Steps Towards a New World
What are the most important/significant ideas or elements outlined by Roberta and why?
In Centric Circles and the further margin - Uno writes about how in the 1990s, NTW stories being told were all heteronormative, that they had not actively made space for queer artists. They acknowledged the divide between cultures and sexuality. In response to this realization, the company started a forum "Homophobia in Communities of Color and Racism in the Gay Community" where they set up a mic and people talked, discussed, debated, and confessed their opinions/feelings. This launched the next season into having several queer artists join and begin to shift the repetitive heteronormative narrative. For me, the choice to have a room where people could open up and discuss the problems in both communities that divide one another was necessary. They owned up to their fault and a societal fault by giving space for a conversation to occur versus them just adding new works with queer artists of color and their stories- they wanted to give them space in the room. I felt it was powerful and an example of how to handle situations like this.
Another moment that really stuck with me was in the section Relevance, where a female set designer told Uno "At New WORLD, having children seems to give women even greater credibility." That was so impactful to me. I never heard or read something that ever stated women who raised children had greater dependability but its so true. And at the New WORLD, they don't refer to the theatre as a feminist theatre because often things labeled as feminists tend to leave out women of color. I find this choice to be strong because of the theatre's ensemble and behind the scenes workers are largely women of color, it is implied without the need to declare it as such. Inclusion without patting themselves on the back for it. I hope though that feminism is a word that will eventually feel welcoming for queer women/women of color but I understand and appreciate leaving it out in this context because I believe it is unnecessary when the theatre is so obviously pro-equality.
What are the implications or resonances of Uno's precepts in your own practice?
The idea of going beyond the conventional ideas of theatre. Breaking down walls of constructed ideas so often done. I like her response to it not being about comfort. Art should give you a reaction and hopefully, a reaction that stays with you, changes you.
What could be a metaphor or analogy for the kind of theater that Roberta Uno describes in this text?
New World Theatre reminds me of the 2016 election. Where NTW is Bernie. The world at the time was not ready to embrace him and his "radical" ideas. But there was a small majority, that was growing larger and larger that believed in him and his ideas. Although the theatre is gone, I believe the loss of it, like the loss of a candidate like Bernie, hits harder and has since now become more desired. A person whose ideas were based around inclusion, equality, and better futures for the coming generations. Those are beliefs and practices I see in this kind of theatre.
What questions came up as you were reading this piece?
Do I as an artist/human, think about and actively do tangible action towards inclusion in the spaces I do art/work/live?
What other companies out there are like this?
What did Uno see in Try/Step/Trip that gave her the desire to direct it?
When casting a white director to direct a play starring people of color by people of color, what conversations emerge?
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