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Electronic Theses, Treatises and Dissertations
The Graduate School
2004
Access and Equity: Performing Diversity at
the New World Theatre
Donna Beth Aronson
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THE FLORIDA STATE UNIVERSITY
SCHOOL OF THEATRE
ACCESS AND EQUITY: PERFORMING DIVERSITY
AT THE NEW WORLD THEATRE
By
DONNA BETH ARONSON
A dissertation submitted to the
School of Theatre
in partial fulfillment of the
requirements for the degree of
Doctor of Philosophy
Degree Awarded
Summer Semester, 2004
The members of the Committee approve the dissertation of Donna Aronson defended on
December 8, 2003.
Jean Graham-Jones
Professor Directing Dissertation
Donna Nudd
Outside Committee Member
Stuart Baker
Committee Member
Carrie Sandahl
Committee Member
The Office of Graduate Studies has verified and approved the above named committee
members ii
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
I wish to acknowledge and thank my committee members Stuart Baker, Carrie Sandahl,
and Donna Nudd for their support of this project. Chair of my committee Jean GrahamJones provided excellent advice and assistance throughout the extended process. She
deserves much gratitude. I wish to thank Jayme Harping for her editorial assistance.
The University of the Incarnate Word and the faculty and staff of the College of
Humanities, Arts, and Social Sciences have been cheerleaders along the way. I would like
to acknowledge the support of Jessica Kimmel.
Finally, my profound love and appreciation to my family, especially my mother, Selma
Aronson. She worried over the entire process and supported what seemed like an
impossible quest. I can hear my father in heaven cheering on “his daughter the professor.”
iii
TABLE OF CONTENTS
LIST OF TABLES
vii
ABSTRACT
viii
1. INTRODUCTION
1
Setting the Context for the New WORLD Theater
The Five College, Inc. Consortium
The Location and Changing Communities
Methodology
Overview
Goals of the Study
The Use of the 2050 Youth Survey
Outline of the Dissertation
2. LITERATURE REVIEW: SHAPING THE STUDY
Introduction
Critical Education Theory: Cultural Reproduction and Resistance
Reproduction Theory and Cultural Capital
Critical Education Theory and Educational Reform
Cultural and Critical Pedagogy
Diversity in Higher Education
Access and Equity in Higher Education
Theatre Praxis and Education
Empowerment and the New WORLD Theater
3. THE NEW WORLD THEATER: BACKGROUND AND PRODUCTION
HISTORY
Origins of the New WORLD Theater
New WORLD Theater: The First Ten Years
In the Beginning: Third World Theater 1979-80
Third World Theater 1980-1981
Third World Theater 1981-1982
Third World Theater 1982-1983
Third World Theater 1983-1984
1984-1985—The Third World Theater Becomes the New
WORLD Theater September 1984
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2
2
3
5
5
6
7
8
10
10
11
12
14
17
18
23
28
30
33
33
40
40
50
51
52
54
60
The 1984-85 Season
New WORLD Theater 1985-1986
New WORLD Theater 1986-1987
New WORLD Theater 1987-1988
New WORLD Theater 1988-1989
New WORLD Theater 1989-1990
The Tenth Anniversary Season
The Tenth Anniversary Celebration
New WORLD Theater 1989-1990
Spring 1990
New WORLD Theater 1990-1991
New WORLD Theater 1991-1992
New WORLD Theater 1992-1993
New WORLD Theater 1993-1994
New WORLD Theater 1994-1995
New WORLD Theater 1995-1996
New WORLD Theater 1996-1997
New WORLD Theater 1997-1998
New WORLD Theater 1998-1999
New WORLD Theater Spring 1999
New WORLD Theater 1999-2000
New WORLD Theater 2000-2001
New WORLD Theater 2001-2002
Twenty-Four Years of the New WORLD Theater
4. NEW WORLD THEATER PROJECTS
61
63
66
68
71
74
74
76
80
80
81
84
87
91
96
101
105
107
109
110
112
117
118
120
124
Origins of the Looking In/To the Future Project
The Latino Theater Project
The Asian Theater Project
Looking In/To the Future Project: 1996
Looking In/To the Future: 1997
Looking In/To the Future: 1998 and 1999
Looking In/To the Future/Project 2050: 2000
Project 2050: 2001
5. ANALYSIS AND CONCLUSIONS
124
125
126
130
132
136
140
147
153
Introduction
153
The Intersection of Praxis and Theory
153
