In order to avoid the spread of COVID-19 and prioritize the health of our patrons, artists, and staff, we made the call to cancel our New York production of Noah Diaz's Richard & Jane & Dick & Sally. We are proud & thankful that we co-produced the show with Baltimore Center Stage in Baltimore.
Yes, IRL gathering is limited BUT that doesn't stop us from getting creative in bringing the play to you as much as we can, wherever you are 💌 So we wanted to share this interview with Noah Diaz, who is a Page One Playwright and beloved Realm Fam member 🙂
What inspired you to write this play?
The boring answer is my grandmother’s death, but I think it’s the true answer too. I wasn’t particularly close with her, so watching her slowly die over a three-week period allowed me a bird’s-eye view of how cyclical grief can be without becoming mired in it myself. I watched my family say goodbye over and over again, and I think every goodbye granted me a little more distance so I could write the play.
Your play's characters share names with those of the Dick & Jane books, but they look and talk very differently, and deal with considerably different issues. Why did you choose those characters to tell this story?
In the final years of my time as an undergrad, I worked as a sign language interpreter for deaf students in a handful of different middle schools throughout the region. Many of the students (few of whom were white) were required to take speech therapy lessons that I would then be required to interpret. The speech therapist frequently used early childhood primers as the texts for the students to practice with, and more often than not, it would be the Dick and Jane books themselves. This was striking to me for two reasons: one, these books used to amplify and improve one language (English) were actually suppressing another (American Sign Language); and two, these books featuring a white nuclear family were the only portal for these students of color to understand what’s “universal.” That experience became the first seed of my play.
This play is produced in partnership with The Sol Project, whose mission is to "amplify Latinx voices" to create "create a bold, powerful, and kaleidoscopic body of work for the new American theater." As part of that movement, what are your hopes for the future of Latinx theater?
My hope that our stories can transcend our bodies and our skin—if we want them to. I’ve taken a lot of heat over the years by those who don’t see my work as doing an immediate and explicit service to Latinidad and my hope is that a new and generous understanding of what it means to be Latinx can be cultivated, so as to allow artists to create the kind of work that speaks to them, and more importantly, for them.
This month’s Values Discussion was all about Artist Income! It was led by our General Management Associate Mona Moriya who, in addition to her admin job, is also an actress. She is a former member of an unpaid acting company, so she is extra interested in this topic!
Here’s our reading list:
1. “How Theatre Work Adds Up” - American Theatre Magazine
In this article, we are shown the real numbers of 5 theatre freelancers’ income and expenses for one year.
2. “Paying Theater Artists Fair Wages is Hard. But Why Do We Consider It Optional?” - City Arts Magazine
This article talks about how paying artists fairly needs to be a priority, as opposed to being optional.
3. “Love or Money: How About Both?” - American Theatre Magazine
This piece discusses some U.S. theatres that are making fair compensation central to their mission.
Here are the discussion questions:
1. If/when you’ve been in charge of or a part of a decision to pay artists and employees, have you ever struggled to decide whether or not to compensate them fairly and how?
2. For a lot of institutions and folks who are self-producing, historically, paying actors has been lower on the priority list than paying anyone else who is a part of the production (designers, crew, director, etc). Why do you think that is?
3. If a company says they value equality and inclusion, what does it mean when they offer an unpaid role?
#talkbacktuesday: Roberta Pereira, Producing Director
#talkbacktuesday is back! For our production of Anna Moench's Mothers, we've decided to switch it up and partnered with Parent Artist Advocacy League (PAAL) Founder Rachel Spencer Hewitt, who'll be conducting interviews with the parents and caregivers working in the production, talking about the specific challenges they've faced in the field. Today we feature our Producing Director Roberta Pereira (pictured above with her Jr. Producing Director and 1.5-year-old baby daughter Bianca)!
This interview is also available on the PAAL Podcast!
Rachel: Roberta and I have had the privilege of working together on the Radical Parent Inclusion Project at The Playwrights Realm for Mothers. We also have a childcare matinee on October 5th in partnership with Broadway Babysitters.
Roberta, I’m so excited to be talking to you! I would love to hear about how this idea came up for you, that moment of inception when it clicked for you personally, “I want to institutionalize this. I want to make it formal.”
Roberta: For me, this really came about when I became a parent, almost two years ago now. I have always been a pretty active speaker for a lot of different theater events, and I started getting invited to participate in panels around parents and the arts. And so, the first one that I put together was a panel at BroadwayCon, and then at the TCG fall forum which you, Rachel, invited me and we did together, and I just started hearing from a lot of freelance artists about some of their challenges. And of course I was facing challenges as a new mom, and especially as a solo mom, but you know my job as producing director of The Playwrights Realm – I have a salary, I have health insurance fully paid by the Realm, and also because I'm one of the people who run the organization, I have a certain amount of flexibility in my schedule. So there are a lot of things that make this job a good fit for a parent. Then I just started hearing all these stories about artists - really, horror stories about, you know, them having to basically hide a part of themselves. I am a big champion that art is better when everybody can participate. I've been doing a lot of work with including more people of color in theater, and I started thinking about how “everybody” should include parents and caretakers too, and what could we as an organization - as an organization that really champions artists - and me personally do about it. So that's when I started having this idea - what if we did a production process Off-Broadway that was radically inclusive to parents and what would that mean. And really, I'm not a big fan of doing things just because that's the way things have always been done. I love thinking about things in a different way and looking at it differently. And this was an opportunity for that. I said, what if we looked at everything, nothing is off the table, and just really be creative about it, and start from that point as opposed to the point of "let's make parents fit in this process" - but "let's make the process fit for parents."
