Tag Archives: representation

Link Roundup! – 1/30/15

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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Chenjerai Kumanyika, Photo by Linda Tindal

Chenjerai Kumanyika, Photo by Linda Tindal

Buzzfeed featured a story this week by Chenjerai Kumanyika, a public radio producer, about his struggle to reconcile how his non-white voice sounds compared to other public radio hosts:

As I read the script back to myself while editing, I realized that as I was speaking aloud I was also imagining someone else’s voice saying my piece. The voice I was hearing and gradually beginning to imitate was something in between the voice of 99% Invisible host Roman Mars and Serial host Sarah Koenig.

Those two very different voices have many complex and wonderful qualities and I’m a fan of those shows. They also sound like white people. My natural voice — the voice that I use when I am most comfortable — doesn’t sound like that. Thinking about this, I suddenly became self-conscious about the way that I instinctively alter my voice and way of speaking in certain conversational contexts, and I realized that I didn’t want to do that for my first public radio-style piece.

For another take on public radio voice, last week’s This American Life featured a segment on the various criticism the show’s female reporters receive about their speaking voices.

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This essay from Salon brings up some important factors impacting how creative people get the time and resources to create their work

In my opinion, we do an enormous “let them eat cake” disservice to our community when we obfuscate the circumstances that help us write, publish and in some way succeed. I can’t claim the wealth of the first author (not even close); nor do I have the connections of the second. I don’t have their fame either. But I do have a huge advantage over the writer who is living paycheck to paycheck, or lonely and isolated, or dealing with a medical condition, or working a full-time job.

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Link Roundup! – 1/23/15

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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Moderator Michael John Garces, left, of the Cornerstone Theatre Company and Tim Dang of the East West Players, discussed diversity in theater back in 2013. (Lawrence K. Ho / Los Angeles Times)

Moderator Michael John Garces, left, of the Cornerstone Theatre Company and Tim Dang of the East West Players, discussed diversity in theater back in 2013. (Lawrence K. Ho / Los Angeles Times)

The LA Times has a story about Tim Dang’s initiative to increase diversity in Southern CA theatres:

California already was declared a predominantly minority population in the 2000 census. Yet 75% of theatergoers in the L.A. region are Caucasian, and 80% are of the baby boomer generation or older, according to a study by the nonprofit L.A. Stage Alliance in 2011, the most recent year for which statistics are available.

Dang and his supporters said that if theater companies were more diverse — by age, sex and skin color — the change would have a ripple effect on what plays or musicals were staged, and what audiences they brought.

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This post about “trickle down” community engagement over at the Nonprofit With Balls blog is a very important and interesting read for orgs who care about connecting with under-served communities in an authentic way.:

Look, I’m not saying anyone is intentionally trying to discriminate against certain communities. Everyone is well-intentioned. Diversity, equity, inclusion, and cultural competency have risen to the front of people’s minds. Organizations are scrambling to talk about these issues, to diversify their board, to get community input. That is all great and all, but it has only been leading to marginalized communities being irritated and frustrated. Every single week, we leaders of color get asked to provide input, to join an advisory committee, attend a summit, to fill out a survey. Because of this well-intentioned mandate to engage with communities, we get bombarded with requests to do stuff for free.

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Link Roundup! – 1/16/15

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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Three new reports from the NEA were recently released and explore the relationship between arts and the economy and detail how audiences attend and participate in the arts. Check them out, data nerds!

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Everyday Feminism has a great post about what intersectionality means and why it’s so important. It’s a great tool for anyone wondering how to explain inclusive feminism and apply it day-to-day.

It makes sense in many ways that those of us with identity privilege would have a harder time including in our feminism those who are oppressed. Privilege conceals itself from those who have it, and it’s a lot easier to focus on the ways that we are marginalized or oppressed.

But without an intersectional lens, our movements cannot be truly anti-oppressive because it is not, in fact, possible to tease apart the oppressions that people are experiencing. Racism for women of color cannot be separated from their gendered oppression. A Trans person with a disability cannot choose which part of their identity is most in need of liberation.

Yet there is regularly confusion about what intersectionality really is.

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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:

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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! — 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!

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

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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.

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#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!

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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:

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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.

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Thoroughly Modern Millie Controversy at Local High School

This Boston Globe by Ellen Ishkanian article talks about the controversy surrounding Newton North High School’s production of Thoroughly Modern Millie. Read the article to find out how students, parents, and administration responded to the outcry regarding the show’s racial stereotypes of Asian Americans.

In this Boston Globe article by Don Aucoin, he highlights the issues surrounding producing plays that come from “problematic source material, as in the case of Thoroughly Modern Millie, and says that one of the underlying issues is that older plays haven’t caught up to our increasing diversity. He also highlights our production of Neighbors by Branden Jacobs-Jenkins for using stereotypes to show the racial assumptions we still make in today’s world. Read the article here.

UPDATE:

This column from the Boston Globe talks about high schools feeling fearful of producing certain plays due to content. Read the column here.

In this editorial also from the Boston Globe, the writer talks about how producing controversial plays can prove educational to students. Read the opinion piece here.