*Due to the ongoing Pandemic and Stage 4 restrictions, The VORTEX requires masks for all audience members.*

The VORTEX presents a workshop performance of How to Heal, When the World is Killing you Harshly, a solo work-in-progress that tracks Oktavea LaToi’s personal journey towards communal healing, self love, and healthy relationships in a world that is killing us with racial violence, fetishism, climate crisis, rage, and a global pandemic. A fusion of art, poetry, music, and movement, this new work explores the interlocking oppressions of Black women, while illuminating their lineage. Oktavea LaToi brings on the Revolution, inviting us to bask in beauty and acknowledge our sacredness.

Oktavea LaToi’s artistic residency at The VORTEX culminates in 4 nights of performance. Please join in the development of this new work by sharing in this work-in-progress and providing feedback. We look forward to a full production of this piece in 2022.

Directed by Simone Raquel Alexander. Choreography by Michael Love. Lighting Design and Stage Management by Jeannette Mwaki. Sound Design by Johann Mahler. Production Manager, Teresa Cruz. Production Assistants Amy Miller and Miller Mauldin. Live Streaming Team: Melissa Vogt, Will Josowitz, and Olyvia Mathews. Producing Artistic Director, Bonnie Cullum.

When: August 5-8, 2021 4 nights only!
Thursday-Saturday 8pm
Sunday 6pm
Live streaming August 6th @ 8pm CST – https://youtu.be/liWYcam0UnU

Where: The Eloise Brooks Cullum Stage @ The VORTEX
2307 Manor Rd. Austin, TX 78722
Free Parking. Bus Route.
The Butterfly Bar @ The VORTEX opens nightly at 5pm for hand-crafted cocktails.
Patrizi’s @ The VORTEX opens nightly at 5pm with delicious homemade Italian food.

Tickets: $35-$15 for reserved seating.
Free tickets for ATHE members.
Advanced Reservations Recommended. Limited seating.
Blue Star Theatre: Discounts for Military, Veterans, and their families.
Radical Rush Free Tickets: Limited free tickets for each performance in the spirit of sustainability, accessibility, and the gift economy. Radical Rush tickets released one hour before the show –in-person only.

ABOUT Oktavea LaToi: Oktavea is a writer and performer based in Central Texas. She holds a dual degree in Theatre and Dance with a concentration in Performance, and African and African Diaspora Studies with a focus in critical race, gender, and sexuality studies from the University of Texas at Austin. Fresh off of the starring role in Annie Jump and the Library of Heaven (The VORTEX), other recent credits include A Midsummer Night’s Dream (Austin Shakespeare), The Odyssey (VORTEX) good friday (New Manifest Theatre Company) SEVEN (Trinity Street Players), black girl love (GenEnCo/VORTEX), WHITE (Permanent Record Productions), Performance Park (The VORTEX), and TWENTYEIGHT (Gale Theatre).

How to Heal, When the World is Killing You Harshly is funded and supported in part by VORTEX Repertory Company, Texas Commission on the Arts, the National Endowment for the Arts, and by the Cultural Arts Division of the City of Austin Economic Development Department.