In honor of Human Trafficking Awareness Month, Mildred’s Umbrella Theater Company (MU) is presenting the U.S. premiere reading of Sam Hall’s My Mind is Free, a play created out of the testimonies of traffickers and the trafficked. The series of readings, which will take place in different locations on four nights, is the second event in MU’s new Partners for A.R.T.T. outreach program with proceeds benefiting United Against Human Trafficking (UAHT).
Originally commissioned by Merton Against Trafficking for a 2015 fundraiser, My Mind is Free is inspired by the true stories of trafficking as collected by Hall from various anti-trafficking charities in the UK. The play has been adapted by the playwright to better reflect the realities of human trafficking in Houston, which is a major hub for the crime according to the Department of Justice. Representatives from UAHT and Houston’s Rescue Restore Coalition will be present to provide patrons with further information about trafficking and ways to get involved to combat it.
SHOW DETAILS
My Mind is Free by Sam Hall
Directed by Miranda Morris
January 18, 2019 at 7:30pm at 14 Pews, 800 Aurora Street, Houston, TX 77009
January 19, 2019 at 7:30pm at A 2nd Cup, 1111 E. 11th Street, Houston, TX 77009
January 22, 2019 at 5:30pm at M.D. Anderson Library’s Rockwell Pavilion at the University of Houston main campus , 4800 Calhoun Road, Houston, TX 77004(in partnership with the Department of Women’s, Gender, and Sexuality Studies)
Cost: Pay-What-You-Can, all proceeds benefit United Against Human Trafficking
About the Playwright
Sam is a writer, mainly (though not exclusively) of plays and short stories, and a creative writing teacher and facilitator. She was a member of the Royal Court Theatre’s Young Writers’ Programme. She has an MA in Creative Writing (Plays and screenplays) from City University, London.
Her plays have been performed in the UK and internationally: PRETTY BOY (White Bear, London, UK, 2004); HE SAID SHE SAID (Landor Theatre, London, UK, 2005); SEVEN TUNES ON THE FLUTE (Trend Festival, Rome, Italy, 2013); MY MIND IS FREE has had several tours in the UK (London and the South, 2015; Edinburgh Festival 2017; Scotland and the North East 2018) and was shortlisted for the Human Trafficking Foundation’s Anti-Slavery Day media awards 2016. SANDCASTLES (unperformed) was long listed for the Theatre Fest West Award 2016. Short plays include: SEA MONSTERS AND VESSELS AT SUNSET: part of The Turner Plays (The Etcetera Theatre, London UK, 2008); THE AUDITION (part of What’s through the door?), Canal Cafe, London, UK and Rochester (UK) Literature Festival 2013; LOVE NEVER RETURNS MORE (part of The Spirit of my Dream), Rochester (UK) Literature Festival 2014. Sam has also written plays for children about gargoyles, pirates and superheroes for Kent based theatre company Icon Theatre!
Sam is currently working on a play about a transgender soldier and a collection of dark short stories.
In 2010 she set up Kent-based indie publisher and literary arts organisation, Wordsmithery. Wordsmithery publishes beautifully designed limited edition poetry anthologies and playscripts, and organises literary projects and events. In 2015, Wordsmithery won the Literature category in the Medway Culture, Design and Tourism Awards. In 2016, it was a Finalist in the Kent Creative Live Awards for Publishing.
You can find out more about Sam’s projects and order the playscript of MY MIND IS FREE from www.wordsmithery.info