Local Writer’s Play Set For Lifeline Stage In September

“Rabbits in their Pockets” follows two sisters as they navigate grief. Photo provided by Jessica Gillespie.
“Rabbits in their Pockets” follows two sisters as they navigate grief. Photo provided by Jessica Gillespie.

Local Writer’s Play Set For Lifeline Stage In September

By Tia Carol Jones

Kimberly Dixon-Mays really took to theatre when she was first introduced to it as a child. She would write stories and scenes at a young age. Throughout her life, she has studied theatre and participated in it, writing plays off and on, taking breaks at times, but always coming back to it.

Dixon-Mays’ play “Rabbits in their Pockets,” will run from Sept. 14th-Oct. 5th at the Lifeline Theatre, located at 6912 N. Glenwood Ave. The play is something Dixon-Mays worked on as part of the Lifeline Theatre BIPOC Development Workshop.

The Lifeline Theatre BIPOC Development Workshop was established by the Lifeline Theatre in 2021. The workshop’s goal is to support writers and artists of color by bringing more diverse voices to its stage. “Rabbits in their Pockets” tells the story of two sisters who are finding their way back to joy after a loss, coming at it from two very different places. The play follows how they navigate their approaches to finding joy and how it impacts their relationships.

Dixon-Mays picked up playwriting again in 2016 when she connected with the Chicago Dramatists. The Chicago Dramatists’ devotion to new play development enabled her to develop a writing practice where she wrote regularly, which included developing a practice of submitting work. Dixon-Mays applied for the Lifeline Theater BIPOC Development Workshop because she said she always takes advantage of any opportunity to submit her work where she thinks it might be a good fit. She also was familiar with and admired Lifeline’s work.  She was interested in the fact that the workshop was focused on BIPOC writers.

With Lifeline’s developmental workshop, the six-month process gave Dixon-Mays an opportunity to participate in multiple salon readings, with a small group of people, which included the theatre’s ensemble members. Dixon-Mays said being able to receive feedback and have a conversation about the script during the process was something that would give her an in-depth experience and be a safe place for her to get audience feedback while still having some control of the story’s development.

“I just love theatre for how it is multi-sensory. You’re performing it in front of an audience, it’s live, you’ve got lights, you’ve got sets, you’ve got costumes, you have dialogue and interaction with the characters and that’s how you’re telling the story. I find that really exciting,” she said.

Dixon-Mays said that Lifeline Theatre is known for its literary adaptations where they take a famous novel, poem or short story and they put it on stage as a theatre piece. She said she was inspired to write “Rabbits in their pockets,” because she knew that she wanted to work with the Brer Rabbit folktales and a poem by A.A. Milne called “Cherry Stones.” She also wanted to write about Black characters that find themselves in tricky situations and find their way on top. She writes a lot of stories focusing on the character looking at how they define themselves in the world where the world wants to define them in a different way. She said the two characters in “Rabbits in their Pockets” are trying to figure out how they want to define themselves and their relationship to joy.

Dixon-Mays said it is thrilling to have an idea she came up with turned into a theatre production. She said while writing is solitary, the theatre production is more collaborative. She likened it to creating something, throwing it out into the world and someone catching it.

Dixon-Mays believes that art is a powerful tool for healing, for the artist and the person who experiences the art. For the person experiencing it, they will see themselves in something someone else created and it will make them feel less alone. For Dixon-Mays, her art helps her think things through, which gives her a sense of power, control and perspective.

For more information about Kimberly Dixon-Mays, visit kimberlyddixon.com. To purchase tickets to Lifeline Theatre’s production of “Rabbits in their Pockets,” visit www.lifelinetheatre.com.

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