On January 16th, Dance Exchange presented “Dance Matters: A Discussion on Racial Equity and the Power of the Arts.” The facilitators were Dance Exchange's Artistic Director Cassie Meador, Partnerships and Production Manager Ouida Maedel along with University of Maryland PhD candidate Bimbola Akinbola and the panelists included featured artists Paloma McGregor, Jesse Phillips-Fein and myself. This  interactive panel discussion invited participants to move, dialogue and reflect on the complexities of race and the possibilities of leveraging the arts for social change. This event is also part of Dance Exchange performance and community engagement work-in-progress, commissioned by The Embrey Family Foundation for Dallas Faces Race, in conjunction with Race Forward’s Facing Race Conference in Dallas Texas, in November 2014.

Since many of the participants were new to Dance Exchange and each other, we wanted to establish trust and create a safe space for this conversation. Additionally, we understoond that issues of race can be traumatizing for many people. Of course, this discussed at some length at the recent Playing with the Past, (W)Righting the Future panel at Georgetown University.

Prior to the panel, we agreed to a list of rules:

• Listen for understanding as opposed to listening for the for the point of contention. 
  
• Respect ourselves and each other's thoughts, perspectives, and bodies in the space and conversation.
  
• Patience, we can only be where we are in any given moment until we are ready to move forward.
  
• Step forward/Step Back, this spoke to being aware of how your enter conversation. If you are someone ready to step forward with a response, good, but see where you can allow others the space to enter. Conversely, if you are someone who more naturally steps back and remains quiet, find the courage to step forward.
  
• One mic, one voice speaks at a time. We hold the responsibility of listening.
  
• Multiple truths, this was a space that held and honored multiple truths. Your truth is your experience. This is from where you speak and enter the room.
  

With everyone in the room, we added:

• Stay curious, this was a space to discover each other's life experiences with interest and enthusiasm.
  
• Ask questions, this was not a space to make assumption. We asked questions for clarity and further analysis.
  
• Suspend certainty, this was also a space of unfolding. Shared experiences were treated as knowledge and allowed for discovery to take place.
  
• Honoring the timeframe, we were respectful of each other's time.
  
• Being present, while taking care of our personal and physical needs, we put away and turned off all phones.
  
• Witnessing, we were responsible for each other and held what was shared sacred. 
  

After which, we shared what we were hoping to bring to the conversation and spent time getting to know as many people as possible one on one through a series of questions. Of course, we also moved. Cassie led us through warm-up and cool down exercises to help us address any areas on our bodies that might be holding onto tension, trauma, and unspoken pain. The panel discussion happened between the warm-up and cool down. Bimbola asked Paloma, Jesse and myself several thought-provoking questions. The following three  still resonated with me:

• In your opinion, what is the utility of exploring race and social justice through dance and theatre as opposed to in a classroom or a lecture hall? What is the future of merging these spaces? 
  
• What types of audiences does your work draw in? How does their participation as viewers influence and/or change your work?
  
• Considering that you all explore racial identity and historical trauma in your work, what do you think is the role of pain, sadness, and anger in the creation of racially focused art?

After the discussion and final exercise, we enjoyed a lovely wine, cheese and dessert reception. 

During the reception and even out in the parking lot, many of us continued sharing thoughts about how artists can use their practice to address racism and achieve racial equity. I went home that night and wrote this into my journal:

Tonight panel reminded of my work with Theatre Communication Group's Diversity and Inclusion We cannot accomplish the much-needed and complex work around anti-racism in isolation. I felt honored to be a part of this work with Dance Exchange. I hope to continue this collaboration. We must continue create spaces that address our concerns, invite curiosity and dialogue, heal our wounds, and move the conversation forward. Over the past six weeks, I've been in multiple conversations with theatre artists, who are tired of fighting for a change they just don't see coming. We must find ways to support each other in times of fatigue.

A few days ago, I connected with the artists and facilitators to see how they were doing and where the panel left them. I wanted to hear what thoughts and questions they were still considering. They were kind enough to share their thoughts with me and I've included them for you here:

From Bimbola Akinbola:
What has remained with me is the thought that we need to think deeply as a community about what we create from places of anger, pain, sadness or anxiety, and how our art can honor these emotions rather than brush them under the rug.

From Paloma McGregor:
I'm still thinking about how we come together across racial lines and within them with a collective desire to understand and combat the systems that privilege white people every day in ways that can be hard for them to face or even recognize.  I'm still thinking about how these systems have conditioned and dehumanized all of us. I hope we can continue to create and perpetuate practices and spaces that help us to stay grounded in our struggle while also unearthing and centering our hopes and visions, so that we are moving toward a more equitable future. I believe art making practice, in coalition with front-line organizing, can help us to keep our spirits and bodies moving toward equity. 

From Cassie Meador:
I am still questioning once people know they have privilege, what do they do from there? How do you acknowledge and make use of your privilege to enter into the work of advancing racial equity?

I am still thinking about how we can’t afford to excuse ourselves from the conversation because it is challenging. We can’t afford to back away because of worry about what we have not recognized or questioned more deeply before this moment. We must be willing to confront the barriers personal and systemic that have prevented us from seeing and taking action. 

As hard as it may seem, each of us can only step into the conversation and begin from where we are now.  From this place we must then enter into the stream of work and healing that is being done to build effective coalitions and move racial equity forward. It is comforting to know you don't have to stay where you are, you have a distance to travel, and new ways of seeing and understanding to move towards.  

I am still thinking about how we look beyond the surface to really consider the minute workings of systemic oppression. I am still thinking about all of the dismantling, uncovering, and unmaking that is necessary to move the barriers that prevent us from recognizing institutionalized inequities. I am struck by the creative potential surfaced when we engage in this process of unmaking and dismantling, and I am deeply interested in the ways I see artists leveraging creative strategies to advance racial equity.  

I move forward with gratitude to the panelists who offered us opportunities to acknowledge our personal journeys, while also being instrumental in putting dimensions of privilege into the discussion. I move forward from our conversation with a strong desire to examine and confront further the ways that privilege influence my own work culture, both organizationally and within the larger arts and culture sector.  

From Jesse Phillips-Fein:
"What resonates with me is a need to connect our personal stories to our collective histories. What resonates with me is a desire to continue to raise up conversation and action on what makes cross-racial collaboration healing, powerful, and transformative, instead of a form that continues cycles of oppression masked by the facade of multiculturalism and "inclusion." Why were there so many white people in the room?  What dynamic does that form and how we can we aware of and responsive to that?"

Dance Exchange breaks boundaries between stage and audience, theater and community, movement and language, tradition and the unexplored. Founded in 1976 by Liz Lerman and now under the artistic direction of Cassie Meador, Dance Exchange stretches the range of contemporary dance through explosive dancing, personal stories, humor, and a company of performers whose ages span six decades. The work consists of concerts, interactive performances, community residencies, and professional training in community-based dance. Dance Exchange employs a collaborative approach to dance making and administration. Recent and current projects include explorations of coal mining, genetic research, human rights, particle physics, ecology, land use, and rest in a hyper-driven society. For more information, visit danceexchange.org.

