(Open to All: BIPOC, GM, and ALLIES alike)
Sessions
Transformation in Community: A Place For Possibility
Thursday, February 15th at 5 pm (EDT)
There has been considerable dialogue on the bleak state of the American Theatre. At AATE, we want to push back against that narrative. With this panel, we seek to highlight exceptional work that envisions other possibilities.
Join us in conversation with Laurie Woolery (Director of Public Works) and Miguel Angel Rodriguez (Co-Executive Director of Albany Park Theater Project) to learn about the transformative experience of working within communities. Our panelists will share about the work within their own organizations, their takeaways, and how those learnings might benefit the theater field at large.
Public Works, a program of the Public Theater in New York City, is “animated by the idea that theater is a place of possibility, where the boundaries that separate us from each other in the rest of life can fall away.” They partner with community organizations around NYC in offering classes, places for connection, and creating participatory theater. Public Works creates “theater that is not only for the people, but by and of the people as well.”
Albany Park Theater Project (APTP), based in Chicago, “creates transformative experiences that forge an inclusive community of youth artists, adult artists and audiences to envision and build a more just, equitable and joyful world.” Their work with youth is focused on the creation of art through a devising process, support through college counseling and a connected alumni network, and a focus on social justice in highlighting important social issues for their community.
Miguel Angel Rodriguez (he/him/his) is an artist, comedian, and educator. Hailing from Chicago, he began his career in education in the South Bronx. In 2016, Miguel was one of 12 recipients to be awarded the Harriett Ball Excellence in Teaching Award. He served as the assistant principal of KIPP Bloom College Prep on the Southside of Chicago from 2017-2021. Miguel has a performing arts background and is passionate about increasing arts access for students of color.
Miguel is currently the co-Executive Director of the Albany Park Theater Project (APTP), a youth theater company that creates original live performances based off the real-life stories of the Albany Park community on Chicago’s northwest side.
Miguel is one of the co-directors of the immersive theater experience, Port of Entry. Port of Entry invites you to step inside the real-life stories of immigrants and refugees from all parts of the world living side by side in a single apartment building in one of the country’s most diverse immigrant communities: Chicago’s Albany Park.
Laurie Woolery is the Director of Public Works at The Public Theater, an initiative that seeks to engage the people of New York by making them creators and not just spectators. Working with partner organizations in all 5 boroughs, Public Works invites members of diverse communities to join in the creation of ambitious works of participatory theater. In 2015, Woolery launched a new Public Works program called ACTivate (Artist, Citizen, Theater maker) that takes an ensemble of community members and puts them in the “artistic driver’s seat.” By partnering with a professional playwright, this ensemble of citizen artists devised an original play directed by Woolery. In the summer of 2017, with collaborators Shaina Taub and Sonya Tayeh, Woolery directed a new musical adaptation of As You Like It at the Delacorte Theater with 200 New Yorkers. That production was named as one of “The Best Theater in 2017” by the New York Times.
Dip Your Toe into Solidarity Economy
Saturday, February 24th at 10am (EDT)
Learn about the concept and tools of solidarity economy (SE), and dip your toe in an interactive SE exercise to surface how SE practices align with your life. You may be surprised.
Seema Sueko grew up in Honolulu with a Pakistani father and a third generation Kona-Japanese-American mother. She received her Master’s Degree in International Relations from the University of Chicago. Between 2004 and 2020, Seema served as Deputy Artistic Director of Arena Stage in Washington, D.C., Associate Artistic Director of The Pasadena Playhouse in Pasadena, California and Co-Founder and Executive Artistic Director at Mo`olelo Performing Arts Company in San Diego. Currently, she is studying Solidarity Economy and exploring ways to make theater that maximize social profit. She received the TCG Alan Schneider Director Award in 2022 and balances work as a freelance theater artist and consultant with caregiving for her parents. She is a Co-Curator with DNAWORKS as well as an “Immortal” with Kaimera Productions, and she is adapting the novel Song of the Exile by Hawaiian writer Kiana Davenport into a play with jazz music. Seema volunteers as board president of Stage Directors and Choreographers Foundation (SDCF) and as a member of the executive board of the union, SDC. She believes that in addition to having one’s basic needs met, art, exercise and love are daily essentials. More information about Seema’s work can be found at www.seemasueko.com. She is represented by Max Grossman at A3 Artists Agency.
We Will Not Be Erased: Combating Censorship and Book Bans in Theatre by, for, and about Youth
Monday, March 18th at 5 pm (EDT)
AATE is committed to equity, justice, and inclusion for all. We know our work is made stronger by the many voices, perspectives, and experiences we bring to the organization and the field. In light of that, we extend our support to the communities directly targeted for erasure through the banning of artistic works. These include members of the Global Majority (Black, Indigenous, People of Color, Latine, and Asian populations), the LGBTQIA+ community, religious minorities including the Jewish and Muslim communities, the disability community, and immigrant populations.
Join us for this spirited conversation for Global Majority participants at LOCI as well as allies of all backgrounds. This panel discussion will highlight tools and tips for navigating season selection and programming to combat the wave of censorship that is impacting communities across the country. We will affirm the representation of all people in artistic works by, for, and about youth and will unequivocally proclaim that erasing historically marginalized and oppressed people from being seen is an act of violence which we will not tolerate.
Brittny Bush (Consulting Creative Director) is a Houston actor and teaching artist with a BA in Theater Acting and Directing from the University of Houston. Ms. Bush has performed with many local theater companies through the years, including Brave Little Company; Main Street Theater; Catastrophic Theatre Company (Core Artist); Classical Theater Company (Company Member); Next Iteration Ensemble (readings); Cone Man Running Productions; Boiling Point Players; A.D. Players; Alley Theatre Education; Horse Head Theatre Company; Mildred’s Umbrella; and InterACTive Theater. For Brave Little Company, she is a co-writer of the
Missing from the Museum series, a co-creator and director of
Grandpa's Garden, and a teaching artist. Ms. Bush has consistently worked as a theater teaching artist since 2006 with Brave Little Company, Main Street Theater, Alley Theatre, and most recently the Hope Stone Project. She is currently the Primary School Theater Teacher for St. Francis Episcopal School.
Kristy Lozano (Social Media Manager/Teaching Artist/Actor collaborator) grew up by the border to Mexico in Brownsville, Texas. She can proudly speak Spanish fluently. Kristy Lozano holds a BFA in Musical Theatre from Sam Houston State University. She has been in three productions at Sam Houston State University, including Our Lady of 121st Street as Norca (directed by Patrick Person) and The Government Inspector as Grusha (directed by David A McTier). Kristy Lozano was also an ensemble member in the production of Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street at The Camille PlayHouse in Brownsville. She is Brave Little Company's Social Media Manager and also plays the role of Robin Goodfellow in the touring production Wooden O: An Interactive Shakespeare Adventure. She is a Young Audiences of Houston teaching artist. She continues to share her passion for theatre through arts education for Houston's kids!
Ralph Sevush, Esq., with the Dramatists Guild since 1997, is their Co-Executive Director of Business Affairs & General Counsel, where he advises and advocates for dramatists. An entertainment attorney (Cardozo, `91), he did transactional work for various media companies before becoming director of business affairs for Broadway and off-Broadway productions. He is also a produced playwright and a published essayist and author of short fiction.
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