World Premiere of How to Bruise Gracefully Opens at Cadence May 12
Artwork by Jess Cimicata
World Premiere of How to Bruise Gracefully Opens at Cadence May 12
By Liv Wilson
Cadence Theatre in partnership with Virginia Repertory Theatre is thrilled to produce the second world premiere of season 13 this May, uplifting Richmond voices through elevated storytelling. Written by Brittany Fisher and directed by Melissa Mowry, How to Bruise Gracefully will be presented at the Libby S. Gottwald Playhouse from May 12-21, 2023. We sat down with the playwright, director, and a performer to discuss this tremendous undertaking.
How to Bruise Gracefully follows the story of Vi, a young YouTuber, who is hiding something. What begins as a typical workday at Burger King soon spirals into a deep exploration of fear, trauma, and inner strength through the eyes of women who have both nothing and everything to lose. It is a crash course on survival and how to cope with the reality of not being in control of your own body.
Playwright, Brittany Fisher
Brittany Fisher is an NYC-based playwright from Richmond, VA and a recent graduate of Juilliard's Lila Acheson Wallace American Playwrights Program. Her play, How to Bruise Gracefully was a finalist for the Alliance/Kendeda National Graduate Playwriting Competition, won the 2021 Kennedy Center Lorraine Hansberry Award, and was recognized by the Rosa Parks Award and Paula Vogel Award.
How to Bruise Gracefully was developed through Cadence’s Pipeline New Works Fellowship, under the mentorship of David Lindsay-Abaire. The cohort worked in tandem to develop their own new, innovative pieces of theatre. Fisher calls this “one of the most rewarding experiences” of her life as it created the environment for her to be herself as an artist and to try, fail, and try again. “[Pipeline] taught me to give myself grace during the process and helped me understand that it’s okay to make mistakes - just be open to learning from them.”
After Pipeline, Fisher didn’t touch the piece for a while, as is her process. “I will write a first draft of a piece, and then have to sit with it for some time before making any major changes. Stepping away to process my vision for a piece and coming back to it when I’m ready is always really helpful for me.” The play has had a few readings since then, most recently at the Alliance Theatre in Atlanta in March. Fisher notes that, “hearing a piece out loud again always unlocks new revelations for [her],” which can inspire big changes and additions.
With all of her work, Fisher strives to address important topics and spark necessary discussions that speak to her community. “How to Bruise Gracefully is undoubtedly a love letter to the Black women of the past, present and future. It’s very much an acknowledgement of how far we’ve come, how far we have to go, and an understanding of how we can love and support each other moving forward through the injustices we’re constantly plagued by in this society.”
In watching this piece come to life, Fisher hopes to see the boldness and unapologetic nature of the play on stage. There is an urgency to the topic that it’s rooted in, calling for awareness at the very least. For audiences, she wants two things, “Firstly, for them to feel something. No matter what that means for each individual person. And secondly, for the experience to evoke new thoughts within them. I ultimately hope that all audience members enter into the space being open to listening to these voices and experiencing something new.”
Director, Melissa Mowry
Melissa Mowry is an East Coast based director who has been a part of creative communities in New York, Richmond, Indianapolis, Vermont, and Tamil Nadu, India. She holds her BA in Drama from Randolph-Macon College in Ashland, Virginia, and her MFA in Directing from The Actors Studio Drama School at Pace University in New York. Melissa is an associate member of the SDC, a former member of the SDCF’s Observership program, the 2018 Doris Duke Charitable Foundation Fellow at the New Group, and a finalist for the Drama League’s National Stage Directing Fellowship.
Mowry first met the piece in the 2019 as the director of the Pipeline Reading Festival's staged reading of How to Bruise Gracefully, but after being invited to return as the director for the world premiere, she found herself drawn to “the complex and realistic depiction of Black femme relationships.” She discovered a hunger to realize “women existing and being unapologetically themselves on the stage with little agenda.” These women go through so much through the course of the play, “but even in the midst of all the drama and trauma… they laugh, they kiki, they talk about love, they disagree, they comfort, they support,” says Mowry.
In dramaturgy, one of the first questions asked about a new work of production is: Why this play now? Mowry responds: Why not now? “I can call on all of the things that are currently happening in America as cause for why this play is so relevant. I can speak to the Summer of 2020 and the rise of the Black Lives Matter Movement. I can call on the overturning of Roe v. Wade and the current fight for women’s reproductive rights. But this play is important because Black Women are important. Their stories, their experiences, their voices have always been important for us socially and culturally, but they have been ignored.”
How to Bruise Gracefully uncovers “the truth and the cost of ‘Black Girl Magic’. For some audiences, this will feel familiar and for others it will feel foreign to them.” Mowry’s only goal is that audiences coming to see this show will allow themselves to “see these women, listen to these women, and believe these women.”
Actor, Nena Nicole
Nena Nicole is a Richmond-based actor and writer. Previously, she has written and performed in Cadence’s TV series, Bloodlines. Nicole was part of the original reading of How to Bruise Gracefully, playing Vi, a role she will reprise once again. Since the beginning, she’s known what a gem this piece is, “Brittany brings such a colorful humanity to this story without antagonizing or forcing a point of view onto the audience.”
Being one of the first actors to give voice to Vi, Nicole is experiencing, “a freedom [she’s] never felt before when acting. [She has] no preconceived notions of who or what [Vi] is, which can be liberating and scary.”
Meeting this play, Nicole wants audiences to question, “Well, how has any practice come to be?” She also hopes that they recognize, “the trauma and pain that these women have gone through that they didn’t let it stop them from connecting with others and feeling joy no matter the circumstances.”
How To Bruise Gracefully will run May 12-21, 2023 at the Libby S. Gottwald Playhouse. Join us for a post-show talkback with artists and the creative team after the performance on March 14.
Tickets are on sale now! Use the special code GRACE25 and get tickets for $25 (before fees). Applicable to online purchases only.