In October 2003, Green Room Projects conceived, organized, and produced Nashville’s first festival dedicated solely to women artists. Billed as CONJURE WOMEN: A CELEBRATION OF MOVEMENT, MUSIC AND MOUTH, the festival featured over 2 dozen women painters, sculptors, singers, songwriters, storytellers, poets, rappers, dancers, filmmakers and musicians performing for six evenings at Darkhorse Theater. Cultural and social diversity drove CONJURE WOMEN as it proudly presented contemporary pop and country music, traditional African and Caribbean dance and drum performance, Appalachian song and storytelling, liturgical dance, original theatrical work as well as gender-, race- and gay-themed rap and poetry. Thandiwe Shiphrah, Kelly Falzone, Jennifer Jewell, Jackie Welch, Minton Sparks, and the Village Drum and Dance Ensemble were just a few of the featured performers while the short films of Molly Secours, tackling the death penalty and disenfranchised youth, were shown nightly.

With the personal blessing of its playwright, Anne Nelson, Green Room presented the Tennessee premiere of THE GUYS, a thought-provoking play about the aftermath of 9/11. The play was presented at Freedom Middle School in Franklin, Tennessee, and we created curriculum geared specifically for those students to prepare them for the production. Firefighters of Franklin Fire Stations No. 1 and 2 came to the school to speak with individual classrooms about fire safety and the hazards of their jobs. After the play, “talk back” sessions were conducted for students and actors to share their own 9/11 stories. The public opening of this sensitive drama was set aside as a benefit for The 100 Club, an association dedicated to assisting the families of police and fire fighters killed in the line of duty. Working closely with the Franklin Fire Department and members of The 100 Club, all proceeds from this event went directly to help this organization.