Performance for Social Change

     One thing that stuck out to me in the reading was how community-based performance was described and how powerful of a tool it can be. I think being able to do work within a community allows the community to thrive and flourish. I see storytelling as a very intimate and personal mode of art or communication. I found it interesting how "the source of community-based performance is not the singular artist but a 'community' constituted by virtue of a shared primary identity based in place, ethnicity, class, race, sexual preference, profession, circumstances, or political orientation"(2, Cruz). I think it is fitting that the artists or artist are only guiding and working closely with the community to create their work. The community is still in control. Something that seemed important was how "community-based performance has become both about building and reflecting community  in recognition of the fluidity and multiplicity of identities...

The reading from the introduction of Local Acts: Community-Based Performance in the United States resonated with me the most due to the local aspect of it. Artists are " collaborating with people whose lives directly inform the subject matter, express collective meaning," which is very captivating to me as this seems like the most organic form of theater and performance. Personally, it really sparked my interest when reading about the fact that the performances are created and produced for a specific area based off of the culture and other unique aspects of that particular community. I would imagine a performance created off of my hometown (a suburb 45 minutes away from Boston) would resonate with me more than a performance produced for the city of Boston due to more real life experiences in my hometown. I also believe that there is great value in someone being able to depict their own experiences in their communities and portray them through storytelling, street theater, or ...

I found Fires in the Mirror to be one of the most engaging pieces of theater that we have watched so far. I was so immersed in Anna Deveare Smiths characterizations and variations of the different characters that I found myself almost distracted by my admiration of her as an actor. I felt like it was a callback to some critiques that we spoke about earlier in the semester- if theater is too satisfying to watch and if we are in traditional roles as spectators, an audience may not be unsettled enough to work for change in the issue area that the performance raises awareness of. However- to be fair- we only saw a few short clips of the piece, and so I didn't have the experience of seeing the full arc of the show. The idea of more polished performance as an avenue social change made me think of the Laramie Project as an example. (The Laramie Project information linked here  https://www.matthewshepard.org/the-laramie-project/ ) I was in Laramie in high school, and I had never really tho...

 The most engaging reading for me was the chapter on storytelling as a form of community-based performance. Something that this text did well, in my opinion, is explain the importance of storytelling and how personal stories give power and a voice to "even the least powerful individual." "Storytelling" explains that personal experiences not only give you a voice and platform, but they also give others the chance to also speak up. When one person speaks, they influence and inspire others to do the same.      Over all, this reading reminded me of Adrienne Maree Brown's performance about the body or more specifically, her relationship with her body. https://youtu.be/PLjjxkjThrw     She is of course sharing her story by actually speaking. However, what captivates me the most is the way she essentially uses her body as a method of storytelling. In the video, she takes off one clothing item at a time and is left with a swimsuit at the end. She talked about the ha...

I really loved reading about story-telling in community-based theater. I am, unabashedly, a book nerd, and I love reading stories, whether fictional or memoir / biographical in nature. I think there is something so innately human about story-telling, and I feel strongly about its untapped potential to build empathy and understanding across identities, races, classes, political parties, religious denominations, or any other affinity or identifying groups. I am currently working on a two-semester independent study for my Hispanic Studies major that is centered around the role of multilingual and multicultural literature in promoting intercultural competency and empathy-building skills in both early elementary education settings (last semester’s focus) and medical education settings (this semester’s focus). Last semester, I went to a children’s Spanish/English bilingual play last semester at the Portland Children’s Theatre entitled “Nieve en la Jungle” which is based on a children...

  One thing that stuck out to me from this week’s reading was the duality of storytelling and the outreach it provides to otherwise marginalized voices and communities. Previously, I had thought of storytelling as just the re-telling of fictional stories mostly to an audience to learn a lesson but reading this chapter, it is used for so much more than that. Through storytelling, one can share their truth and can never be wrong because it's their personal experience. But in the sharing, there is a promotion of solidarity because other people can resonate with that story or experience. I really liked what Rosa shared with the Brooklyn Botanic Garden in the chapter. The idea is that if a plant is dead or dying and you plant another seed near that plant and it grows, the dead plant will catch on and grow too. I think this also applies to the communities in Brooklyn and urban areas, once they see that these areas have been successful with urban gardens, it inspires them to start their...