Our Country: Art and Activism in Conversation, is a free public screening of FirstWorks Artistic Ambassador Daniel Bernard Roumain (DBR) and flexing dance pioneer Drew Dollaz’ collaborative works Our Country and About Face. The screening, via livestream, will be immediately followed by a Creative Conversation with Roumain and Dollaz about their work, which fosters awareness of and conversations about racial injustice. The conversation will be moderated by Kathleen Pletcher, FirstWorks Executive Artistic Director.

About Face is a six-minute narrated video and the first installment in a short film trilogy that puts a different spin on the school-to-prison pipeline, and the role of fathers of black and brown children in the disruption of that paradigm. Based on the evening-length work for stage, The Just and The Blind. Collaborators: Marc Bamuthi Joseph, DBR, Drew Dollaz, Yak Films and Yoram Savion.

Our Country, originally commissioned and filmed by FirstWorks, premiered at FirstWorks Urban Carnevale on December 30, 2020. This collaborative work combines DBR’s reinterpretation of My Country ‘Tis of Thee as the score to Dollaz’ choreography and performance in this work that addresses police brutality.