Rachel: Absolutely. I think that that personal insight, that empathy is so key in creating access. Because you had some advantages, you had some obstacles, but it was about you hearing what the obstacles were outside of your scope of discipline - and then you had the power to create change for that. That's a testament to your leadership style that doesn't get talked about enough, which is the power of empathy, in the end, the activities that you ask people to engage in, which is so awesome. I have loved working with you on this project. We've been we've been talking about it since the TCG Fall Forum, but we've been really been down in the dirt with it all since February. This has been an extended process. I would love to know, in terms of the preproduction and the planning, what surprised you the most?
Roberta: It surprised me that we made a very conscious decision of being very forward about trying to hire as many parents as possible, and one thing that became clear is that parent artists book their schedules way further in advance - even further than the non-parent-artists. I haven't done a scientific study of this, but if I had to compare, I would say, generally speaking, the parent artists have to figure out their lives far further in advance than the non-parents. Now it seems obvious, but at the time I was like - "wow, I didn't think that was gonna be a challenge."
Rachel: Right. It would be a difficult one to anticipate, I think, because it's so part of the nuance of scheduling outside of production. It’s part of the freelance artist life before they meet your production. It is a weird thing, I think, for a producer to anticipate, but so cool that we discovered that. I remember you saying, “Oh wow the whole list of individuals I want to ask. They were pretty booked,” and that’s a wonderful thing, and it makes the planning process significant in terms of things that have worked really well. What was something you planned in the budget where were you thought, "I did that well. That's something that I want to see happen again?"
Roberta: I actually think that the main thing that worked well is - and this is completely how we do things at The Realm - we give our playwrights the support they individually need. Different playwrights have very different needs, very different kinds of support. So, a lot of times this has been a challenge with my job because I'm budgeting without knowing what we're going to need. Sometimes, I make educated guesses, but I also try to leave as much flexibility as possible for us to be able to move things around and say, we had a situation, for example, some years ago that a playwright's computer died, and then she came to us and she said, “oh, I would love to use some of my funds to buy a new computer.” And I didn't have a line item for “new computer” but I had a line for professional development or whatever, so then I was like, “Great, we can use that!” You know, having that kind of flexibility. And so, in this case, that was the thing from the beginning. You and I were very clear about the fact that we didn't know. I mean, “parents and caregivers,” that's a pretty big category, right? Different parents and caregivers have totally different needs. So I put together a sample budget of what we thought we were going to be doing, but there was a big amount of flexibility in it. As we put together the team, and we discovered their needs, we were able to move those funds as necessary - and this still happening. For example, as our childcare matinee gets more and more popular every day, which is amazing - but it means that we need more support there, because we need more caregiver sitters. So allowing for flexibility was something that was very necessary in this process. And honestly, I think in any process with parents and caregivers, because the needs are vastly different.
Rachel: Yes, and we have been in touch with this a lot. In the PAAL resources we say, “this is not a prescriptive understanding,” that there are a plethora of ways to help parent artists. It's going to be about listening to what that individual needs and having a vocabulary of possible supportive measures. Then, the question becomes, what do you do when that person needs that specific kind of access? Something that I did learn from you while we were having this conversation, and seeing you interact with the different individuals in your theater, and that you do this so well, is that you also have the support of your staff and what seems like great support from your board. You as a leader have set a tone of “this is what we say yes to. We say yes to the person. This is our budget, it’s flexible, and you can trust me with it because I know how to do my job.” I would love to hear more on that part of the perspective for you and how you set up the work culture for those around you to embrace when this opportunity came along. I’m sure people were surprised by the details of it, because everyone is learning on this process, but everybody seems to embrace that “this is who we're accepting, and this is who we're bringing in.” What aspect do you think went into those conversations - in the work culture and values - that really primed for this to be possible at The Realm?
Roberta: Yeah, I think, especially since I've come here (I've been here for four years now) we have been a lot more transparent and vocal about our values of being an organization that embraces, for example, equity, anti-discrimination, anti-racism, and so on. And I try to make these values very encompassing. As I said, this is a belief of mine - that I do think that art should be welcoming to everybody and everybody should feel like it's theirs as well. And so, this is just part of it. I will say, though, that the session that we did with you that was about empathy, specifically, with the staff - because I'm the only person on the staff right now that has a child, and there are nine of us here in the office - that session was really wonderful, because we've talked about it later to apply to other subjects. So we’ll say, “oh yeah, it’s like when Rachel talked about empathy.” I think it has helped us serve artists better, not just parents artists - artists in general, just thinking about this. I made a little note from your talk that is now how we make decisions: “Is it legal, is it ethical, is compassionate?” And I have it literally on my desk. I’m looking at it right now, because I think that's a very interesting framework. And as I said, it fits nicely already with the culture of what we do here and really being led by our values and then going back to what you said. I think that the reason why it works so well is because I think that the values of the organization mirror a lot of the values of the people within the organization. Everybody here on our staff really believes in these values, and so they want to work harder for them.
Rachel: I was really very moved. I knew that you were the only parent when I came in and mentioned to you that I would like to do PAAL’s Compassion Training. And when we did that session, I was so moved by how engaged everyone was. They were so honest and transparent and wanting to learn. I think it's also important to say that part of that training was also for us to come to them and say, “you know, in all honesty, this is not supposed to feel comfortable or perfect all the time. We're about to engage in something that is going to have its obstacles and its upsets.” And I think that that was an important and a really valuable point that you were willing to lead with as well with your team. You’ve said to me multiple times, “this is part of the learning process, and this is how we take care of it.” It's just been really encouraging. So that said, now that we've prepped everyone with the process that went into it, could you tell me about the play and how it hits those who will be talking about it an hour later. I would love to hear about why you like this play - Mothers - because it's different than just like your typical mom play and I'd like to hear your thoughts on it!
Roberta: Well, that's honestly one of the things that I love the most about it. When I had this idea to do this parenting thing, I knew that I wanted to do it connected to a play that was written by a parent, probably a mother. So we were kind of waiting for the perfect play, and what I loved about [Mothers] is how dark it is. It's so unexpected. Especially when you hear the origin story of the play, which I'm sure we'll talk to you about more, [Anna Moench, the playwright] was a new mom and thinking about these things that were so huge. And this is how she dealt with it. It's awesome. I actually I have this dream - I really want somebody to ask me to write an essay about mothers who write horror stories, because I've always been a big fan of Mary Shelley, and I don't know if you know this, but she wrote Frankenstein partially based on the experience of having her daughter. And when you read Frankenstein you're like "I completely understand how a mother wrote this." And I actually think Mothers is like Frankenstein. That’s my big thing. I think that there is a special kind of horror that you start experiencing when you become a mother because suddenly the worst case scenario becomes much worse. And suddenly you're imagining all these things that can happen. It's not just about you anymore, and I really appreciate the mothers that are able to put that out there and share that. So, that's what I really like about the play, and I think some people will be shocked by it. I think that some people will see it’s very unexpected what they think they're coming into. But I kind of like that. I think theater should kind of rock you a little bit. You know, if you're too comfortable and you forget about the show by the time you get dinner afterward, what's the point? That's what I think is so exciting about it. It's how unexpected it is.
Rachel: Wow! I knew the connection with Mary Shelley but to hear you connect it to this piece - and knowing Mothers, it's so true - there's kind of a revolutionary act in shaking up the mother image, and often the truth is it that - when it happens - there's also a monster experience that happens in your body, around your body, and the world becomes a bit like a dream - almost a nightmare sometimes. I really see that connection now with the world shifting on us, and sometimes embracing that darkness is what's telling the deepest truths.
Roberta: And all of this is still in the “best case scenario,” right? We're talking about moms that still have a home and still have a network of support and all of that.
Rachel: Right - this darkness is the privileged version.
Roberta: Right. Exactly. And this is where the privilege comes in, and this is the part that I think is interesting, is that in [Mothers], essentially what Anna has done is she removed the privilege from these women who have lots of privilege (well, not all of them, but most of them). So I think that that's what's interesting too. When it’s just you and your kid, what kind of person are you going to be?
Rachel: Right. Who do you become?
Roberta: I will say this, when I read the play, there's all these horrible things that happen, but it's even more horrific watching. I was like wow, it's pretty intense. So, I also will say that I don't think the play will be for everyone. In fact, there is a friend of mine who's a new mom, and I said, “honestly, I don't think you should see it. Yeah, I think you're going to have nightmares about it.”
Rachel: So, it's a simultaneous appreciation - that there's a piece that's going to go there and really put some awe and violence up on the stage through the vehicle of motherhood.
Roberta: And when we talked about the origin story of this, I do think it really challenges our understanding of identity as parents and society and what is stability and what is a good mom. These are questions that this play kind of rips to shreds, sometimes almost literally. And it’s also not for the faint of heart.
Rachel: Tell me more about what you hope people walk away with when they see this piece. What's the next conversation piece or question you want someone to ask themselves, even if it's just a single line?
Roberta: I think that this [play] is for everybody - not just for parents. I think that this is the kind of show that makes you think about, “what if I was put in a similar situation” - and it’s not so absurd. There are people around the world that are going through similar situations there. And we hear awful things happen in this country. “What would be my last thought?” We were just having a conversation in tech yesterday with the actors about this, about when an event happens, like what each character’s “last thought” that goes through the brain? I think that that's an interesting conversation to have, because I feel, in a way, that's when you find out who you really are. When everything else is kind of ripped away, what is the essence - what is like the core of it. I am really interested in that conversation. I also think this show is a dystopian thing, like Margaret Atwood, in that world, you know what I mean. I think that's interesting because it's like it sometimes doesn't feel as far from my world as I wish it would feel.
Rachel: I love that you mentioned, “It's not so absurd,” because in the comfort of the theater seats it's going to feel like a wild ride, but when we really take a look at it - like you're saying - there are nightmares happening every day that reflect what happens on the stage, and to a certain extent, I'm of the persuasion that part of our role is to present the challenge of who we would be in those situations – but that, in a way, feels absurd when we initially engage with it. The more we embrace it and suspend our disbelief, the more I think we'll start to see the similarities and the parallels with the kind of the horrors that are happening around the world and increase what we talked about earlier - that empathy. I'm really excited to see how audiences answer that question, “who would I be if that happened?” I would love to hear what you hope to take forward with you. I know that you're still early days with getting [the play] in the space and still early days with supporting the artists. What is one of the best areas of support or ways that you supported these individuals and parents and caregivers, and what do you hope to continue and take with you through other productions that you can share now?
Roberta: Part of what we have at our first rehearsal is that we talk a little bit about our values with the artists, and we're always fine-tuning that. And part of that conversation is going to be also that “we acknowledge that parenting and caretaking as an extra burden that can be placed on artists, so if there's anything we can do about it let us know,” because the thing that's amazing that I found in this production - that I have not had in other productions - is that people feel so free to talk about the challenges with their kids. I've been in tech a lot, and I've been hearing a parent talk about her daughter who wanted to quit karate or something, and then you and I dealing with another parent who's having childcare challenges and just trying to figure out how to work it out, and I was having a conversation yesterday with Anna, Robert [Ross Parker, director], and Shane [Rettig, sound design] about our children wanting to hurt us. I like that it was a normal conversation, but I was also thinking, “wow this is so cool. It's just like everybody feels it's OK to bring this part of yourself.” I feel like with parents there's a lot of shame. Even if people know you're a parent, you feel like you shouldn't call attention to it, you know? And I think, why not? Why? This a big part of my life. If I can't talk about this, I don't have much to talk about. That mentality would be the one thing I wanna take with me: making parent-artists feel comfortable. I want them to know that the door is open, and I want us to be the first ones to say "we're here for you to talk about it," so they don't feel like they're approaching this closed door.
