I STAY WITH ME A One-Woman Show

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
BIRMINGHAM FESTIVAL THEATRE PRESENTS I STAY WITH ME, AN INTIMATE NEW ONE-WOMAN SHOW BY MARKEITRA “QUEEN KEY” GILLIAM
Two nights only at Encore Theatre and Gallery, September 19–20
BIRMINGHAM, Ala. — What happens when the life you planned no longer looks like the life you’re living—and you have no idea what comes next?

Birmingham Festival Theatre presents I STAY WITH ME, an original one-woman show written and performed by multidisciplinary theatre artist Markeitra “Queen Key” Gilliam, for two performances only, September 19 and 20 at 7:00 p.m. at Encore Theatre and Gallery, 1604 2nd Avenue North in downtown Birmingham.

Part theatre. Part poetry. Part music. Part confession.

I Stay With Me is an intimate, independent performance experience about getting lost, beginning again, and learning that when everything else feels uncertain, there is still one person you cannot afford to abandon: yourself.

Blending storytelling, poetry, original music, humor and personal reflection, Gilliam invites audiences into the beautifully unfinished territory between who we thought we would become and who we actually are.

There is no tidy roadmap here. No miraculous revelation that suddenly makes everything make sense. Instead, I Stay With Me sits inside the messier truth: sometimes we wander. Sometimes plans disappear. Sometimes the familiar stops feeling like home. And sometimes moving forward begins simply by deciding to remain present for yourself.

The result is a deeply personal piece of independent theatre that feels less like watching someone perform from a distance and more like being invited into the room while an artist wrestles, remembers, laughs, questions and creates her way forward.

At the center of the work is Gilliam herself—an actor, director, writer, singer, songwriter, poet and theatre artist originally from New Orleans, Louisiana.

Gilliam has trained at the University of Alabama at Birmingham (UAB) and Dell’Arte International School of Physical Theatre, developing a multidisciplinary approach to performance and storytelling. Her theatrical work has taken her onstage and behind the scenes in New York City, California, Louisiana and Alabama, with experience spanning acting, directing, assistant directing, production and stage management.

Those artistic disciplines converge in I Stay With Me, with Gilliam serving simultaneously as playwright and performer and using the freedom of the solo-performance form to move between theatrical storytelling, spoken word, music, memory and reflection.

The Birmingham engagement also arrives at a transitional moment in Gilliam’s own artistic story. Following the performances, she will travel to London to continue her professional acting training at the Giles Foreman Centre for Acting, making I Stay With Me both a reflection on the road behind her and a threshold before whatever comes next.

For audiences drawn to independent theatre, spoken word, live storytelling, original music, solo performance and work that refuses to fit neatly inside a single artistic box, I Stay With Me offers two nights to experience a Birmingham artist telling her story entirely on her own terms.

Because sometimes you don’t have the answers.

Sometimes you don’t know the way.

But wherever life takes you, you stay with you.
PERFORMANCE INFORMATION
I STAY WITH ME
A One-Woman Show Written & Performed by Markeitra “Queen Key” Gilliam

Presented by Birmingham Festival Theatre

September 19 & 20, 2026
7:00 PM
Two Shows • Two Nights

Encore Theatre and Gallery
1604 2nd Avenue North
Birmingham, AL 35203

Tickets:
$15 Advance
$20 At the Door

Hashtag: #IStayWithMe
ABOUT MARKEITRA “QUEEN KEY” GILLIAM
Markeitra “Queen Key” Gilliam is an actor, director, writer, singer, songwriter, poet and theatre artist from New Orleans, Louisiana. She has trained at the University of Alabama at Birmingham and Dell’Arte International School of Physical Theatre and has worked in performance, directing, assistant directing, production and stage management on productions in New York City, California, Louisiana and Alabama.

Her multidisciplinary practice approaches theatre as a place to explore, connect, question and play while telling stories that illuminate our shared humanity. Her original solo work, I Stay With Me, brings those artistic worlds together through theatre, storytelling, poetry, humor and original music.

Following the Birmingham engagement, Gilliam will travel to London to continue her professional acting training at the Giles Foreman Centre for Acting.
MEDIA CONTACT
Rhonda Erbrick
rherbrick@gmail.com