On Friday, Georgetown University's Department of Performance Arts hosted a one-day symposium entitled, Playing with the Past, (W)righting the Future, which explored how black playwrights and artists remember the past to imagine the future. What came out of this was a discussion about how theatre artists work to negotiate the trauma of the past in order to create art and spaces of healing for themselves, other artists and audiences. What follows are my thoughts and reflections. If you were there, it would be wonderful to hear from you as well. 

At 1:00pm, Dr. Maya E. Roth, Associate Professor and Chair of the Department of Performing Arts Director, opened the symposium with a warm and appreciative welcome to the theatre artists, scholars, and students eagerly assembled. 

Patterson asked the panelists how the past impacted the work that they do as scholars, playwrights, and professors. Here are some thoughts that resonated with me:

• Because we have not healed the trauma around slavery, Blacks exist in a place of shame, which forces Whites to say "Get over it."
  
• Many of the panelists sited THE COLORED MUSEUM, DUTCHMAN by Leroy Jones/Amiri Baraka, FOR COLORED GIRLS by Ntozake Shange, FUNNYHOUSE OF A NEGRO by Adrienne Kennedy as being pivotal plays.
  
• The history of slavery has never been healed in this country and so the trauma has never been healed.
  
• Theatre offers an opportunity both to unify the Black identity, but also demonstrate the complexities of what it means to be Black.
  
• Theatre also allows us to push against what we think we know about slavery and what it means to be Black in America.
  
• Artists, who negotiate the past, are putting themselves on the line to help audiences heal.
  
• Artists can use theatre to explore, define and position themselves historically and now.
  
• There was a reminder of the danger of a single narrative and that storytellers hold a great deal of power. In the wrong hands the story of a people can be misinterpreted and maligned.
  
• In order to get to the place of healing, we have to get honest, ugly, deep, and real about the issues of race in this country.

Patterson then asked how does your work deal with the traumatic past without holding on to the past. Here are some of the thoughts they shared:

• One panelists said that he doesn't write stories that don't have hope in them.
• Another said that we need to wade through the bile in order to find healing.
• Then a panelist noticed that many plays offer a ritual for the characters to work through the pain, which the allows the audience to process the pain as well.
• This led a panelist to confess that she doesn't quite know how to negotiate the struggle and pain that the character must endure to go through their journey with the struggle and pain that the audience must experience.
• Finally, a panelist shared that when working with history and issues of race, she works to contextualize the trauma and find rituals of healing in the performance, even if the playwright doesn't include it in the work.

The final thoughts of the discussion centered around four major points:

• The false and dangerous construct of a "post racial" society. 
  
• The death our theatre institutions and dwindling audiences of color.
• The need to build new models to nurture, support, and sustain artists of color.
• That artists need to take their rightful place as leaders of socials change in their communities.

After a break, we enjoyed performances of scenes from from Lydia Diamond's STICK FLY, Robert O'Hara's BOOTY CANDY, and Dominique Morisseau's DETROIT 67, and readings from Evie Schokley's THE NEW BLACK. 

Then, I moderated a discussion with the directors of each excerpt: Isaiah Wooden, Khalid Long, Jocelyn Prince, and Jennifer L. Nelson. What stood out to me in this conversation were the ways in which the directors worked to create safe spaces for actors to interrogate the traumatic experiences in the work and deliver dynamic performances. Each had their own way of providing a concrete terrain for actors to explore and offered specific, while not always direct, paths to help negotiate to emotional landscape of the characters and world of the play. With theatre, they wanted to find ways to to help contextualize pain and validate the experiences of the audience. Also, many of the panelists want to help show that there is movement through pain and hope on the other side of great struggle.

After this discussion, we took our another break and then launched into the second roundtable discussion. Moderated by Soyica Colbert, the speakers included Isaiah Wooden (Stanford University, Ph.D. Candidate), Meta D. Jones (Howard University, Associate Professor of English), Jennifer Nelson (Director and Adjunct Assistant Professor of Theater, Georgetown University), Robert O'Hara (Playwright and Director), and Evie Shockley (Poet and Associate Professor of English, Rutgers University).

Colbert asked the panelists to speak about how the past impacted their creative work. Here are some of the responses that resonated with me:

• One of the panelists spoke about how we have to look at history in a linear and circular way. What occurred 400 years ago, 15o years ago, 50 years ago, 6 years ago, and yesterday has as great an impact then as it does now.
• Another panelist urged us to remember that geography plays an important impact on history. Where we learn our history is as important as when we learn it. Look at where is our history isn't taught and where our stories are spoken, and consider why not.
  
• That same panelist spoke about how language holds history in it. The term "Negro" contains specific historical relevance and meaning. The term "Negro Obama" careens history and contemporary race relations into a powerful explosion. 
• Another panelist spoke about how he creates art to position himself in history where he has been erased. For instance, her wrote about the gay men during slavery.
  

While many panelists spoke about powerful and important historical events, Jennifer Nelson shared that she was most informed by her personal history. This spoke to me, because as a playwright this is where I go first. Here are some of the questions that she asked us to consider intermingled with some of my own:

• Who are your parents? Where are they from? When and where were they born?
• When and where were you born? What happening there and during that time?
• What streets did you grow up walking, running, and playing on?
• Who were your friends? Whose homes were you invited into? Where were you not welcome?
• How were you taught to relate to things and other people?
• What music did you listen to? What songs did you dance to?
• Who cooked in your household? How was the cooking done (from scratch, frozen, or processed)? 
• What foods were prepared on holidays and on everyday occasions?

Colbert then asked the panelists to consider what type of work they are able to create now that artists of the Black Arts Movement weren't able to create. While brief, owing to time, this was an interesting conversation:

• It was acknowledged that artists today have instant access to information in a way that just wasn't available during the Black Arts Moments.
• Also, that the work that was created during Black Arts Movement was revolutionary for its time and pushed the boundaries of what had previously been created.
• A panelist then called attention to the notion of critical nostalgia of history. How we name a moment in history in order to stabilize and dissect it. However, freezing a moment in time doesn't account for the emotional impact of the event. Nor does it account for the additional information and perspective gained over time. 
• Another panelist acknowledged that Black Artists don't have to live within the construct of the work that they created. They are allowed multiple identities beyond the work that they produce. 
• This reminded me of the ways that people of color carry history on their skin. At which a point, a panelist shared, that the Black body is a political work the minute it enters a space. The way our skin causes social disruption is so complex and reminded of the recent panel discussion that I participated in with Dance Exchange, the details of which I'll share soon.

The final thoughts of the discussion centered around three major points:

• Who are your audiences? Are you creating work for an audience that hasn't arrived yet?
• How can we fight for communities of color and ensure that their histories are being recorded, their experiences are being validated, and their stories are being told?
• Have Black Theatre Artists failed our theatres and other theatre artists of color? Do we take opportunities at large white institutions over our theatres of color? Are we working with white theatre artists over theatre artists of color? 

At this point, it was 6:00pm and the symposium came to a close. We were thanked for our time and contribution by an appreciative and passionate audience. 

