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Jason Pollak, Steps Towards a New World Response

What are the most important/significant ideas or elements outlined by Roberta and why?
  • You can't escape the differences in your community, and highlighting them can be extremely useful in challenging peoples' ideas.
  • Making work shouldn't be about your ego. If you aim to serve the community, it's crucial to identify the best way you can do that. And if that means giving power to someone else, DO IT.
  • Identify the stories that aren't being told, that need to be told, and tell them. Don't cater to the widest audience, being truthful to the story and the people it's for and from will allow for the greatest resonance with a listening audience.
  • Limitations aren't an excuse for not making work- there will always be limitations, especially for marginalized groups.
  • Don't forget all the small, seemingly obvious things that must be achieved in process of creating the work. Community and health are paramount.
  • Listening comes first. If what you hear is unknown, that is the most exciting and powerful thing to dive into.
  • The "right" story to tell is the one that's relevant to the present moment and the community. Don't make a show fit a message, find the show that is the best fit for the circumstances.
  • It's crucial to get out of your comfort zone and find the experiences and stories that will truly change you. Don't be afraid of being the youngest/oldest/dumbest/whitest/darkest person in the room.
  • Lead with the art, not with the money. However, don't neglect entrepreneurial thinking. Make money ethically and by inspiring giving.
  • Built environments and spaces have inherent baggage to them. Don't be afraid to find the spaces that make sense, and ensure that the spaces that are accessible to you are accessible to all.


What are the implications or resonances of Uno's precepts in your own practice?
I read this text last year, and Roberta's practice has cemented itself as the model for mine to follow. It is my goal to follow in the footsteps of NWT the best I can and contribute what I can to this legacy of creation. However, this is a lens that I must put on myself. All of the projects I'm working on right now lack the diversity that NWT had at its core. Part of this is on Calarts, part of this is the particular communities I'm making work for (Calarts School of Theatre, the Trans Community, Calarts Gamemakers), but mainly the responsibility falls to me to get out of my bubble, fight my own biases, and cultivate relationships with the artists that can teach me the most.

What could be a metaphor or analogy for the kind of theater that Roberta Uno describes in 
this text?
The work Roberta describes is like a beautiful 5-course meal. Multitudes of different ingredients, preparation styles, and influences, coming together to serve a shared purpose of serving the community, aesthetic pleasure, and meeting a relevant need.

What questions came up as you were reading this piece?
NWT used "highlighting difference" to bring these differences into question. In Blues for Mister Charlie, the possible offense and confusion is the point of the separation. I wonder how NWT is able to make clear that these challenges come from a desire for growth- I can see the dangerous possibility of challenging differences being misinterpreted and sold as reason for outrage. Hopefully the content speaks for itself, but I'm curious about how these bold tactics avoid sensationalism and third-party commenting.

How the hell do people care for themselves successfully? When the work is so demanding and so exhilarating?

How do you build a community that has wide diversity from the ground up? How do you align people of a multitude of backgrounds under one roof?

Ultimately, how is the change made? Is empowerment the primary goal or can these stories also speak directly to those in power?

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