Community Celebrations 
Several times a year First Gen hosts Family and Community Celebrations. They are wonderful Saturday afternoons of live music, dance, spoken word, poetry, theater and food. Family and Community Celebrations include performances by First Generation and Ubuntu Arts Community youth and family members, professional artists, and community members.

Adventures 
First Gen members attend theater and dance performances, cultural events and festivals in the Pioneer Valley, Vermont, Boston, New Haven and New York. We also climb mountains, pick apples, and participate in leadership trainings!

 

FIRST GENERATION ENSEMBLE PERFORMANCES

 Stand Tall Mi Gente! / My People! FIRST GENERATION ENSEMBLE (2019-2020)

What does “cultural activism” really look like?

First Generation takes on the intersections between the personal and the political. This unique intergenerational youth ensemble, ages 14 to 30, launches compelling stories onto the stage, intimate but universal. The high-energy, multidisciplinary theater piece tackles vital social-justice issues through the performers’ own life experiences. 

Stand Tall, Mi Gente! I My People! incorporates monologues and story-sharing with movement, dance and poetry. The one-hour performance highlights issues of identity, family, masculinity, homophobia (& food!) – and most importantly, believing in your own voice and the power of speaking out.

"The performance by these young artist/activists is brimming with energy and imagination, a dance of memory and hope performed with honesty, humor and fluid artistry." —Chris Rohmann, Stagestruck, Valley Advocate, February 10, 2020

 

 t e n d e r n e s s    FIRST GENERATION ENSEMBLE (2016-2018)

t e n d e r n e s s  is a multi-lingual, physical theater piece that contrasts the dehumanization at the core of violence with the eternal power of human tenderness and connection. Inspired by events in Guinea, West Africa, Darfur, and the US, tenderness incorporates ensemble members’ experiences with violence, including war, street violence, the school-to-prison pipeline, police brutality, mass incarceration and human connection.

Tenderness incorporates movement, music and text in eight languages: Arabic, Mandingo, Kirundi, Haitian Creole, French, Spanish and English.

The authors and cast members originate from Haiti, Burundi/Rwanda, Guinea, South Sudan, Puerto Rico and the U.S. Tenderness is directed by Julie Lichtenberg with choreography support by Lesley Farlow. Iyawna Burnett, Sabrina Hamilton and Elsa Menendez consulted on the script. Sound design by Tony Silva and original music by Charles Neville.

 

 Fo n' ale (we must go) FIRST GENERATION ENSEMBLE (2013-2014)

fo n' ale (we must go),  is a visual poem that embodies the melancholy of leaving. The piece incorporates dance, music, poetry, and seven languages: Kirundi, Nepali, Haitian Creole, Amharic, French, Spanish, and English.  Eight travelers originating from around the world have left their homelands for different reasons and find themselves traveling the same path. A waking dreamscape in which past, present, and future are interchangeable. Memories infuse their dreams, and time obscures the shape of memories.

Fo n' ale  suggests how there are moments in our lives when the impact of experience is crystalized, and carried forward in time with such vividness that the past becomes present, and continues to live within us.  These moments sustain as fiercely guarded memories, sources of power, as they shape and nourish identity, infusing all that we carry with us into the future.

The eight ensemble members, who currently live in Springfield, Massachusetts, originate from Nepal, Haiti, Burundi/Tanzania, Puerto Rico, Ethiopia and the United States.  Uwizeyimana Angelique, Iyawna Burnett, Benjamin “Bush” Christopher, Sosina Erkailo, Laeticia Israël Veronica Israël, Gita Koirala, Chiino Rios. fo n’ ale is directed by Julie Lichtenberg and Lesley Farlow.

 

 Ripple Effect FIRST GENERATION ENSEMBLE (2010-2011)

Ripple Effect is based in the personal narratives of the First Generation Ensemble, a group of young adults living in Springfield, MA.

Ripple Effect transforms the stage into a meeting point for their diverse lives that span four languages, Kirundi, Nepali, English, and Spanish, and three continents. Through poetry, movement, monologue and storytelling, the audience is transported from Springfield, MA to a U.S. army base, through a refugee camp in Tanzania, to witness a Nepali family’s struggle for recognition. Ripple Effect is a powerfully-crafted means of sharing the strengths and struggles of the ensemble members’ journeys, families, communities, fantasy worlds, and dreams for the future.  