As folks made their way to the reception, the conversation continued. Originally, I had planned to stay and take more photographs. However, in the moment, I wanted to go home and sit with everything I had just experienced. It was a powerful, provocative, and urgent experience. Jennifer had the same idea, so we decided to have dinner together and process everything. 

Also, I shared the exciting updates about D.C.'s Women's Voices Festival and couldn't help but feel disappointed that more women playwrights of color weren't represented. I also confessed how difficult it had been since the announcement to explain to friends and colleagues that I had not been approached to take part in the festival in any way. While this certainly doesn't dampen my enthusiasm for this extraordinary event, it's something that I've had to negotiate and consider even more deeply after the symposium.

Once I got home, I was past exhausted, but my mind was reeling. I was left struggling to make sense of the continued and staggering lack of opportunities for theatre artists of color. The following questions kept me awake for some time:

1. If theatre is integral to the human experience, then why aren't there more spaces for people of color? 
   
2. When spaces are made for women, why aren't we considering the intersection of race, class, age, culture, and ability?
   

A few weeks ago, Dance Exchange presented FROM THE DESK OF RACHEL CARSON as part of Dance Place's Modern Modern Moves Festival at the Atlas Performing Arts Center. We showcased a 15-minute excerpt of a devised dance piece inspired by the life, career and legacy of environmentalist Rachel Carson. The performance was soldout, which is always exciting, and we received such a passionate and appreciative response. Right now, we're figuring out next steps to grow the piece and I'm just so thrilled to be moving forward with this work.

FROM THE DESK OF RACHEL CARSON is inspired by the impact of Rachel Carson's novel, Silent Spring. Published in 1962, Carson exposed the brilliant and life-saving, but also negative impact of the pesticides on nature and challenged the many ways in which technological advances impede the health of humans and wildlife. All in all, she helped launch the environmental movement. Already a renowned nature author, Carson had also worked as a marine biologist with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. She grew up with an enthusiasm for nature, which she held her entire life and captured in her later novel, Sense of Wonder. Click here to learn more about Rachel Carson.

You can read more about our work and process here and here. Also, please enjoy these wonderful and captivating photos from our performance!  

On Friday, January 24, 2014 from 1:00pm to 6:00pm, Georgetown University's Department of Performance Arts hosts a one-day symposium, Playing with the Past, (W)righting the Future, exploring how black playwrights and artists remember the past in order to imagine the future. 

"In conjunction with the production of Robert O’Hara’s Insurrection Holding History, a symposium, Playing with the Past, (W)righting the Future, will explore how black playwrights and artists remember the past in order to imagine the future." said Professor Soyica Diggs Colbert, who is curating the event.

"This symposium offers the rare and wonderful opportunity to celebrate the extraordinary writing of contemporary Black playwrights" said D.C playwright Jacqueline E. Lawton. "I'm honored to take part as facilitator of the performances. As a dramaturg, I'm interested in how each of these writers explore the intersection of race, class, gender, sexuality, and history in their work. We're fortunate to have this opportunity to engage in such a powerful, rich, and urgent discussion."

The symposium will feature two roundtable discussions. Confirmed speakers include poets, scholars, and playwrights including Lydia Diamond, Dominique Morisseau, Robert O'Hara, among others. 

Additionally, performances of scenes from from Lydia Diamond's STICK FLY, Robert O'Hara's BOOTY CANDY, and Dominique Morisseau's DETROIT 67, as well as readings from Evie Schokley's THE NEW BLACK will be presented. Moderated by D.C. based playwright Jacqueline E. Lawton, this presentation will feature leading professional actors and dramaturgs alongside GU faculty, alumni, and students. 
                        
Event Details:
Friday, January 24, 2014  
Davis Performing Arts Center 
Georgetown University
Led by Professor Soyica Diggs Colbert
Symposium: 1:00pm to 6:00pm 
Reception:  6:00pm to 7:00pm 

1:00-­2:30 Roundtable 1
Moderator:  
Robert Patterson (Director of African American Studies and Assistant Professor of English, Georgetown University)
     
Speakers: 
Faedra Carpenter (Assistant Professor of Theater, University of Maryland), Lydia Diamond (Playwright), Monica White Ndounou (Assistant Professor of Theater and Film History and Director, Tufts University), Dominique Morisseau (Writer and Actress), and Daniel Beaty (Actor, Singer, and Writer)

2:45-­4:15 Scene Reading
Moderator: 
Jacqueline E. Lawton (Playwright, Dramaturg, Teaching Artist and Theatre Blogger)

Participants and Play Selections:
STICK FLY by Lydia Diamond
Director: Jennifer Nelson
Actors: Obehi Janice, Madeleine Kelley, Aloysia Jean, David Emerson Toney, Robert Barry Fleming and KenYatta Rogers

THE NEW BLACK by Evie Schokley
Director: Jocelyn Prince
Readers: Marlene Cox, Michael Anthony Williams, Natalie Graves Tucker, and Joy Jones

DETROIT 67 by Dominique Morisseau 
Director: Khalid Long
Actors: Walter Kelly, Molly Roach, Crashonda Edwards, and Kelly Armstrong

BOOTY CANDY by Robert O'Hara
Director: Isaiah Wooden
Actors: Paul Notice, Obehi Janice, Deidra Starnes, Frank Britton, and Brendan Quinn

4:30-­6:00 Roundtable 2
Moderator:  
Soyica Colbert (Georgetown University Theater & Performance Studies Program and African American Studies Program Associate Professor)

Speakers: 
Isaiah Wooden (Stanford University, Ph.D. Candidate), Meta D. Jones (Howard University, Associate Professor of English), Jennifer Nelson (Director and Adjunct Assistant Professor of Theater, Georgetown University), Robert O'Hara (Playwright and Director), and Evie Shockley (Poet and Associate Professor of English, Rutgers University)

6:00-­7:00 Reception

All events are free and take place in Georgetown University's Davis Performing Arts Center. 

Playing with the Past, (W)righting the Future is offered as part of the Georgetown University/Arena Stage/Ammerman Family Partnership, in conjunction with the April 4-12 GU Theater & Performance Studies Program production of Robert O'Hara's Insurrection: Holding History directed by Guest Artist Isaiah Matthew Wooden (COL '04) at the Davis Performing Arts Center.

On Saturday, January 18th at 5:00pm, Everyman Theatre will host a panel discussion on How Women's Voices Changed Our Culture in conjunction with the production of Crimes of the Heart.  Hosted by radio personality Marc Steiner, panelists will include: Teresa Eyring (Executive Director, Theatre Communications Group), Jacqueline Lawton (Playwright and Dramaturg) and Jackson Bryer (Professor of American Theatre, University of Maryland). Click here to listen to the podcast.

