Post-Show chat with THE CHRONICLES OF KALKI team

On Thursday, November 20th, following a performance of THE CHRONICLES OF KALKI, the cast of the show, SHIV director Summer L. Williams, and dramaturgs Ilana Brownstein and Jessie Baxter spoke to the audience about the play and the process of bringing the trilogy to life.

The audience questions ranged from the practical to the abstract – we discussed the logistic of rehearsals and tech for such a complex piece, and everyone shared their thoughts about feeling displaced or outcast themselves and how that impacted their individual process. Stephanie Recio, the actress who played Girl 1, even shared some anecdotes about how her day job working with teens impacted her character work — it turns out she learned a lot from observing her high school students!

Link Roundup! – 1/9/15

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!

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Mona, 28, narrates during a rehearsal of Antigone. "I feel that Antigone resembles me a lot," says the former resident of Damascus and mother of two. Photo by Dalia Khamissy for NPR.

Mona, 28, narrates during a rehearsal of Antigone. “I feel that Antigone resembles me a lot,” says the former resident of Damascus and mother of two. Photo by Dalia Khamissy for NPR.

NPR has a story about a group of Syrian refugee women who are performing an adaptation of Antigone as a form of healing, incorporating their own experiences into the text.

Mona goes on to say she now feels Antigone with her when she’s cooking and cleaning, even in her dreams. Sometimes she feels brave and defiant like the tragic heroine, even if at other moments — like when she’s harassed on the street by men — she is timorous and silent.

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This Illustrated Guide to Superhero Movies that pass the Bechdel Test is the perfect article for anyone who shares our interest in gender parity and general geekery.

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#LinkRoundup! – 12/26/14

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!

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Company One was well represented at last week’s welcome for Julie Burros, Boston’s new chief of arts and culture, hosted by ArtsEmerson. This week, WBUR’s The Artery has a feature about community expectations and hopes for Burros new role.

Julie Burros, fourth from right, with artists at the Susie Smith Gallery (Courtesy of Napolean Jones-Henderson)

Julie Burros, fourth from right, with artists at the Susie Smith Gallery (Courtesy of Napolean Jones-Henderson)

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The Artists Against Police Brutality tumblr has a beautiful and varied collection of artistic responses to recent police violence across the US.

New Age of Slavery by Patrick Campbell, 2014

New Age of Slavery by Patrick Campbell, 2014

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#LinkRoundup! – 12/12/14

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!

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This game is a visual representation of how societies become segregated — try it out and see how bias happens for yourself:

polygons

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This quote from Jacqueline Lawton, recently featured on the Art Works Blog, is right up C1’s alley and is always a great reminder about the importance of art as a tool for social change:

I think of art work as social activism. I live as an artist in the world to tell the stories of people who live on the margins. Our work as artists is to evoke emotion and inspire thought, whether it’s a direct call to action or simply seeing the person next to you who you might have ignored before because they are so different from you.

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This article from The Root examines Boston’s recent outpouring of support for the #BlackLivesMatter movement. It’s an encouraging sign after so many years of racial tension in the city.

Demonstrators chant and hold signs in Boston City Hall Plaza on Dec. 4, 2014. Scott Eisen/Getty Images

Demonstrators chant and hold signs in Boston City Hall Plaza on Dec. 4, 2014.
Scott Eisen/Getty Images

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#LinkRoundup! – 12/5/14

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!

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The diversity building initiatives and programs featured in this Boston Globe article called 12 Ideas for Making Boston More Inclusive are varied and certainly worth reading up on — check out number 11 for a nice shout-out to C1!

Scott Bakal for The Boston Globe

Scott Bakal for The Boston Globe

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This Love Letter to Dramaturgs, penned by playwright Sarah Ruhl, is a good look at the writer’s perspective during the development process:

We need you to be publicly articulate about our plays when we feel dumb about them, so we can do the more private, blunted and blind task of writing. We need you to be as articulate about unconventional structure as you are about conventional structure. We need you to fight the mania for clarity and help create a mania for beauty instead. We need you to ask: is the play too clear? Is it predictable? Is this play big enough? Is it about something that matters?

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#blacklivesmatter: C1 Artists Respond

Since the Ferguson and Eric Garner grand jury decisions this fall, members of the C1 staff and many of our affiliated artists have found various ways to participate in the #blacklivesmatter movement. Whether by joining the protests happening around the country, responding through their art, or posting their perspectives on social media, artists are making their voices heard in important ways. We’ve collected some of those responses and perspectives here – they are an important reminder that the fight for equality and social justice must continue into the new year, and beyond.

Earlier this month, several local performers, including C1 affiliated artist Obehi Janice, organized the Creative Witness rally. Actor Brandon Green performed the piece below at the rally:

 

Post by Micah Eglinton-Woods.

 

Walter Sickert from The Army of Broken Toys, one of our SHOCKHEADED PETER collaborators, posted two images he created on Facebook (click to enlarge):

 

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#LinkRoundup! – 1/2/15

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!

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Over at NPR’s Code Switch blog, Eric Deggans looks at the how the Sony hack revealed Hollywood’s racial bias and looks at representation in films from 2014:

It is, perhaps, the worst nightmare for those of us constantly trying to get a white-dominated Hollywood to widen its doors of opportunity for people of color: All those executives who say the right things in public and give to the right causes, just might think something much less admirable about diversity behind closed doors.

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Kwanzaa ended yesterday, but you can still take this quiz to find out which Kwanzaa principle you are:

Screen Shot 2015-01-02 at 10.54.07 AM

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#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.”