Seeking to escape scrutiny about his sexuality, Griffin Matthews decides to join his church’s mission to Uganda to build a village school. While there, he meets a group of destitute orphans and his life is forever changed. Committed to providing desperately needed assistance to the orphans, he finds his personal mission, and the UgandaProject is conceived. Invisible Thread , originally titled Witness Uganda as previously reported, is a musical that documents this journey.
For the last ten years, UgandaProject, has been sponsoring the education of 10 Ugandan students. Facing difficulty raising funds for the project, co-creators Griffin Matthews and Matt Gould decided to write a performance piece that would help raise money. Through the years, the musical continued to be refined and receive critical acclaim and awards, such as the 2012 and 2014 Richard Rodgers Award for Musical Theater, ASCAP’s Dean Kay Award, ASCAP’s Harold Adamson Award, and a grant from Conde Nast c/o Summit Series. Eventually, the show came to the attention of Tony winner Diane Paulus, who took over direction in 2014 for its world premiere at the American Repertory Theater.
In an effort to more deeply connect with the mission, the cast of Invisible Thread will travel to Uganda this year. While there, according to their website they will be
participating in service projects, mentoring orphans, and working alongside local artists to take part in an exchange that will help to shape our performances and our lives! Our goal is to connect with the people and places that have inspired our show and to come home and share an authentic theater experience with our audiences in New York City!
The cast needs your support in raising money for housing, transportation, visas and on the ground activities. A film crew will be on hand to document the journey.
For more information about the show and to donate, click here.
