Powerstories Theatre is now ‘in motion’ and brings a ‘Freedom to Read’ show to Tampa Heights

Tampa's Powerstories Theatre had a rough year. The city rezoned the company’s physical theater, forcing it to find a new home for performances. Instead, Powerstories found several homes.

As 2023 entered its fourth quarter, Powerstories Theatre rebranded itself as Powerstories in Motion and announced four new plays in four new locations:

• “Alabama Story” at the Straz Center’s Shimberg Playhouse in January
• “Voices of Women Theatre Festival” at USF College of the Arts in March
• “Irena’s Vow” at Stageworks Theatre in July
• “Right Before I Go” at the New Tampa Performing Arts Center in September

Each play tackles a critical issue, starting with book banning in Kenneth Jones’ award-winning 2015 play “Alabama Story.” “Our season promises to be a thought-provoking and impactful journey through challenging topics, igniting important conversations in 2024,” Powerstories’ announced in October.

“With ‘Alabama Story,’ we delve into the contentious issue of book banning, the ‘Voices of Women Theatre Festival’ gives female playwrights a platform to share their stories, while ‘Irena's Vow’ confronts anti-Semitism, and ‘Right Before I Go’ sheds light on the crucial subject of suicide awareness. This season is a testament to our commitment to addressing pressing societal issues through compelling storytelling following the theme ‘Critical Issues Take Center Stage.’”

The season begins later this month when Powerstories in Motion organizes a Freedom to Read event at Shuffle in Tampa. The Nov. 30 event, inspired by “Alabama Story,” brings anti-book banning organizations, themed cocktails for purchase, “Alabama Story” bingo, and the performance of an original spoken word poem by Kennedy Engasser to Shuffle. Guests will also get a sneak peek of “Alabama Story” via a short reading from the play’s script, followed by an opportunity to purchase tickets on-site.

There's no cover for Powerstories In Motion's "Freedom To Read" show at Shuffle in Tampa on Thursday, Nov. 30, but an RSVP is suggested.

Jones’ “Alabama Story” takes you to Montgomery Alabama in 1959, where a state librarian comes under fire over the children’s book, “The Rabbits’ Wedding,” that depicts a black rabbit marrying a white rabbit. The book is real, as are portions of the story, but not all of it. In Jones’ words, the play “freely mixes fact, fiction, humor and drama.”

More than 60 years later, book banning is still an issue in the U.S. According to PEN America, Florida led the nation in school book bans in the 2022-2023 school year, disproportionately targeting stories by and about people of color and LGBTQ+ individuals. All this book banning has inspired multiple anti-book banning events in the Tampa Bay area.

“Freedom to Read” won’t be the first, or the last, anti-book banning event in the Tampa Bay area. One by one, they continue to assert that most voters oppose book bans.
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