“Fun Home” Finds Itself at 91ֱ��</h1> <article> <h1>“Fun Home” Finds Itself at 91ֱ��</h1> <p>azaleski — Wed, 04 Feb 2026 15:49:41 +0000</p> <span>“Fun Home” Finds Itself at 91ֱ��</span> <span><span>azaleski</span></span> <span><time datetime="2026-02-04T10:49:41-05:00" title="Wednesday, February 4, 2026 - 10:49">Wed, 02/04/2026 - 10:49</time> </span> <div class="text-content field field--name-body field--type-text-with-summary field--label-hidden field__item"><p>When Visiting Assistant Professor of Theater <a href="/katy-early">Katy Early ’16</a> had the opportunity to serve as faculty director for a theater production, she chose the musical adaptation of <em>Fun Home</em>, the 2006 graphic memoir written by Alison Bechdel ’81. </p><p>There was so much enthusiasm for the production, which ended up as a student-driven <a href="/arts-and-sciences/departments/theater">theater department</a> Winter Term project, that Early and her crew decided to double-cast the show.</p><p>“The excitement was there from the jump,” Early says. “It felt like a good connection between my interest and student interest. … [And] it’s been important to me to work on this [musical] with students.”</p><p>The enthusiasm makes sense. In 2007, the graphic novel won the GLAAD Media Award, the Stonewall Book Award, the Publishing-Triangle Judy Grahn Nonfiction Award, and the Lambda Literary Award. The 2015 Broadway musical, meanwhile, was nominated for 12 Tony Awards and took home five, including Best Musical. </p><p>In both mediums, <em>Fun Home</em>, which tells the story of Bechdel’s coming of age and coming out with a strong focus on her relationship with her closeted father, has been praised for its nuanced exploration of queerness. As such, the show's complex architecture was the work of many hands. </p><p>To inform the set and costume design, Early and the student cast and crew immersed themselves in 91ֱ��’s archives to find artifacts of queer life during Bechdel’s time as a student. </p><p>“That task of archiving queer life is so important to the DNA of this show, and [is] what Alison Bechdel is doing with her life,” Early says.</p><p>Dallas Street ’26, who portrays Alison in the Maple Avenue cast, cites as inspiration a presentation by Lee Must ’25, who came to campus to present his research on the 91ֱ�� queer archives to the cast and crew. .</p><p>Street says that the Fun Home production also has its own collaborative “masterdoc” in which cast and crew members contribute notes and research to collectively draw from. For example, he researched Bechdel’s old blog posts for the production. </p><p>Costume design associate Calcifer Avins ’27, working under Associate Professor of Theater <a href="/chris-flaharty">Chris Flaharty</a>, drew inspiration from 91ֱ�� archival photographs for their costume design for the character of Joan, Alison’s college girlfriend. </p><p>Avins says they and Flaharty also heavily referenced the <em>Fun Home</em> graphic novel in their design, particularly in the way that Bechdel draws her family. “We’re seeing what kind of pants they wore,” says Avins, who is interested in pursuing a career in costume design. “What are the shapes of the collars? How does Alison differentiate herself from her brothers with her clothes?”</p></div> <div class="field field--name-field-news-subhead field--type-string field--label-hidden field__item"> A theater department Winter Term project culminates in a thoughtful musical adaptation of Alison Bechdel '81’s graphic memoir</div> <div class="field field--name-field-news-type field--type-entity-reference field--label-hidden field__item">News Story</div> <div class="field field--name-field-news-date field--type-datetime field--label-hidden field__item"><time datetime="2026-02-04T12:00:00Z">Wed, 02/04/2026 - 12:00</time> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-news-author field--type-string field--label-hidden field__item">Sloane DiBari '27</div> <div class="field field--name-field-news-tags field--type-entity-reference field--label-hidden field__items"> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news?tag=2402">Winter Term</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news?tag=2368">Alumni</a></div> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-news-programs field--type-entity-reference field--label-hidden field__items"> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news?program=25441">Theater</a></div> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-news-faculty field--type-entity-reference field--label-hidden field__items"> <div class="field__item"><a href="/katy-early" hreflang="und">Katy Early</a></div> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-news-departments field--type-entity-reference field--label-hidden field__items"> <div class="field__item"><a href="/arts-and-sciences/departments/theater" hreflang="und">Theater</a></div> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-news-cte-images field--type-list-string field--label-hidden field__item">Yes (Individual Images)</div> <div class="field field--name-field-news-pin-school-page field--type-boolean field--label-hidden field__item">Off</div> <div class="field field--name-field-news-photo-gallery-top field--type-boolean field--label-hidden field__item">false</div> <div class="field field--name-field-news-image-credit field--type-string field--label-hidden field__item">Yevhen Gulenko</div> <div class="field field--name-field-news-media field--type-entity-reference field--label-hidden field__item"> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-news-flex-content field--type-entity-reference-revisions field--label-hidden vertical-spacing--basic field__items"> <div class="field__item"> <div id="obj-47799" class="paragraph paragraph--type--para-cont-img-section paragraph--view-mode--photoswipe-images photoswipe-gallery"> <div class="pull" style="margin-bottom: -1.5rem;"> <div class="readability-width"> <div id="obj-47794" class="paragraph paragraph--type--para-el-ic paragraph--view-mode--default"> <div id="obj-47805" class="paragraph paragraph--type--para-el-headline paragraph--view-mode--default"> <h2>Scenes from "Fun Home"</h2> </div> </div> </div> </div> <div class="o-flex--basic-copy basic-copy"> <div class="image-grid image-grid--single-caption pull"> <div id="obj-47798" class="paragraph paragraph--type--para-el-image-row paragraph--view-mode--photoswipe-images"> <div class="image-row"> <div class="image-row__images" data-cols="3"> <div id="obj-47795" class="paragraph paragraph--type--para-el-figure paragraph--view-mode--photoswipe-images"> <figure> <a href="/sites/default/files/2026-02/funhome-alison.jpg" class="photoswipe" data-pswp-width="1600" data-pswp-height="900"> </a> </figure> </div> <div id="obj-47796" class="paragraph paragraph--type--para-el-figure paragraph--view-mode--photoswipe-images"> <figure> <a href="/sites/default/files/2026-02/funhome-sketch.jpg" class="photoswipe" data-pswp-width="1600" data-pswp-height="900"> </a> </figure> </div> <div id="obj-47797" class="paragraph paragraph--type--para-el-figure paragraph--view-mode--photoswipe-images"> <figure> <a href="/sites/default/files/2026-02/FunHome-Cal.jpg" class="photoswipe" data-pswp-width="1600" data-pswp-height="900"> </a> </figure> </div> </div> </div> </div> <div class="figcaption"> <div class="figure__caption"> <p>(left to right; click each photo to expand) Dallas Street '26 portrays Alison in Fun Home; archival work students used to inform <em>Fun Home</em>'s costumes and set; costume design associate Calcifer Avins ’27 drew inspiration from 91ֱ�� archival photographs for their designs</p> </div> <div class="figure__credit"> Photo credit: Yevhen Gulenko </div> </div> </div> </div> </div> </div> <div class="field__item"> <div id="obj-47806" class="paragraph paragraph--type--para-el-copy paragraph--view-mode--default o-flex--basic-copy basic-copy"> <p><em>Fun Home</em> is, in part, a story of self-discovery, a lot of which takes place at 91ֱ��. As a result, Early and Street say the production is unique in that it pays special attention to the campus environment. </p><p>“We have talked a lot about how to break the fourth wall a little bit with an 91ֱ�� audience specifically,” Street says, noting this is especially true in scenes where Bechdel is an undergraduate discovering her lesbian identity. </p><p>Avins says the musical is personally meaningful to her, as well as her peers on the cast and crew, which has created an “incredibly dynamic” work environment. </p><p>Street, meanwhile, emphasizes that what makes the show truly special is the passion coming from the queer students involved. He says his role as Alison is important to him.</p><p>“To be trusted with a story like this at all feels really special,” Street says. “I don't know when else I would be able to play a butch character. I figured out that I was butch at 91ֱ��, and so being able to do this here, now, in my final semester, just feels like a goodbye.”</p><hr><p><em><strong>Fun Home</strong></em><strong> is presented at the </strong><a href="/events/theater-mainstage-fun-home-4"><strong>Irene and Alan Wurtzel Theater from February 4-8, 2026</strong></a><strong>, by arrangement with Concord Theatricals and is open to the public. Tickets are $15 for general admission and $10 for students, seniors, and 91ֱ�� College faculty/staff/alumni. Shows are sold out, but a waitlist will open one hour prior to show start time, with cash-only tickets available at the door.</strong></p> </div> </div> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-news-article-header field--type-boolean field--label-hidden field__item">1</div> </article> <article> <h1>91ֱ�� Joins Park Arts, Bringing World-Class Programs to Historic Synagogue</h1> <p>eburnett — Thu, 10 Apr 2025 16:34:19 +0000</p> <span>91ֱ�� Joins Park Arts, Bringing World-Class Programs to Historic Synagogue</span> <span><span>eburnett</span></span> <span><time datetime="2025-04-10T12:34:19-04:00" title="Thursday, April 10, 2025 - 12:34">Thu, 04/10/2025 - 12:34</time> </span> <div class="text-content field field--name-body field--type-text-with-summary field--label-hidden field__item"><p>Since the Park Synagogue congregation departed its historic Cleveland Heights campus several years ago, there has been a remarkable effort underway to restore and repurpose this important site into a center for creative arts and humanities. </p><p> 91ֱ�� is proud to bring its unique combination of outstanding academics and world-class music and arts education to the dynamic community that is planned for the Park Synagogue. Called “Park Arts,” this collaboration is a milestone in one of the most ambitious and historically significant reclamation projects within the nation’s Jewish community.</p><p>Developed by Sustainable Community Associates (SCA), a Cleveland-based team of 91ֱ�� alumni, and the nonprofit Friends of Mendelsohn, Park Arts honors architect Erich Mendelsohn’s legacy while designing an intergenerational center for artistic creation and humanities education. 91ֱ�� will add its newly established Bachelor of Arts and Bachelor of Fine Arts in Integrated Arts (BA+BFA) to this creative hub. Launching in fall 2025, the combined degree program can be completed in five years: the first four on 91ֱ��’s bucolic campus, followed by a fifth year set amid the rich professional arts community at Park Arts. With the first BA+BFA students scheduled to arrive at Park Arts in June 2027, this program will provide hands-on opportunities for students in Northeast Ohio’s vibrant arts scene.</p><p>“We are thrilled to forge this connection between 91ֱ�� and the greater Cleveland community,” says 91ֱ�� President Carmen Twillie Ambar. “This partnership allows us to honor one of Cleveland’s historic Jewish synagogues while our students interact with the region’s cultural institutions. Our students will gain real-world experience and contribute their talents to a city known for artistic excellence. It bridges 91ֱ��’s close-knit campus with the creative energy of Cleveland and Cleveland Heights.” </p><p>91ֱ��’s BA+BFA in Integrated Arts dual degree program eventually will bring up to 50 fifth-year students to Park Arts for an immersive arts year. Students will have 24-hour access to private studios, rehearsal spaces, theaters, and production facilities, culminating in a substantial, public-facing project—a performance, exhibition, or installation—determined in collaboration with their 91ֱ�� faculty mentors. The program is designed with collaboration in mind: Students will work with renowned visiting artists and with Cleveland’s arts organizations through internships, commissioned works, and public programming.</p></div> <div class="field field--name-field-news-subhead field--type-string field--label-hidden field__item">Partnership will yield host site for new BA+BFA combined degree program.