Over the one and a half hours, the Ripple Effect connects the lives of Springfield youth to global events, such as the genocide and child soldiers of Rwanda/Burundi, and ethnic cleansing in Bhutan. Ripple Effect also addresses local and international issues, such as, addiction, HIV, foster care, and homophobia. Ripple Effect was directed by Julie Lichtenberg, Lesley Farlow, Elsa Menendez and Julissa Rodriguez. 

Selected Performances 2000-2020
First Generation and Performance Project Ensembles

COLLEGES AND UNIVERSITIES

• Augusta Savage Galley - New Africa House, UMASS
• American International College
• Bunker Hill Community College, Boston
• Hampshire College – 2015, 2013, 2011
• Springfield College, 2006, 2011, 2013
• Holyoke Community College
• Amherst College - Ko Festival of Performance 2010, 2014
• Springfield Technical Community College
• Bowker Auditorium UMASS
• Westfield University
• Mount Holyoke
• The Elms
• Holyoke Community College
• Trinity College, Hartford, CT

 

HIGH SCHOOLS AND MIDDLE SCHOOLS

• Holyoke High School
• Sullivan School
• Commerce, Central and Renaissance High Schools
• Turners Falls High School
• Northampton High School
• Westfield Youth Service Center
• Chestnut Academy
• Pioneer Valley Performing Arts Charter School
• Peck Middle School
• Upward Bound
• Rebecca M Johnson School
• Brattleboro High School, Brattleboro, VT

 

PROFESSIONAL THEATER FESTIVALS

• Revolutions International Theater Festival, Albuquerque, NM  - 2005, 2014, 2017
• Ko Festival of Performance, Amherst, MA - 2011, 2012, 2016

 

THEATERS

• School For Contemporary Dance and Thought
• Shea Theater, Greenfield, MA
• City Stage,  Springfield, MA
• Academy of Music, Northampton, MA
• Northampton Center For the Arts
• Thornes APE 3^rd Floor Performance Space, Northampton, MA

 

CONFERENCES AND SUMMITS

• NAMEN (North American Men Engage) Conference- “Intersectionality And Decolonization”
• Evolve Without Borders: An Intergenerational Gathering of Global Theater Artists
• 6^th International Digital Storytelling Conference, UMASS
• Annual Healthy Men And Boys Summit, Holyoke Community College
• Youth Leadership Forum “Healthy Men And Boys” Treehouse Community
• Pa’Lante! A panel Presentation Celebrating Local Latina/o Activism- Amherst College
• YES! Youth Conference, Basketball Hall of Fame
• Mass Cultural Council Event, Wistariahurst Museum, Holyoke

 

COMMUNITY

• The Care Center, Holyoke, MA
• New England Public Radio Springfield Grand Opening
• Springfield Jazz and Roots Festival 2014, 2016
• Flash Mob, 2014
• Campaign Nonviolence 2014 - September 21^st Street Performance, Springfield
• Paul Robeson Social Justice Conference, Boston
• Edwards Church Northampton
• Unitarian Society, Amherst
• Hampshire Jail And House Of Corrections
• South Congregational Church

 

PRESENTATIONS AND WORKSHOPS

• Springfield College Dance Department
• The Care Center, Holyoke, MA
• Upward Bound, Northfield Mount Hermon (2x)
• Youth Action Coalition, Amherst
• Springfield Public Library
• Brattleboro Union High School, Brattleboro, VT
• Our Place' Holyoke Shelter (with Paris)
• Smith College
• Hampshire College
• University of New Mexico Theater Department
• High Meadows Youth Facility, CT
• Student Bridges of UMASS
• Woolman Hill Quaker Center
• YES! Youth Conference Basketball Hall of Fame
• Hope and Inspiration Performing Arts Festival, Roxbury Community College, Boston
• WW Johnson Life Center Youth Program
• Springfield Substance Abuse Forum
• DYS Westfield Youth Detention Center
• Gateway Regional Middle school
• Franklin County Youth Action Corps
• River Valley Academy, Holyoke, MA
• Marlboro College (video, lecture, discussion)
• University of Massachusetts, Amherst
• California College of Arts & Crafts
• Hampshire Jail and House Of Corrections