RESPONSE 6

Up in Arms Collective presents RESPONSE 6

RESPONSE 6 is back at it! Due to the chaos since January 2025, Up in Arms Collective continues to fight the good fight the best way it knows how: by making art. 

Resistance. Persistence. Keep on keepin’ on. Over a dozen artists converge at TheatreSouth at First Congo to create original works that explore today’s America.

Up in Arms Collective was born in November 2016 out of the need of artists to respond to what was happening in America at that time in an open and affirming environment. Its first show was standing room only in March 2017, and 4 more shows followed in 2017, 2018, 2019, and 2025. 

Democracy is on the brink of extinction, and artists feel the urgency. 

A collective of dancers, actors, drag queens, filmmakers, and musicians is UP IN ARMS and ready to RESPOND with humor, grief, bewilderment, and hope.Through RESPONSE 6, Up in Arms Collective hopes to empower and leave others empowered. 

Performing artists creating original works include Sheri Bancroft, Orixa Bowers, Jenn King, Victoria Kintner-Duffy, Louisa Koeppel, Kristen Osborne Lucas, Wayne Smith, Toothbrush Jesus, and Erin D. H. Williams along with artists Marie Dennan and May Todd, filmmaker Laura Jean Hocking, and Voices of the South, LoneTree Live, and Our Own Voice Theatre.

Choreographers Louisa Koeppel and Kristen Osborne Lucas ask, “How do we keep our light through darkness? How do we protect joy?” These questions are at the forefront of their new work in collaboration of 10 moving artists.

"In a world pocketed by cynicism and pummeled by devastating news, to find joy for oneself and spark it in others is nothing less than a counterculture act of courage and resistance," writes Bulagian-born and American-based poet and essayist Maria Popova.

Join us for a collective cry and laugh! Up in Arms Collective presents RESPONSE 6 on Friday, September 18 at 7pm, Saturday, September 19 at 9pm, and Sunday, September 20 at 2pm, at TheatreSouth at First Congo, 1000 S. Cooper, in Memphis, TN. 

Tickets are $20 cash only and available at the door. Seating is general admission and on a first come, first serve basis. To find out more about RESPONSE 6, like Up in Arms Collective on Facebook. Donations will be made to Mid-South Immigration Advocates, OUTMemphis, and Planned Parenthood – Memphis.              

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