Rachel: Yes. That's genius. When I spoke with one of the researchers on the Wellesley Centers for Women study on Women Leadership in Resident Theatres, I asked her - and I mention this in a lot of interviews - “What do you recommend leaders do? What is the first thing that they can do?” And she said, “the first thing that any leadership can do is take the obligation of initiating conversation off the vulnerable individual who's been hired, or thinking about getting hired, and put it on the institution's obligation to start the conversation by saying we support you, what do you need?” and to ask it of all genders, all disciplines, so that there's no discrimination that can sometimes sneak in there. And so, your intuition in taking that principle and “saying this has changed our work culture” makes a difference. I agree. I think that I have seen more freedom and dialogue from parents engaging with you and with us on this process than I've seen in most of my interviews across the country, and their ability to come to you and say, “hey, this is a difficulty” and know that you're going to look them in the eye - that they still get to be dignified - and you will say, “well, let's see what we can do” can be life-changing, career-changing.
Roberta: You know, it is more work at some point, because it's like, “oh my God, I have to figure this puzzle piece out,” right? But I would rather, as I said, have somebody feel like they have our support. And sometimes, it has happened, that we have gone to people, and I said, “listen, we can help you in this way, but we can't help you in that way” because at the same time that part of my job is still trying to support everybody, we also have this amazing play that we're putting on, and I want to make sure that I keep the integrity of that, for the playwright as well. So balancing those things can be challenging, but I feel like that's just my job.
Rachel: Yes, well, I think you do it very well. And I know this is just the beginning of some really, really exciting access that you're helping pave the way - publicly - which is part of what makes it so radical. Could you please let us know now how people can get tickets and when the show is going up for those who are ready can dive into the new Frankenstein of motherhood?
Roberta: Yes! They can get tickets here, it’s playing right now through October 12th at the Duke on 42nd Street.
Rachel: Beautiful. Thank you so much. I cannot wait to see how it evolves throughout this process and everything that we learn. I appreciate it!
Americans can travel to 177 countries in the world1 (out of 218) without applying for a visa in advance. In contrast, America only allows citizens from 382 countries to travel to the United States without applying for a Visa—30 of those 38 are European countries. For citizens from the vast majority of countries on Earth, the process for acquiring a visa to come to America is quite onerous and unpredictable.
Applicants must:
Fill out 40 pages of an application (DS-160, available at travel.state.gov)
Take a picture with the following specifications:
Taken within the last 6 months.
In color, with no shadows, on a plain white background.
Without any worn electronic devices. Except for essential devices such as hearing aids.
The US visa photo size must be 2 x 2 inches (51 x 51 mm).
One must be facing the camera, with a neutral expression and both eyes open.
One cannot wear a uniform. Religious clothing worn daily is allowed. The head must not be covered, unless the person wears a headdress for religious purposes. The full face must be visible.
One must not wear eyeglasses. If there is a medical necessity (for example, the person has had an eye surgery lately), a statement from a doctor must be provided.
Sized in a way that the head is between 1 and 1 3/8 inches (22 mm and 35 mm) or 50% and 69% of the image’s total height from the bottom of the chin to the top of the head.
Pay a non-refundable visa fee (in the case of a B1/2 category, visitor non-immigrant visa, $160) regardless of the outcome of the application.
Convince the consular officer that they are not traveling to the US with ill intentions or to live there illegally. The applicant has to provide other supporting documents including but not limited to:
Invitation Letter
Financial documents like bank statements for last 3-6 months, salary slips for last 3 months (if employed), Company/Organization returns if self-employed
Proof of strong ties to home country. For example, proof of ownership of property, marriage certificate if married, children’s birth certificates if any.
Proof of where they are going to stay (Hotel, or physical address of host)
After going through the entire process and gathering all these materials, many applicants are still denied a non-immigrant US Visa. Typically, applicants who are denied a Visa can try applying again, but they cannot appeal; they must start the process over with new paperwork and a new application fee.
In many parts of the “developing” world, the number of US non-immigrant visas issued is minuscule. For example, in Togo, Senegal, and The Central African Republic, the refusal rate for visa applicants in 2017 were all above 50%3. In total for those four countries in 2017, only 7,453 people were given Visas4.
In contrast, Americans have a very different interaction with these foreign countries; they don’t have to set foot in an embassy or even apply for a visa. They just book their flights and arrive secure in the knowledge that they are welcome.
Sources:
1“Here Are the Countries U.S. Citizens Can Visit Without a Visa” (lifehacker.com)
2“Visa requirements for United States citizens” (en.wikipedia.org)
3“Adjusted Refusal Rate - B-Visas Only By Nationality - Fiscal Year 2017”
(travel.state.gov)
4”FY 2017 Nonimmigrant Visas Issued” (travel.state.gov)
Appointment with gOD: A letter from the playwright
In a place of worship, everything feels sacred, holy and set apart. The rituals and interactions that happen there are revered by those who partake in them. In such a place, hope and faith are exercised, belief that there is a higher being listening to prayers, and supplications is at the centre of worship.
After September 11th the world changed tremendously. The way we move changed. The way we pack our luggage changed. The way we present ourselves publicly changed. What we once considered private has become public. In our daily interactions, we are suspicious of the other. We harden ourselves and close off any avenues for empathy and compassion. We are afraid and even resentful of anyone who looks different from us. We don’t see us in the other. We see past the other. Fear.
At a United States Embassy in a “developing country,” fear and anxiety cut the air. Silent prayers are too loud for unwilling ears. Breaths–deep, loud and soft–disappear in the wind. The unseen presence of a powerful being, a being that holds visa applicants’ futures in their hands makes the place feel sacred, holy and set apart. It is a temple. Are the visa applicants here to meet god? Are their lives going to be any better after this appointment with god?
Born in South Western Uganda, Asiimwe Deborah Kawe is an award-winning playwright, producer and performer. Founder of Tebere Arts Foundation, which co-curates and co-produces Kampala International Theatre Festival, Asiimwe has worked with Sundance Institute leading the East Africa initiative for 6 years. She received a B. A. in Theatre at Makerere University - Uganda, and an M.F.A. in Writing for Performance from CalArts. Recent plays include: Red Hills, Will Smith Look Alike, Cooking Oil, Appointment with gOD, to mention but a few. Asiimwe has been a writing fellow at the Akademie Schloss Solitude, and a guest lecturer/artist at Pomona College.
