Hope & Optimism

THIS PAGE IS NOW DEVOTED TO HOPE AND OPTIMISM'S PLAYWRITING AND PRODUCTION PAGE, HOPE ON STAGE.
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ITHACA, NEW YORK PRODUCTION

THE PLAY
Hope on Stage invites you to join us for the premiere of the brilliant award-winning new play by Georgette Kelly: I Carry your Heart. The play follows a young woman as she learns to open her heart to love after the death of her famous mother.

THE TEAM
This never-before-seen show will be directed by Drama Desk Award winner and Ithaca native Jeremy Webb, who is coming home to lend his talents to this special event. Jeremy’s cast of nationally acclaimed artists, beloved homegrown artists, and a rising star from Ithaca College will leave you uplifted, hopeful and deeply moved.

THE DIFFERENCE
Beyond enjoying superb theater, by treating yourself to this special event you can make a difference. I Carry Your Heart is a benefit event for our United Way of Tompkins County, an organization which carries the hearts and hopes of so many in our community. Please help us unite in hope for our friends and neighbors. Please come to this very special night of theater.

THE DETAILS

Dates:

Thursday April 27th at 7.30 pm
Show and talkback with director, actors producers, and playwright

Friday April 28th at 8.00 pm
Show, special performance by the Ithaca Gay Men’s Chorus, and a post-show reception to celebrate the Hope and Optimism Initiative.

Saturday 29th at 3.00 pm
Show and talkback with director, actors, and producers.

Saturday 29th at 8.00 pm
Show and celebration of community giving including…
a short speech by Ithaca's Mayor Svante Myrick​
a thank you by James Brown Pres. of The United Way
a free catered reception after the show donated by Agava and Collegetown Bagels.

Creative Team:
Executive Producers: Andrew Chignell​ & Eliza VanCort​
Director: Jeremy Webb​
Cast: Annalee Jefferies*, Heidi Kettenring*, Emily Neves*, Jordan Dunn-Pilz, Darryle Johnson​, Kristin Sad​
Set & Lighting Design: Steve TenEyck
Costume Design: Gretchen Darrow-Crotty
Sound Design: Palmer Hefferan
Production Stage: Manager Ruth E. Kramer*
Production Manager: Adam Zonder

Go to the Hangar website (http://www.hangartheatre.org/events/ICYH.html)

STAY TUNED FOR OUR UNVEILING OF LA'S EXCITING HOPE ON STAGE SISTER EVENT!


ABOUT HOPE AND OPTIMISM...

Hope and optimism are high-profile attitudes. Politicians invoke them, religious and business leaders promote them, psychologists cultivate them, self-help authors recommend them, artists explore and express them.

The press is interested too: over the past few years, articles in the L.A. Times, Washington Post, Time, and Atlantic have discussed their natures, sources, risks, and benefits.

Such popular discussions, especially of optimism, often draw on empirical work by scientists like Michael Scheier, Tali Sharot, Martin Seligman, and C.R. Snyder. However, there is a corresponding lack of empirical work on hope.

Both hope and optimism have been understudied in philosophy. And yet, philosophers can bring much needed conceptual clarity to these
concepts. Attaining greater conceptual precision can, in turn, inform new empirical research.

Though there is a rich tradition of practical arguments for and against religious belief, new research on such arguments that explicitly incorporates hope and optimism could bear significant fruit.

We find the relative lack of research on these traits unfortunate: hope and optimism are philosophically, empirically, and practically significant topics with a rich history – one that urgently needs updating in light of new conceptual, empirical, and practical understanding.

Given the popular interest in these topics, their inherent significance, the lack of interdisciplinary academic research on them, and the resulting potential for uncareful, unserious, or even unscrupulous uses of them in the broader culture, this three-year project will bring social scientists, philosophers, and philosophers of religion together to generate new collaborative work on hope and optimism.

Given the prevalence of hope and optimism in popular discourse, the project also will have a prominent public component consisting of playwriting (“Staging Hope”) and video competitions (“Screening Hope”). These competitions are meant to stimulate creative efforts that will engage the broader public and encourage interest in hope, optimism, and related character traits.