Mother Tongue

Mother Tongue is an original multilingual physical theater performance created by The Performance Project’s First Generation Ensemble. The piece is inspired by the experiences of First Generation ensemble members, their families and communities who are from Congo/Tanzania, Uganda, South Sudan/Darfur, Holyoke and Springfield, Massachusetts. The 90 minute performance weaves together movement, music, dance, and stories in Arabic, Swahili, Luganda, and English. The piece incorporates themes of language, culture, identity, diaspora, hypermasculinity, xenophobia, transphobia, racism, the school to prison pipeline and revolution. Recommended for ages 12+ Sponsored by University of Massachusetts Amherst Speech, Language, and Hearing Sciences Department with support from the UMass Fine Arts Center.