Yvie Jones is the Program Director for Arch Street Meeting House’s Semiquincentennial Program featuring Sarah Mapps Douglass and Bayard Rustin.
A longtime dotcom and media arts professional, Yvie has written, edited, and produced multimedia projects for companies including Comcast Interactive Media, Eastern State Penitentiary, the Greater Philadelphia Film Office, National Public Radio, Oxygen Media, the Sundance Film Festival, Time Warner, and the Wilma Theater.
Yvie is a medical actor and author who writes stories and tells jokes in every medium. She's a 2023 St. Nell's Humor Writing Resident, a Yes And Laughter Lab finalist, and a 2024 ScreenCraft TV Pilot Competition and Black Boy Writes Media Mentorship Initiative quarterfinalist. She also serves as an NEA Media Arts FY26 Grants for Arts panelist.
It's the summer of 1948, and dynamic civil rights activist Bayard Rustin has a very important speech to prepare for at Arch Street Meeting House. But outspoken 18th-century educator, activist, and artist Sarah Mapps Douglass doesn’t know who this young interloper is.
A Quiet Roar is a theater performance that bridges the lives of Rustin and Mapps Douglass, two phenomenal Black Philadelphian Quakers who walked the halls of Arch Street Meeting House a century apart. Their writings and experiences come to life by highlighting the complex, often overlooked intersections of race, faith, and freedom in the United States. Written & Directed by Yvie Jones
Run Time: 30 minutes
The Religious Society of Friends (Quakers) at ASMH practices unprogrammed, silent worship. Following the performance, the audience will be invited to engage in a 30-second moment of silent reflection and a Q&A.
Cast: Leslie Hartshell (Sarah Mapps Douglass) & Najee Duwon (Bayard Rustin)
The program will run on Saturday mornings from 11:00 AM - 12:00 PM and afternoons from 12:30 PM - 1:30 PM, on Memorial Day, May 25, 2026, through Labor Day, September 7, 2026.