Improv Workshop w/ Buffalo Improv House- FREE Improv Workshop with Buffalo Improv House + FREE FOOD! 🎭

Join us for a one-of-a-kind improv workshop in collaboration with Buffalo Improv House, happening Tuesday, May 7th from 6:30PM–8:30PM at Ujima Company Inc. in the Lorna C. Hill Theater (429 Plymouth Ave, Buffalo, NY 14213).

This workshop is free and open to all—whether you’re brand new to improv, a performer curious to explore something new, or a seasoned improv veteran looking to play. Come stretch your creativity, take some risks, and connect through laughter!

The workshop is presented as part of our production of Everybody, a play that explores the unpredictability of life and what better way to embrace that than with improv?

No experience necessary. Just bring your curiosity and a willingness to play!

Dates: May 7th 6:30pm- 8:30pm

“What Death Leaves Behind” - by Bec Rose. Taxidermy artist Bec Rose transforms what has passed into something newly alive, inviting reflection on the beauty and inevitability of death. Her work resonates deeply with the themes explored in our production of Everybody, which confronts mortality with honesty, humor, and grace. Through this collaboration, we aim to open space for dialogue about a subject too often avoided—reminding us that death, like art, is part of the human experience.

Artist Statement: Bec Rose (they/them) is a found objects artist and taxidermist based in Buffalo. Using scavenged and sustainably sourced remains and natural curios, they create works that blur the lines between life, death, art, and science. Common themes in their work include environmental ethics, spirituality, and breaking the taboos around our cultural relationship to death.

Bec launched their brand Rebel Rose Curiosities in 2017, has toured with the Oddities and Curiosities Expo since 2021, began offering pet memorial services in 2022, and opened Reaper and Rose, a shop they co-own in North Buffalo, in 2024.

Ujima is excited to welcome Kaycee Colburn, our resident artist for Thanksgiving Play, back into our space. In honor of Women's History Month, Kaycee has collaborated with Ujima to create a powerful visual installation celebrating the impact of Native women throughout history. The exhibit features a timeline highlighting underrepresented yet historically significant figures and events, a traditional Seneca ribbon skirt display, and Kaycee's evocative painting, Crying Woman. This installation promises to be both informative and inspiring.

Artist Statement: March is women's history month. This exhibit is to bring awareness to historical erasure of native women and to Missing Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls (MMIW.)

For information go to- https://www.nativehope.org/missing-and-murdered-indigenous-women-mmiw/

Ribbon skirts are a symbol of our female Indigenous strength and resilience. For many of us wearing the skirts bring that strength to mind and is thought to help us get through even the toughest of times. I learned from my mom, who learned from her grandma and it's a favorite pastime of ours, we drink coffee and gab about the day and future plans as we make skirts and do beadwork together. So for me it's a symbol of my mother's love and home and that's where I get my strength.

Tune in for a meaningful dialogue as four courageous veterans share their narratives of confronting racism and prejudice within the military and beyond! This program will be held virtually on all our social media platforms and displayed in our lobby! Available to stream on here, on Facebook, and Instagram May 9th!

This program is in partnership with Ujima Company Inc.’s production of “Wedding Band.” This program will offer profound insights into the show!

Ujima is a founding member of Frontline Arts Buffalo also known as FAB. Established in 2018, the coalition seeks to support frontline arts and cultural organizations in Buffalo in our transition from conditions of precarity to viability. We are a collaboration among artists, arts administrators, engaged citizens, justice advocates, and policy researchers.

Ujima is an active and participating organization of the Crossroads Coalition. The coalition is comprised of over ten progressive organizations committed to a just transition and building a new, community-controlled economy in Buffalo. The collective includes activists, creators, grassroots educators, organizers, and researchers who realized that all of today’s major battles for justice are linked, and equally important.

This year Ujima is partnered with Buffalo Public Schools’ Office of Culturally & Linguistically Responsive Initiatives to launch the inaugural Lorna C. Hill Speaking Contest. Students from across the district will compete locally at their respective schools in order to qualify for the final round of the contest which will be held at the Lorna C. Hill Theater this spring. We are so excited to see the next generation of great orators and performers follow in the legacy of our late founder.