{"id":23203,"date":"2024-12-31T05:22:35","date_gmt":"2024-12-31T10:22:35","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/multi.nycnewsnetwork.com\/brooklynbuzz\/?p=23203"},"modified":"2025-02-13T09:40:19","modified_gmt":"2025-02-13T14:40:19","slug":"gracemoon-arts-promotes-difficult-conversations-through-thought-provoking-plays","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/nycnewsnetwork.com\/brooklynbuzz\/gracemoon-arts-promotes-difficult-conversations-through-thought-provoking-plays\/","title":{"rendered":"Gracemoon Arts Promotes Difficult Conversations Through Thought-Provoking Plays"},"content":{"rendered":"

By:\u00a0Brianna Robles<\/a><\/p>\n

Gracemoon Arts\u00a0Company<\/a>, a\u00a0new theater, salon and gallery in Bushwick, is gaining attention from artists and theatergoers\u00a0for holding difficult conversations in an artful way.<\/p>\n

The theater, at 13 Grattan St., opened in July and has since featured multiple productions that delve into topics including race, misogyny\u00a0and sex.\u00a0The latest dramedy,\u00a0What We’re Up Against<\/a>\u00a0<\/em>by Theresa Rebeck, talked about workplace misogyny at an architectural firm and how one woman simply became tired of it all.<\/p>\n

The theater\u00a0was co-founded under the artistic direction of Mich\u00e8le Lonsdale-Smith<\/a>, who is known for having\u00a0over 30 years of experience\u00a0in film, theater and television. The company\u2019s ensemble members includes actors who have worked alongside Lonsdale-Smith for multiple\u00a0years, including Daren Herbert,\u00a0<\/a>who is known for starring in CBC Television’s\u00a0Pretty Hard Cases<\/a><\/em>. Many of the actors, like Amrit Kaur<\/a> and Andrea Carter<\/a>, can be seen on shows on popular streaming services like HBO and SYFY\/USA Network.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt’s not just about making people laugh or entertaining people, although we want to do that,\u201d explained Lonsdale-Smith. \u201cIt should elicit deep conversation…difficult conversation, but we’ve created a really safe environment to do that.\u201d<\/p>\n

Many theater goers would say what\u2019s most unique about the plays at Gracemoon Arts is the conversation that comes after it. Following the plays, the cast and audience members gather together to discuss the topics that arise in the play. These conversations are held in Gracemoon’s salon where audience members can decompress from the heavy topics.<\/p>\n

We think that we got a little bit more aware, a little tiny bit aware, because of George Floyd, but American society has stayed quite stagnant, said Lonsdale-Smith.<\/p>\n

\n
\n
\u201cWe constantly had people stay to talk in a conversation: white people, Black people, old people, young people,\u201d explained Lonsdale-Smith. \u201cI mean the sort of unifying response or feedback [is]\u00a0 still the same. Nothing has changed.”<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

In the fall, the theater put on Intimate Apparel<\/em><\/a>\u00a0by Lynn Nottage, a play about a Black seamstress in New York City in 1905, who crafts beautiful outfits for her clients but cannot weave a life for herself on her terms; and The Niceties<\/em><\/a>\u00a0by\u00a0Eleanor Burgess, which tackles race and privilege in a college setting.<\/p>\n

Audience members who go to see the plays often find themselves deeply emotional, Londsdale-Smith said. They find themselves relating to the content or holding space for others who have experienced these hardships. As more and more people try to find their communities, Londale-Smith believes the theater brings people together, something that can\u2019t be accomplished through a screen just yet.<\/p>\n

