The show is uniquely imagined... One could hardly find a more natural or compelling storyteller than Méli Short-Colomb. Her voice is a truly splendid instrument.”
“Our ancestors have waited patiently through centuries for us to come to the table of acknowledgement. Here I Am fulfills my desire to give voice to those families, including my own, and to our tenacity and strength as a people -- to close the full circle where we began our American lives three centuries ago and where we are today.”
"A lodestar of what is possible, powerful, and a permanent testament to what the theater can and should be in this time."
An acclaimed original production of The Laboratory for Global Performance & Politics at Georgetown University, written & performed by Mélisande Short-Colomb, Here I Am weaves narrative, music, and multimedia imagery inviting the audience on an experiential journey celebrating her 11 generations of maternal grandmothers and exploring her complicated relationship with the institution that enslaved her ancestors.
Here I Am originally premiered virtually in April 2021 and made its in-person premiere at Gaston Hall, Georgetown University in April 2023. Then premiered at Loyola University March 18 & 20 as a highlight event for Mission Week 2024. Thousands of audience members have experienced this “powerful example of theater of witness” Here I Am, online and in person.
With direction by Derek Goldman, multimedia design and direction by Jared Mezzocchi, and original music by Grammy-Nominated musician Somi.
Mélisande Short-Colomb is a direct descendant of families sold into slavery by the Society of Jesus in 1838 to keep Georgetown University solvent, (The GU 272). In addition to her steadfast work on campus at Georgetown University with the Center for The Study of Slavery and its Legacies and The Lab, Méli is also an anchoring member of the descendant’s community off campus. She is part of the President’s Task Force Examining Loyola’s Connections to Slavery and has worked closely with the Woven Wind Project at Vanderbilt University.
Photos by Art Pittman
“Here I Am” Program 2023
Colomb serves on the Board of Advisors for the Georgetown Memory Project, is a founding Council Member of the GU272 Descendants Association, and was on the GU272 Advocacy Team. She was a leading voice in the GU272 student referendum, which passed with overwhelming student support in April 2019. She received the 2019 Fr. Bunn Award for journalistic excellence for commentary in support of the referendum.
Loyola, in alignment with universities nationwide, is actively confronting its historical connections to slavery. In December 2021, they announced the establishment of a task force charged with initiating an examination of Loyola’s ties to slavery and its ongoing legacies. In January 2024, the Task Force Report, featuring scholarly research and recommendations for implementation, was published. Short-Colomb, a key representative of the GU272 descendant community, played a crucial role in shaping the legacy community’s representation in this report.
Colomb’s personal story has been widely chronicled in numerous press outlets, including interviews with Samantha Bee and PBS NewsHour, a major National Public Radio documentary, feature stories in The Washington Post, The New Yorker, and on NBC-TV, and a cover story in the AARP national magazine.
April, 2021
HERE I AM was originally produced in partnership with the GU Theater & Performance Studies Program. Supported in part by an award from the National Endowment for the Arts, and by the Office of the President at Georgetown University
April 2023
Following its celebrated premiere in an online/ virtual format in April, 2021, attended by thousands of audience members, Here I Am made its in-person premiere at Gaston Hall, Georgetown with I Am The Bridge, a documentary film from Colomb’s point-of- view.
I Am The Bridge follows her time at Georgetown University and examines the possibilities of repair for the sin of American slavery and the contributions of generations of activists and artists working toward racial justice.
April 2024
Here I Am was part of Loyola University’s Mission Week 2024 with two performances on March 19 and 20
Mélisande Short-Colomb: Writer & Performer
Somi Kakoma: Composer & Vocal Performance
Derek Goldman: Direction & Script Development/Dramaturgy
Jared Mezzocchi: Multimedia Design & Direction
Nikkole Salter: Script Development/Dramaturgy and Direction
Jeremy Bennett, Leo Grierson, Andres Poch: Multimedia Associates
Andre Pluess: Sound Design
Alex Troesch: Original Photography
At a time characterized by polarization and distrust, the need for approaches that humanize others through narrative and empathy has never been greater. The Lab is dependent on outside funding in order to make our work possible.
Georgetown University
A joint initiative between the School of Foreign Service and Department of Performing Arts.
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