"The World of the Play is a new panel discussion series at Everyman Theatre. With the program we aim to promote cultural dialogue within the community, providing access to conversations with experts, professionals, and academics, relating to the themes and broader relevance of a given Everyman production. Everyman is beyond excited to welcome the highly distinguished panel of guests for the discussion inspired by Beth Henley's Crimes of the Heart. We live in a time that has been dubbed, ‘The Age of the Playwright’, examining the presence of the American female voice in this declaration is as pertinent as ever. We hope to provide a platform on which panelists and participants can interrogate the intricate dynamics between gender, art and culture." said Everyman Theatre Education Director Nora Stillman Burke

Crimes of the Heart debuted in December, 1980 and became a swift success for playwright Beth Henley. The Pulitzer Prize-winner provided great leading roles for many great actresses. However, over 30 years later, plays written by women are still produced far less than plays written by men. To this day, less than 15 women have won the Pulitzer Prize for Drama. In this discussion we will use the legacy of Beth Henley's Crimes of the Heart to discuss the role of women play in theatre today. Contemporary playwright Jacqueline E. Lawton will provide living expertise as a current playwright. And Jackson Bryer will provide historical perspective as a professor of American Theatre at the University of Maryland.

"I’m excited to participate on this panel, in my hometown of Baltimore where my love of theatre began," shared Eyring. "I am also passionate about the topic. I’ve been fortunate to be given extraordinary opportunities in the American theatre field, including in my current position as the first woman to head the 52 year old Theatre Communications Group. Many of the most significant artists and producers working in theatre today are women, and I am honored to be a part of an important conversation about opportunities and issues for women in the field.”

"I first read Beth Henley's Crimes of the Heart when I was an undergrad and I've held a deep respect for it ever since." said Lawton. "I admire not only how Henley addresses the role and expectations of women in society, but also how she allows the sisters to have an awareness and access to her sexuality. Additionally, I appreciate the respectful way that race relations and depression are addressed in this play. I'm excited to take part in this panel and to have the opportunity to explore these issues in depth."

Click here to listen to the podcast. 

Everyman Theatre is an intimate Equity theatre with a resident company of artists from the Baltimore/Washington area, dedicated to producing quality plays that are accessible and affordable to everyone. Everyman Theatre is a professional Equity theatre company celebrating the actor, with the resident company of artists from the Baltimore/DC area.  Founded in 1990 by Vincent Lancisi, the theatre is dedicated to engaging the audience through a shared experience between actor and audience seeking connection and emotional truth in performance.

On Thursday, January 16th from 7:00pm to 9:00pm, Dance Exchange presents “Dance Matters: A Discussion on Racial Equity and the Power of the Arts.” This event will encompass a panel, dialogue and reflection, and process sharing that activates the possibilities of leveraging the arts for social change. Featured artists include Jacqueline E. Lawton, Paloma McGregor, and Jesse Phillips-Fein.

"To maintain my energy and commitment to anti-racist organizing as a pillar of my artistic practice, said Paloma McGregor, multidisciplinary artists and longtime Dance Exchange collaborator. "It's important that I work in solidarity with diverse allies who share a similar analysis of the current power structure and a desire for equity. When we come together to do the work, we hold one another accountable and we hold one another up. I'm looking forward to expanding my community and deepening my understanding at Dance Exchange's Home event." 

"It is important to me to participate in this event because, as a white person, I benefit from a system of racial inequality that is (literally) killing people of color on a daily basis," said Jesse Phillips-Fein, freelance dancer and choreographer. "The arts are a powerful vehicle for addressing the ways in which I am made complicit in this violence, and a tool through which I can become a collaborator in solution and healing."

"As an intersectional feminist, theatre artist, and advocate for social justice, I strongly believe that we must come together in this work around anti-racism," said playwright and dramaturg Jacqueline E. Lawton, recent collaborator with Dance Exchange on From the Desk of Rachel Carson. "In doing so, we must remember that addressing issues of racism can be traumatizing. We must come to this work with a spirit of curiosity and generosity. While we must be patient with one another, we must also be vigilant in our efforts and work in collaboration. This work should not be done in isolation. I'm honored to join Dance Exchange in these efforts."

Through looking at the role of historical and personal milestones in relationship to experiences, process, and outcomes in the struggle for racial equity, Dance Exchange Artistic Director Cassie Meador, Partnerships and Production Manager Ouida Maedel, University of Maryland PhD candidate Bimbola Akinbola, and featured artists will bring participants into dialogue and creative research to explore the various roles for the arts, humanities, and other disciplines and institutions in advancing racial justice in the United States. 

“As artists, we have a perennial responsibility to excavate and shed light on the pressing issues of our time, to confront specific realities and universal truths, and to model civic leadership, empathy, and innovation for others," said Ouida Maedel.  "Race is one of the few social constructions that is so pervasive and so deeply ingrained in daily life that it has the power to dictate and manipulate every kind of situation, especially when nobody is looking.  It is only through turning and returning our attention to the asymmetries of power so fundamental to our society that we can foster our abilities to recognize their complexity and transform them.”

JACQUELINE E. LAWTON was named one of 30 of the nation's leading black playwrights by Arena Stage’s American Voices New Play Institute. Her plays include: Anna K; Blood-bound and Tongue-tied; Deep Belly Beautiful;The Devil’s Sweet Water; The Hampton Years; Ira Aldridge: the African Roscius; Lions of Industry, Mothers of Invention; Love Brothers Serenade (2013 semi-finalist for the Eugene O’Neill Theater Center’s National Playwrights Conference), Mad Breed, and Our Man Beverly Snow. Ms. Lawton received her MFA in Playwriting from the University of Texas at Austin, where she was a James A. Michener Fellow. She participated in the Kennedy Center’s Playwrights’ Intensive (2002) and World Interplay (2003).  She is a 2012 TCG Young Leaders of Color award recipient and a National New Play Network (NNPN) Playwright Alumna. She has been recognized as a semi-finalist for the Eugene O’Neill Theater Center’s National Playwrights Conference and the Playwright's Center PlayLabs, and as a SheWrites Festival finalist.  A member of Arena Stage's Playwright's Arena and the Dramatist Guild of America, Ms. Lawton currently resides in Washington, D.C. Jacqueline is currently collaborating with Dance Exchange on The Desk of Rachel Carson, a new devised work that explores the life, legacy and career of pioneering writer/ecologist Rachel Carson (1907-1964). 

As co-founder of Angela's Pulse, along with her sister, theatre director Patricia McGregor, PALOMA MCGREGOR devises collaborative performance work; collaborates with diverse communities, including artists, activists, educators, students, seniors and scientists; and is dedicated to building community and illuminating undertold stories. Last summer, Angela’s Pulse worked on the creation of a new musical based on the landmark Supreme Court case Loving v. Virginia at Williamstown Theater Festival. Paloma is currently developing Building a Better Fishtrap, a multidisciplinary performance project that explores water, memory and home, as well as examines what we carry with us, leave behind and reclaim. The developing work has been presented by Earthdance, No Longer Empty and Danspace Project, and will premiere in 2014.  Paloma is also curating work through her initiative, Dancing While Black, which aims to support and illuminate the breadth of work by black dance artists.  Paloma has toured internationally with Urban Bush Women, and has been a long-time Dance Exchange collaborator, most recently appearing in Cassie Meador’s award-winning How To Lose a Mountain.  Awards include a 2012-13 arts leadership fellowship from the Kennedy Center’s DeVos Institute, and grants and residencies from iLAND, the Harlem Stage Fund for New Work, and Voice & Vision.

