About Mad at Miles

It can be easy to get swept up in the energy and power of much needed movements like ‘#Me Too’ and ‘#TimesUp’ and ‘#MuteR.Kelly’. As the list of sexists, misogynist, abusers grow larger and larger and are exposed now with P. Diddy leading the pack. We sometimes forget to acknowledge that these grassroots movements are led and inspired by women who are victims and survivors of real-life horrific experiences. Women of all colors, age, education and economic status have been affected. But as we delve deeper and examine populations that have been underserved by resources that help to combat incidents of domestic and sexual violence, African-American women historically fall through the cracks.

Approximately 40 percent of African-American women report being subjected to coercive sexual contact by age 18. Statistics also show that 90 percent of women who are survivors of sexual assault knew their assailant.

Mad at Miles: A Blackwoman’s Guide to Truth (Mad@Miles) is a tool and a guide to empower women. It is a theatre experience/performance designed as a call to action, to activism and advocacy. As a result, it evolves conversations around sexism, racism, domestic and sexual violence, and the need for survivor-centered solutions and early prevention.

Mad@Miles by Pearl Cleage was specifically written, to be a catalyst for change. Drawing not only from her own personal experiences with abuse while a college student, at Howard University but also from the harrowing stories of countless women around her. The Atlanta based award winning writer was driven to write what she considered a workbook for African-American women struggling to survive in a society that is both racist and sexist. What she ended up with was a collection of essays and performance pieces. Cleage’s passion and courage to speak out against a musical icon like Miles Davis, was the foundation for this amazing piece of literature/theatre. Written in 1990, her outrage about Davis’s unapologetic treatment of his then wife Cicely Tyson and countless others is also being played out in headlines with video footage that is violent, horrific and shocking.

Mad@Miles follows four women on an emotional journey through the anger of abuse to the clarity of self-discovery. These alternately passionate and poetic stories explore love, pain, and where to draw the line between a man and his music. [It’s not man bashing; it’s love.] This is a funny, angry, lyric piece of theatre that all men and women should experience.

The scope and reach of inappropriate vile acts against women must be addressed in innovative ways with combined resources and ideas. It is our hope that Mad at Miles a Blackwoman’s Guide to Truth can set the stage for comprehensive and creative change.

With Love,

Donna, Tina, Vanecia and Asabi