I AM THE GENTRY
I AM THE GENTRY is a witty, unabashedly honest solo performance that traces one woman's life as she realizes her role in the gentrification of her Washington, DC neighborhood. The play hilariously and provocatively deconstructs notions of racial and socio-economic stereotypes and redefines the nature of community in a transitional neighborhood.
Cara Gabriel moved to DC a decade ago and purchased a home in a "transitional" neighborhood. I AM THE GENTRY chronicles Gabriel's adventures and foibles in her new, unfamiliar surroundings: her beagle takes on a pair of pitbulls, she dances at a neighborhood shrine to Michael Jackson, and strolls her baby through an arrest-in-progress, all while falling in love with the neighborhood and poignantly examining her role in the process of neighborhood gentrification.
The show played to sold-out crowds, beginning in 2013, when it premiered at The Atlas INTERSECTIONS Festival in Washington, DC. Since then GENTRY has also appeared at DC’s Capital Fringe Festival, San Francisco’s EXIT Theatre, and the UNITED SOLO Festival in NYC. GENTRY has garnered critical acclaim and incited passionate discourse among diverse audiences on themes of social, racial and economic disparity.
“Gabriel’s play, vacillating between heartbreaking and laugh-out-loud funny, explores the ramifications of gentrification on oneself and one’s community. Issues of class, race, education, and inequality are all examined in a series of vignettes, which carry the audience seamlessly along her journey. Despite being told through the lens of her own experience in a gentrifying DC neighborhood, I Am the Gentry is surprisingly relevant, evoking laughs, nods, and even grunts of agreement from the audience. Gabriel’s honesty and vulnerability onstage is impressive and raw, not only calling into question her own role in gentrification but also painting the world and people around her with vibrancy and passion.”
“I Am the Gentry succeeds admirably at talking comfortably about uncomfortable topics — race, class, money, education, and the ways they all play into the story of Washington, D.C. gentrification… This show isn’t an interrogation or indictment of gentrification writ large, and it has no prescriptions. It’s the poignant, episodic, and often very funny story of one well-educated white woman from upstate New York who moved to the north side of H St. NE in the early 2000s.”
“Gabriel… tells the story with humor and humility. The piece is nicely written… The subject is tough and immediate, and it’s enough to hear the words.”
The Washington Post