</div> <div class="field field--name-field-news-type field--type-entity-reference field--label-hidden field__item">News Story</div> <div class="field field--name-field-news-date field--type-datetime field--label-hidden field__item"><time datetime="2025-04-09T12:00:00Z">Wed, 04/09/2025 - 12:00</time> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-news-author field--type-string field--label-hidden field__item">Office of Communications</div> <div class="field field--name-field-news-tags field--type-entity-reference field--label-hidden field__items"> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news?tag=2583">College of Arts and Sciences</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news?tag=4290">BA/BFA</a></div> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-news-programs field--type-entity-reference field--label-hidden field__items"> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news?program=25436">Studio Art</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news?program=25331">Dance</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news?program=25441">Theater</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news?program=25326">Creative Writing</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news?program=25281">Musical Studies</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news?program=25256">Cinema and Media</a></div> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-news-faculty field--type-entity-reference field--label-hidden field__items"> <div class="field__item"><a href="/julia-christensen" hreflang="und">Julia Christensen</a></div> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-news-departments field--type-entity-reference field--label-hidden field__items"> <div class="field__item"><a href="/arts-and-sciences/departments/art" hreflang="und">Studio Art</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/arts-and-sciences/departments/dance" hreflang="und">Dance</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/arts-and-sciences/departments/theater" hreflang="und">Theater</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/arts-and-sciences/departments/cinema-studies" hreflang="und">Cinema and Media</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/arts-and-sciences/departments/creative-writing" hreflang="und">Creative Writing</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/arts-and-sciences/departments/musical-studies" hreflang="und">Musical Studies</a></div> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-news-image-caption field--type-string-long field--label-hidden field__item">Built in 1950, Park Synagogue in Cleveland Heights will be redeveloped as Park Arts. Fifth-year 91ֱ�� students in the new BA/BFA program will pursue their studies at the transformed space beginning in 2027.</div> <div class="field field--name-field-news-pin-school-page field--type-boolean field--label-hidden field__item">Off</div> <div class="field field--name-field-news-photo-gallery-top field--type-boolean field--label-hidden field__item">false</div> <div class="field field--name-field-news-image-credit field--type-string field--label-hidden field__item">courtesy of SCA</div> <div class="field field--name-field-news-media field--type-entity-reference field--label-hidden field__item"> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-news-flex-content field--type-entity-reference-revisions field--label-hidden vertical-spacing--basic field__items"> <div class="field__item"> <div id="obj-40692" class="paragraph paragraph--type--pb-el-bq paragraph--view-mode--default"> <blockquote class="blockquote--quotemark" data-text-color-red data-text-size-giant> <p>For artists, community connections are invaluable. Collaborating with Cleveland’s arts organizations, securing internships, and being immersed in a thriving cultural district will be transformative.” <em>—Julia Christensen, BA+BFA Program Director</em></p> </blockquote> </div> </div> <div class="field__item"> <div id="obj-40399" class="paragraph paragraph--type--para-el-copy paragraph--view-mode--default o-flex--basic-copy basic-copy"> <p>The partnership with Park Arts also presents a pathway for 91ֱ�� to expand Jewish Studies—drawing on the congregation’s archives as well as pursuing course-based research opportunities focused on the history of Park Synagogue—and the potential for community concerts and other musical outreach. </p><p>In addition to 91ֱ��, Park Arts will house a diverse collection of nonprofit and educational programs, expanding access to creative programming for the broader Cleveland community. Overall, the 28-acre Park Arts campus will contain intergenerational housing, an expanded neighborhood preschool, public walking trails and green space, and the preservation of the Mendelsohn-designed building—an applicant for National Landmark status—while simultaneously integrating sustainability initiatives such as geothermal heating and cooling.</p><p>According to Susan Ratner, former President of Park Synagogue, the donation of Park to SCA was a continuation of the congregation’s legacy. “Our goal has always been to honor Park’s history while ensuring it remains an inspiring part of Greater Cleveland’s cultural landscape. The larger vision for the restoration and 91ֱ��’s presence will bring new energy, creativity, and scholarship, making Park Arts a truly unique center for artistic innovation and education. We are thrilled to be a part of it and to return each year for high holidays.”</p><p>Park Arts places 91ֱ�� students near some of the region’s most distinguished cultural institutions, including the Cleveland Museum of Art, the Museum of Contemporary Art (MOCA) Cleveland, and Dobama Theatre, as well as Cleveland’s renowned performance venues and galleries.</p><p>“This move provides an essential bridge from student life to professional careers in the arts,” says Julia Christensen, Program Director and 91ֱ��’s Eva & John Young-Hunter Professor of Integrated Media. “Park Arts offers students the opportunity to engage with the Cleveland arts community while honing their creative practice in an academic setting.”</p><p>“For artists, community connections are invaluable,” Christensen adds. “Collaborating with Cleveland’s arts organizations, securing internships, and being immersed in a thriving cultural district will be transformative. At the same time, these emerging artists will bring fresh perspectives and energy to the broader Cleveland arts scene. It’s an exciting exchange.”</p><hr><p><a href="/arts-and-sciences/ba-bfa-dual-degree-integrated-arts"><em><strong>Learn more about 91ֱ��’s BA+BFA program at 91ֱ��.edu.</strong></em></a></p> </div> </div> </div> </article> <article> <h1>91ֱ�� Launches Combined BA+BFA in Integrated Arts</h1> <p>eburnett — Fri, 21 Feb 2025 21:02:25 +0000</p> <span>91ֱ�� Launches Combined BA+BFA in Integrated Arts</span> <span><span>eburnett</span></span> <span><time datetime="2025-02-21T16:02:25-05:00" title="Friday, February 21, 2025 - 16:02">Fri, 02/21/2025 - 16:02</time> </span> <div class="text-content field field--name-body field--type-text-with-summary field--label-hidden field__item"><p>For generations, 91ֱ�� graduates have gone on to become groundbreaking creative forces in artistic settings all over the world. </p><p>Now a new pairing of 91ֱ�� degree programs enables undergraduate students to establish their own paths toward interdisciplinary careers across the arts.</p><p>Beginning in fall 2025, students may pursue a combined dual degree that culminates in a <a href="/arts-and-sciences/ba-bfa-dual-degree-integrated-arts">Bachelor of Arts and a Bachelor of Fine Arts in Integrated Arts</a>. The two degrees can be completed in five years: the first four on 91ֱ��’s bucolic campus, followed by a fifth year set amid the vibrant professional arts community of nearby Cleveland.</p><p>“What is most inspiring about this new BA+BFA pathway is that it emerged organically,” says <a href="/node/4921">David Kamitsuka</a>, Dean of 91ֱ��’s College of Arts and Sciences. “It developed through an extraordinary, collaborative commitment among our arts faculty to design a program that is attuned to the future of the art world and attentive to the aspirations of our endlessly creative and thoughtful students.” </p><p>Students in the program complete courses in their chosen BA major, <a href="/arts-and-sciences/areas-of-study">selecting from more than 50 areas of study</a> offered by the College of Arts and Sciences. They also take 10 additional courses in the <a href="/arts-and-sciences/practicing-arts">practicing arts</a>, which may include cinema and media, creative writing, dance, musical studies, studio art, and theater.</p><p>In year five, students live and work in Cleveland, with 24-hour access to private studios, rehearsal spaces, theaters, and production facilities. This immersive arts year is dedicated to completing a substantial, public-facing project—a performance, exhibition, or installation, for example—determined in collaboration with their 91ֱ�� faculty mentors.</p><p>Unlike traditional BFA programs, which require selection of a single area of study, 91ֱ��’s BFA in Integrated Arts invites students to shape their own path by incorporating other disciplines into their individual artistic practice. In this way, painting could be paired with politics, theater with environmental studies, creative writing with neuroscience—or any number of other combinations.</p></div> <div class="field field--name-field-news-subhead field--type-string field--label-hidden field__item">Five-year path toward two degrees includes focused work in the thriving arts world of nearby Cleveland.</div> <div class="field field--name-field-news-type field--type-entity-reference field--label-hidden field__item">News Story</div> <div class="field field--name-field-news-date field--type-datetime field--label-hidden field__item"><time datetime="2025-02-21T12:00:00Z">Fri, 02/21/2025 - 12:00</time> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-news-author field--type-string field--label-hidden field__item">Communications Staff</div> <div class="field field--name-field-news-tags field--type-entity-reference field--label-hidden field__items"> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news?tag=2583">College of Arts and Sciences</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news?tag=2556">Admissions</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news?tag=4290">BA/BFA</a></div> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-news-programs field--type-entity-reference field--label-hidden field__items"> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news?program=25436">Studio Art</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news?program=25331">Dance</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news?program=25256">Cinema and Media</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news?program=25326">Creative Writing</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news?program=25441">Theater</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news?program=25281">Musical Studies</a></div> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-news-faculty field--type-entity-reference field--label-hidden field__items"> <div class="field__item"><a href="/julia-christensen" hreflang="und">Julia Christensen</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/david-kamitsuka" hreflang="und">David Kamitsuka</a></div> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-news-departments field--type-entity-reference field--label-hidden field__items"> <div class="field__item"><a href="/arts-and-sciences/departments/art" hreflang="und">Studio Art</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/arts-and-sciences/departments/theater" hreflang="und">Theater</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/arts-and-sciences/departments/dance" hreflang="und">Dance</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/arts-and-sciences/departments/creative-writing" hreflang="und">Creative Writing</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/arts-and-sciences/departments/musical-studies" hreflang="und">Musical Studies</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/arts-and-sciences/departments/cinema-studies" hreflang="und">Cinema and Media</a></div> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-news-image-caption field--type-string-long field--label-hidden field__item">Students in 91ֱ��’s BA+BFA dual-degree program devote their first four years to studies on campus, followed by a fifth year of immersive arts study in Cleveland.</div> <div class="field field--name-field-news-pin-school-page field--type-boolean field--label-hidden field__item">Off</div> <div class="field field--name-field-news-photo-gallery-top field--type-boolean field--label-hidden field__item">false</div> <div class="field field--name-field-news-media field--type-entity-reference field--label-hidden field__item"> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-news-flex-content field--type-entity-reference-revisions field--label-hidden vertical-spacing--basic field__items"> <div class="field__item"> <div id="obj-37735" class="paragraph paragraph--type--pb-el-bq paragraph--view-mode--default"> <blockquote class="blockquote--quotemark" data-text-color-red data-text-size-giant> <p>Our students don’t just learn to be artists; they learn to be thinkers who engage deeply with the world around them.”</p> </blockquote> </div> </div> <div class="field__item"> <div id="obj-37109" class="paragraph paragraph--type--para-el-copy paragraph--view-mode--default o-flex--basic-copy basic-copy"> <p>The program creates an ideal bridge between students’ academic journey and their chosen professional path—and a launching pad for a new generation of increasingly vital “thinking artists.”</p><p>“This program is built on the idea that artists thrive when they have a broad intellectual foundation,” says Program Director <a href="/node/5041">Julia Christensen</a>, 91ֱ��’s Eva & John Young-Hunter Professor of Integrated Media. “It’s about bridging the gap between creativity and academic exploration.</p><p>“Artists don’t usually see themselves as just a painter or just a sculptor,” Christensen says. “They draw from all kinds of disciplines and backgrounds. That’s the kind of artistry we want to foster here: Our students don’t just learn to be artists; they learn to be thinkers who engage deeply with the world around them, using their creative problem-solving skills to address complex, real-world challenges.”