BSLA Wildfire Rapid Response Micro-Grants for Black Altadena-Pasadena Communities

BSLA is among 21 recipients of Culver City’s 2025 Performing Arts grants for Outliers: A Black Women’s Theater Showcase, debuting at the Blue Door Theater in two sold out shows on January 26th and February 2nd.
The showcase features original speculative fiction, autobiographical and dramatic pieces by Sikivu Hutchinson, Jessica Robinson, Cydney Wayne Davis and Dee Freeman. The event will also feature local Black women musicians Ife Jie and Honey Blu, emceed by Eclasia Wesley.
- “The Star Behind the Stars”, by Cydney Wayne Davis, examines Davis’ personal and professional trajectory confronting sexism, racism, and ageism as she transitions from being a background singer for iconic stars such as Marvin Gaye, Ray Charles, Joe Cocker, and Diana Ross, blossoming into a writer, actor and “center stage” artist in her own right.
- “Poison Gun”, by Dee Freeman, is an autobiographical monologue set in the late 1960s in a small rural Southern town. It focuses on Loe, a precocious six-year-old math genius who is entrusted with safekeeping the savings of her grandfather
- “The Kinderness”, by Sikivu Hutchinson, focuses on the Black woman-owned Kinderness Corp, which deploys white cyborgs to carry out “corrective historical actions” for Black people. The play explores racial and gender politics in the workplace, AI, dystopia, and reparations vis-a-vis time traveling Black queer and gender expansive characters. Featuring Robbie Danzie, Danni Cassette, Stephanie Jackson and April Audia.
- “Sister X”, by Jessica Robinson, focuses on 19-year-old Vanessa, a young African American woman who embarks on a quest for community, family, and purpose by joining the Na
tion of Islam, facing the harsh realities of misogyny and oppression.
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