Category Archives: In The Intersection

#TBT: Thanksgiving

Today’s ‪#‎tbt‬ (Throwback Thursday) puts us in mind of Kirsten Greenidge’s Season 15 play, SPLENDOR. Amidst the pie and the lighthouses and the waves, we’re also thinking about the complicated history of Thanksgiving. With the verdict from Ferguson and ongoing protests, this week is a contemplative one for the country, and we’re reminded that the arts have a place in the public discourse around challenging social issues.

We’re wishing you each a peaceful and reflective holiday, however you commemorate it.

Here’s some of the reading we’re doing today…

Changing Thanksgiving’s History

“As the greeter at Plimoth Plantation’s Wampanoag Homesite, Bob Charlebois is the first person tourists meet after leaving the visitors’ center and entering the outdoor museum. ‘I’m a spokesman for a whole race of people,’ says the former Mashpee history teacher, an Abenaki Indian from Canada who is in his 10th season as an employee at the popular tourist destination.”

National Day of Mourning Reflects on Thanksgiving’s Horrific, Bloody History

“While families across the country indulge on their Thanskgiving Day feasts, hundreds will gather at Cole’s Hill in Plymouth on Thursday to commemorate a different tradition: the National Day of Mourning. The event, held annually on Thanksgiving, is meant to honor Native American ancestors who died due to the European invasion, and to expose the bloody history behind the November holiday.”

by Bruce McCall/courtesy of THE NEW YORKER

Beneath the Covers: The Real Story Behind The New Yorker’s Thanksgiving/Redskins Cover

“Leave it to a couple of witty immigrants to satirize an NFL team name within the rituals of Thanksgiving in one fell swoop of the brush. On the new cover of The New Yorker magazine (on newsstands today), artist Bruce McCall mashes up the American holiday and the American sport like so much whipped-frenzy potatoes — all made delicious with a sharp, sardonic bite.”

 

#StaffChat: Accessibility in Theatre

Staff chat posts feature articles and news that the C1 team discusses as part of our weekly all-staff meeting. We’d love to hear your thoughts too — hit us up on Facebook or Twitter!

♦♦♦♦♦

Believe it or not, the C1 team is already gearing up for our upcoming summer show, COLOSSAL by Andrew Hinderaker! To prep for our early conversations about the play, we’ve been looking for resources about accessibility. It’s important for all of us to feel comfortable with the language we’re using as we head into the audition, workshop, and production process for the play. This week, the staff is looking at a few articles and tips for interacting with people with physical disabilities:

One thing that’s key is making sure you’re using person-first language — language that puts the focus on the individual, rather than on a disability. Here’s a helpful chart!

 

Screen Shot 2014-11-26 at 5.55.20 PM

As Zachary Fenell, the author of this article from Huffington Post writes:

No matter the word you use, aim to showcase the person. Ideally a person’s name will always come before his or her condition. So I’m Zachary Fenell, an author with cerebral palsy. Not, an author with cerebral palsy, Zachary Fenell. Introducing name first, condition second will maintain a person-first narrative.

11-27CATA_standard_600x400

Margaret Keller (l), executive director of Community Access to the Arts, applauds along with teachers and students after a poetry reading in Pittsfield, Mass. last July. CATA provides access to visual and performance arts to people with disabilities

Continue reading →

#LinkRoundup! — 11/21/14

Link Roundups feature articles and bits of internet goodness that our dramaturgy team digs up. If you find something you want to send our way, drop us a line on Facebook or Twitter!

♦♦♦♦♦

Toni Morrison appeared on an episode of The Colbert Report this week and shared some lovely perspective about why she writes the kind of stories she does:

You know, I thought everything in the world that I wanted to read had been written. And then in my 30s, I wanted something else. I wanted to show how painful this constructed, horrible racism was on the most vulnerable people in the society – girls, black girls, poor girls – and that it really and truly can hurt you, so that’s what I was looking for. And no one, I thought, had written that book. So since I really wanted to read it, I thought I should write it.

You can view the full interview below:

♦♦♦♦♦

This week, HowlRound is featuring a fabulous series on ensemble theatre, curated by Boston artist Meg Taintor. Continue reading →

#LinkRoundup! — 11/14/14

Link Roundups feature articles and bits of internet goodness that our dramaturgy team digs up. If you find something you want to send our way, drop us a line on Facebook or Twitter!