Block Association Project: the play that starts online
As part of our #BeyondTheStage programming of Michael Yates Crowley and Wolf359's "Block Association Project," we sat down with the team to discuss how they created an immersive experience that starts the moment patrons buy a ticket.
Step 1: the software defines and creates the email address for each character in the show.
What is Wolf 359?
Wolf 359 is a New York City-based company of narrative technologists that worked collaboratively to create tonight’s show under the auspices of The Playwrights Realm. Besides Michael Yates Crowley and Michael Rau, its founding members, the Wolf 359 team includes Chas Carey, Sara Walsh, and Asa Wember. Since the company’s founding in 2007, Wolf 359 work has been shown in Berlin, Dublin, Edinburgh, Chicago, and many other cities and city-states.
Step 2: this script tells the software when to send each message – getting the order right is crucial to the story!
How did Block Association Project come to life?
Even before the story was written, the team knew that they wanted the audience to be involved in the narrative from the moment they reserved their seats. Texts, e-mails, social media posts – patrons should go through an experience as close as possible to that of joining a real-life block
association (which the playwright actually did).
The challenge: how to send hundreds of messages, in the right order, and handle whatever responses came in from audience members, without having a full-time staff on board? The team turned to a piece of custom-written software created by Michael Rau, repurposed from code he’d written for an earlier Wolf 359 project (Temping, which was performed at Lincoln Center).
Once patrons made a reservation, they got a form to fill out with their contact information, which was in turn fed to the software. Once deployed, the technology started sending out messages, making sure the story was told in a cohesive manner.
While this is only part of the piece (and the team wanted people to be able to enjoy the show regardless of their previous interactions), it opens a very exciting path for live performance– one that’s not tied to a stage.
Putting together a piece of interactive theater is not easy, and requires more than a playwright and a director - in this case, it required the company they founded together, Wolf 359.
Step 3: the server stays active throughout, making sure to keep the show online and all communications flowing.
Block Association Project: a letter from the creators
When does a play begin?
Does it begin when the lights go up? When the curtain opens? When you enter the theater?
What if it began before that, when you left the house? Or when you got up that morning? Or when you bought the ticket?
These are the questions we began with, when we started Block Association Project. Our goal, in this and in our past work, is to expand the theatrical moment. We use technology to tell stories in new ways, and we use live theater to do what technology can’t: put us in a room of strangers, breathing the same air, listening to the same voices, for a few brief moments, together.
The story we’re telling in this project is one about community: what makes a community, and what breaks it. We chose the block association because it’s one of the few communities that, at times, cuts across lines of age, class, race, and gender. In other words, it’s a place of hope for forging stronger connections among us. And, at the same time, a symbol of the way strengthening some connections can mean cutting off others.
This project is still in its early stages. We invite you to join our block association, meet your new neighbors, and participate in this community we’re building.
Michael Yates Crowley’s works for theater include The Rape of the Sabine Women, by Grace B Matthias (Playwrights Realm at The Duke on 42nd Street); Gunplay: A Love Story (developed at NYTW and Ars Nova); Song of a Convalescent Ayn Rand Giving Thanks to the Godhead (American Repertory Theater, Joe’s Pub); temping (premiered at the 53rd New York Film Festival, A.R.T.); Evanston: A Rare Comedy (2013 O’Neill NPC selection); and The Ted Haggard Monologues (published by S. Fischer Verlag; filmed by HBO). He is a member of Ars Nova’s Play Group, a former NYFA Playwriting fellow and member of the Soho Rep Writer/Director Lab, and a graduate of the Lila Acheson Wallace Playwrights Program at Juilliard. Together with the director Michael Rau, he founded the narrative technology company Wolf 359.
Michael Rau is a director specializing in new plays, opera, and digital media projects. He has worked internationally in Germany, Brazil, the UK, Ireland, and the Czech Republic. He has created work at Lincoln Center, The Public Theater, and Ars Nova. Regionally, his work has been performed at A.R.T. in Cambridge MA and he has developed new plays at the O’Neill National Playwrights Conference and the Kennedy Center. He has served an assistant director for Anne Bogart, Les Waters, and Ivo Van Hove. He is a New York Theater Workshop Usual Suspect and a professor of directing at Stanford University.
As part of our #BeyondTheStage exploration of Nia Witherspoon’s “Witness,” we’re sharing the research done by the show’s creators into the experience of Black Women in this world (and beyond):
#SayHerName
Launched in 2014 by the African American Policy Forum (AAPF) and Center for Intersectionality and Social Policy Studies (CISPS) at Columbia University, the #SayHerName campaign aims to bring awareness to the names and stories of Black women and girls who have been victimized by racist police violence and to provide support to their families.
In a report entitled “Say Her Name: Resisting Police Brutality Against Black Women,” the founders outlined the goals and objectives of the #SayHerName movement. The report provides an analytical framework for understanding black women’s susceptibility to police brutality and state-sanctioned violence, and it also offers some suggestions on how to effectively mobilize various communities and empower them to advocate for racial justice. 1
SAY THEIR NAMES: ALBERTA SPRUILL • REKIA BOYD • SHANTEL DAVIS • SHELLEY FREY • KAYLA MOORE • KYAM LIVINGSTON • MIRIAM CAREY •
MICHELLE CUSSEAUX • TANISHA ANDERSON
According to Michelle S. Jacobs, Professor and Assistant Director of the Criminal Justice Center at UF Law, “Black women’s interaction with the state, through law enforcement, is marked by violence. Black women are murdered by the police. They are assaulted and injured by the police; and finally they are tried, convicted and incarcerated for defending themselves against non-police violence. State violence against black women is long-standing, pervasive, persistent, and multilayerd, yet few legal actors seem to care about it.” 2
1. Picture and text: www.aapf.org/about-the-campaign
2. “The Violent State: Black Women‘s Invisible Struggle Against Police Violence”
Yoruba Tradition
This play exists inside the worlds of Yoruba and Bantu-Kongo cosmologies. In contrast to the rampant denigration of black women’s bodies and spirits offered up by our current state, the Yoruba tradition, hailing from Nigeria, offers moving alternatives for us to contextualize ourselves inside ancestral cosmologies.