</p><p>Current students in their first or second year of studies in the College of Arts and Sciences are eligible to participate in the BA+BFA in Integrated Arts program, with the first year of immersive art studies in Cleveland slated for 2027-28. Current 91ֱ�� students interested in the program must apply by their junior year and be on track to finish the required credits and submit a portfolio for review. </p><p>New students applying for enrollment in fall 2026 will have the option to apply to the BA+BFA program as part of the first-year application process.</p><hr><p><a href="/arts-and-sciences/ba-bfa-dual-degree-integrated-arts"><strong>Learn more about the BA+BFA in Integrated Arts at oberlin.edu. </strong></a></p><p><strong>Thinking about 91ֱ��? </strong><a href="mailto:college.admissions@oberlin.edu?subject=91ֱ��'s%20BA%2FBFA%20program"><strong>Connect with us at college.admissions@oberlin.edu.</strong></a></p> </div> </div> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-news-article-header field--type-boolean field--label-hidden field__item">0</div> </article> <article> <h1>Lighting the Way</h1> <p>azaleski — Thu, 08 Jun 2023 17:19:42 +0000</p> <span>Lighting the Way</span> <span><span>azaleski</span></span> <span><time datetime="2023-06-08T13:19:42-04:00" title="Thursday, June 8, 2023 - 13:19">Thu, 06/08/2023 - 13:19</time> </span> <div class="text-content field field--name-body field--type-text-with-summary field--label-hidden field__item"><p>At the 76th Tony Awards, Natasha Katz ’81 faced a formidable opponent —herself. The lighting designer, who received an <a href="/commencement/speakers-and-award-recipients" target="_blank">honorary doctorate of fine arts</a> at 91ֱ��’s 2023 commencement ceremony, was nominated twice in the Best Lighting Design of a Musical category for her work on the brand-new adaptation of <em>Some Like It Hot</em> and the Josh Groban-led revival of Stephen Sondheim’s <em>Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street</em>.</p> <p>This wasn’t the first time Katz faced off against herself at Broadway’s annual awards ceremony: In 2012, she had another adaptation-Sondheim double dip when she was nominated in Best Lighting Design of a Musical for her work on the street-musician love story <em>Once</em> and the early ’10s revival of Sondheim’s nostalgia trip <em>Follies</em>. That year, she won for <em>Once</em>—and at the June 11, 2023, ceremony, she won for <em>Sweeney Todd</em>, bringing her total of Tonys won to eight. </p> <p>Overall, Katz has designed the lighting for more than 60 Broadway productions—including the current Broadway run of the thriller <em>Grey House</em>, as well as <em>Springsteen on Broadway</em>;<em> Frozen</em>;<em> Hello, Dolly!</em>; <em>The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee</em>; and the inaugural <em>Beauty and the Beast</em>—in addition to dance performances, operas, and two Niketown outposts. </p> <p>Katz became entranced by Broadway at an early age. “My parents took me to the theater all the time,” she says from her home in her native New York. “My mother always said I was born to work in the theater, and then my graduation present from high school was eight shows in a week.”</p></div> <div class="field field--name-field-news-subhead field--type-string field--label-hidden field__item">Tony Award-winning lighting designer Natasha Katz ’81 first found her spark at 91ֱ��.</div> <div class="field field--name-field-news-type field--type-entity-reference field--label-hidden field__item">News Story</div> <div class="field field--name-field-news-date field--type-datetime field--label-hidden field__item"><time datetime="2023-06-08T12:00:00Z">Thu, 06/08/2023 - 12:00</time> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-news-author field--type-string field--label-hidden field__item">Maura Johnston</div> <div class="field field--name-field-news-tags field--type-entity-reference field--label-hidden field__items"> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news?tag=3152">Commencement</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news?tag=2368">Alumni</a></div> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-news-programs field--type-entity-reference field--label-hidden field__items"> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news?program=25441">Theater</a></div> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-news-departments field--type-entity-reference field--label-hidden field__items"> <div class="field__item"><a href="/arts-and-sciences/departments/theater" hreflang="und">Theater</a></div> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-news-image-caption field--type-string-long field--label-hidden field__item">Natasha Katz, pictured at the 75th Tony Awards in 2022.</div> <div class="field field--name-field-news-pin-school-page field--type-boolean field--label-hidden field__item">Off</div> <div class="field field--name-field-news-photo-gallery-top field--type-boolean field--label-hidden field__item">false</div> <div class="field field--name-field-news-image-credit field--type-string field--label-hidden field__item">courtesy of Creative Commons</div> <div class="field field--name-field-news-media field--type-entity-reference field--label-hidden field__item"> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-news-flex-content field--type-entity-reference-revisions field--label-hidden vertical-spacing--basic field__items"> <div class="field__item"> <div id="obj-32089" class="paragraph paragraph--type--pb-el-bq paragraph--view-mode--default"> <blockquote class="blockquote--quotemark" data-text-color-red> <p>“Until I got to 91ֱ��, I didn't even know what a stage manager did. I didn't know how a show was put on. It was all from the point of view of the audience member—you snapped your fingers and somehow there's a show in a theater.”</p> </blockquote> </div> </div> <div class="field__item"> <div id="obj-27731" class="paragraph paragraph--type--para-el-copy paragraph--view-mode--default o-flex--basic-copy basic-copy"> <p>Katz was drawn to 91ֱ�� by the school’s progressive atmosphere and liberal arts foundation, as well as the town’s contrast to New York’s metropolitan bustle. But after arriving on campus, she initially kept theater as her “own private, happy thing” and wound up majoring in French instead. </p> <p>Her introduction to the school’s theater department came via the History of Western Theatre course with Roger Copeland. The class opened her eyes to the work behind the spectacles that had dazzled her as a youth. “Until I got to 91ֱ��, I didn't even know what a stage manager did. I didn't know how a show was put on,” she recalls. “It was all from the point of view of the audience member—you snapped your fingers and somehow there's a show in a theater.” </p> <p>She eventually began working in the scene shop, and a student director asked her to light a production of Harold Pinter’s <em>The Dumb Waiter</em>. “I thought, ‘Oh, this is kind of fun,’” she says. “I didn't even know what lighting was.”</p> <p>Taking a class in lighting led to her spending a semester in New York through the <a href="https://www.glca.org/students/off-campus-study/" target="_blank">Great Lakes College Association</a>. There, she met lighting designer Roger Morgan, who quickly became her mentor. “Roger took me everywhere,” she says. “When we talk about mentorship, he was an incredible mentor. I was in every single meeting with him, so I started to understand a little bit about what the business was. I tell people that I became a lighting designer through on-the-job training.”</p> <p>She remained in New York and “kept getting work and getting work and getting work,” she says, leading to her taking a leave of absence from 91ֱ�� and jumping right into her career. Katz has watched the discipline of lighting evolve over the last four decades, from the then-cutting-edge computerized boards of her early work to the robotic spotlights that open more of the stage to today’s productions. “You used to have to get on a ladder to focus a light to a certain place—then it was stationary, and it had to be in that one spot,” she notes. “Now, all of that can be controlled remotely.” </p> <p>Katz’s approach to lighting is directly connected to her time at 91ֱ�� in the 1970s. Back then, she was encouraged to think of art as a series of interconnected disciplines as a student in 91ֱ��’s Inter-Arts Program. This program brought together students working in a variety of disciplines so they could, as the mission statement put it, “probe that which is unknown and see the familiar in a new way"—a mindset also present today with 91ֱ��'s <a href="/center-engaged-liberal-arts/integrative-concentrations" target="_blank">integrated concentrations</a>.</p> <p>Lighting is, of course, key to seeing anything—and Katz takes every aspect of a production into consideration when she’s designing a lighting setup. Whether it’s an elaborate one, like Disney’s 1990s reimagining of <em>Beauty and the Beast</em>, or a single-performer venture like <em>Springsteen on Broadway</em>, she digs into a production’s details, all the way down to the fabric and materials used in the costumes and sets. </p> <p>“There are costumes which are different colors, different materials, and those take light in different ways,” she says. “The scenery—all the same things, different materials. Some reflect light, some absorb light.” Figuring out the vagaries of a set’s fundamentals is just the first step—then there’s navigating the sometimes-copacetic, sometimes-conflicting visions of the director, the set designer, and other people who might be invested in the meaning and look of what’s on stage. </p> <p>“The lighting designer has to take all these aspects and pull them together,” she says. “If you pull that all the way back to Inter-Arts, it’s the same thing.”</p> </div> </div> </div> </article> <article> <h1>‘Rainbow’ Connections</h1> <p>tapplega — Fri, 14 Apr 2023 19:36:42 +0000</p> <span>‘Rainbow’ Connections</span> <span><span>tapplega</span></span> <span><time datetime="2023-04-14T15:36:42-04:00" title="Friday, April 14, 2023 - 15:36">Fri, 04/14/2023 - 15:36</time> </span> <div class="text-content field field--name-body field--type-text-with-summary field--label-hidden field__item"><p>Amara Granderson ’17 was all of 9 years old when she first took to the stage. A native of Brooklyn, New York, she’d been exposed to theater throughout her childhood on outings to the city with her family. One of those trips came in 2013, when she experienced a performance of Shakespeare’s iconic comedy<em> A Midsummer Night’s Dream</em>, staged by a director named <a href="/node/4961">Justin Emeka</a>.</p> <p>So when Granderson arrived at 91ֱ�� as a first-year student in the autumn, it was no surprise that she found herself drawn back to the spotlight. She selected a major of <a href="/node/3431">Africana studies</a>, but quickly started forging ties with 91ֱ��’s <a href="/arts-and-sciences/departments/theater">theater</a> faculty too. One of them was the same Justin Emeka who made an impression on her months earlier. Emeka has been adapting and directing plays since his own graduation from 91ֱ�� in 1995.</p> <p>“She has an incredible charisma on stage and a very creative sense of humor,” says Emeka, who routinely casts 91ֱ�� students and alumni in productions he directs. He cast Granderson—in her sophomore year—in the world premiere of Stick Fly, a play he directed in Seattle. That same year, she starred in the debut of What We Look Like, written by her good friend and fellow Obie <a href="https://oberlinreview.org/17805/arts/b-j-tindal-oc-16-playwright/">B.J. Tindal ’16</a>. In her senior year, she portrayed The Lady in Red in Ntozake Shange’s <em>for colored girls who have considered suicide / when the rainbow is enuf</em>, a choreopoem that explores the lives and challenges of young Black women in America. </p> <p>By the time commencement rolled around in spring 2017, Granderson was fully committed to performance. “I wanted to continue to better my craft, and wanted to see what I could do with more training,” she recalls.</p> <p>She continued her studies in an MFA program at the University of California, San Diego. There she overcame pandemic limitations by presenting a virtual showcase with her classmates, using clever editing to make it seem as if the performers were together—when in reality, they were filming from their own bedrooms. It captured the attention of talent agents and managers, and launched Granderson on a yearlong marathon of flights to Los Angeles for TV gigs, followed by return trips to New York to scour for stage opportunities.</p> <p>In fall 2021, she submitted an audition for a Broadway revival of <em>for colored girls</em>, directed and choreographed by Camille A. Brown—the first Broadway show in more than 60 years to be directed and choreographed by a Black woman. Granderson knew she would thrive if given the chance, and a few short weeks later it happened.</p> <p>“All my dreams came true in one phone call,” she says, recalling her first disbelieving words to her manager: “Broadway? Do you have that in writing?” The show opened in April 2022, with Granderson in the role of The Lady in Orange. </p> <p>“It felt like a perfect fit,” she says. “I knew I had to be here.”</p> <p>The production was met with immediate success, selling out each of its initial dates—including many audiences peppered with Granderson’s 91ֱ�� friends and former castmates—and extending an additional month. It went on to garner seven Tony Award nominations, including Best Play.