Louisville Hivemind Artist Collective (LouHive) will stage their first production April 25–27 at the Lincoln Performing Arts School Black Box Theatre. Written by José Pérez IV, “To Battle: A Fight Play” was inspired by musical theater and combines physical movement with mental health themes. Pérez also serves as the fight choreographer and intimacy director.
This adventure play is inventive not only for being based in stage combat techniques, but also for having been written to be fluid in regards to the race and gender of its cast. Any performer of any ethnicity, shape, size, or range of movement can inhabit any role. The script was written using gender neutral pronouns, and based on the gender identity of the actors, the personal pronouns in the script can be adjusted accordingly.
LouHive have adopted the tagline “performing arts without permission” and strive to create a safe, inclusive environment for their predominantly queer-identifying cast. “To Battle” will set a new standard for creators and performers to collaborate in “radically supported” ways that focus on the ways stage combat works in tandem with mental health and wellness.
Pérez is the resident fight and intimacy director of the Pittsburgh Public Theater, and has performed with Actors Theatre of Louisville and Cleveland Play House. Director and co-producer Jessica De La Rosa has also worked with Actors Theatre of Louisville, as well as with Great River Shakespeare Festival, Kentucky Shakespeare, and Commonwealth Theatre Center, among others. Co-producer and star of “To Battle” Dara Jade Tiller has worked with the Actors Theatre of Louisville Professional Training Company and her credits include theater and film productions based in Chicago and New York.
To Battle: A Fight Play
Lincoln Performing Arts School Black Box Theatre
930 E. Main St.
Thursday, April 25–Saturday, April 27
$21
LouHive recommends “To Battle” to ages 10 and older for mild language and mild violence
This article appears in Apr 9-23, 2024.