In this tradition, there is room for black female divinity that holds the complex balance of power and vulnerability, such as Yemonja, the sea; Oshun, ruler of rivers, hearts, and sensuality; and Oya, the winds of change.
“WE PRACTICE OUR TRADITIONS WHILE FENDING OFF THE ONSLAUGHT OF DERISION AND DISTRACTION AS WE WADE IN THE TOXIC SOUP OF COLONIALISM, CAPITALISM, AND DOGGED INDIVIDUALISM... YET WE KEEP COMING TO THE ALTAR, AND TO THE MAT, BECAUSE WE ARE PULLED TO CONNECT TO WHAT WE KNOW OUR ANCESTORS KNEW, THEIR INTELLIGENCE, A MORE EXPANSIVE VIEW OF LIFE.”
Xochipala Maes Valdez and Sauda Burch, Ifá priestesses
3 Picture: Houston Chronicle, “Santeria Religious Ceremonies in Houston”
WE ARE INNOCENT
WE ARE INNOCENT
WE ARE INNOCENT
- Diamond Reynolds
The stories of Black Women warriors are parables. These parables hold aspects of the Black experience that are critical to our time. These women are our Goddesses. They have suffered and shown so we can know and see and fight.
The Dark Girl Chronicles is a play cycle set in a multi-temporal galaxy, and erected in honor of black women warriors against state violence. Part Yoruba ritual, part collective-manifesto, and part documentary-theatre, each play in the cycle focuses on the interiority and necessary dignity dark girls are so often robbed of int he public arena.
WITNESS, the first part of this cycle, cites and is inspired by two major existing texts that it is important to uplift, honor, and acknowledge:
1. A creation story from the Odu Ifa, the corpus of sacred oral literature from the Yoruba people of Nigeria that, if written, would exceed 4,000 pages.
2. Transcripts of Diamond Reynolds, primarily drawn from the Facebook Live posting she made after her fiancé Philando Castile was shot. Also drawn from the investigation video during which she was detained at the police station for 8 hours while Philando lay dying in the hospital. He died while she was being questioned, so she was both robbed of her fiancé and robbed of the opportunity to say goodbye.
What happens when these stories slam into each other?
Nia Witherspoon is a black queer writer, theatre-maker, vocalist/composer, and cultural worker. Described as “especially fascinating” by Backstage Magazine, Witherspoon’s work creates contemporary ritual-space grounded in African-diaspora sensibilities to speak to the issues of our times. Currently in residence at Brooklyn Arts Exchange, Witherspoon has received New York Theatre Workshop’s 2050 Fellowship, BRIC’s Premiere Residency, Astraea Foundation’s Global Arts Fund Grant, Downtown Urban Theatre Festival’s “Audience Award,” Lambda Literary’s Emerging Playwriting Fellowship, and a Mellon Dissertation Fellowship. Her staged works, including The Messiah Complex, YOUMINE, and SHE, have been developed or featured at BRIC, HERE, NYTW, National Black Theatre, BAAD, Dixon Place, The Kraine, and Movement Research. Witherspoon holds a PhD from Stanford University, and is currently a Playwright-in-Residence at University of Massachusetts (Amherst). She currently has works commissioned by The Shed, La Mama ETC, and JACK.
As part of our #BeyondTheStage programming for MJ Kaufman's "Double Atlas," we're diving into the horror canon! According to MJ, "queer vampire narratives draw on a complicated history of iconography that is both problematic and reclaimed. The following is a list of great queer horror stories!"
Carmilla by Joseph Sheridan Le Fanu (1871)
Dracula's Daughter directed by Lambert Hillyer (1936)
Blood and Roses directed by Roger Vadim (1961)
Vampyros Lesbos directed by Jesús Franco (1971)
Daughter of Darkness directed by Harry Kumel (1971)
Last year I wrote for two seasons of a horror TV show. Uncharted terrain for me, I had to get up to speed on the horror cannon. I would leave the writers’ room each day with a list of horror films to watch that night. Soon I had fallen in love with the genre. But not with its transphobia. Horror, it seemed to me, had a habit of using trans characters to exploit viewers’ discomfort with gender and sexuality, particularly their fears and biases around misogyny, transphobia and homophobia. Trans characters showed up rarely, and when they did, they were problematic villains or helpless victims, their stories centered on cheap reveal plots. Also they were almost exclusively transwomen. Like a microcosm for our larger culture, horror had almost no trans representation, and what it did have was deeply harmful.
When you have no good models of who you are (because you are trans or gender non-conforming), how do you figure out how to be? What to look like? How to act? I started writing this play because I wanted to explore the line between self-discovery and narcissism. When you have to be your own model, falling into narcissism is a dangerous trap. I also wanted to explore the complexity of long-term queer relationships–how much partners come to rely on each other for the validation the world does not provide. When there is so little validation for gender non-conformity in our world, where do we find it? Through gazing into the water at our own reflection? And how do we avoid the terrible fate of Narcissus?
This story emerged full of the conventions and tropes of horror that I was steeped in while writing it. A fully produced version would delve more deeply into the visual language of horror onstage.
