<div dir="ltr"><span id="gmail-m_-772935080241493856gmail-docs-internal-guid-63d4c8e2-7fff-a6ec-0d72-5858c0d103e9"><span style="font-size:14pt;font-family:Arial;color:rgb(67,67,67);background-color:transparent;font-variant-numeric:normal;font-variant-east-asian:normal;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap">Gum-Dip Theatre Presents Three Countries, One Mother, a Solo Performance Inspired by the Bhutanese-Nepali-American Community</span></span><div><span id="gmail-m_-772935080241493856gmail-docs-internal-guid-772369eb-7fff-a792-69a9-7bcd2f1c3cd6"><br><p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.38;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"><span style="font-family:Arial;color:rgb(0,0,0);background-color:transparent;font-variant-numeric:normal;font-variant-east-asian:normal;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap">AKRON, OHIO, June 24, 2022 — Gum-Dip Theatre premieres </span><span style="font-family:Arial;color:rgb(0,0,0);background-color:transparent;font-style:italic;font-variant-numeric:normal;font-variant-east-asian:normal;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap">Three Countries, One Mother</span><span style="font-family:Arial;color:rgb(0,0,0);background-color:transparent;font-variant-numeric:normal;font-variant-east-asian:normal;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap">, a solo performance featuring Lead Artist NimBrother (Neema Bal). The play opens on July 22 and runs through August 14, 2022 on Thursdays, Fridays, Saturdays, and Mondays at 8 p.m., and Sundays at 3 p.m. at the Balch Street Theater (220 S. Balch St).</span></p><br><p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.38;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"><span style="font-family:Arial;color:rgb(0,0,0);background-color:transparent;font-variant-numeric:normal;font-variant-east-asian:normal;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap">Using storytelling, poetry, movement, and song, </span><span style="font-family:Arial;color:rgb(0,0,0);background-color:transparent;font-style:italic;font-variant-numeric:normal;font-variant-east-asian:normal;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap">Three Countries, One Mother </span><span style="font-family:Arial;color:rgb(0,0,0);background-color:transparent;font-variant-numeric:normal;font-variant-east-asian:normal;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap">examines the history and culture of the Bhutanese-Nepali-American people who were displaced from their homeland as part of the Bhutanese Refugee Crisis in the 1990s and early 2000s. This play is inspired by the true story of NimBrother’s family– members of the Tamang tribe, an ethnic group in the Bhutanese-Nepali community. The Tamang tribe speaks their own Tibeto-Burman language and has a diverse spectrum of influences on spirituality--including Buddhism and indigenous shamanism.</span></p><br><p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.38;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"><span style="font-family:Arial;color:rgb(0,0,0);background-color:transparent;font-variant-numeric:normal;font-variant-east-asian:normal;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap">Spanning generations and countries, this deeply personal narrative weaves together family stories and shamanic ritual to explore the impact of cultural legacy on an individual. The audience is invited to journey with Neema through his cultural inheritance as part of a quest to better understand himself. </span></p><br><p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.38;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"><span style="font-family:Arial;color:rgb(0,0,0);background-color:transparent;font-variant-numeric:normal;font-variant-east-asian:normal;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap">NimBrother is a physical theatre artist who presents the stories of his community in a way that not only reflects and heals the traumas from the past, but also creates a space for reimagining a positive future. He is a former refugee from the Bhutanese-Nepali-American community who resettled in Akron in 2013 and became a citizen of the United States in 2019.</span></p><br><p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.38;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"><span style="font-family:Arial;color:rgb(0,0,0);background-color:transparent;font-variant-numeric:normal;font-variant-east-asian:normal;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap">The project is a <a href="https://knightfoundation.org/press/releases/knight-foundation-names-16-winning-ideas-in-2019-knight-arts-challenge-akron/" target="_blank">2019 Arts Challenge Winner</a> from John S. and James L. Knight Foundation and also funded by <a href="https://mapfund.org/2020-map-fund-finalists/" target="_blank">MAP Fund</a>, Ohio Arts Council, GAR Foundation, and Akron Community Foundation.</span></p><br><p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.38;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"><span style="font-family:Arial;color:rgb(0,0,0);background-color:transparent;font-style:italic;font-variant-numeric:normal;font-variant-east-asian:normal;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap"><b>Three Countries, One Mother</b></span></p><p style="line-height:1.38;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"><span style="font-family:Arial;color:rgb(0,0,0);background-color:transparent;font-variant-numeric:normal;font-variant-east-asian:normal;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap">Created by NimBrother and Katie Beck</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.38;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"><span style="font-family:Arial;color:rgb(0,0,0);background-color:transparent;font-variant-numeric:normal;font-variant-east-asian:normal;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap">Thursdays, Fridays, Saturdays, and Mondays at 8 p.m.