"Stories of grief, strength,and the power to heal."
About the production
Weighting the Wait is a community-built theatre work created through story circles with survivors and team members of the Louis D. Brown Peace Institute and Open Theatre Project, curated by Dev Luthra.
Through movement, language, and shared ritual, the piece gives voice to mothers confronting the loss of a child to gun violence — and to the power of community, forgiveness, and love that endures beyond death.
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This production resists despair. It invites courage, tenderness, and connection. It reminds us that we can’t face violence alone — we must face it together.
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Running at St. John's Church, Jamaica Plain May 22-30th. Learn more and get tickets below!
About the Peace Institute
Founded in 1994 by Chaplain Clementina Chéry following the murder of her 15-year-old son, Louis D. Brown, the Louis D. Brown Peace Institute has spent more than three decades serving as a center of healing, teaching, and learning for families and communities impacted by murder, trauma, grief, and loss.
Louis was an honor student and peacemaker, killed on his way to a Teens Against Gang Violence meeting, whose legacy continues to shape the Institute's work today. Based in Dorchester, the Peace Institute transforms society's response to homicide through survivor outreach, youth programming, advocacy, and training, with a foundational belief that every family deserves to be treated with dignity and compassion, regardless of circumstance.
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How OTP and the Peace Institute Came Together
Our connection to the Louis D. Brown Peace Institute began with listening.
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Deviser and director Dev Luthra, in collaboration with the Peace Institute, facilitated a series of story circles: intimate, structured gatherings where survivors and members of our production team came together to share their experiences, their grief, and their resilience. These circles became the foundation of everything.
What emerged was not a script handed down from above, but something grown from the ground up: the voices, memories, and truths of mothers and families who opened their lives to us. Our cast and creative team did not come to this work with answers. They came to bear witness, and to let what they heard shape what eventually became the stage.
Why This Production Exists
Weighting the Wait exists because these stories deserve to be held in community, not carried alone.
Through devised theatre, movement, and the words of those directly impacted, this production uplifts the voices of survivors, offering a space where their experiences are not just acknowledged, but honored. We believe art can be part of the healing journey, and that theatre, at its best, creates the conditions for empathy, reflection, and shared humanity.
This production is also an act of advocacy. By bringing these stories into a room together, we are asking audiences to see, to feel, and to remain present with the weight of what so many families carry, and to consider what it truly means to stand alongside survivors.
About Rosalyn Elder & The Requiem Project
Enhancing this production are original artwork by Rosalyn Elder. The Requiem Project: A Memorial for African American Youth Whose Lives Have Been Impacted by State Sanctioned Racism is a series of six double-sided, mixed-media textile panels.
One side of each panel honors the Birmingham Six, six young people murdered in Birmingham, Alabama on September 15, 1963, depicted as guardians watching over their communities. The other side bears the embroidered names of nearly 300 young victims of state sanctioned racism, stitched by over 150 community members. Each name is a reminder that these were someone's beloved child, grandchild, friend.
Additional Details
Weighting the Wait exists because these stories deserve to be held in community, not carried alone.
Through devised theatre, movement, and the words of those directly impacted, this production uplifts the voices of survivors, offering a space where their experiences are not just acknowledged, but honored. We believe art can be part of the healing journey, and that theatre, at its best, creates the conditions for empathy, reflection, and shared humanity.
This production is also an act of advocacy. By bringing these stories into a room together, we are asking audiences to see, to feel, and to remain present with the weight of what so many families carry, and to consider what it truly means to stand alongside survivors.
Cast & Crew
CAST
Dionne Latrice, Cherease Lamm, Chris Everett, Zahra A. Belyea, Tammy Brown
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PRODUCTION
Dev Luthra — Curator/Director
Rachel Veto — Stage Manager
Audrey Johnson — Choreographer
Gordon Gumuchian — Technical Director
Vanity Reyes-Carrero — Production Assistant
Dustin D. Bell — Producer
Give today to help make this production possible.
Weighting the Wait is more than a play — it’s a community act of healing and resistance.
Your donation directly funds:
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Fair pay for the artists and support teams
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Rehearsal and performance space at St. John’s Church
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Design, sound, and movement elements that honor the ritual power of the piece
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Community outreach with the Louis D. Brown Peace Institute to engage families affected by violence
Every contribution — large or small — helps us turn grief into art and art into action.