MJ Kaufman's recent productions include Masculinity Max in the Public Theater Studio program, Sensitive Guys at InterAct Theater and A Walrus in the Body of a Crocodile at Clubbed Thumb. MJ’s work has also been produced and developed at WP Theater, Colt Coeur, New Conservatory Theatre Center, NAATCO, New York Theater Workshop, the New Museum, Yale School of Drama and Lark Play Development Center as well as in Russian in Moscow. Along with Kit Yan, MJ co-founded Trans Lab, a fellowship for TGNG theater artists. Recently MJ was a staff writer on Netflix’ "The Chilling Adventures of Sabrina."
Ah, the holidays, time to snuggle by the fire with a good book... that will help you get your finances in order for the rest of the year. If the thought of exchanging gifts makes your wallet tremble, and your New Year resolution is to not have to choose between your art and your rent, might we suggest investing in one of these books?
1. The Total Money Makeover (Classic Edition): A Proven Plan for Financial Success by Dave Ramsey
This book is perfect for young adults who are just learning how to manage their finances. It is filled with testimonials from people who have already mastered the art of budgeting, so by the time you're done reading, you should be an expert yourself!
2. Get a Financial Life: Personal Finance In Your Twenties and Thirties by Beth Kobliner
Do you always just nod your head and pretend to know what a 401K is? This book is for you! Kobliner also provides Cliff Notes so you can master all the financial lingo and impress all of your friends with your newfound knowledge. The first chapter of the book summarizes the later chapters, so whether you are figuring out how to set up your financial goals or figuring out the best way to handle debt, you can decide where you want to start!
3. The Bogleheads’ Guide to Investing by Taylor Larimore, Michael LeBoeuf, and Mel Lindauer
We know that finance books might not be the most exciting, but this one makes learning about budgeting... fun? This is a great intro book for anyone who is interested in learning about investments. Who knows? Maybe you will invest in the next big thing!
4. The Broke Millennial by Erin Lowry
Chances are, if you're pursuing a career in the arts, you are a broke millennial - Erin's got you! The first few chapters of this book are geared to help you figure out what topics you might need some help with and what you do not. This is especially helpful if you want to learn more about budgeting and finances but not sure where to begin.
Playwrights know better than anyone that some of the best writing comes from experiencing different places and stepping outside of one's comfort zone – so if you're looking to escape the cold this winter, here are some tips for doing so in a budget!
1. Earn Miles: most credit cards either give you miles for each dollar spent or accumulate points which can then be turned into miles. Check if that's the case with yours! Maybe you don't have enough miles for a whole ticket, but you could upgrade to business or first class – a good night's sleep could lead to the next Great American Play!
2. Skip the Hotel: Airbnb has become one of the most popular lodging options when it comes to travel – but hostels are another great option! You get the opportunity to meet new people (and use them for characters in your next script). Check out Hostelworld.com to find some great options!
3. Go on a Road Trip: Who says you have to leave the country to travel? There are some amazing places in the US that you might not have known existed – and all you need is a car and some tunes!
4. Apps: There are a ton of apps that can help you save money while traveling. Skyscanner searches for the most affordable flights, rental cars, and lodging. Kayak provides prices and deals that you can't find anywhere else. It also has a price forecast so you can figure out the best time to buy flight tickets - as does Google Flights.
5. Free Walking Tours: maybe you don't need to travel – just see your city with fresh eyes! Sites like freetoursbyfoot.com offer many different options, and *could* lead to the scene-setting you needed to make your city a main character in your next play.
Getting the resources you need as a playwright can be hard - which is why we looked for some great programs that can help you as you crank out the next American classic!
1. The EST/Sloan Project: This grant is for playwrights who are focused on how we are impacted on the scientific world.
3. Writers Alliance Grant: Selects plays based on the playwrights' abilities to push boundaries and shows promise. Must already have the support of a theater in order to apply.
4. Berkeley Rep. Groundfloor: This grant includes a 1-4 week residency in Berkley. This program is geared for playwrights who are in the development stages of their play.
Amount: transportation, housing, rehearsal space, tech support, and a modest stipend.
5. Inspirato’s 14th Playwriting Contest : The play must be ten minutes in length and have a focus on the theme of “outcasts.” The winner will have their play performed in Toronto, Canada in the summer of 2019.
We understand the #hustle of being an early-career playwright, especially when it comes to your bank account! Keeping an eye on your finances can help you make the most of a budget – here are some apps that can help you manage your finances easily while you work on your next play:
1. Mint: This app creates a budget for you based on credit and debit charges. It gives you personalized advice. Updates you when its time to pay your bills so you will never be late again!
2. Debits Monitor: Helps track your financial progress so that you can plan your financial goals easily.
3. Mevlopes: You can take photos of your receipts so that you can always be on top of your spending habits!
4. Simple: Replaces your checkings account and has a “Safe-To-Spend” feature that helps you stay on track.
5. Wally: Shows you your remaining balances to avoid going over budget.
Sources:
Rosenberg, E. (n.d.). The 8 Best Budgeting Apps to Download in 2018. Retrieved from https://www.thebalance.com/best-budgeting-apps-4159414
Lanquist, L. (n.d.). 15 Budget Apps That Are Basically a Financial Adviser in Your Phone. Retrieved from https://www.self.com/gallery/budget-apps
One thing a playwright can do to strengthen their skills is to see plays! We know that tickets in NYC can be expensive, so check out these ways to save money when you see your next show:
- Soho's 99 Cent Sundays: Soho Rep offers tickets for 99 cents on select Sundays, check out sohorep.org to learn more
- LincTix: Lincoln Center offers a discount program for anyone between the ages of 21- 35. Participants can also receive invitations to post-show parties. www.lct.org/linctix/
- Manhattan Theatre Club's 30 under 35: $30 will give you access to two tickets for all MTC performances while tickets last. www.manhattantheatreclub.com
- Theater Development Fund: For $40 annually, you can get access to specially-priced tickets. www.tdf.org
-2nd Stage Theater’s 30 Under 30 Program: you can purchase two tickets per order for any show at the Tony Kiser Theater. Complimentary after party invitations are included with ticket purchase! https://2st.com
- Playbill Discount Club: Sign up to receive emails about discounts and monthly sweepstakes. http://www.playbill.com/article/playbill-club-subscription-support
In today's #talkbacktuesday, we interview Founding Artistic Director, Katherine Kovner, about the process of developing and producing Jonathan Payne's The Revolving Cycles Truly and Steadily Roll'd! Before founding The Playwrights Realm in 2007, Katherine was a freelance director and the Artistic Associate at Classic Stage Company. She was the 2014 recipient of the Lucille Lortel Award from the League of Professional Theater Women and is a graduate of Brown University.
