Louisville Girls Leadership, a program of Alliance for Girls, will premiere “Onward! Brave Girls,” an audio drama telling the true story of European Girl Guides and their courageous resistance against the Nazis during the Holocaust. The premiere will be part of Louisville Girls Leadership’s Class of 2011 graduation ceremony on Sunday, May 22, at 3 p.m. at Jewish Hospital’s Rudd Heart and Lung Conference Center, 200 Abraham Flexner Way.
The event is free and open to the public and community members are encouraged to attend. Cake and refreshments will be served.
The current production of the audio drama and the event are made possible through the generosity of a Jewish Hospital HealthCare Services’ Jewish Community Excellence Grant. After the May 22 premiere, “Onward! Brave Girls” will be available as a podcast at www.onwardbravegirls.com and on iTunes.
“Onward! Brave Girls” is inspired by the book, Brave Girls, written by Harriett Claire Philmus, and features the talent of high school girls from Louisville Girls Leadership, Walden Theatre, and Youth Performing Arts School.
“Girls traditionally have been left out of history; their stories are rarely heard and, therefore, relatively unknown,” says Alliance for Girls Co-President Marsha Weinstein. “Louisville Girls Leadership intends to share this story in order to celebrate the heroism of these girls and inspire girls and the community as a whole to take action for social change.”
Onward! Brave Girls was directed by Charlotte Hammett Hubrich, professor at Jefferson Community and Technical College, and recorded by audio engineer Jeffrey Louden. The script was written by Mary Kate Lindsay, a University of Louisville McConnell Scholar, with the assistance of Emily McConville, a duPont Manuel student.
The graduation ceremony will also include a panel discussion of the development of the project.
Alliance for Girls is a girl-centered, community-based partnership of organizations and individuals committed to assessing and addressing girls needs and helping girls reach their potential.
The major programming initiative of Alliance for Girls is Louisville Girls Leadership, a leadership development and advocacy program for high school girls in Louisville. Louisville Girls Leadership provides 10th-12th grade girls with the opportunity to come together from all areas of Louisville to develop skills and alliances that will enable them to become visionary community leaders.