Soft.belly
Written and performed by Lacresha Berry
Directed by Shariffa Ali
Music Director: John Sci Robinson
Presented by StoryBridge Productions & 651 ARTS
wild project| 195 E 3rd St, New York, NY 10009
April 11, 16, 18, 2026
Soft.belly is about DNA. The inheritance we don’t always name but always carry. Generational trauma, yes, but also memory, ritual, and resilience. Lacresha Berry offers a love letter to her family that lives in the body and in the voice.
This is a new work, and it feels like one. It is breathing, searching, still becoming. Berry’s voice is brassy and full, filling the theater all the way down to its bones. She moves between song, spoken word, and character with ease, embodying her father, her aunt, her lineage.
We begin with a framing from the producer that sets an intention around healing and acknowledgment. It is clear this piece is being held with care. What follows is not a polished production but an offering. A celebration of the body, of soft bellies as sites of memory, pleasure, and power.
The imagery lands. A hospital room. A father. A hidden garden. Seeds passed down through grandmother and great aunts. A lineage that exists whether or not it is fully understood. There is something compelling in the idea that what we carry is already within us, waiting to be recognized.
This piece is exactly where it needs to be. As a work in progress, it invites discovery rather than resolution. It allows space for the story to continue revealing itself without rushing to conclusions.
On a personal note, I found myself thinking about my own excavation of family. The objects we keep that feel small but hold ritual and meaning. The quiet ways lineage shows up in our lives.
I am intrigued to see where this piece grows next.
Click HERE for tickets.
Review by Malini Singh McDonald.
Published by Theatre Beyond Broadway on April 18, 2026. All rights reserved.
