Harrison resident Gail Phaneuf, playwright, educator, composer, actor, and director, and artistic and executive director for Maine’s Deertrees Theatre, debuts her one-woman play “Kippy, Pray for the Dead and Fight Like Hell for the Living!” at 7 p.m. Saturday, April 30, and 3 p.m. Sunday, May 1, at Denmark Arts Center, 50 W. Main St., Denmark.A talk back immediately follows the performance, featuring the playwright and members of the Lakes Region Recovery Center staff on topics explored in the performance.

Phaneuf’s inventive “Kippy” story is expressed as a one-woman imagining of a conversation with the late Kip Tiernan, social justice hero. Kippy was an extraordinary character and force of nature who changed the face of social justice in Boston. Passionate and salty-tongued, she engendered outrage and empathy for the plight of poor and homeless women. As the founder of Rosie’s Place in 1974, she launched the first-ever homeless sanctuary for women in the United States. Kippy later went on to establish the Greater Boston Food Bank. The first production of the play was postponed in Boston in 2020 due to the pandemic. During that period, Phaneuf created and edited a film version of “Kippy,” which won awards from both the Doctors Without Borders and LGBTQ Unbordered International Film Festivals. These performances are funded by a grant from the National Endowment the Humanities (NEH) initiative Sustaining the Humanities through the American Rescue Plan (SHARP) as part of the $1.9 trillion American Rescue Plan of 2021.

Admission is $10, available online or at the door.

For more information, visit denmarkarts.org, email info@denmarkarts.org, call 207-452-2412 or follow Denmark Arts Center on Facebook.

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