</p> <p>The payoff meant everything to Granderson, who still vividly recalls her first angst-ridden visit with director Brown. “Surrounded by all these professionals, I came in doubting my own ability,” she recalls. And what has she gained since? “A confidence and intention that I did not have prior to the show in the way that I do now.”</p> <p>Recently, Granderson reconnected with Emeka in Pittsburgh, to perform in his adaptation of the same classic she saw him direct 10 years ago, now recast as <em>A Midsummer Night’s Dream in Harlem</em>. Granderson played the role of Lysandra, a gender-bent version of Shakespeare’s Lysander. </p> <p>She continues to audition and perform all over the country, with her sights set on returning to Broadway. Her message for young actors—and one she follows herself—is to “always be open to learning new things. If you expand your abilities, you’ll always have opportunities in acting.”</p></div> <div class="field field--name-field-news-subhead field--type-string field--label-hidden field__item">Amara Granderson’s visions of Broadway came into focus on the stages of 91ֱ��.</div> <div class="field field--name-field-news-type field--type-entity-reference field--label-hidden field__item">News Story</div> <div class="field field--name-field-news-date field--type-datetime field--label-hidden field__item"><time datetime="2023-04-21T12:00:00Z">Fri, 04/21/2023 - 12:00</time> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-news-author field--type-string field--label-hidden field__item">Tyler Applegate</div> <div class="field field--name-field-news-tags field--type-entity-reference field--label-hidden field__items"> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news?tag=2360">After 91ֱ��</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news?tag=2368">Alumni</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news?tag=2372">Performing Arts</a></div> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-news-programs field--type-entity-reference field--label-hidden field__items"> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news?program=25441">Theater</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news?program=4821">Africana Studies</a></div> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-news-faculty field--type-entity-reference field--label-hidden field__items"> <div class="field__item"><a href="/justin-emeka" hreflang="und">Justin Emeka ’95</a></div> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-news-departments field--type-entity-reference field--label-hidden field__items"> <div class="field__item"><a href="/arts-and-sciences/departments/theater" hreflang="und">Theater</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/arts-and-sciences/departments/africana-studies" hreflang="und">Africana Studies</a></div> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-news-image-caption field--type-string-long field--label-hidden field__item">Amara Granderson (center) with her Broadway castmates.</div> <div class="field field--name-field-news-pin-school-page field--type-boolean field--label-hidden field__item">Off</div> <div class="field field--name-field-news-photo-gallery-top field--type-boolean field--label-hidden field__item">false</div> <div class="field field--name-field-news-image-credit field--type-string field--label-hidden field__item">Sara Krulwich, New York Times/courtesy of Amara Granderson</div> <div class="field field--name-field-news-media field--type-entity-reference field--label-hidden field__item"> </div> </article> <article> <h1>91ֱ�� Students Shine in Theater Design Competition</h1> <p>eburnett — Wed, 29 Mar 2023 13:55:56 +0000</p> <span>91ֱ�� Students Shine in Theater Design Competition</span> <span><span>eburnett</span></span> <span><time datetime="2023-03-29T09:55:56-04:00" title="Wednesday, March 29, 2023 - 09:55">Wed, 03/29/2023 - 09:55</time> </span> <div class="text-content field field--name-body field--type-text-with-summary field--label-hidden field__item"><p>91ֱ�� theater students excelled in the biennial <a href="https://theatreconsultants.org/astc-usitt-challenge/">Venue Renovation Challenge</a>, an event co-sponsored by the American Society for Theatre Consultants and the United States Institute for Theatre Technology. The competition took place at USITT’s March conference in St. Louis.</p> <p>Students work in teams with an ASTC professional theater consultant to propose and document a theoretical renovation to a venue or space on or near their campus. The 91ֱ�� team’s presentation focused on proposed renovations to 91ֱ��’s Hall Auditorium, the longtime home of mainstage opera and theater productions on campus. They were mentored over the past year by Howard Glickman ’92, an associate principal at the renowned theater-consulting firm Auerbach Pollock Friedlander.</p> <p>The 91ֱ�� team earned a second-place finish, topping teams from Yale and Ohio State, and also won the Director’s Award, a prize established by USITT to acknowledge the best undergraduate team in the competition. The team consisted of Nelson Gutsch ’25, Ansel Mills ’25, Leanne O’Donnell ’25, Andrew McCraken ’26, Charley Davis ’26, and Nova Gomez ’25.</p> <p>“I’m very proud of these students,” Glickman said. “In a short period of time, they were able to grasp concepts that graduate students and even professionals sometimes struggle with.”</p></div> <div class="field field--name-field-news-subhead field--type-string field--label-hidden field__item">Proposed renovations to Hall Auditorium top submissions from graduate school programs.</div> <div class="field field--name-field-news-type field--type-entity-reference field--label-hidden field__item">News Story</div> <div class="field field--name-field-news-date field--type-datetime field--label-hidden field__item"><time datetime="2023-03-29T12:00:00Z">Wed, 03/29/2023 - 12:00</time> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-news-author field--type-string field--label-hidden field__item">Office of Communications</div> <div class="field field--name-field-news-tags field--type-entity-reference field--label-hidden field__items"> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news?tag=2373">Awards and Honors</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news?tag=2583">College of Arts and Sciences</a></div> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-news-programs field--type-entity-reference field--label-hidden field__items"> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news?program=25441">Theater</a></div> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-news-departments field--type-entity-reference field--label-hidden field__items"> <div class="field__item"><a href="/arts-and-sciences/departments/theater" hreflang="und">Theater</a></div> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-news-image-caption field--type-string-long field--label-hidden field__item">91ֱ�� students Andrew McCracken (far left) and Nelson Gutsch (second from left) pose with USITT's Lee Asbell-Swanger and their mentor, Howard Glickman ’92 (far right).</div> <div class="field field--name-field-news-pin-school-page field--type-boolean field--label-hidden field__item">Off</div> <div class="field field--name-field-news-photo-gallery-top field--type-boolean field--label-hidden field__item">false</div> <div class="field field--name-field-news-image-credit field--type-string field--label-hidden field__item">courtesy 91ֱ�� Theater Department</div> <div class="field field--name-field-news-media field--type-entity-reference field--label-hidden field__item"> </div> </article> <article> <h1>Cassandra Gutterman-Johns Awarded Fulbright ETA to Czech Republic</h1> <p>anagy — Mon, 02 May 2022 16:44:41 +0000</p> <span>Cassandra Gutterman-Johns Awarded Fulbright ETA to Czech Republic</span> <span><span>anagy</span></span> <span><time datetime="2022-05-02T12:44:41-04:00" title="Monday, May 2, 2022 - 12:44">Mon, 05/02/2022 - 12:44</time> </span> <div class="text-content field field--name-body field--type-text-with-summary field--label-hidden field__item"><p>Fourth-year Cassandra Gutterman-Johns is excited to teach, travel, and reach outside her comfort zone with a Fulbright English Teaching Assistantship in the Czech Republic beginning in August 2022. </p> <p>A theater and creative writing major with minors in gender, sexuality, and feminist studies and comparative American studies, Gutterman-Johns will apply the teaching experiences she learned from serving as a course writing associate in the <a href="/arts-and-sciences/departments/rhetoric-and-composition">Rhetoric and Composition Department</a> and a creative writing associate in the <a href="/arts-and-sciences/departments/creative-writing">Creative Writing Program</a>, as well as the skills in creative problem solving, collaboration, and implementing systems for communication and organization through her work in the <a href="/arts-and-sciences/departments/theater">Theater Department</a>.</p> <p>This year, she served as the LabSeries Production Manager in the theater department. She has also stage managed a number of mainstage productions and worked in the electrics and paint shops in the theater.</p> <p>“I’m looking forward to having an immersive experience and stepping outside of my comfort zone, as well as getting to see more of the world after not traveling for a few years and missing out on my study abroad program because of the pandemic,” says Gutterman-Johns, a resident of Salem, Oregon. “I’m hoping to learn more about pedagogy and education, and gain a clearer sense of what career path will be right for me.” </p></div> <div class="field field--name-field-news-type field--type-entity-reference field--label-hidden field__item">News Story</div> <div class="field field--name-field-news-date field--type-datetime field--label-hidden field__item"><time datetime="2022-05-02T12:00:00Z">Mon, 05/02/2022 - 12:00</time> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-news-author field--type-string field--label-hidden field__item">Amanda Nagy</div> <div class="field field--name-field-news-tags field--type-entity-reference field--label-hidden field__items"> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news?tag=2373">Awards and Honors</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news?tag=2363">Academics & Research</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news?tag=2377">Arts & Humanities</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news?tag=2372">Performing Arts</a></div> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-news-programs field--type-entity-reference field--label-hidden field__items"> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news?program=25326">Creative Writing</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news?program=25441">Theater</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news?program=25311">Comparative American Studies</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news?program=25361">Gender, Sexuality, and Feminist Studies</a></div> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-news-departments field--type-entity-reference field--label-hidden field__items"> <div class="field__item"><a href="/arts-and-sciences/departments/creative-writing" hreflang="und">Creative Writing</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/arts-and-sciences/departments/theater" hreflang="und">Theater</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/arts-and-sciences/departments/gsfs" hreflang="und">Gender, Sexuality, and Feminist Studies</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/arts-and-sciences/departments/comparative-american-studies" hreflang="und">Comparative American Studies</a></div> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-news-image-caption field--type-string-long field--label-hidden field__item">Fourth-year Cassandra Gutterman-Johns will teach and immerse herself in the culture of the Czech Republic.</div> <div class="field field--name-field-news-pin-school-page field--type-boolean field--label-hidden field__item">Off</div> <div class="field field--name-field-news-photo-gallery-top field--type-boolean field--label-hidden field__item">false</div> <div class="field field--name-field-news-image-credit field--type-string field--label-hidden field__item">Tanya Rosen-Jones '97</div> <div class="field field--name-field-news-media field--type-entity-reference field--label-hidden field__item"> </div> </article> <article> <h1>2022 Winter Term Recap</h1> <p>ygay — Fri, 11 Mar 2022 20:25:19 +0000</p> <span>2022 Winter Term Recap</span> <span><span>ygay</span></span> <span><time datetime="2022-03-11T15:25:19-05:00" title="Friday, March 11, 2022 - 15:25">Fri, 03/11/2022 - 15:25</time> </span> <div class="text-content field field--name-body field--type-text-with-summary field--label-hidden field__item"><p>91ֱ��’s <a href="/winter-term/about" target="_blank">Winter Term</a> allows students to participate in on- or off-campus intensive group projects offered by faculty and staff. Students may develop independent study or research projects, complete internships, or undertake rigorous personal development projects. This year, from January 25 to February 17, group projects included such offerings as Practicum in Museum Education to Exploring Marginalized Music to Congressional and hospital internships.</p> <p>In this video we recap some of the projects students explored. Visit <a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/oberlin/collections/72157720412304151/" target="_blank">91ֱ��’s Flickr page</a> for more photos and videos.