We will soon be making our way back to the theatre, after a year of pause and reckoning.
With an unexpected, extended time away from the theatre, our community was provided with the opportunity to reflect on where we are and how to move forward. We hope it will not be the same theatre as we knew it. There is still work to be done.
With an unexpected, extended time away from the theatre, our community was provided with the opportunity to reflect on where we are and how to move forward. We hope it will not be the same theatre as we knew it. There is still work to be done.
What is Community in Conversation?
To continue this work of recalibration, we present to you Community in Conversation, our effort to break the silos of the audience, the artists, and the space, by engaging in prefigurative conversations with the old and new generations of our diverse artistic community. We aim to focus on the future of the performance space and how we hope to transform it. We hope to capture the socio-political landscape of our industry and take advantage of the global online community. We will elevate our relationships as we’ve learned they are not often on the same plane as the product. We will talk “with” our community, rather than “at” our community, as we are all learning.
Our episodes will include topics such as the future of the theater industry, the existential question of why we do theater, anti-racism and solidarity among BIPOC communities, dismantling anti-blackness in diversity conversations, theatre with a political agenda, & theatre as community care, the happiness and well-being of the artists, creation methods that challenge capitalistic structures, and many more.
Episode 1
In our first episode of Community in Conversation, we discuss “how do we return to the theatre?” Focusing on what we’d like to keep from pre-pandemic theatre, and what we’d like to get rid of. We discuss the artist’s requests, and the toxicity we’ve faced in pre-pandemic theatre.
Episode 2
In this episode we are joined by Abigail C. Onwunali & Ashley M. Thomas to discuss antiracism in the theatre industry, anti-Blackness, code-switching, solidarity, & dismantling the foundation of supremacy that is embedded in theater and performance.
Episode 3
In Episode 3, we daydream about the future of theatre with Claire Aldridge & Ken Yoshikawa, two artists local to Portland, Oregon. We discuss how performance art & theatre have adapted & evolved over the pandemic, what we’re looking forward to creating as we move forward, and how we can more intentionally build community with our work.
