FARMINGTON – The Emery Community Arts Center on the University of Maine at Farmington campus is bringing Maine writer and performer Cheryl Hamilton and her one-woman show, “Checkered Floors,” to its performance space at 7:30 p.m., Wednesday, Feb. 1. This event is open to the public with requests for donations at the door.
“Checkered Floors” tells the story of a recent college graduate who returns to Maine amid the arrival of 1,500 Somali migrants and the hilarities and horrors of her homecoming as she works to help her new neighbors make homes of their own. Filled with heart and humor, Hamilton’s play is a window into her personal experience of how the Somali migration to Maine changed her life.
Hamilton’s drama work-shopped at the Emerging Artist Theater’s “One Woman Standing” festival in New York City and premiered in 2008 at a World Refugee Day celebration in Baltimore. Since then, “Checkered Floors” has been performed at colleges, conferences and community theaters across the country. It made its Maine premier in Portland in 2010 and its hometown premier in Lewiston in 2011.
Hamilton began her career in the refugee field in Maine during the 2002 Somali migration and has dedicated herself to supporting refugee integration. She worked as national coordinator for RefugeeWorks at Lutheran Immigration and Refugee Service in Baltimore and the Center for Preventing Hate in Portland. She currently manages communications for the international organization RefugePoint in Boston.
The performance of “Checkered Floors” is sponsored by the Emery Community Arts Center.
Hamilton’s play includes subject matter not appropriate for children. Doors open 30 minutes before all performances.