</p> <hr> <p> </p></div> <div class="field field--name-field-news-type field--type-entity-reference field--label-hidden field__item">News Story</div> <div class="field field--name-field-news-date field--type-datetime field--label-hidden field__item"><time datetime="2022-03-11T12:00:00Z">Fri, 03/11/2022 - 12:00</time> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-news-author field--type-string field--label-hidden field__item">Office of Communications</div> <div class="text-content field field--name-field-intro-text field--type-text-long field--label-hidden field__item"><p>More than 2,290 students explored projects and research opportunities outside of their normal course of study during Winter Term. In this wrap-up gallery we look back at some of the group projects students performed.</p></div> <div class="field field--name-field-news-tags field--type-entity-reference field--label-hidden field__items"> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news?tag=2402">Winter Term</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news?tag=3515">Dance</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news?tag=2356">Conservatory</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news?tag=3797">Sonny Rollins Jazz Ensemble</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news?tag=2391">Languages & Literatures</a></div> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-news-programs field--type-entity-reference field--label-hidden field__items"> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news?program=4861">Neuroscience</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news?program=25251">Biology</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news?program=25246">Biochemistry</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news?program=32971">Opera Theater</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news?program=25441">Theater</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news?program=34691">Jazz Performance</a></div> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-news-faculty field--type-entity-reference field--label-hidden field__items"> <div class="field__item"><a href="/matt-elrod" hreflang="und">Matthew (Matt) Elrod</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/maureen-peters" hreflang="und">Maureen Peters</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/gunnar-kwakye" hreflang="und">Gunnar Kwakye</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/nancy-darling" hreflang="und">Nancy Darling</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/caroline-jackson-smith" hreflang="und">Caroline Jackson Smith</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/mike-moore" hreflang="und">Michael (Mike) Moore</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/rebecca-landell" hreflang="und">Rebecca Landell</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/kj-cerankowski" hreflang="und">KJ Cerankowski</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/ann-cooper-albright" hreflang="und">Ann Cooper Albright</a></div> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-news-departments field--type-entity-reference field--label-hidden field__items"> <div class="field__item"><a href="/arts-and-sciences/departments/neuroscience" hreflang="und">Neuroscience</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/arts-and-sciences/departments/biology" hreflang="und">Biology</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/arts-and-sciences/departments/chemistry-biochemistry" hreflang="und">Chemistry and Biochemistry</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/conservatory/divisions/jazz-studies" hreflang="und">Jazz Studies</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/arts-and-sciences/departments/theater" hreflang="und">Theater</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/arts-and-sciences/departments/dance" hreflang="und">Dance</a></div> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-news-image-caption field--type-string-long field--label-hidden field__item">Students in biology professor Mike More’s lab undertake a plant systematics project during Winter Term.</div> <div class="field field--name-field-news-pin-school-page field--type-boolean field--label-hidden field__item">Off</div> <div class="field field--name-field-news-photo-gallery-top field--type-boolean field--label-hidden field__item">false</div> <div class="field field--name-field-news-image-credit field--type-string field--label-hidden field__item">Yvonne Gay</div> <div class="field field--name-field-news-media field--type-entity-reference field--label-hidden field__item"> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-news-flex-content field--type-entity-reference-revisions field--label-hidden vertical-spacing--basic field__items"> <div class="field__item"> <div id class="o-flex--video-embed"> <h2>Winter Term 2022</h2> <div class="video-embed-field-provider-vimeo video-embed-field-responsive-video"> </div> </div> </div> </div> </article> <article> <h1>From Main Stage to Airwaves</h1> <p>mbragg — Tue, 17 Nov 2020 15:57:41 +0000</p> <span>From Main Stage to Airwaves</span> <span><span>mbragg</span></span> <span><time datetime="2020-11-17T10:57:41-05:00" title="Tuesday, November 17, 2020 - 10:57">Tue, 11/17/2020 - 10:57</time> </span> <div class="text-content field field--name-body field--type-text-with-summary field--label-hidden field__item"><p>At least that is the experience thus far for <a href="/node/6541">Chris Flaharty</a>, costume designer for the 91ֱ�� College Department of Theater. He was forced to discontinue the production of <em>Peter and the Starcatcher</em> when the college closed in March at the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic.</p> <p>‘‘We were right in the middle of the production process when the realities of COVID hit us and the school said ‘everyone out …’ So in the spirit of the show must go on, I decided I would work really hard to find a way to do a play in what was going to have to be a new pandemic performance mode.</p> <p>‘‘Thanks to the coronavirus,’’ Flaharty says, ‘‘reimagining the way we operate at all levels has been full of inventions; and particularly, finding ways in which our department can continue to achieve its mission of producing theater works with our students. This has been one of the most important challenges to tackle in the 91ֱ��-in-Covid-era.’’</p> <p>This new performance mode will not materialize on stage; rather, it will be an audio play. Flaharty, who also is an associate professor of theater, will direct students in <em>The Misanthrope</em>.</p> <p>It’s a satiric comedy in five acts by the French actor and playwright Molière. The main character, Alceste, is a 17th-century gentleman who is disgusted by the vanity and hypocrisy of society. His response is to be completely honest no matter the cost. Alceste falls in love with the beautiful Célimène, who is noted for her sharp tongue and manipulative socializing, making her the epitome of the type of person he professes to detest. Can love win? Can love stand up to truth? Flaharty chose <em>The Misanthrope </em>as it offers a relief from 21st-century anxiety and timeless insights into the foolish heart of humanity.</p> <p>And while this is the theater department’s first audio play, Flaharty says faculty and staff are prepared for the challenge, as they’ve been dealing with a variety of issues brought on by the pandemic which the college has worked hard to mitigate.</p> <p>‘‘Because there can be no live audiences this semester, there can be no live performing, no staging, no set, no costumes …,’’ Flaharty continues, ‘‘so the audio play, an old-school yet freshly revived format, provides vivid engagement with theater-making even when restrictions that would sabotage a live, staged production are a condition of the process. Many theaters are looking to create plays through podcasting or invoking the compelling entertainment of radio plays of yore. It feels like a satisfying genre to launch the theater season that will have to pioneer solutions to production challenges.’’</p> <p>The fall Main Stage production of the audio play will be distributed digitally for three days only, November 20-22. Interested persons must register in advance to get free access to the performances.</p> <figure class="captioned-image obj-right"> <figcaption>Verbal expressions and hand gestures bring characters to life via audio. Photo credit: Jack Lichenstein ’23</figcaption> </figure> <p>Four seniors, a second-year, and three first-year students round out the cast of characters, including fourth-year theater major and physics minor Connor O’Loughlin in the title role of Alceste.</p> <p>‘‘I’ve only really done work on stage before,’’ he says, citing parts in 91ֱ��’s production of <em>Urinetown</em> and <em>Cabaret</em>. ‘‘This was recorded like a film, over multiple days doing multiple takes of a scene.</p> <p>‘‘I was actually excited for the opportunity to do an audio play. A lot of places have just done plays on Zoom or with masks. With <em>The Misanthrope,</em> it was specifically chosen as a play that can work without a lot of visual cues,‘‘ he says. ’’Highlighting the language of the play might actually enhance the experience. I would have wanted to be involved regardless, but I was excited to be doing it this way.’’</p> <p>‘‘‘Creating an audio play made sense to me,’’ adds Zeke Schmiedl, who has a supporting role as Oronte. ‘‘It was a safe way to continue theater in COVID-19. I decided to jump right in and learn about how theater can continue during a worldwide crisis while enjoying myself along the way.’’</p> <p>This is the first 91ֱ�� production for the first-year cinema studies and theater major and he doesn't plan for it to be his last. ‘‘It was a joy to work with my voice along with such a great cast. It's definitely something I would recommend to other actor friends to try out.’’</p> <p>Garciela Fernandez, also a first-year student, was just as eager to take part. The theater and psychology major had never done an audio play and didn’t know what to expect. ‘‘I’ve found it interesting how much I rely on mannerisms and facial expressions when I’m acting. It’s been a pretty eye-opening experience learning how to vocalize those usually physical mannerisms,’’ she says. ‘It was totally different than anything I’ve done before. ’’</p> <p>Flaharty’s version of the French play draws from British playwright Neil Bartlett and is set in contemporary Hollywood. The social world of the film industry mimics the insular world of Louis XIV’s court of Molière’s time, he says. “It’s really a strong character play, expressed through brilliant conversation.”</p> <p>The play also reflects the isolation many experience because of these pandemic times. Most communication is at a distance, and entirely verbal or written, he says, adding “…it's all about using words as both a weapon and a shield to deal with other people’s assaults on your integrity, and perhaps your heart, in a society fueled by manufactured images and daily hypocrisies.”</p> <p>Preparation and rehearsals have taken on different formats, Flaharty explains—in person with facial masks and socially distanced with hand sanitizer in tow, and on Zoom, unmasked and in solo performances with opportunities to join each other in shared grids. ‘‘The great positive of performing this play this semester is that our actors—a truly wonderful ensemble drawn from all three on-campus classes—must focus on performing with their voices, still using all the tools of a fine actor to get to the ultimate expression of their characters, but in an audio world.’’</p> <p>Once registered, attendees will receive an email on November 20 with access information and passwords. An email address is required. Flaharty encourages attendees to bring their imagination and a bowl of popcorn.</p> <hr> <p><a href="http://forms.gle/xnwQrYZNP8xJjShv5">Register now to access The Misanthrope</a> <span aria-hidden="true" class="fa fa-external-link"></span> audio production.<br> View a rehearsal of <em>The Misanthrope</em> on <a href="https://flic.kr/s/aHsmS3UAVY" target="_blank">91ֱ�� Flickr</a> <span aria-hidden="true" class="fa fa-external-link"></span>.</p></div> <div class="field field--name-field-news-type field--type-entity-reference field--label-hidden field__item">News Story</div> <div class="field field--name-field-news-date field--type-datetime field--label-hidden field__item"><time datetime="2020-11-17T12:00:00Z">Tue, 11/17/2020 - 12:00</time> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-news-author field--type-string field--label-hidden field__item">Marsha Lynn Bragg</div> <div class="text-content field field--name-field-intro-text field--type-text-long field--label-hidden field__item"><p>The curtain has closed on many professional, community, and college theaters throughout the country due largely to the global pandemic. Yet those who have the audacity to reimagine the theater and the arts in new ways are discovering the options are varied and rewarding.