As a dancer, choreographer, teacher, and producer, Jesse Phillips-Fein's work dissects how large forces affect the fabric of the individual life – exploring the manners in which personal and political meet.  She brings attention to how power is created, maintained, and justified through examining its manifestations in, on, and through the body.  Jesse’s work “PALE” seeks to define the omnipresent but un-interrogated mentality and experience of being white, confronting the underbelly of that racial experience.  Another recent work, “Color Blind Theories,” challenges the belief that being color blind erases racism.  Based in Brooklyn, NY, Jesse’s choreographic work has been produced at Brooklyn Arts Exchange/BAX, Dance New Amsterdam, Danspace Project, The Flea, Dixon Place, HERE Arts Center, and Theater for the New City, among others.

Bimbola Akinbola is a doctoral student in the Department of American Studies at the University of Maryland. Originally from Columbia, Missouri, she received her B.A from Macalester College in St. Paul, Minnesota where she double majored in American Studies and Studio Art, and conducted research in art history as a Mellon Mays Undergraduate Fellow. Her current research examines the role that visual and performance art plays in collective memory production within immigrant communities, as well as the archival function of museums and how communities engage with public history.

Since 2011, Ouida Maedel has worked as the Partnerships and Production Manager at Dance Exchange, where her first major project was to produce Cassie Meador’s 500-mile walk and community engagement tour to a coal mine in West Virginia during How To Lose a Mountain‘s development phase. Passionate about the use of the performing arts for social change, Ouida has performed with a traveling theatre troupe in Zambia, and has worked in conflict transformation and public health in Ghana and in the U.S., activating theatre and creative movement for education and civil society engagement. Ouida has performed in, or stage managed a multitude of productions in DC and in New York, she holds a BA from Sarah Lawrence College, an MA in International Communication and Arts Management from American University, where she was a teaching and research fellow, and she currently serves as a Helen Hayes Award Judge.

Cassie Meador is a choreographer, performer, educator and Artistic Director of the Dance Exchange. Her work is imbued with a passion for her surroundings, a belief in the human capacity for change, and a conviction that art can be a potent form of research and communication. In recent years, Cassie’s choreographic investigations have tackled numerous social and environmental issues through the synthesis of movement, sound, and striking visual images.  She was recently selected as the sole artist representative to a research initiative of the International Human Dimensions Program on Global Environmental Change. She is an Associate Artist of the Center for Creative Research, and her writing has been commissioned by Dance Magazine and the National Association for Interpretation. Cassie received her B.F.A. in dance from The Ohio State University. She joined the performing company of the Dance Exchange in 2002 and assumed the role of Artistic Director in 2011.

Additionally, this event brings home a Dance Exchange performance and community engagement work-in-progress, commissioned by The Embrey Family Foundation for Dallas Faces Race, in conjunction with Race Forward’s Facing Race Conference in Dallas Texas, in November 2014.

Event Details:
“Dance Matters: A Discussion on Racial Equity and the Power of the Arts.” 
Thursday, January 16th from 7:00pm to 9:00pm
Dance Exchange, located at 7117 Maple Avenue, Takoma Park MD 20912 (Takoma Metro, Red Line)
Suggested Donation $5  

Please contact Ouida Maedel at ouida@danceexchange.org or 301-270-6700 x19 with any questions.

Dance Exchange breaks boundaries between stage and audience, theater and community, movement and language, tradition and the unexplored. Founded in 1976 by Liz Lerman and now under the artistic direction of Cassie Meador, Dance Exchange stretches the range of contemporary dance through explosive dancing, personal stories, humor, and a company of performers whose ages span six decades. The work consists of concerts, interactive performances, community residencies, and professional training in community-based dance. Dance Exchange employs a collaborative approach to dance making and administration. Recent and current projects include explorations of coal mining, genetic research, human rights, particle physics, ecology, land use, and rest in a hyper-driven society. For more information, visit danceexchange.org.

It's the rain. It's the joy of deeply held and lasting friendships. It's the blessing of a most beloved, patient and supportive family. It's the oddness of holding energy around the possibility of someone, who does not hold you in the same regard, and the courage to accept the unrequited feelings and the effort to release that energy. It's the humility of not being chosen first coupled with the gratitude of being included anyway. It's the excitement around upcoming work. It's the hope radiating around a career opportunity of a lifetime. It's that I'm in the dream stages of writing a new play. 

These are my morning meditations and life goals:

• To be a better me today than I was yesterday. 
• To grant myself humility in neglect, grace in achievements and compassion when facing challenges. 
• To be of service to other theatre artists and students.
• To deepen my knowledge, sense of joy and wonder, and and capacity for love. 
• To write beautiful plays.

And then there's the richness, power, and awe of this ... when poets, freedom fighters, and revolutionaries dance.

On Saturday, January 11th at 3:00pm and 7:00pm, the National Symphony Orchestra presents NSO at UNION STATION as part of their In Your Neighborhood program.  Led by NSO Assistant Conductor Ankush Kumar Bahl and featuring WUSA Channel 9's Andrea Roane as host, I wrote the script for this delightful "train-themed" concert. As a lover of travel and adventure, it was thrilling to explore the picturesque landscapes and history of train travel of Austria, Denmark, Finland, Mexico, Brazil, France and the U.S. through this beautiful music. I'm heading to rehearsal this afternoon and plan to take loads of pictures. Remember, this event is free and open to the public. I hope that you can attend! 

NSO AT UNION STATION 
Saturday, January 11th at 3 P.M. & 7 P.M. 
Union Station, East Hall, 50 Massachusetts Ace.,NE
Led by NSO Assistant Conductor Ankush Kumar Bahl, written by Jacqueline E. Lawton and featuring WUSA Channel 9's Andrea Roane as host, the National Symphony performs two full "train-themed" concerts at Union Station.

Program to include:

• ADAMS: Short Ride in a Fast Machine
• COPLAND: John Henry
• GROFE: "Sunrise" from Grand Canyon Suite
• LUMBYE: Copenhagen Steam Railway Galop
• SIBELIUS: Finlandia
• VILLA-LOBOS: "The Little Train of Caipira" from Bachianas Brasileiras No. 2
• MARQUEZ: Danzon No. 2
• IBERT: Suite Symphonique, "Paris"
• OFFENBACH: "Barcarolle" from Tales of Hoffman
• OFFENBACH: "Can Can" from Gaite Parisienne
• J. STRAUSS Jr.: Pleasure Train Polka
• J. STRAUSS Jr.: On the Beautiful Blue Danube, Waltz

Free. Seating is limited and on a first-come, first-served basis. Click here for the full program and enjoy this video!

Anu Yadav's MEENA'S DREAM opens tonight at Forum Theatre. In this beautiful solo performance, Anu is accompanied by three musicians who perform a live blend of South Indian classical music and American jazz. Anjna Swaminathan plays the violin, Rajna Swaminathan plays both the mrudangam (South Indian percussion) and piano, and Sam McCormally plays the guitar and piano.  Click here to listen to music from the show. Last week, I had a chance to speak with Anjna about her work as a dramaturg and composer on the play. Please enjoy!

