You never know how the universe will guide you...
After completing my MFA in Contemporary Performance at Naropa University, I spent the summer of 2017 in NYC studying at Stella Adler Studio for Acting.
When I arrived, they were preparing for a presentation of a new play, Loving and Loving, which told the tale of the interracial couple that ensured that their right to live as husband and wife was upheld while striking down all remaining state bans on interracial marriage.
To launch the production, the Adler Studio held a panel discussion on what is was like to be mixed race in America today. The panel featured Fanshen Cox Digiovanni, a performer and playwright who has been touring her one-woman show, One Drop of Love.
After the public discussion, Fanshen hung out to answer any extra questions anyone in the room had.
-- I boldly decided to speak with her.
I mentioned Naropa to her, and the fact that my experience there had been a rude awakening to me as a white presenting and identifying individual; that I had realized how a lack of self-awareness actually supports systems of racism and that, as an artist and activist, it was an important subject that I really wanted to address with my own work.
"BUT....I'm white" I stated. "Is it appropriate for me to take the space to address racism when I have never experienced it myself?"
Her response was beautiful: "Absolutely, but tell YOUR story."
Long story short, I came across a Scale of Racism containing phrases that I found fascinating as a potential guide for a dramatization around my own racial awareness. When I decided to move back to Tucson, AZ, I discovered they were accepting applications for their 2018 Fringe Festival, put my name in just to see what would happen, and low and behold the fates (Tucson Fringe Board) literally pulled my name out out of a hat.
The universe had spoken....
I created and produced the show in about 3 months. I was terrified, but after some backlash on social media paired with positive feedback from those that actually experienced it, I chose to submit it to the Boulder Fringe Festival. I kind of saw it as an opportunity for me to "bring it home" so to speak. Well, the universe once again chose it at random and I WILL be presenting it at the 2018 Boulder Fringe Festival, dates/times/locations listed below.
Friday, August 17 at 6:30 PM
Saturday August 18 at 9:30 PM
Sunday, August 19 at 3:30 PM AND 6:30PM
Monday, August 20 at 8:00 PM
Pine Street Church - Fellowship Hall
1237 Pine St. Boulder, CO 80302
A Note from the creator:
