Press Kit

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE October 13, 2025 Contact: pr@arizonatheatrematters.org GREAT DIVIDE – a Clara Barton Story GLENDALE, AZ — Great Divide is a new theatrical work commissioned for the national America250 commemoration. Written by Jeanmarie Simpson and directed by Diana Kimmeto, the piece traces the life and legacy of Clara Barton through language, sound, and motion. by Jeanmarie Simpson Directed by Diana Kimmeto with Angelica Linares Commissioned for America250 Developed by Arizona Theatre Matters and created by blind and Deaf artists, the project brings together voice performance, original music, and visual storytelling in Artistic Sign Language. The voice recording is now complete, featuring Angelica Linares as Clara Barton and Ray Williams as the Narrator. Rehearsals are underway with Hands in Harmony, ATM’s sign language performance ensemble. Great Divide follows Clara Barton through war, disaster, and aftermath. The script blends field reports, personal memory, and archival imagination to illuminate a life built in service. Clara stitches a boy’s face with shaking hands. She inventories bones. She writes to mothers who want to know if anyone held their son’s hand — and tells them the truth. She feeds Union and Confederate soldiers alike. She carries bandages, vinegar, and the names no one else is writing down. The play also traces Barton’s encounter with the international Red Cross movement, and the conviction she found there: that care should never serve a side. From battlefields to burn wards, from war to flood to fire, Barton showed up — and stayed. The production includes voice performance by Angelica Linares and Ray Williams; original music and sound design; and a visual performance in American Sign Language by Hands in Harmony. It will premiere in early 2026 on ATM’s YouTube channel. Creative Team Writer: Jeanmarie Simpson Director: Diana Kimmeto Clara Barton: Angelica Linares Narrator: Ray Williams ASL Ensemble: Hands in Harmony About the Artists Diana Kimmeto is the founder of Voces Radiantes / Radiant Voices, ATM’s blind voice acting ensemble. Angelica Linares is a Chicago-based actor and longtime ATM collaborator. She lives with her wife, Maya, and their retired guide dog, Tulip. Ray Williams is a storyteller and founding member of Radiant Voices, with a background in narrative radio and community mentorship. About the Commission Great Divide was commissioned for America250, the official commemoration of the United States’ 250th anniversary. The project contributes to a national archive of American stories — honoring the work, memory, and resistance of those whose names are too often left out of the official record. Clara Barton’s work is widely honored. Her story rarely is. This piece begins to change that — in her own words, and in the languages of those still doing the work she started. About Arizona Theatre Matters Arizona Theatre Matters (ATM) shapes theatre from the substance of accessibility itself, ensuring storytelling reaches everyone—regardless of ability, income, or location. By making accessibility an artistic foundation, we create theatre that is deeply inclusive, boldly experimental, and undeniably for all. Media Contact: Kadin Barnes PR/Marketing Director, Arizona Theatre Matters Email: pr@arizonatheatrematters.org ###

Short Synopsis

Great Divide follows Clara Barton from a childhood dream beside an American river through her years stitching wounds, naming the lost, and founding a movement of mercy. Clara’s private vision of the river shapes her life’s work as she carries bandages, asks truth, and tends to all who suffer.

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Extended Synopsis

Clara Barton dreams of a girl beside a river that divides America. The river gives and takes, washing up fragments of memory. From that dream grows a woman who refuses to look away from suffering and who turns care itself into a form of resistance.

Great Divide traces Clara’s journey through the intimate and the immense: the quiet rooms where she learns to mend what breaks, the battlefields where mercy becomes defiance, and the floodplains of a nation still learning how to be whole. Through language, sound, and motion, the piece inhabits the space between the personal and the historical, the real and the imagined.

Guided by an unyielding belief that no life should go unnamed, Clara’s story becomes an American legend of endurance and conscience. Great Divide invites audiences to enter her world of memory, invention, and repair — a landscape where compassion is both the work and the question.

CREATIVE TEAM

Diana Kimetto (Director) is the founder of Voces Radiantes/ Radiant Voices, ATM’s Blind voice acting ensemble. She and ATM’s Founding Artistic Director, Jeanmarie Simpson, met at a WILPF Congress, where they connected over their shared commitment to accessibility in theatre. Originally from Des Moines, Iowa, Diana moved to Chicago and transitioned to voice directing and acting in 2010. She considers this the most satisfying time of her life, using her talents to advance inclusive storytelling and break barriers in theatre.

Angelica Linares (Clara) is a Chicago-based actor and a member of Radiant Voices, a blind-led performance collective. Her work spans stage and audio performance, with a focus on projects rooted in historical and social themes. She has collaborated with Arizona Theatre Matters on multiple productions. Angelica lives on the northwest side of the city with her wife, Maya, and their retired guide dog, Tulip.

Ray Williams (Narrator) is a performer and storyteller based in Chicago. A founding member of Radiant Voices, his background includes narrative performance, radio work, and community-led audio projects. He has narrated several previous productions for Arizona Theatre Matters. Outside of the arts, he volunteers as a mentor for young blind creatives.

Media Contact: Kadin Barnes
PR/Marketing Director, Arizona Theatre Matters
Email: pr@arizonatheatrematters.org