The University of Iowa Department of Theatre Arts has shifted its Summer Partnership in the Arts program online this year.

Breath Behind the Mask is a developmental work created by Nambi E. Kelley and Daniel Carlton based on a collaborative devising model which draws from student’s personal experiences of race, identity, and privilege. This work has also been created in response to the writing of a number of prominent literary artists including, Maya Angelou, W. E. B. Du Bois, Paul Laurence Dunbar, Ralph Ellison, and Audre Lorde. With the restrictions imposed by the current conditions of “social distancing,” we are reimagining the way theatre is created. This presentation is the culmination of four weeks of work and is shared as an unfinished work in process.

This performance contains adult language, racially charged language, mention of suicide, implied violence, depictions of sexual harassment, and discussions of police brutality.