JACQUELINE LAWTON: Why did you decide to get into theatre? Was there someone or a particular show that inspired you?
ANJNA SWAMINATHAN: I think I had always been theatrical as a child. I grew up in an artistic family, and was constantly surrounded by South Indian music and dance, both of which are grounded in narrative and emotional expression. My mother was a singer, dancer, and actor, so storytelling became a major part of our lives at home. I didn’t quite understand that it was my calling, however, until my senior year of high school when I started acting in the school musical. I immediately fell in love with the craft as an actor, and on a whim, decided to major in theatre at the University of Maryland. A few months in, I started to notice the epic lack of South Asians on stage and soon realized that if I were to act, there were too few compelling roles and too many stereotypical ones.

It was at this point of existential confusion that I met two incredible women who encouraged me to reconsider the potential I had to be a theatre artist. The first was Anu Yadav, the playwright and performer of Meena’s Dream. She was the one who made me look at theatre not as something historical, but as a living, breathing, contemporary art form that has to grow and change. If I didn’t see relatable characters on stage, I could create them. It seems so simple now, but at the time it was mind-blowing. During my sophomore year, I started taking performance studies courses with Professor Faedra Chatard Carpenter, who soon became my mentor and introduced me to some of the deeper, sociological aspects of performance like critical race, gender, and queer theory, and later to the word “dramaturgy.”

JL: How do you define dramaturgy? Or explain to people about the work that you do?
AS: I don’t think there is really a way to define dramaturgy, because the duties of a dramaturg transform with each project. I am a very young dramaturg—I really only got introduced to the term a few years ago—so, I myself am still figuring it out. That’s sort of the beauty of it—each dramaturg is different and gets to decide what his/her dramaturgy is. I have been fortunate to work with playwrights, directors, and choreographers, who are also relatively unfamiliar with the term. It’s been a fascinating journey of using the creative process to define dramaturgy for the artists I collaborate with, and for myself.

More recently, I’ve been describing a dramaturg as a sort of “two-faced therapist.” It’s a strange concept, but I think it really gets playwrights and choreographers to open up about the personal reasons why they feel compelled to create what they create. For the past year, I have been doing my own playwriting alongside my dramaturgical work, which is what forced me to look at theatre as an emotional, cathartic experience, rather than a structural or political one. Theatre is ultimately about the stories of humanity. I know I’m young to make any sweeping judgments about theatre artists, but I do think there is a tendency among those within the field to separate themselves from the inherent emotionality of theatre when observing or critiquing a play.

I instead ask playwrights why they need to write what they are writing—not about what the audience needs to learn, but about what the artist needs to release. It’s a very emotional conversation for most, but it reveals so much about the artist’s voice, story, and imagination, and just like the status quo of a play changes from exposition to resolution, so does the artist’s emotional status quo. That’s the first face of the theatrical therapist. The other face is towards the audience. I try to put myself in the shoes of any audience member who could walk into a theatre. What would they feel, what assumptions do they walk in with, how can we change them and move them? I also ask myself what their political standings may be, as most of the work I am involved is tied to some larger social issue. This is where the emotional part becomes critical. It’s one thing to create a theatre piece that is a jargon and factoid-loaded political rant, but it is another thing to tell a simple story that just happens move someone towards social change.

JL: How long have you lived and worked as a dramaturg in DC? What brought you here? Why have you stayed?
AS: First, a disclaimer: I graduated from the University of Maryland less than a month ago, so I’m still figuring out this whole “living and working as a dramaturg in DC” thing! I grew up in a small suburb in Maryland, and was relatively sheltered from cities like Baltimore and DC. Most of my artistic work as a young musician was among artists in the Indian-American community in Maryland, so my interaction with the arts in DC is very recent. With theatre, however, the DC scene is so rich with diversity and experience. For a few months, I seriously considered moving to Minneapolis, MN after college—I’ve been working with a dance company there for four years and have always loved the theatre scene there. I decided to stay here because what DC has (that many other places lack) is community and a multi-cultural tapestry. There are so many people here with such widely and wildly different stories, that I would really miss it. I think part of it is also the audience. Theatre has always been a bit paradoxical in that no matter whose story is on stage, it is usually upper middle class white Americans that attend shows. A lot of theatres in DC are challenging that… Forum Theatre, where we are producing Meena’s Dream, just began a new initiative, Forum4All, whereby audience members pay whatever they can. The conversation between diverse artists and diverse audiences is so important for building social consciousness and that’s what I love about DC. I’m sure I’ll travel and work elsewhere in the future, but for now, I feel too rooted in DC to leave!

JL: What skills and traits do you feel a successful dramaturg should have to support the development of a new play or a production?
AS: Experience: I think to really offer insight into a new play or production, a dramaturg has to have had at least some experience being on the other side. I started writing my first play a year ago, but in the process I have become a much better listener. I use my own struggles with plot structure and character development to understand and help the playwright.

Compassion: Theatre artists all around have a duty to understand the perspective of the protagonist, the antagonist, the chorus, etc. You really have to feel what every character feels. In the same way, the dramaturg has to connect to all perspectives – that of the playwright, that of the director, that of the cast, that of the audience, and that of the critics.

Open-mindedness/Humility: It is easy to go into a project with a vision of what theatre is, but if you allow yourself to learn from each project, you and the playwright/director can grow together. Going into a project with a mission of proving a point will get you nowhere. (I say this from experience, so I guess it’s also important to accept mistakes.)  

JL: In addition to serving as dramaturg, you also composed music. Can you tell me about your process?
AS: This was the first project where I had to reconcile my musical identity with my theatrical identity, and I really thank Anu for giving me that opportunity. It had to happen at some point! I am trained in South Indian classical (Carnatic) violin, and have been working with several dancers and dance companies as a musician and composer for the past five or six years. There is a word that connects almost all Indian arts: rasa, which means emotion or expression. Carnatic music is composed of several ragas or melodic modes, each of which tells a different emotional story. This is what draws me to make music for dance and theatre – the emotionality. When we were in rehearsal for a workshop production of Meena’s Dream at UMD, director, Paige Hernandez, who had had previous experience with Indian dance, asked us to look for rasas instead of beats. That’s where I started to envision the process of composing for this play as a theatrical process. The style of the score comprises Carnatic music, contemporary jazz, and indie folk. The other two musicians are my sister, Rajna Swaminathan who switches between mrudangam (South Indian percussion) and piano, and Sam McCormally, who switches between guitar and piano. As the only purely Indian melodic voice, I see my violin’s role almost as another character in the play, with her own journey as she moves the plot along. 

JL: Why is music so integral to this story?
AS: Anu has created an aesthetic world that travels between the real and the fantastical, and later, blurs the two. Just like lights and projection can turn a drab bedroom into a surreal dreamscape, the music is what carries young Meena into her own psyche. We’ve had so many discussions about what exactly the music represents—is it Meena’s emotions? Is it her imagination? Is it her mother’s voice? I think in a way, the music is all of these things and more. It doesn’t always go perfectly with Meena’s emotional journey, but complicates it. The music brings different tones and colors to the theatrical landscape that is so artfully described in the text. Does the play stand on its own? Definitely. But music resonates with audiences in a very visceral way, and we want them to feel the sorrow, the fear, the worry, and the inexplicable ecstasy, that Meena feels. 

