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The Anthropologists

@theanthropologists

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Collaboratively made investigative theatre.

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Is anyone in the St. Louis area? This event looks amazing! You’re killin’ it @melissamoschitto ! 🔥

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We are thrilled to celebrate our Executive Director, Sandie Luna, and our beloved collaborators @theanthropologists , on their multiple nominations in the 2025 Off-Broadway BroadwayWorld Awards for their powerful production axes, herbs and satchels.
We are incredibly proud of this partnership and of the visionary leadership, artistry, rigor, and love at the heart of this work, created centering the voices, experiences, and wisdom of Black and Brown birth workers. We were especially honored to support its Bronx presentation as part of its NYC tour, alongside our wonderful partners at Tiffany Street Theater at @inspirationpoint.arts What a gift to share this story with Bronx audiences. 💛
📣 Today is the LAST day to vote! Voting closes tonight at 11:59 PM ET. If this work has inspired you, moved you, or stayed with you — please cast your vote and support this extraordinary team. 🗣️Let’s close 2025 voting for the kinds of stories we want to see lifted on our stages. ✊🏾
Honored nominations include:
✨ Best New Play: axes, herbs and satchels (co-written by Melissa Moschitto & Sandie Luna)
✨ Best Production of a Play
✨ Best Direction of a Play: Sandie Luna & Melissa Moschitto
✨ Best Performance in a Play:
Jan Andree • Qianna Brooks • Genevieve Ngosa Daniels • Enette Fremont • Sandie Luna
✨ Best Costume Design: Calypso Michelet
✨ Best Lighting Design: Matías Ulibarry
🗳️ Voting link in bio

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Our cabaret series, a staple of TIA's programming from the beginning, unifies performances under a single theme for the night. Many artists are invited to create short pieces to illuminate and complicate beliefs around the chosen theme. Over the years, we've explored ambitious topics such as death and memory, revolutions, electoral politics, and how to survive the end of the world. These cabarets are a great forum for artists to share new work and for our community to engage in conversation. The series returns this November with The 7 Deadly Sins Cabaret, but we need your donations to make it happen! Donate to support this project (and many more) at the 🔗 in our bio. #cabaret #nyccabaret #theaterinasylum #indietheatre #nyctheatre #theatreartists

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Instant PlayLab 22: TELESCOPES & TIME ACCORDIONS

In collaboration with @theanthropologists

Part of our cross stitch series, where we invite fellow devising ensembles into our Instant PlayLabs to mix methods and make with us.

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@theanthropologists play, ‘Axes, Herbs and Satchél’s’ is a form of birth justice activism. Have you seen it? What did you think?
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#art #activism #theatre #midwifery #birth #work #community #research #resistance #connection

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A few weeks ago, Some of our current doula students and I took a trip to go see the play, “axes, herbs and satchels”. It is hard to put a reflection of the play into words because there were so many emotions involved. It felt like both Remembrance and a Reclamation at the same time. I was in awe of the accuracy and appreciate the research and effort @theanthropologists put into this creative piece. The play embodies the rich legacy of the Black Midwife and the care they provided to families using traditional healing methods and ancestral wisdom. That was until they were strategically “dismantled” and pushed out of practice due to policies such as the Sheppard-Towner Act. The gag is, they didn’t know the Grand Midwives (aka Granny Midwives) were seeds and they live on through us, Black Birthworkers, present day Midwives, and Doulas who are still carrying their legacy. With the intentional, attempted erasure of traditional, community birth practices, the maternal mortality rates have since been on the rise. The erasure of Black Midwifery has led to the needs of Black Mothers being ignored by a system that was never designed to keep us alive. I see this when I think of Amber Rose Isaac who passed away due to pregnancy complications that her medical providers ignored. It took a Midwife, Nubia Earth Martin to try to save her from this outcome by alerting her of the serious health condition she was in, while the medical system ignored her and ultimately failed her by allowing her to die. Ironically, I ran into Nubia at the play and we were able to give each other the hug we both needed, because the weight of this system is heavy on birth workers and no one has our backs or understands us like we do. I also ran into my Earth sisters Mother IEquality, Umi and one of my Doula Babies. Shout out to Shawnee Benton Gibson who was also in attendance. She goes hard for this! She also lost her daughter due to medical negligence, Shamony Makeba Gibson. We will never allow their names or stories to die. They are the fuel that keeps us going in our work to prevent this from happening to other mothers and families. ✊🏽

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🎭 Axes, Herbs & Satchels: Open the Archives | OPEN

Host Daren Jaime speaks with Melissa Moschitto and Sandie Luna, Co-directors and Co-writers of Axes, Herbs & Satchels—a compelling theatrical tribute to the ancestral knowledge of Black midwives. The conversation explores how the play sheds light on maternal mortality and celebrates the strength, healing, and legacy of Black women in reproductive health.

📺 Watch now on YouTube

#OpenBX #BlackMidwives #MaternalHealth #TheaterForChange #BronxNetTV #AxesHerbsAndSatchels #HealthEquity

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FREE CHILDCARE AT THE THEATRE THIS MOTHER’S DAY!