</p></div> <div class="field field--name-field-news-tags field--type-entity-reference field--label-hidden field__items"> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news?tag=2385">Community</a></div> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-news-programs field--type-entity-reference field--label-hidden field__items"> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news?program=25441">Theater</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news?program=25256">Cinema and Media</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news?program=25286">Psychology</a></div> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-news-faculty field--type-entity-reference field--label-hidden field__items"> <div class="field__item"><a href="/chris-flaharty" hreflang="und">Chris Flaharty</a></div> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-news-departments field--type-entity-reference field--label-hidden field__items"> <div class="field__item"><a href="/arts-and-sciences/departments/theater" hreflang="und">Theater</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/arts-and-sciences/departments/cinema-studies" hreflang="und">Cinema and Media</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/arts-and-sciences/departments/psychology" hreflang="und">Psychology</a></div> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-news-image-caption field--type-string-long field--label-hidden field__item">Associate Professor of Theater Chris Flaharty (seated, near right) gives feedback and direction to some of the students involved in ‘‘The Misanthrope’’ audio play.</div> <div class="field field--name-field-news-pin-school-page field--type-boolean field--label-hidden field__item">Off</div> <div class="field field--name-field-news-photo-gallery-top field--type-boolean field--label-hidden field__item">false</div> <div class="field field--name-field-news-image-credit field--type-string field--label-hidden field__item">Jack Lichtenstein ’23</div> <div class="field field--name-field-news-media field--type-entity-reference field--label-hidden field__item"> </div> </article> <article> <h1>91ֱ�� Holds Teach-in on the George Floyd Uprising</h1> <p>hhempste — Wed, 17 Jun 2020 14:12:38 +0000</p> <span>91ֱ�� Holds Teach-in on the George Floyd Uprising</span> <span><span>hhempste</span></span> <span><time datetime="2020-06-17T10:12:38-04:00" title="Wednesday, June 17, 2020 - 10:12">Wed, 06/17/2020 - 10:12</time> </span> <div class="text-content field field--name-body field--type-text-with-summary field--label-hidden field__item"><p>Moderated by <a href="/gina-perez">Gina Perez</a>, professor of comparative American studies, the cross-departmental discussion was prompted by the killing of George Floyd on May 25, 2020, and the subsequent social uprising. </p> <p>The hour-long panel session included presentations by six faculty members and served as a space for faculty to share their perspectives and insights about the recent events, along with information and context for understanding the history of white supremacy in the United States, as well as the ongoing calls for justice that are currently taking place across the country. Through their presentations, the panelists demonstrated that systems of racial and social control are actually nothing new in the United States. </p> <p>In individual talks, both <a href="/matthew-rarey">Matthew Rarey</a>, assistant professor of art history, and <a href="/charles-peterson">Charles Peterson</a>, associate professor of Africana studies, examined the media’s framing of the events in recent weeks. </p> <p>Using historical photographs, paintings, and images from today, Rarey challenged viewers to resist the urge to classify images from the protests as “depictions of baseless black anger,” explaining that, “Actions by black protesters and artists are often, if not always, occurring in the context of deep histories of colonial violence, directed at specific locations and memories.” </p> <p>Peterson examined the concept of “militant black action” and explained that, in most cases, certain types of civil disobedience have been interwoven with militant action. “I encourage you to not fall into the idea that it’s a sign of a lack of control or is a complete contradiction to how African peoples have been fighting for their freedom for the past 400 years,” he said. </p> <p>Both <a href="/renee-romano">Renee Romano</a>, professor of history, comparative American studies, and Africana studies, and <a href="/jenny-garcia">Jenny Garcia</a>, assistant professor of politics and comparative American studies, each see the possibility for sustained change as a result of the recent events. </p> <p>Romano said that the current events feel historically familiar, but the movement also feels new and disruptive. She cited a recent striking shift in attitudes, explaining that the number of Americans who say that racism and discrimination is a big problem in the U.S. is up 26 points since 2015. “It feels like this could be a historical moment,” she says. “This is everyone’s fight for justice and a truly democratic country.” </p> <p>Garcia explained that she sees possibilities for real change, citing research that examines how emotions, particularly anger, are important when it comes to participating in politics. Garcia said that political research has shown that when there are greater levels of anger among black individuals, it translates into greater political protests and demonstrations, similar to what we’re seeing now. </p> <p>Assistant Professor of Politics <a href="/david-forrest">David Forrest</a> offered a glimpse into Floyd’s home town of Minneapolis and the city’s widespread efforts during the last 30 years to gentrify low-income neighborhoods. He also gave an overview of the city’s collective organizers who have helped bring about recent social change. </p> <p><a href="/justin-emeka">Justin Emeka</a>, associate professor of theater and Africana studies, closed the presentations by reminding the 91ֱ�� community that they are part of a legacy—91ֱ�� has essentially been part of the Black Lives Matter movement since the 19th century. He suggested that if individuals want to contribute to social change, there are some steps they should take, including studying the history of black people, examining policies for fairness, and investing in changing hearts and minds. </p></div> <div class="field field--name-field-news-type field--type-entity-reference field--label-hidden field__item">News Story</div> <div class="field field--name-field-news-date field--type-datetime field--label-hidden field__item"><time datetime="2020-06-16T12:00:00Z">Tue, 06/16/2020 - 12:00</time> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-news-author field--type-string field--label-hidden field__item">Communications Staff</div> <div class="text-content field field--name-field-intro-text field--type-text-long field--label-hidden field__item"><p>Individuals in the 91ֱ�� College community joined the virtual presentation of “After Minneapolis: A Teach-In on the George Floyd Uprising,” led by 91ֱ�� faculty members on June 9, 2020.</p></div> <div class="field field--name-field-news-tags field--type-entity-reference field--label-hidden field__items"> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news?tag=2385">Community</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news?tag=2392">Social Justice</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news?tag=2414">Faculty</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news?tag=2363">Academics & Research</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news?tag=2390">Events</a></div> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-news-programs field--type-entity-reference field--label-hidden field__items"> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news?program=25301">Art History</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news?program=25416">Politics</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news?program=25311">Comparative American Studies</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news?program=25381">History</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news?program=4821">Africana Studies</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news?program=25441">Theater</a></div> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-news-faculty field--type-entity-reference field--label-hidden field__items"> <div class="field__item"><a href="/justin-emeka" hreflang="und">Justin Emeka ’95</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/david-forrest" hreflang="und">David Forrest</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/jenny-garcia" hreflang="und">Jenny Garcia</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/charles-peterson" hreflang="und">Charles Peterson</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/matthew-rarey" hreflang="und">Matthew Rarey</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/gina-perez" hreflang="und">Gina Pérez</a></div> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-news-departments field--type-entity-reference field--label-hidden field__items"> <div class="field__item"><a href="/arts-and-sciences/departments/politics" hreflang="und">Politics</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/arts-and-sciences/departments/africana-studies" hreflang="und">Africana Studies</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/arts-and-sciences/departments/theater" hreflang="und">Theater</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/arts-and-sciences/departments/comparative-american-studies" hreflang="und">Comparative American Studies</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/arts-and-sciences/departments/art" hreflang="und">Studio Art</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/arts-and-sciences/departments/history" hreflang="und">History</a></div> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-news-pin-school-page field--type-boolean field--label-hidden field__item">Off</div> <div class="field field--name-field-news-photo-gallery-top field--type-boolean field--label-hidden field__item">false</div> <div class="field field--name-field-news-media field--type-entity-reference field--label-hidden field__item"> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-news-flex-content field--type-entity-reference-revisions field--label-hidden vertical-spacing--basic field__items"> <div class="field__item"> <div id class="o-flex--video-embed"> <h2>Watch the Teach-In</h2> <div class="video-embed-field-provider-vimeo video-embed-field-responsive-video"> </div> </div> </div> <div class="field__item"> <div id="obj-27202" class="paragraph paragraph--type--para-el-copy paragraph--view-mode--default o-flex--basic-copy basic-copy"> <h3>Transcript</h3> <p><span style="font-size: 1.25rem;">The following transcript has been edited for length and clarity by the participants.</span></p> <details><summary>View transcript</summary> <p><strong>Gina Perez:</strong> So, good afternoon everyone and thank you for joining us for this important conversation titled “After Minneapolis: A Teach-in on the George Floyd Uprising”.</p> <p>My name is Gina Perez, and I am professor and interim chair of the department of comparative American studies here at 91ֱ��. And it’s truly an honor to be here and to be your discussant this afternoon for what I know will be a thoughtful and thought-provoking discussion with six of our distinguished faculty.</p> <p>The grim reality of the recent police killing of George Floyd is sadly what brings us here together today. And our goals with this teach-in are to provide a space for faculty to share their perspectives and insights about the recent events, as well as other important information and contexts for understanding the history of white supremacy in the United States, as well as the ongoing demands for justice that are taking place across the country today.</p> <p>All of our panelists comments today will demonstrate that systems of racial and social control are not new to this country. And while recent protests and organizing and responses reflect the incredible rage and frustration and anger that many of us feel, this moment is also an invitation to recognize what my colleague Professor Meredith Gadsby reminded me of this morning, which is Audre Lorde’s important insights about the restorative power of anger.</p> <p>It is this restorative power of anger that I would argue informs not only the work that we do and come together with you to share with all of you today, but it also informs the sentiment shared by civil rights attorney and legal scholar Michelle Alexander, who recently observed on her reflections of the past two weeks that, “Our only hope for our collective liberation is a politics of deep solidarity rooted in love.” So, it is this restorative, righteous anger as well as hope that guide our conversations today.</p> <p>I will begin by introducing each the speakers in the order of their appearance.</p> <p>We will begin with Professor Matthew Rarey, who is an assistant professor of art history. He teaches and researches African and Black Atlantic visual culture and representations of enslavement from the 17th century through the present.</p> <p>Professor Charles Peterson is associate professor of Africana studies. His research in teaching interests include Africana philosophy, film, and Africana political and cultural theory.</p> <p>Professor Renee Romano is the Robert S. Danforth professor of history and professor of comparative American studies and Africana studies. She writes and teaches about white supremacy, racial violence, and the legacies of long-standing historical injustice.</p> <p>Professor David Forrest is assistant professor in the politics department. He studies social movements and the politics of inequality in the United States.</p> <p>Professor Jennifer Garcia is an assistant professor of politics and comparative American studies. Her research and teaching focus on American political institutions and race and ethnic politics.</p> <p>And Professor Justin Emeka is associate professor of Africana studies in theater. He is a director, writer, and actor in Capoeirista who teaches courses in directing and writing here at 91ֱ��.</p> <p><strong>Matthew Rarey:</strong> Thank you everyone for the invitation to speak, and for allowing me to share some thoughts on the images of the protests in the wake of George Floyd’s murder.