JL: What excited you about working on Meena’s Dream?
AS: In terms of my research interests, it was the fact that Anu was bringing together my two favorite things, spirituality and social change, and making an ancient spiritual text like the Bhagavad Gita extremely relevant to the external and internal battles we are all facing today. Two years ago, I saw a very early draft of the piece, which Anu performed as an assignment for her MFA program at UMD, and I immediately knew I wanted to do something for it. We had already discussed a musical score, but I wanted to be involved in the development of the script, and as I recall, it might have been me who asked if I could dramaturg it! In terms of my own growth as a dramaturg, this play sort of sandwiches my dramaturgical career. It was the first show that I started dramaturging and I am still dramaturging it! I also got to interact with other dramaturgs during the process and really observe and engage in the development of the play. My role began as a research dramaturg, and development dramaturgs Caleen Jennings and Patrick Crowley were also a major part of the process.

On a personal level, at the time, I was going through my own journey of spiritual growth as I tried to cope with life and the loss of my own mother. That initial draft about a young girl facing her mother’s illness resonated with my own story so much, that I sort of needed to be part of it to grow as an artist and as a person. In a way, being involved in this project asked me to see how our own stories can help and heal others. 

JL: What do you hope audiences are thinking about after experiencing this play?
AS: Hope. I want people to leave with an overwhelming sense of hope. There are so many plays geared towards social change that end on a sad note, almost as though we’ve given up on fighting for what we believe in. Meena’s Dream is far from bitter and the innocence of a child with a sparkle in her eye is far from naïve. We have so much positivity in us as children that slowly gets depleted as we grow up. My hope is that people will leave the theatre with a smile on their face, a sparkle in their eye, and the desire to dream again. 

JL: What’s next for you? Where can we follow your work?
AS: It’s funny. I just graduated, and have yet to get bored of this question! I am continuing to work as a freelance composer/musician and dramaturg, but right now, I’m exploding with ideas and excited to find my niche as a playwright. Wherever the world takes me, I will always be some kind of artist, and I am looking forward to continuing to affect people with art. You can follow my work at www.anjnaswaminathan.com! ​

MEENA'S DREAM

Written and performance by Anu Yadav
Directed by Patrick Crowley
Music by Anjna Swaminathan, Rajna Swaminathan, and Sam McCormally
 
January 8-18, 2014

Click here for a full list of performance dates and here for ticketing information

About the Play
During the day, nine-year-old Meena wishes that her mother could get well; and by night, the Hindu God Lord Krishna appears, entreating Meena's help in his war against the Worry Machine. Meena's Dream creates a fantastical world through storytelling and live music, from South Indian classical to indie folk.

Forum Theatre produces adventurous, relevant, and challenging plays from a diversity of voices that inspire discussion and build community -- and that are accessible, affordable, and entertaining.

Since Forum Theatre’s inception, we have aimed to be both the home for stories that provoke discussion and the place to host that discussion. We want our plays to be a conversation with the audience. We tell stories about who we are as a local, national, and global community.

So what is a Forum show? That’s never been the easiest thing to describe, but a few things tend to always be true: A Forum show asks big questions. A Forum show is intricate and challenging, but has a big heart at its center. And a Forum show gives you something to think about and a lot to talk about.

Recently, I had the distinct pleasure of speaking with playwright Anu Yadav about her life as a playwright and the inspiration for MEENA'S DREAM, opening tomorrow at Forum Theatre. In this candid and insightful interview, Anu speaks about her love of theatre and her early collaborations with director Patrick Crowley. She also speaks quite passionately about the transformative power of writing a role for yourself and the need for social justice and change. Please enjoy. 

JACQUELINE LAWTON: Why did you decide to get into theatre? Was there someone or a particular show that inspired you?
ANU YADAV: Theatre has always been a part of my life from when I was young – from role-playing as a young one, to sketches in elementary school, high school and then professional productions as an adult.   I’ve loved it, that simple.  I think it served as a way to show myself in a big way, without the same social consequence as ‘real life.’   I was very shy as a young person, and in theater, I could be big without the fear of judgment from my peers.  It felt like an escape hatch from reality.

I was really inspired by performance artist Dan Kwong.  I took an autobiographical performance writing workshop with him and Gary San Angel at Asian Arts Initiative in Philadelphia in 1999.  It was only three weeks, during college.  It was a tremendous experience.  I had always loved theater, enjoyed it in whatever form it was available to me, but I also felt isolated or some sense of “I don’t belong here unless I translate myself” to the dominant culture.  I didn’t see people who looked like me on stage, with the kinds of experiences that I connected to.  That workshop was one of the first times that, rather than trying to fit into a role, I could shape the role by writing it myself, that my experience and my mind could lead in that way.   It changed me.  It was a hugely transformative experience to know that my experience as a human mattered enough to write down and share with an audience.  I realized the power of sharing one’s story through theater as a political act.  It helped me learn how to share more of myself in the world beyond the stage.

JL: Next, tell me a little bit about your writing process. Do you have any writing rituals? Do you write in the same place or in different places?
AY: I want to have more rituals than I do!  I think I’m still learning. I rely heavily on stream-of-consciousness writing as a way to shoehorn myself out of writing blocks and the self-criticism and self-doubt that hampers creativity.  A great artist and dear friend I admire, Caleen Jennings introduced me a clustering technique by Gabrielle Rico in her book Writing the Natural Way that was super helpful to me.  It’s similar to stream-of-consciousness but a slightly different approach.  What often happens is when I am intensely focused on a project I tend to let other things go, so it’s even more important for me to make sure I’m eating regularly, seeing friends and family, exercising, doing yoga – whatever can help ground me.  Structuring my time and making sure I’m allowing for important life activities and my relationships helps me think better about the writing itself.  I struggle with that, but it’s still important. 

JL: Describe for me all the sensations you had the first time you had one of your plays produced and you sat in the audience while it was performed... what was different about the characters you created? How much input did you have in the directing of that work?
AY: My work as a writer has mainly been performing my own writing, but I’m planning to have an ensemble version of all my plays, including Meena’s Dream and also a previous solo show ‘Capers.  I can say that one of my first, most memorable performances was when I performed ‘Capers at the DC Hip Hop Theatre Festival in 2005, directed and developed by Patrick Crowley a longtime collaborator and close friend.  It was a loving and packed crowd at the Studio Theatre, and there was one moment I was playing one character, and I improvised a line.  Then I switched to another character who was surprised and responding in the moment to that improvisation.  It was such a surreal experience to me as an actor to have this sensation of ‘improvising with myself,’ and the audience also noticed and clapped spontaneously in appreciation.  By the end of the show, there was thunderous applause and what felt like a 20 second standing ovation.  I think in large part because the story itself was about the displacement of low-income families and it was not being talked in the media as much as it should have been.  There was a relief and a fierce DC pride in the audience that these stories must be heard – the realities that many people are facing demand a megaphone, with dignity, humanity, and love.  It really was one of my most cherished moments as a performer. 