We are pleased to be partnering with our collaborators @paaltheatre and @theanthropologists to provide FREE CHILDCARE during the May 11th Mother’s Day matinee performance of “axes, herbs, and satchels: open the archives”, presented in partnership with @idstudiotheater @inspirationpoint.arts !

You can request free childcare for this performance NOW by following the steps below:⁠

1. Fill out the waiver/childcare request form (linked in our bio)
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2. Once you receive childcare confirmation from Broadway Babysitters, purchase your tickets online for the 5/11 12 matinee performance (also linked in our bio!)
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3. You’re all set! Get ready to enjoy the show & your free childcare!⁠

Children aged 3 months & up are welcome. Space is limited, so secure your spot today! ⁠

For more information about the show, please visit https://www.theanthropologists.org

Questions about childcare? Email: info@broadwaybabysitters.com

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The Anthropologists’ production of AXES, HERBS, AND SATCHELS: OPEN THE ARCHIVES — written and directed by Sandie Luna and Melissa Moschitto — is now playing through May 11 at various locations in Brooklyn, Manhattan, and The Bronx.

Black and brown birthing bodies are in danger. Can the silenced traditions of Black midwives hold the key to saving them? When Kamara, a journalist, loses a sister to childbirth, she seeks the Black midwife wisdom that might have saved her. What follows is a journey through time to rediscover the wisdom of the ancestors, in order to reclaim the future.

AXES, HERBS, AND SATCHELS: OPEN THE ARCHIVES is a tribute to the traditional wisdom of the Black midwife community and offers a powerful look at maternal mortality. This performance is an act of restorative history, providing a space for collective learning, reflection, and healing.

Tickets range from $10-$35, and are available online at theanthropologists.org.

REMAINING PERFORMANCES (as of April 24):

Thursday, May 1 @ 7:00pm
@ Hebrew Tabernacle of Washington Heights:
551 Fort Washington Avenue (Washington Heights)

Friday, May 9 @ 7:00pm
Saturday, May 10 @ 7:00pm
Sunday, May 11 @ 12:00pm
Tiffany Street Theater at Inspiration Point:
710 Tiffany Street (Hunts Point, The Bronx)

For a comprehensive list of theatre and theatre-adjacent performances taking place all over New York City — OFF BROADWAY & BEYOND — visit StageSpotlightNYC.com.

#nyc
#newyork
#newyorkcity
#offbroadway
#offoffbroadway
#nyctheatre
#nyctheater
#theatre
#theater
#stagespotlightnyc
#onstage
#manhattan
#brooklyn
#thebronx
#washingtonheights
#huntspoint
#theanthropologists
#axesherbsandsatchels

https://www.theanthropologists.org/axesherbsandsatchels

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Adventurous audiences know that some of the biggest theatrical thrills are found on NYC’s smallest stages. And Off-Off Broadway offerings this month are no exception! Tap the link in bio for the full scoop.

PS - If you’re a TDF member you can see dozens of #OffOffBroadway shows for as little as $11!

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The Visiting Artists Series presents "axes, herbs and satchels" devised by The Anthropologists on March 5 at 7:30 PM in Ball Theater. Free tickets are available at the link in our bio.

Black and brown birthing bodies are in danger. Can the silenced traditions of Black midwives hold the key to saving them? With a company of six Black women and femme performers, axes, herbs and satchels travels across generations with storytelling, movement, and ritual. Developed through extensive ethnographic research and personal accounts, The Anthropologists’ stunning new play opens a space for collective learning and profound healing.

📷: Ahron R. Foster and Isha Patel

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This week's newsletter is out! Link in bio.

Credits:

- Sophie Swithinbank’s Bacon at Rogue Machine 📸: Jeff Lorch
- Ankita Raturi’s Fifty Boxes of Earth at Theater Mu 📸: @richryanphoto
- Alice Childress' Trouble in Mind at Pittsburgh Public Theater 📸: Maranie R. Staab
- Natalie Margolin’s All Nighter Off Broadway at MCC
- Steppenwolf’s production of Branden Jacobs-Jenkins’ Purpose on Broadway 📸: Michael Brosilow
- The Lazours’ Night Side Songs at Philadelphia Theatre Company 📸: Nile Scott Studios
- Beautifully Gruesome's The Uncanny Attic: Chapters A-D at Steppenwolf LookOut 📸: Greg Inda
- The Anthropologists’ axes, herbs and satchels 📸: Isha Patel
- Clubbed Thumb’s production of Abe Koogler’s Deep Blue Sound at The Public Theater 📸: Marcus Middleton
- Sarina Freda's no no no please no god no, nevermind i’m fine at HERE 📸: Juan Carlos Quimper
- Rajiv Joseph’s Dakar 2000 at Manhattan Theatre Club
- Rajiv Joseph’s King James at Syracuse Stage 📸: Zach Rosing for Indiana Rep

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