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.38;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"><span style="font-family:Arial;color:rgb(0,0,0);background-color:transparent;font-variant-numeric:normal;font-variant-east-asian:normal;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap">Sundays at 3 p.m.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.38;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"><span style="font-family:Arial;color:rgb(0,0,0);background-color:transparent;font-variant-numeric:normal;font-variant-east-asian:normal;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap">July 22 to August 14, 2022 (No show on July 30)</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.38;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"><span style="font-family:Arial;color:rgb(0,0,0);background-color:transparent;font-variant-numeric:normal;font-variant-east-asian:normal;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap">Choose-What-You-Pay tickets, $20 suggested donation</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.38;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"><span style="font-family:Arial;color:rgb(0,0,0);background-color:transparent;font-variant-numeric:normal;font-variant-east-asian:normal;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap">Tickets: <a href="http://catac-akron.com/three-countries-one-mother" target="_blank">catac-akron.com/three-countries-one-mother</a></span></p><br><p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.38;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"><span style="font-family:Arial;color:rgb(0,0,0);background-color:transparent;font-weight:700;font-variant-numeric:normal;font-variant-east-asian:normal;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap">About Gum-Dip Theatre</span></p><br><p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.38;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"><span style="font-family:Arial;color:rgb(0,0,0);background-color:transparent;font-variant-numeric:normal;font-variant-east-asian:normal;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap">Gum-Dip Theatre is a community-based theatre company that celebrates, challenges, and reinvents identity in the Rust Belt through story circles, unique happenings, and choose-what-you-pay performances. In the past 6 years, GDT has produced over 90 performances in 42 different locations of original theatrical content focused mainly on the stories and histories of the marginalized. GDT is a resident theatre company of Center for Applied Theatre and Active Culture, a leadership consortium that nurtures theatre research and performance in Akron. GDT believes that the theatre is a space for practicing different factual and imaginary versions of ourselves, for representing the narratives that are often ignored, and for elevating voices and identities that are not included in the mainstream.</span></p><br><p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.38;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"><span style="font-family:Arial;color:rgb(0,0,0);background-color:transparent;font-variant-numeric:normal;font-variant-east-asian:normal;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap">More information about GDT: </span><a href="http://www.gumdiptheatre.com/" target="_blank" style="text-decoration-line:none"><span style="font-family:Arial;background-color:transparent;font-variant-numeric:normal;font-variant-east-asian:normal;text-decoration-line:underline;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap">www.gumdiptheatre.com</span></a></p><br><p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.38;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"><span style="font-family:Arial;color:rgb(0,0,0);background-color:transparent;font-weight:700;font-variant-numeric:normal;font-variant-east-asian:normal;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap">Contact GDT</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.38;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"><span style="font-family:Arial;color:rgb(0,0,0);background-color:transparent;font-variant-numeric:normal;font-variant-east-asian:normal;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap">Katie Beck, Co-Artistic Director</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.38;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"><a href="http://www.gumdiptheatre.com/" target="_blank" style="text-decoration-line:none"><span style="font-family:Arial;background-color:transparent;font-variant-numeric:normal;font-variant-east-asian:normal;text-decoration-line:underline;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap">www.gumdiptheatre.com</span></a></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.38;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"><a href="mailto:katie@gumdiptheatre.com" target="_blank" style="text-decoration-line:none"><span style="font-family:Arial;background-color:transparent;font-variant-numeric:normal;font-variant-east-asian:normal;text-decoration-line:underline;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap">katie@gumdiptheatre.com</span></a></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.38;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"><span style="font-family:Arial;color:rgb(0,0,0);background-color:transparent;font-variant-numeric:normal;font-variant-east-asian:normal;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap">(330) 962-2690</span></p></span></div></div>