♦♦♦♦♦

Definitely check out this awesome post from author and illustrator MariNaomi:

longform-original-2263-1415111992-10

♦♦♦♦♦

The Clyde Fitch Report has this important reminder about the class and economic factors at play in the development of young artists:

It begins in high school. If you are fortunate enough to grow up in a wealthy suburb, you are likely to have the benefit of a drama teacher (or two) at your school and a well-financed and active drama program where you can begin to develop your talents and gain experience in front of an audience. If your parents are wealthy enough, they will notice your theatrical interests and send you off to drama summer camps for further arts training, and perhaps they will pull whatever strings are necessary to get you enrolled in a high school of performing arts, where you will receive more attention, more training and more experience.

Continue reading →

#StaffChat: Supporting Arts Education

Staff Chat posts feature articles and news that the C1 team discusses as part of our weekly all-staff meeting. We’d love to hear your thoughts, too — hit us up on Facebook or Twitter!

♦♦♦♦♦

Kristen Engebretsen, arts education program manager for Americans for the Arts, wrote an article about ways to support arts education for ArtsBlog that was recently posted by The Alliance for Student Activities:

C1’s educational programs are a huge part of the company’s mission, so this issue is near and dear to our hearts. We are passionate about our Stage One and Apprentice programs, and always looking for ways to increase the visibility of the work our students are doing. This article is a good reminder to think about how we can ensure the future success of our educational programming and initiatives, and a solid resource for anyone who is passionate about keeping the arts in our schools.

Here are a few suggestions from the article that especially stick out: Continue reading →

#LinkRoundup! — 11/5/14

Link Roundups feature articles and bits of internet goodness that our dramaturgy team digs up. If you find something you want to send our way, drop us a line on Facebook or Twitter!

♦♦♦♦♦

We recently featured Indian-American comic Hari Kondabolu over on our Displaced Hindu Gods production blog, but it’s worth watching the other three performers profiled in the NYT Off Color video series:

abg

The four-part series delves into the personal and political goals and motivations of artists of color who use humor to directly and acutely address issues of race in the United States. It is enthralling to hear these provocative artists overtly explain the social injustices that inspire them to be not just artists who can make people laugh, but activists who can make people think.

Continue reading →

Rock the Vote this Tuesday!

WBUR’s The Artery ran an article this week detailing the arts policies of gubernatorial candidates Martha Coakley and Charlie Baker. It’s a great read, and definitely worth checking out before you get to the polls on Tuesday — you can read it HERE.

Support for arts and culture in Massachusetts is not in danger. But it is by no means robust, according to Grogan. Boston Foundation studies have shown that Massachusetts lags behind other states in allocating critical resources—such as funds for arts education and capital improvements—to the arts sector. “There’s a need for strong and effective statewide advocacy,” he said, “because the arts are still an easy thing to cut.”

MASSCreative also detailed both candidates’ platforms if you want a bullet point rundown — here’s Coakley and here’s Baker.

Mass. Republican nominee for governor Charlie Baker, left, shakes hands with Democratic nominee Martha Coakley following a candidates forum (AP Photo/Charles Krupa)

Mass. Republican nominee for governor Charlie Baker, left, shakes hands with Democratic nominee Martha Coakley following a candidates forum (AP Photo/Charles Krupa)

And while you’re reading up on arts policy, why not check out this Boston.com article for a run down of the ballot questions too!

Happy voting!

Company One & IDEAS UMass Boston

Last Wednesday, Company One Theatre was one of 11 speakers at the 2014 IDEAS UMass Boston conference, an “event where some of the the region’s leading thinkers from every imaginable sector push boundaries and share their latest big ideas to create fertile ground for innovation.” Learn more about the history and mission of the IDEAS conference here.

Below, find the speech that C1’s Director of New Work, Ilana Brownstein, delivered. It was followed by a performance excerpt from BRAHMAN/I: A ONE-HIJRA STAND-UP COMEDY SHOW by Aditi Brennan Kapil, part of THE DISPLACED HINDU GODS TRILOGY, currently in production until Nov 22.

♦♦♦♦♦

Thank you so much for having us here this afternoon. My name is Ilana Brownstein, and I’m the Director of New Work at Company One Theatre, in residence at the Boston Center for the Arts in the South End. This season, we’re 16 years old. We were founded by graduates of Clark University who took the school’s motto to heart: “Challenge convention. Change our world.”

Continue reading →

#StaffChat: Envisioning Boston’s Cultural Future

Staff Chat posts feature articles and news that the C1 team discusses as part of our weekly all-staff meeting. We’d love to hear your thoughts, too — hit us up here in the comments, or on Facebook and Twitter!

♦♦♦♦♦

While C1 was busy opening our Displaced Hindu Gods Trilogy by Aditi Kapil over the past few weeks, some exciting announcements about the state of Boston’s cultural community were released. The staff is reading a few articles this week to catch up on the news – check out the links below:

Greenway

“Seven Moon Junction” by Shinique Smith, the Greenway Wall in Dewey Square

Continue reading →