</p> <p>In a photograph taken on the night of May 27th, a participant in the uprising playfully poses in front of a burning AutoZone in Minneapolis. In the ensuing days, this image and others making use of the stark contrast of dark night skies, black skin, and burning buildings, proliferated in social and mainstream media where they documented the smoldering awesomeness of Black rage.</p> <p>Three days after this photo was taken, activist Tamika Mallory castigated white Americans for their perceptions of the protests as unprecedented or unrestrained. “America has looted Black people,” she said. “America looted the Native Americans when they first came here. Looting is what you do. We learned it from you. We learned violence from you, and if you want us to do better, then, dammit, you do better.”</p> <p>I want to build on Mallory’s point through the work of bell hooks, Christina Sharpe, Simone Browne, Krista Thompson, and other Black visual theorists who tell us that the work of dismantling white supremacy can’t be disentangled from the work of interrogating the proliferation of the media meant to serve it.</p> <p>Images remain crucial to the project of erasing explicit antiblack violence. This painting from 1655 depicts at lower right a group of enslaved Africans in northeastern Brazil [<a href="https://collections.lacma.org/node/209115">Brazilian Landscape with a Worker’s House by Frans Post</a>]. Framed against a pastoral background, the artist’s emphasis on the Africans’ docility and merriment makes it seem as if their labor is natural, even beautiful. In so doing, this image obscures the violence committed by white slavers and erases indigenous claims to the land and its care. I submit that this is actually an image of explicit antiblack violence precisely because it does not appear to be as such.</p> <p>Yet Black people in this hemisphere have long strategically and artistically protested these forms of violent erasure. Between 1957 and 1972, a section of Interstate 10 was constructed above Claiborne Avenue in New Orleans, which was then the oldest Black main streets in the country. Despite residents’ objections, the government bulldozed 500 homes and closed many businesses, destroying the community’s lifeblood. A major economic slump followed in the area, which in turn led to increased policing of Black residents who had stayed. Jobs and social services disappeared, too. But each year on St. Joseph’s night, New Orleans’ Black Mardi Gras Indians march up and down this section of Claiborne Avenue, their music and song echoes under the highway. This sequined, feathered form of reclamation was particularly strong in 2018, when the Creole Osceola tribe presented striking images of U.S. national symbols on their suits while defiantly stopping traffic on the avenue.</p> <p>Over the coming months, experience tells us that white supremacists’ ideologies will find a way to weaponize the stark and fiery images of so-termed “property destruction” that resulted from protests. Indeed, they always have.</p> <p>This engraving [<a href="https://www.researchgate.net/figure/Revolte-des-Negres-a-Saint-Domingue_fig2_343658053">Révolte des Négres à St. Domingue by G. Jacowick</a>] from 1796 depicts the early stages of the African revolt against the white planter regime in what is now Haiti. The cacophony of bodies and plumes of smoke served to confirm upper class French viewers’ perception of Blackness as inherently unrestrained in the absence of white surveillance. But the engraver lies to himself: those hills in the background look far less like than the Haitian landscape then like piles of refined sugar, themselves the products of enslaved laborers. In the words of activist L.S. Pearce: “So when I hear people complain about the riots… or rather, the REVOLT… I hear people crying, ‘But why would you burn down your own plantation?’” </p> <p>White violence so often manifests as banal and quotidian. We must be ready to call out the centuries of narratives carefully constructed by those in power, which urge us to interpret images like that with which I began as depictions of apolitical, generic, and baseless Black anger. Resist that urge, because actions by Black protestors and Black artists occur in the context of long, location-specific histories of colonial violence. Look carefully, listen intently, and continue to fight against the invisibility of violence on which we all live.</p> <p><strong>Charles Peterson:</strong> Good afternoon everyone. Thank you for this opportunity and I’m proud and pleased to be here.</p> <p>I want to pick up in a certain way on Professor Rarey’s point about the question about, in quotes, “violence,” and I want to think about the ways in which the events of the past week and a half have been framed by the media, the questions of violence, or what’s happening in the streets, or the destruction of property. And I also want to think about it briefly in terms of what I think about as a misuse of Martin Luther King Jr. There’s this media desire to show some image of a building burning and then quote King, as if King would, from his resting place look down in shame and disappointment at contemporary Black activists. Certainly, King was not an advocate of what we would call violence, but he certainly was an advocate of direct action, or civil disobedience. The media would have us believe that King did not believe in some sort of social disruption, and that’s not the case. So, in that sense, I think the activists today are in line with him.</p> <p>But I want to speak and think about how this thing we call violence, or militant black action, is a very real, and a very long and enduring part of the struggle of African-descended peoples within the United States. And much of it is grounded in an understanding of the implacability of white supremacy, and the implacability of those institutions, and the failure of those institutions, say post-Civil War, post-Reconstruction, that were unwilling to deliver upon the promises of freedom. We can look at the earliest rebellions in the 17th century. We can think about the rebellions in the 18th century we can think about, what I believe, arguably, the first theorist of militant action David Walker, and his writings in 1827.</p> <p>We also have someone I’m studying now, Ida B. Wells, who advocated for self-defense in the face of lynching. We certainly have to take very seriously within the Civil Rights movement not just the Black Panther Party, which most people know about, but we also have to think about the Deacons for Justice, a militant self-defense group in Louisiana. And I think most notably, and unheralded, Robert Williams of Monroe, North Carolina who, as a member of the NAACP, armed and organized his followers.</p> <p>So that’s an important point but what we have to realize is that these instances are assertions of an idea about Black humanity, which is going unrecognized by white supremacists’ violence. So, David Walker argues Black humanity in light of a Christian-based belief. Africans are the children of God, and inherently should be granted certain respect. Ida B. Wells is attempting to reclaim and fight for—literally fight for—the rights guaranteed by the 13th, 14th, and 15th Amendments to the Constitution. And El-Hajj Malik el-Shabazz, better known as Malcolm X, in his articulations for Black self-defense, stood upon the ground of the fundamental human rights that Black people have. And these are human rights as understood and established in the post WWII period with the rise of the United Nations and its various doctrines. So, it’s important to understand that in most cases certain types of civil disobedience have been aligned with and interwoven with, complementary to, militant action, or what we call armed aspects or militant struggle. This is important in terms of understanding how the media will frame this. How you hear certain political thinkers or politicians frame this. And I think it’s important going forward to understand that is a tool in the traditional toolbox of Black activists. That this is something that I would not be surprised if it moved in certain conditions. Understand that this is part of a tradition. There very disciplined, very specific actions that can take place, but I encourage you not to fall into the idea that these are people wilding in the streets. Or this is a sign of lack of control. Or this is some sort of action that is in complete contradiction to the ways in which African peoples in the United States have been fighting for their freedom over the past 400 years.</p> <p><strong>Renee Romano:</strong> Thank you.</p> <p>The events of these past two weeks have felt to me distressingly familiar: another chapter of the nation’s very long history of white supremacy and racial violence. But the protests and demonstrations around the country, the incredible leadership and work by young people of color in demanding systematic change, and the impact these demands are already having, feels to me somewhat new and different. So, in my brief comments I want to try to put both the familiar and what feels new in historical context.</p> <p>George Floyd’s murder is further reminder that this country has never grappled with or effectively addressed this centrality of racism, white supremacy, and antiblackness in its history. We have never effectively undermined or fully displaced the ideologies of racial difference or the stereotypes of Black criminology that developed as a result of the history of slavery.</p> <p>Those ideologies still shape our political systems, our institutions, attitudes of both implicit and explicit bias. We have never offered meaningful reparations or economic compensation for slavery or Jim Crow, and instead, over and over again we have seen policies and practices that protect and augment the privileged economic position of whites.</p> <p>When I see the video of Derek Chauvin looking straight into the camera while in the act of murdering George Floyd, I think of lynching photographs where crowds of white people stand looking into a camera, with a Black body hanging in the background. They could look straight into a camera because they had no fear they would be held legally accountable for their actions. They knew that in the United States there was widespread acceptance of racial violence to construct, maintain, and uphold white supremacy,</p> <p>Yet this history has long been ignored, denied, and obscured by white people in the United States. And historically this denial, this unwillingness of white Americans to acknowledge and recognize the depth and extent or systematic racism and racial violence has been one of the key ways in which white supremacy has been upheld and maintained.</p> <p>In his 1963 masterpiece The Fire Next Time, James Baldwin despaired of whites’ unwillingness to recognize the reality of racism in America. White people, he wrote, “have destroyed and are destroying hundreds of thousands of lives and do not know it, and do not want to know it.” This willful ignorance has only gotten worse in the years since the Civil Rights movement, as the nation embraced a mythology of racial progress that portrayed civil rights laws as rooting racism out of public life.</p> <p>So, when I look at what is happening in the country today, I see familiar patterns of violence, but I also see a disruption of the capacity of people to remain ignorant and to deny the reality of systemic racism. In the past few weeks there’ve been protests in nearly every American state, in cities, small towns, suburbs, and rural areas. The number of Americans who say racism and discrimination is a big problem in the United States is up 26 points since 2015. The Washington Post reported that over two-thirds of Americans believe George Floyd’s killing reflects broader problems in policing. After the killing of Michael Brown in 2014, two-thirds of whites insisted that his killing had nothing to do with race. And we’re not just seeing a change in polls but momentum for political positions that until now had rarely been discussed in the mainstream, like the defunding of the police.</p> <p>These changes are due to the incredible activism of the contemporary Black freedom struggle and especially the Black Lives Matter movement, which has been fighting to bring attention to systemic racism and to force Americans to reckon with the nation’s history of racial violence. It is due to their work that more Americans today are facing up to the existence and persistence of systemic racism and beginning to take action to change things.</p> <p>So, it feels to me this could be a historical moment, and I urge you all to be part of this history and not to just watch it from the sidelines. Get involved in whatever way you can, because this is everyone’s fight for justice and for a truly democratic country.</p> <p><strong>GP: </strong>Next is David Forrest.</p> <p><strong>David Forrest:</strong> What happened in Minneapolis on the evening of May 25th was nothing new. For the last 30 years, officers like Derek Chauvin have acted as the foot soldiers in an elite-driven, city-wide effort to gentrify neighborhoods like Powderhorn Park, the historically diverse and low-income neighborhood where George Floyd was killed. A study in 2015 showed that Minneapolis PD aggressively targets these neighborhoods, using low level offenses as a pretense to detain Black youths, homeless people, and other allegedly suspect individuals. The killing of George Floyd was but an extreme instance of this more general pattern.