2022-2023 TAG Residency Recipients

Sofa Stories

Andrew Morton, Producing Artistic Collaborator | June 9, 2023 | Ticket Link

Conceived by2020 Kresge Artist FellowAndrew Morton,Sofa Stories uses live theatre and digital media to amplify the stories of young people impacted by homelessness or housing insecurity who may have resorted to couch-surfing as a means to survive. An ongoing project by the newly formed collective Every Soul Arts, Sofa Stories aims to bring attention to an often invisible crisis and imagine a world without youth homelessness.

After a successful phase of the project in 2021, for their next project, the Sofa Stories team decided to focus their attention on the experiences of LGBTQ+ youth in Detroit because LGBTQ+ youth are 120% more likely to experience homelessness than non-LGBTQ+ youth.

The resulting project, Sofa Stories: OUTside, features six brand-new monologues co-created by a team of LGBTQ+ youth with experience of homelessness and LGBTQ+ writers, including Alex Reed, Cam Blackwell, Matt Harmon, and Kresge Artist Fellows Morton and Shawntai Brown. With support from a crowdfunding campaign and a Michigan Arts & Culture Council grant, all young people and artists working on the project are paid for their time and expertise.

Confessions Of A Menopausal Femme Fatale: A Stand-Up Storytelling Concert

Written and Performed by Satori Shakoor | Directed by Jonathan Jewell Chatten | July 21 - July 23, 2023 | Ticket Link

Satori Shakoor, founder of The Secret Society Of Twisted Storytellers® holds nothing back in her solo, stand up storytelling concert. Satori's riveting performance reflects on 12 years of her journey through the change of life. Wrought with twists and turns, Satori discovers early on that change comes at a very high price. She must confront and overcome a dark secret from her past. As Satori confesses her crime and owns it, she finds freedom and the grace to be fully ALIVE. Confessions of a Menopausal Femme Fatale is a mood-swinging, hot flash of emotion, told through music, song and in Satori’s unique style. In a jaw dropping, taboo-busting, drop the mic performance, her story will leave audiences giddy with laughter, moved to tears, breathless and cheering in triumph.

Two million women enter menopause every year. It's shocking that no one is talking to them, with the exception of drug companies, who focus mainly on alleviating the physical symptoms. Confessions of a Menopausal Femme Fatale speaks to a hunger women over 45 have to hear stories that more fully represent their experiences. Confessions will encourage women to break the silence, end the shame and inspire conversations that are uplifting, informative, thought-provoking and supportive. Come out. Share stories. Celebrate this rite of passage called menopause, “the change of life!"