About
““In the slave quarters, however, African Americans organized their own “invisible institution.” Through signals, passwords, and messages not discernible to whites, they called believers to “hush harbors” where they freely mixed African rhythms, singing, and beliefs with evangelical Christianity. We have little remaining written record of these religious gatherings. But it was here that the spirituals, with their double meanings of religious salvation and freedom from slavery, developed and flourished…” ”
Mission Statement:
Hush Harbor Lab is a brave space for the development and production of new and innovative digital, live and multi-media performance work by Black Atlanta-based artists. Hush Harbor strives to be a space that promotes wellness, self-care and the sacred within the Black arts community with the recognition that caring for the full person (body, mind, spirit) encourages better art.
Foresight
Our plan is to complete two projects a year that uphold and delve into Black culture while giving Black artists within the city opportunities to collaborate and work together. The shows will be one original production and one devised piece that can be crafted for production quality. This is a space where artists can come and try something new - even fail at it - within an affirming and encouraging communal space. Hush Harbor promotes wellness, self-care and sacred space within the Black arts community with the recognition that caring for the full person (body, mind, spirit) encourages better art.
About the Company
One of the narratives missing within the Black Atlanta community is the voice of those who reside and have resided here. There are Black equity theatre makers that have had an opportunity to perform together because often roles only call for one or two black theatre artists. When there are works for predominately Black casts, it is often not new works and the crew including the director, stage manager, technical personnel, marketing, and design team are very often White. This can weigh heavy on the hearts and minds of the artists. Hush Harbor offers these such as this reading series offers this possibility to imagine.
Hush Harbor is a workshop space. We hope to do two-four projects a year that uphold and delve into Black culture while giving Black artists within the city opportunities to collaborate and work together. The shows (outside of a pandemic year) will be one original production and one devised piece that can be crafted for production quality. This is a space where artists can come and try something new - even fail at it - within an affirming and encouraging communal space. Hush Harbor promotes wellness, self-care and sacred space within the Black arts community with the recognition that caring for the full person (body, mind, spirit) encourages better art.
A place for artists to be themselves, to make mistakes, to try, to be uplifted, and fail forward. This series will also give an opportunity for Black imagination and joy in a time when so many black bodies are seen contorted, tortured, maimed, and lifeless. This workshop space is offering healing to not only a community but a world.
Having this kind of nurturing experience behind the scenes will encourage a different energy where the quality can be higher. Moreover, audiences will have a hand, with their feedback, in shaping the future of a play from infancy to production, an opportunity that is also not often give in Atlanta.
Meet the Founders
Addae Moon, Co-Founder
Addae Moon is an Atlanta based playwright, dramaturg, director and cultural worker. He is the Associate Artistic Director at Theatrical Outfit, an Artistic Associate with Found Stages Theatre and a co-founder of the performance collective Hush Harbor Lab.
Addae has served as a resident dramaturg with Working Title Playwright’s Ethel Woolson Lab. He was the recipient of the 2015 International Ibsen Award for his dramaturgical work on the project Master Comic and the 2014 John Lipsky Award from the International Museum Theatre Alliance (IMTAL) for his immersive play Four Days of Fury: Atlanta 1906. Addae was also a member of Alliance Theatre’s 2015-2016 Reiser Artists’ Lab as co-writer on the immersive project Third Council of Lyons with Found Stages. His recent immersive co-collaborations include Frankenstein’s Ball (2019/2020) and Frankenstein’s Funeral (2019) both with Found Stages.
Addae received his BA in Theatre Arts from Clark Atlanta University and an MFA in Playwriting from the Professional Playwright’s Program at Ohio University. He is a member of Literary Managers and Dramaturgs of America (LMDA) and The Fence Network. He is also the co-host of the theatre podcast Old Heads.
Amina S. McIntyre, Co-Founder
Amina S. McIntyre, an Atlanta native, she received her BA from Colby College, MA from Indiana University, MFA from Spalding University, and MTS from Emory University. McIntyre has had several theatrical productions and readings at various places including Vanguard Repetory Theatre, the Atlanta History Museum, and Oakland Cemetery.
An ordained Elder in Full Connection in the Christian Methodist Episcopal Church (CME), PRN Chaplain, and a doctoral student in Religion at Vanderbilt University, McIntyre develops scholarship, births crafts, and curates creative spaces that interrogate spirituality and the arts.
