The Show

SYNOPSIS: A recent college graduate who returns to Maine amid the arrival of 2000 Somali migrants must face the hilarities and horrors of her homecoming as she works to help the new neighbors make homes of their own.

PRODUCTION LENGTH: 80 minutes

BACKGROUND: In 2001, Lewiston, Maine captured the attention of nearly every major media outlet in America when 2,000 Somali migrants unexpectedly moved into the community from across the country. National reporters descended on Lewiston to cover a growing campaign to stop new migration, including angry phone calls to city hall from constituents, an unwelcoming letter from the mayor, and the arrival of national hate groups. In 2008, Cheryl Hamilton, a national refugee consultant, teamed up with Theater Professor James Bunzli from Loyola College to create Checkered Floors. The show is Hamilton’s personal account of how the Somali migration to Maine changed her life.

First performed in New York City at the Emerging Artist Theater’s “One Woman Standing” festival in the spring of 2008, Checkered Floors’ national premiere was in Baltimore, Maryland at the Creative Alliance’s World Refugee Day event “Somali on These Shores.” To open the evening, two local Young Somali Bantu hip-hop artists and former refugees, the Shambara Boyz, performed songs from their first CD.

In addition to presenting Checkered Floors at theater festivals, Hamiton and Bunzli hope to bring the show to high schools and colleges where students are grappling with many of the subjects presented in the piece, including immigration, sexual assault and civil rights. To learn more about college opportunities, visit programs.

TECH REQUIREMENTS: Checkered Floors is a very mobile production. It requires merely a stage, three chairs and minimal light changes and sound cues.
For details, review attached tech sheet (PDF)

GALLERY