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Sabbatical Presentation by Desirée D. Rowe, Department of Communication Studies, College of Fine Arts and Communication

Dr. Desirée D. Rowe, Associate Professor in the Department of Communication Studies, will present her sabbatical performance with talkback on Friday, October 4^th in CFA 3059 at 7pm. The title of her performance is Wave 11222.

Wave 11222 will be presented on both Friday October 4^th and Saturday October 5^th in CFA 3059 at 7pm. Performed by Dr. Desirée Rowe, Associate Professor of Communication Studies, this solo performance utilizes narrative storytelling as a method to highlight individual stories within the larger cultural context of the COVID-19 pandemic. Drawing from long-form interview data collected in Spring 2024, Wave 11222 blends the narratives of grief activists who have lost loved ones to COVID-19, autoethnography, and theoretically informed cultural critique to respond to the question: How does activism and coalitionality emerge from death and mourning? As a solo performance project, Wave 11222 is an accessible entry point for an audience to openly engage conversations about death, dying, and the lasting impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic especially within poor, working-class, and other marginalized communities. Engaging cultural memory and public accountability through the stories of the participants and the performer, Wave 11222 makes it clear that not only is the pandemic not over, but we must be accountable for the rippling repercussions of the damage done. This performance embraces dark humor and the macabre tell the stories of those who chose not to be vaccinated in the face of a global pandemic. Through these stories we not only keep their memories alive but begin to develop a deeper understanding of the depth of grief from COVID-19. Tickets are not required. Masking encouraged. If you have questions, please reach out to drowe@towson.edu.

Categorised in: General

This post was written by Malkus, Laura K.