CHARIS, The St. Louis Women’s Chorus, will perform Censored: Banned Books and Forbidden Stories on Saturday, November 18, 2023, at 7:00 pm and Sunday, November 19, 2023, at 3:00 pm at Kirkwood High School Theatre, 801 West Essex Avenue, St. Louis, MO.
Censored: Banned Books and Forbidden Stories highlights books on the American Library Association (ALA) list of most banned and challenged books. The program opens with the wondrous “Pure Imagination” by Bricusse & Newley, paired with Eric Carle’s beautiful, illustrated children’s book, Draw Me a Star. We focus on the development of self, expressed through Gwyneth Walker’s “Now I Become Myself,” which we associate with Kobabe’s Gender Queer. The breathtaking and heartbreaking “Stardust” by B.E. Boykin honors Black lives lost to violence, echoing themes in Thomas’s The Hate You Give. Haugen’s “It is the Silence” takes its text directly from The Diary of Anne Frank. Our own singer/composer Melinda Monroe’s “Megan’s Gone to Fight” resonates with the Vietnam War story of Fallen Angels by Myers. We sing two songs that were themselves banned – Loretta Lynn’s “The Pill” and “I’ll Cover You” from Rent, the musical. The performance is designed to entertain, uplift, and provoke thought and action. Bookstores including Left Bank Books and The Novel Neighbor will sponsor tables in the lobby during intermission.
Tickets for Censored: Banned Books and Forbidden Stories are $17 in advance and $20 at the door. Tickets for seniors (65+), children (5-12) and students with student ID are $15. Library employees (any library, any employee) are $10. Tickets are available online via www.charischorus.org or at the door. Plenty of free parking is available.
CHARIS, The St. Louis Women’s Chorus was established in 1993 and is a diverse, inclusive group of singers united in the mission of performing music that celebrates and encourages women and the LGBTA+ community. Stuart Chapman Hill, PhD, Assoc. Professor of Music and Director of Music Education at Webster University, is the Artistic Director for CHARIS, and he is assisted by Assistant Artistic Director Michaela Cruse, Music Educator at North Side Community School. CHARIS is financially supported by the William A. Kerr Foundation and the Regional Arts Commission.