Merrillville Woman Joins Tellin' Tales Theatre's Divercity Cast

Brianne Coleman of Merrillville is one of nine performers with disabilities to tell their story in Tellin' Tales Theatre Presents: Divercity, running Virtually from May 7-23 on Vimeo. Stories range from touching to hilarious and feature writers, actors and advocates with disabilities from Chicago and suburbs, Merrillville and Georgia. Information and tickets are available at www.tellintales.org.

Coleman is a well-versed administrative professional with a deep passion for change. As a survivor if childhood trauma, sexual assault and domestic violence, she tirelessly advocates for victims/survivors through her public speaking, peer support and volunteer work. She is a 2020 graduate of the ADA 25 Advancing Leadership program and the founder of Dimensions of Intersections, a new non-profit with a mission to stop the cycle of domestic violence.

Stories for Divercity were developed and directed in a six-week Zoom Master Class taught by Tellin' Tales Theatre's co-founder and artistic director Tekki Lomnicki. The disabilities of the performers include blindness, dwarfism, spinal injury, mental illness, cerebral palsy, Muscular Sclerosis and Spina Bifida. Tellin' Tales Theatre is based in Chicago but has been offering Virtual productions, several that include performers who live outside the Chicago area.

The mission of Tellin' Tales Theatre is to shatter barriers between the disabled and non-disabled worlds through the transformative power of personal story. We bring together children and adults from both communities to share their stories in theatrically innovative productions and programs to promote awareness, understanding and acceptance.

Divercity is partially supported by grants from the Illinois Arts Council, Chicago Department of Cultural Affairs and the Paul M. Angell Family Foundation.