The Gracemoon ensemble hopes to produce its own plays in the future, but until then, it will continue to leave the floor open for conversations that shake the table in 2025.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By:\u00a0Brianna Robles Gracemoon Arts\u00a0Company, a\u00a0new theater, salon and gallery in Bushwick, is gaining attention from artists and theatergoers\u00a0for holding difficult conversations in an artful way. The theater, at 13 Grattan St., opened in July and has since featured multiple productions that delve into topics including race, misogyny\u00a0and sex.\u00a0The latest dramedy,\u00a0What We’re Up Against\u00a0by Theresa Rebeck, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5904,"featured_media":23204,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_exactmetrics_skip_tracking":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_active":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_note":"","_exactmetrics_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[30,522,524,31],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-23203","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-arts-and-culture","category-brooklyn-people","category-brooklyn-events","category-whats-buzzin"],"yoast_head":"\nGracemoon Arts Promotes Difficult Conversations Through Thought-Provoking Plays - Brooklyn News and Events<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/nycnewsnetwork.com\/brooklynbuzz\/gracemoon-arts-promotes-difficult-conversations-through-thought-provoking-plays\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Gracemoon Arts Promotes Difficult Conversations Through Thought-Provoking Plays\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"By:\u00a0Brianna Robles Gracemoon Arts\u00a0Company, a\u00a0new theater, salon and gallery in Bushwick, is gaining attention from artists and theatergoers\u00a0for holding difficult conversations in an artful way. The theater, at 13 Grattan St., opened in July and has since featured multiple productions that delve into topics including race, misogyny\u00a0and sex.\u00a0The latest dramedy,\u00a0What We’re Up Against\u00a0by Theresa Rebeck, […]\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/nycnewsnetwork.com\/brooklynbuzz\/gracemoon-arts-promotes-difficult-conversations-through-thought-provoking-plays\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Brooklyn News and Events\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2024-12-31T10:22:35+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2025-02-13T14:40:19+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/nycnewsnetwork.com\/brooklynbuzz\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/12\/2024\/12\/screen-shot-2024-12-30-at-113240-am.png\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"622\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"283\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/png\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Brooklyn Buzz News Staff\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Brooklyn Buzz News Staff\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/nycnewsnetwork.com\/brooklynbuzz\/gracemoon-arts-promotes-difficult-conversations-through-thought-provoking-plays\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/nycnewsnetwork.com\/brooklynbuzz\/gracemoon-arts-promotes-difficult-conversations-through-thought-provoking-plays\/\",\"name\":\"Gracemoon Arts Promotes Difficult Conversations Through Thought-Provoking Plays - Brooklyn News and Events\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/nycnewsnetwork.com\/brooklynbuzz\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/nycnewsnetwork.com\/brooklynbuzz\/gracemoon-arts-promotes-difficult-conversations-through-thought-provoking-plays\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/nycnewsnetwork.com\/brooklynbuzz\/gracemoon-arts-promotes-difficult-conversations-through-thought-provoking-plays\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/nycnewsnetwork.com\/brooklynbuzz\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/12\/2024\/12\/screen-shot-2024-12-30-at-113240-am.png\",\"datePublished\":\"2024-12-31T10:22:35+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2025-02-13T14:40:19+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/nycnewsnetwork.com\/brooklynbuzz\/#\/schema\/person\/da9080898e2ce6a46f024597da8da166\"},\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/nycnewsnetwork.com\/brooklynbuzz\/gracemoon-arts-promotes-difficult-conversations-through-thought-provoking-plays\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/nycnewsnetwork.com\/brooklynbuzz\/gracemoon-arts-promotes-difficult-conversations-through-thought-provoking-plays\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/nycnewsnetwork.com\/brooklynbuzz\/gracemoon-arts-promotes-difficult-conversations-through-thought-provoking-plays\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/nycnewsnetwork.com\/brooklynbuzz\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/12\/2024\/12\/screen-shot-2024-12-30-at-113240-am.png\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/nycnewsnetwork.com\/brooklynbuzz\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/12\/2024\/12\/screen-shot-2024-12-30-at-113240-am.png\",\"width\":622,\"height\":283,\"caption\":\"The latest dramedy produced at the theater, \\\"What We're Up Against\\\" by Theresa Rebeck, delved into workplace misogyny. 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