Quilt Stories, A monologue play based on interviews from people who lost loved ones to the AIDS crisis. The play revolves around the AIDS Quilt — each panel of the Quilt represents a life lost, and each Quilt tells a story.
About the Project: Starting its life in 2019, Quilt Stories began as an oral history project based around HIV survivors. Then in the winter of 2019, the LGBT Center of the Cape Fear Coast (formally The Frank Harr Foundation), in partnership with SEEDS of Healing, brought the AIDS Quilt to Wilmington for a city wide exhibit. After talking to many interview subjects about the AIDS Quilt, the project shifted to honing on stories about the AIDS quilt. The ongoing oral history project now delves into the history of the Quilt with a focus on survivors, quiltmakers, activists, and friends and family of loved ones lost to HIV/AIDS, all with the AIDS Quilt as a lynchpin. Partnering with UNCW, we continued interviews in the fall and winter of 2021, into winter 2022. We interviewed former and current members of the NAMES Project (the organization which creates and maintains the AIDS Quilt) along with several local quiltmakers. MoB decided to make this project our main focus for 2022, as it is our inaugural project since COVID restrictions began in 2020, preventing live performances. As the COVID pandemic continued, similarities have arisen between the two illnesses, COVID and AIDS, in particular, the swiftness and severity of each illness and its impact on families, communities, and the entire world.
Dates: April 23rd & 30th at 7:30pm, April 24th & May 1st at 2pm
Venue: The Garage on Fanning Street – 901 Fanning St, Wilmington, NC 28401.