</p> <p>But if what happened to Floyd was nothing new, what was new was the response that followed. The uprising that has followed Floyd’s death is the biggest that Minneapolis has seen since at least 1967, when young African Americans in north Minneapolis rebelled against the continued marginalization of their communities by demonstrating and by burning several properties. What’s more, today’s uprising has drawn in a much larger and more diverse group of residents. And it has already provoked an unprecedented response from local officials.</p> <p>When moments like this happen, moments that mark a potential sea change in the politics of the city, it’s important to step back and ask how they happened. In particular, it’s important to ask how ordinary people helped to bring them about. Because contained within the answer to that question are some general lessons about how to affect substantial bottom-up change in American politics.</p> <p>In this particular case, if you look beyond the headlines, you’ll find that since the Great Recession, a growing collective of organizers have really broadened and radicalized progressive politics in Minneapolis.</p> <p>These organizers have helped to dismantle popular acquiescence to the city’s increasingly unequal and highly racialized political economy. They have developed a large and a diverse community of activists who possess the capacity to break rules and build majorities in support of egalitarian change.</p> <p>By the time of Floyd’s death, this community of activists were already among the nation’s most engaged participants in protests against police brutality and other inegalitarian practices, such as exclusionary zoning, eviction, and wage theft. They also helped to elect and influence a new cohort of local officials, who have further stoked popular opposition to the status quo. People like city council members Steve Fletcher and Jeremiah Ellison, themselves former organizers, have led successful charges to eliminate single-family zoning, create inclusionary zoning, increase subsidies for affordable housing development, provide free legal assistance to renters, mandate paid sick leave, and most recently, begin the process of redesigning institutions of public safety.</p> <p>On their own, these localized reforms are not enough to reverse growing and racialized inequality or to save lives like George Floyd’s. They do, however, further legitimate the aspirations for a better world witnessed in the events like the George Floyd uprising.</p> <p>To be clear, I am not trying to suggest that organizers are solely responsible for Minneapolis’s recent political shifts. A series of social crises have also played a major role. But organizers have accelerated and channeled the popular displeasure unleashed by these various crises.</p> <p>How did they do it?</p> <p>First, they have learned how to embrace and defend abolitionist demands, including, for example, demands for divestment from the police, or for the expansion of public housing. These demands outline far-reaching but realistic paths towards abolishing mass incarceration, gentrification, and other oppressive systems. They raise people’s expectations for a better world and push against ideologies that make these expectations seem ridiculous or unworkable.</p> <p>Second, many organizers in Minneapolis have coached themselves to deploy instructive rhetoric, which clearly describes and politicizes the systems targeted by abolitionist demands. This rhetoric works not by shaming or guilting regular people but by educating them. It redresses public ignorance about social arrangements holding down large numbers of individuals and clarifies the moral justification for dismantling these arrangements.</p> <p>Finally, and perhaps most importantly, they’ve embraced a commitment to grassroots mobilization. That is to the recruitment of a large majoritarian base, rather than a smaller group of already committed or professional activists. Over the long haul, this approach to mobilization both makes their efforts more democratic and lays a clear path to forging winnable conflicts around their demands.</p> <p><strong>GP:</strong> Thank you Professor Forrest. We’ll now turn to Professor Jennifer Garcia.</p> <p><strong>Jennifer Garcia:</strong> I study race and ethnic politics and American political institutions, which generally means a bulk of my time is focused on trying to figure out how to dismantle systematic biases and racism within these institutions. Thinking through that lens and about what’s happening today, I see some opportunities of change that could actually materialize.</p> <p>I’m going to talk about anger and the role that anger plays in the political mobilization and political participation in kind of a different way than it’s been talked about thus far. </p> <p>There’s new work in political science that shows that emotions, in particular anger, are incredibly important when it comes to participating in politics. However, how Black and white Americans’ anger influences their participation varies. We know, first of all, that white Democrats tend to report greater anger at the political process and the political opposition then Black Americans. Black Americans tend to report more resignation. And what we end up seeing is that when we have greater levels of political anger among white Americans, this tends to translate into greater voter turnout. In contrast, under certain circumstances when Black anger is evoked, it produces more participation in political protests and demonstrations–like what we’re seeing right now.</p> <p>What [University of California, Irvine assistant professor of political science] Davin Phoenix has showed is that under particular conditions—when we see police violence occurring, when we have Black political activists that are successful at encouraging African Americans to express their anger and not push it aside and not have to stay within the constraints of not being “angry while Black,” but being able to exert their anger and use it towards political purposes—we see Black participation actually increase in great amounts. The question really becomes, how do we then take this really strong and important momentum that we’re seeing happening all across the country and translate it into sustained mobilization, mobilization that actually has the possibility to change these kinds of outcomes that we’re seeing? And I think we have a few reasons for optimism.</p> <p>First is that, among African Americans and whites, from age 30 and younger, the anger gap is insignificant. And what we’re hoping this means is that there will be less disparities in political participation between Blacks and whites.</p> <p>Second, new technologies continue to provide images of police brutality and racism directly to the people and Trump et al. continues to invoke racial animus. This has the potential to help sustain political mobilization by, at least in part, continuing to fuel anger. And there are skilled Black political activists trying to catalyze this and use it to push forward a political momentum.</p> <p>As a result, I think that there are some good opportunities for actually placing sustained pressure on the institutions themselves and elected officials. One of the ways that we need to do this is through the continuation of protests.</p> <p>What we know in political science is protest matters, and actually when we see the destruction of buildings, when we see violence, either by police or either by protesters themselves, we actually see greater response by elected officials. And when we see this sustained effort, even over this ten-day period of time, that’s an extraordinary feat. When we see this sustained effort, we see elected officials feeling more and more pressure. And while it certainly takes a lot of time and a lot of effort, what we do know is that elected officials do respond to pressure. If they feel their electoral livelihood is in jeopardy, they will respond. And we’ve seen instances where they will respond in significant ways, like really changing their attitudes and their previously stated positions. For a whole host of reasons, I think that, within all of this craziness, there’s a lot of possibilities for true optimistic change.</p> <p>So, I’ll leave it at that.</p> <p><strong>GP:</strong> Thank you Professor Garcia. And we’ll end with Professor Justin Emeka.</p> <p><strong>Justin Emeka: </strong>Thank you all for having me here. Thank my colleagues for sharing your perspectives. It’s been a really crazy week. How incredible and amazing. How quickly our whole nation can get turned upside down.</p> <p>I teach in Africana Studies and in the theater. My trade is in the arts, and so a lot of my work is in changing perspective, transforming hearts through expression. I’ve been trying to reflect and get a sense about what I’m feeling in this time as an individual, what’s going on in my community, what does our community need to hear in these times to move forward, to move through these times and grow and become better.</p> <p>First of all, a lot of us are feeling a lot of anger, pain, and frustration, and we’ve got to find ways to let ourselves feel those emotions. Let us find ways to express these emotions. And find ways to support each other as we feel these emotions.</p> <p>I encourage everyone out there to take care of yourself and to take care of each other. And speaking to the 91ֱ�� community in particular, I want to remind us that we are part of an extraordinary legacy here at 91ֱ��. 91ֱ�� has been at the forefront of the Black Lives Matter movement since the 19th century, and I just want to remind us all of role in that regard. We are connected to a large legacy that we can draw from and reach and get inspiration from to figure out how we move forward in these times. And I hope that 91ֱ�� will continue to stay at the forefront of asking tough questions, of challenging each other, of loving each other fiercely, of creating new forms that help us reimagine society.</p> <p>I hear there’s a lot of people saying, “What can we do?” Black and white students. People of all backgrounds are asking, “What do we do in this moment? How can we feel like we’re contributing?” Understand that when we’re talking about systemic change, there’s nothing that we’re going to figure out in this forum or today that is going to make us feel like we’re doing right. And that’s not even the goal. The goal is not to make ourselves feel good and feel like we’re contributing, but to actually make systemic change, which unfortunately doesn’t happen in one moment, but happens over the course of generations, and it happens by investing in certain principles and ideas.</p> <p>Here at 91ֱ��, the first principle I would encourage is for us to continue to study the history of Black people, wherever you are, and whatever field you’re in. If you’re in the sciences, study the history of Black people in biology. Study the history of Black people in the classics. Study the history of Black people in philosophy. This is one way to affirm that Black lives matter movement. Study the emergence of white supremacy in this history. Study how it emerged as a phenomenon and how it informs every aspect of our society. Before we can do anything, we have to understand what it is we’re dealing with. There are no crash courses. You have to invest in this study.</p> <p>Second, we want to look at policies and make sure we have fair and equal and consistent policies that are in place, and demand that those policies are being promoted equally and enforced equally. And we have to not be afraid to dismantle policies that are inadequate. And sometimes we have to design new policies that help protect and promote equal rights and justice for all.</p> <p>Third, we have to also invest in the principle of changing hearts and minds—provide education and help people learn and grow from new perspectives. We have to create new visions, hear new voices, that help reveal the imaginations and the experiences of all our diverse people in the country. We have to create efforts that encourage dialogue, that encourage communications.</p> <p>Fourth, we have to also just support Black people. Be articulate about your love of Black people, unapologetically articulate a love and support of Black people, so that we understand that we can love everyone and achieve universality by being very specific in loving and supporting Black people. Embrace the diversity of all the different kinds of Black people. There are so many different kinds of Black people. Find a Black community and support them, and uplift them, and affirm them. Help get resources to Black communities. Help provide services to Black organizations and Black communities.</p> <p>Finally, find ways to impact your own life. Find ways to have conversations with aunts and uncles that you’re sometimes too scared to have because it gets too ugly too quick. Have that conversation with that friend who said something ignorant, but find a way to go into that conversation. Find a way to see how there are things going on where we need to check the policy in our life. Are we supporting the Black lives and the Black leaders in our community, making sure they have the tools to do what they need to do in order to reimagine society?</p> <p>Those are just a broad overviews as I work, continue to work, to stay inspired, because I also want to encourage 91ֱ�� people to be upset, to feel your anger, to be sad, but then also remind them that we don’t have the luxury to just sit there and live in it. We are the people who are being trained to help reimagine our society.</p> <p>So, take care of yourself, take care of each other, as we build a world for today and tomorrow.</p> <p>Thank you.</p> </details> </div> </div> </div> </article> </main></body></html>