JL: What do you hope to convey in the plays that you create--what are they about? What sorts of people, situation, circumstances, do you like to write about?
AY: I hope to convey… hope.  I want people to be moved, to reconnect to their deeper selves, reflect on their own passions, their secret, tender wishes.  I want to smash down walls of prejudice through good story.  Have people in an audience be moved to connect to the experiences of people who are either very different from themselves, or by seeing themselves when they rarely get that opportunity.  That to me is political, it’s revolutionary, it’s transformational.  It’s a small step towards real democracy.  Stereotypes, in a certain way, are nothing more than lack of character development, so think how powerfully a good story and character can rip at the seams of bias so that people can actually remember their inherent connection to each other despite, through, within, and beyond the boundaries that separate us.  It opens the potential for something different to happen.  

I’ve been inspired by the organizing and community-building efforts of working people and families, as well as when people across any kind of difference connect in real, unguarded, and surprising ways.   I like writing about that.  I also like writing about any hilarious things that happen to me too.   I’ve been really enjoying writing more sketch comedy lately that still addresses these themes but from a lighter angle.

​JL: Tell us about your play and what inspired you to write it.
AY: Meena’s Dream is about a nine year-old girl whose mother is sick and can’t afford the medicine she needs.  This worries her a lot, and she is plagued by nightmares.  But she also has dreams and imaginings that Hindu God Lord Krishna seeks her help to fight the evil ‘Worry Machine,’ a mysterious force that threatens to destroy the universe.  She has to face her fears, and use her imagination not just to cope or escape, but to bravely keep envisioning a world where all of us can have enough.  

I was inspired to write it in part because I wanted to write a story that was drawing from my own experience and heritage, yet not actually about my own family.   I’ve wanted to write with more celebration, using more elements of fantasy.  As an artist, it’s easy to fall into the trap of focusing on what I get rewarded for, and then limiting myself rather than expanding.  I came to a point where I actually realized that, after writing documentary-based theater and storytelling work, I doubted that I had an imagination.  I knew that wasn’t true, it’s just that I hadn’t really allowed myself to exercise my imagination and creativity in a new and different way.  So, this was a chance at remembering that I can also dream!

JL: What do you hope audiences are thinking about after experiencing this play?
AY: I want to invite audiences to reconnect with their creativity, and sense of possibility about their own dreams as well as that of envisioning a world where all of us can have our basic needs met, our humanity respected, and truly share and honor the resources of this earth together.  I know that sounds lofty, but it really is absolutely unethical that in this day and age there is such a sharp wealth inequality, and such scarcity for most people on the planet.  In order to change that we have to believe it’s possible to do so.  In order to believe it’s possible, we have to believe in our own ability to effect change.  Social and personal transformation go hand in hand.  I would love my play to support conversation about both.  More than anything, I want people to leave with a sense of possibility and hope to face fear.  Ultimately, social movements succeed because people come together and stand up against fear – their own and that which perpetuates the oppression they are facing.  If as an artist, I can contribute in some way to any of that, I’m happy.     

More specifically, the play does address lack of healthcare.  Meena’s mother, Aisha, cannot afford the medicine she needs, and Meena questions the system that demands Aisha have money to be healthy.  I’m talking with my friends at United Workers Association and Health Care Is a Human Right- Maryland, to see ways in which the play can support their statewide grassroots campaign for universal, publicly-financed healthcare in the state of Maryland. 

JL: How has the community where you work and live addressed issues of race and gender parity? How has this particular issue impacted you and your ability to get your work produced on the main stages?
AY: I think there is more open conversation about these issues, which is hopeful, among artists, particularly through social media.  Overall, there is still a thick silence and a fear that if you push the envelope too much, you won’t get work – no matter who you are.  So I think depending on your relationship to the economy of the arts industry, you have a different kind of wiggle room to challenge and be open about it.  

How do we both honestly challenge and honestly support each other as a community of fellow artists, arts institutions, administrators who are all working hard to keep art thriving in an economy that consumes art yet does not fund it nearly enough?  Can people challenge each other and stay in the room?  Are people willing to be challenged without being defensive?  I think that’s extremely hard and important.

Yes, race and gender parity have definitely impacted my life, and my art.  How has it affected my ability to get produced on main stages?  Part of it is that I haven’t always offered my work to main stages.  I think I just assumed at first they weren’t interested, and I wasn’t going to wait for someone else to produce so I self-produced.  Then when I was touring my solo play ‘Capers I was able to make a modest living from it for a time but most of the venues were not at theatres, but other community and educational venues.  And the other is, finding and figuring out the right opportunity that coincides with the direction and mission of the theater.  As a DC-based artist what I have noticed more so has been the limited opportunities for DC playwrights and artists to get work produced in DC theatres.  That is definitely changing and progressing, which is fantastic.  But there is a definite leaning towards artists not based in DC. What if each major theatre took on producing a local playwright at least once every 1-3 years?  That would shift things tremendously.  And it’s not a question of dearth of talent here either.  DC playwrights can still get a lot more love!

JL: What excited you about taking part in Forum Theatre’s 10th Season?
AY: I love Forum Theatre.  They have been so supportive of me as a playwright in their season and I admire their courage, tenacity and vision.  I love Forum’s new policy of half the seats for every show are pay-what-you-can.   Theater gets to be accessible.  And also they have been open to implementing more community organizing tactics as far as reaching out to potential audiences in targeted ways.   I really respect that Forum supports local playwrights and artists, there is so much talent and skill to draw from here, and they recognize that.  I have a lot of love for Forum, and I’m proud to be an Ensemble Member this year.

JL: What advice do you have for up-and-coming playwrights?
AY: Keep writing.  Connect with other playwrights.  Share and break bread with the artists in your community.  Find your tribe and nurture it.  Read other people’s work, and be generous and supportive.  See everyone not as competitors but your fellow artists, we get to raise up each other.  Practice enjoying other people’s successes as much as your own.   Most of all, keep doing the things that keep you grounded, outside of the art itself.  

JL: What’s next for you as a playwright? Where can we follow your work?
AY: Right now what’s on the horizon is to develop a series of comedic sketches for the web.  I have another project in the pipeline about mountaintop removal, free trade and immigration policy. I do plan on taking Meena’s Dream on tour (click here to learn more), and as far as following my work, people can find me on Facebook for updates!

MEENA'S DREAM

Written and performance by Anu Yadav
Directed by Patrick Crowley
Music by Anjna Swaminathan, Rajna Swaminathan, and Sam McCormally
 
January 8-18, 2014

Click here for a full list of performance dates and here for ticketing information

About the Play
During the day, nine-year-old Meena wishes that her mother could get well; and by night, the Hindu God Lord Krishna appears, entreating Meena's help in his war against the Worry Machine.Meena's Dream creates a fantastical world through storytelling and live music, from South Indian classical to indie folk.

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