SuperNova: A Play by Elizabeth Hawes

"I want to belong. To make a pancake. To plant a flower. To walk the dog. With my mom."

SuperNova weaves together the real stories of more than sixty incarcerated women. Through interconnected monologues and scenes, the characters share about their lives before and inside prison: stories of poverty, violence, addiction, and especially mothering from behind bars.

Playwright Elizabeth Hawes, currently incarcerated in Minnesota, wrote SuperNova from her own lived experience and the stories of the women around her. SuperNova complicates familiar stories about incarceration, bringing the focus back to the people living through it and the families trying to stay connected.

Following the reading, we'll hear from MAMAS, a Chicago-based reproductive justice collective led by mother-survivors of state violence, for a conversation about radical mothering, incarceration, family separation, and abolition.

SuperNova by Eilzabeth Hawes

Directed by Rachel Gita Karp

Featuring Quenna Lené Barrett, Nia and Natalie Danée, Sharaina Turnage, Spencer Diaz Tootle, and more to be announced.

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Elizabeth Hawes, a Haymarket Writing Freedom Fellow, writes prose, plays, and poetry. She is a Minnesotan. For the last decade, Hawes has documented and exposed cruelties within institutional structures, and amplified identity beyond conviction stories. Her central theme is hope. She writes about distance-care, communication, and how incarceration affects children and families.

Rachel Gita Karp writes and directs activist performances to advance US politics and public policy. In particular she focuses on protecting reproductive freedom and bodily autonomy, supporting voting and voters, and increasing gender representation in government.