What was the decision process when choosing Jonathan's play for production? What attracted you to it?
We are an open application organization—our process starts with asking people to submit to us. In our last submission period, we got close to 700 applications! Writers find us and we start relationships with them, and those relationships develop over time; it becomes clear which playwrights are the right fit for us and which plays and playwrights we can help the most—those who need our championing. Jonathan is all of those things. We started a relationship with him when he became a Writing Fellow in the 2015-16 cohort, and his writing really stood out – I am hopeful that we are doing it justice. I think that his voice is incredibly important to add to the American canon and I'm very proud to be supporting him.
Choosing a play for production never happens at one specific moment – it's a process. With Jonathan’s play, for instance, it involved figuring out when it was going to happen; Jonathan has a full-time job and was at Juilliard for two years. We could have done this play earlier, but we had to account for his time and meet his needs. Also, I often fall in love with more plays that we can produce [laughs], so again, I have to consider what makes the most sense when. What attracted me to Revolving Cycles is that Jonathan is such a keen observer of systems and he has a way of showing that non-didactically. The play has this very acute awareness of the nature of systemic oppression that I think is very smart - he makes fantastic use of theatrical convention, dark comedy, Brechtian ideas, alienation and a piercing of emotion. And it makes sense now - it's timely and definitely one of the more political plays that we have done.
The play tackles situations that mirror problems in our society: the difficult living conditions of many American inner cities, problems in the foster care system, the ways that institutionalized racism ensures that some people stay trapped in "revolving cycles." What was your approach in tackling those experiences from a producer's perspective?
This play is very much about the black experience and we worked hard to put together a talented team that really included that perspective. Our design team, for instance, is a great group, with more than 50% of them being people of color. In the rehearsal room, I'm one of the few white people! I think that is an amazing thing. As one of those people, I'm aware that this is an experience that people of color often have, but white people seldom do. I wanted to be self-aware and let that experience exist; I tried to not change the tenor of the room, being aware of how much I speak or trying not to take up too much space. It is interesting being a dramaturg on this play because I think being a dramaturg can be regarded as a position of privilege—dramaturgs bring information and knowledge to the process—but here I was a dramaturg who has not lived through the experiences tackled in the play and I was working with many people who did have more firsthand knowledge of these issues. I have done a lot of reading over the past few years while working on this play in order to feel that I have the knowledge base to even attempt to enter that space as a dramaturg.
We have also really tried to frame the experience for our audience in certain ways. Some of that is for audiences of color – we have thought a lot about the trigger warnings we create, either explicitly stated or by providing ways for people to get more information. But we also put information in the program to frame the play in a larger context; we include facts and figures to help audience members understand the lives of people whose experiences might be very different from theirs. One of the great things about Jonathan’s play is the focus on the characters and the story, which I think is the best way that the theater can influence people—through experiencing another person's story.
The Revolving Cycles is the latest play by a former Realm Writing Fellow to be chosen for production. How would you compare the two experiences, Writing Fellowship and Page One Production, in terms of the impact they have on the playwrights?
Our Writing Fellowship is one of my favorite programs. We spend nine months with our fellows, helping them to get a script ready for the stage. We have had an amazing track record of helping these plays go on to be productions – I am really proud of the number fellows who have gone onto have successful careers. We have a professional development track to the Fellowship which is very dependent on what the fellows interests are (for example, if people want to work in television, we bring in television writers to talk to the group, or people to talk about self-producing for groups interested in that, etcetera). We try to help them in any and all of their career goals.
The Page One Program is also comprehensive - not just a production, but a residency. Besides producing a play, we offer our playwrights help in finding industry connections, developing new work and we give them health insurance. Even during the production, we are not just focused on putting a play up, but also on launching the writer's careers—we invite key artistic figures at regional theaters to come see the show and pay for their travel expenses, because we feel that the production of a show is the best way to become interested in someone's work.
Jonathan is the second black playwright and the fifth writer of color to be produced by The Realm (out of 13 produced playwrights). This year alone, Donja R. Love and Ione Lloyd, former Realm Writing Fellows, are getting produced in New York, and next season, Mfoniso Udofia will get a new production in the city as well. Could you talk more about The Realm's commitment to all voices?
The Playwrights Realm is committed not just to creating the next generation of playwrights, but also to being reflective of the community in which we live– America in general, and New York City in particular. This is something we consider not just with playwrights, but in all of the areas in which we hire. One of the many reasons I feel this is important is that theater should hold a mirror up to the world; if you are not presenting it accurately, you are warping the image. As a white woman, I can't fully understand the effect of not seeing yourself on the stage or of not having your voice represented, but as a woman, I do understand it somewhat. Women are not fully represented in important roles – in terms of the amount that they get to speak, and the roles that they are put in. When you talk about people of color, disabled people or queer people, it's exponentially worse, and the effects are even bigger. There's the saying, “if you can see it, you can dream it” – if you cannot see yourself, then it's as if society is shunning you, that your choices are not acceptable choices, your values are not valued, your life is not important.
I want The Realm to be a place that honors different ideas and that addresses some problematic trends by working affirmatively to put other voices forward. We want to challenge ideas of who gets to tell what story, what deserves to be on stage, and who gets to work in theater.
Thank you, Katherine!
Get your tickets to The Revolving Cycles Truly and Steadily Roll'd today – it closes October 6!