Exploring the Potential of the Looking In/To the Future/Project 2050 Model
155
Using Theatre to Promote Access and Equity: A Model
159
Conclusion
165
v
APPENDIX A
Amherst Demographic Information
Northampton Demographic Information
South Hadley Demographic Information
Holyoke Demographic Information
Springfield Demographic Information
170
170
171
172
172
APPENDIX B
New WORLD Theater 2050 Project Student Survey
179
APPENDIX C
Project 2050 Statements
182
APPENDIX D
New WORLD Theater Retreat Policies July 4-9, 2000
183
APPENDIX E
Biographies of Project 2050 Youth: Open Studio/Open Dialogue
184
APPENDIX F
The Artists
186
APPENDIX G
Project 2050 Summer Youth Retreat 2002 Questionnaire for Youth
188
APPENDIX H
Project 2050 Summer Youth Retreat 2002 Questionnaire for Youth pt.2
189
APPENDIX I
Project 2050 Summer Youth Retreat 2002 Evaluation form for Artists,
Scholar/Activists, and Counselors
191
BIBLIOGRAPHY
193
BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH
214
vi
LIST OF TABLES 1. Demographic Census Data for city of Amherst, Massachusetts
174
2. Demographic Census Data for city of Northampton, Massachusetts
175
3. Demographic Census Data for city of South Hadley, Massachusetts
176
4. Demographic Census Data for city of Holyoke, Massachusetts
177
5. Demographic Census Data for city of Springfield, Massachusetts
178
vii
ABSTRACT
This dissertation examines the background, production history, and outreach
projects of the New WORLD Theater (NWT) in terms of the NWT's usefulness as a model
for diversifying theatre programs and, more importantly, for utilizing the work of theatre
programs to address issues of access and equity in higher education for at-risk and students
of color. Determining how theatre might be used as a tool to encourage young people to
participate in society and eventually matriculate to higher education is integral to the
motivation behind this study. The researcher’s extensive experience in both theatre and
higher education, and awareness of equity and access issues among both students and
faculty informs the goals for this study as well.
Chapter two's literature review concentrates on research related to diversity, access,
and equity. Additionally, the review covers critical educational theory and its relation to
theatre and praxis. The production history and background presented in Chapter Three
provides the context through which the NWT outreach projects were developed.
Chapter Four describes the outreach projects of the NWT, beginning with the
Latino Theatre Project and the Asian Theatre Project, two projects that set the stage for the
Looking In/To the Future project. Chapter four also provides a detailed description of the
Looking In/To the Future/Project 2050, as well as an in-depth account of the activities of
and changes to the outreach program over a three-year period.
Finally, Chapter Five considers the applicability of the NWT’s outreach projects to
the national issue of student and faculty recruitment and retention, and the usefulness of
the NWT as a model for expanding diversity in theatre programs at institutions of higher
education.
viii
This study finds that the NWT’s Looking In/To The Future/Project 2050 is
consistent with current national issues related to diversity, access, and equity in higher
education institutions. By bringing together marginalized artists and scholars of color, the
NWT has provided a site for continued discourse. The work of the project seeks to
politicize the discourse of at-risk and youth of color, and, as such, is situated in the politics
of performance.
ix
CHAPTER ONE
Introduction
Higher education in the U.S. faces many problems as it seeks to fill needs
associated with the changing demographics of the early twenty-first century. Because
of the growing inequities inherent in U.S. society, colleges and universities must be
prepared to accept and support increasing numbers of students of color. A number of
national programs have sought to enhance K-12 education for students of color.
Nevertheless, many in higher education would argue that, although preparation is
crucial to matriculation into college for at-risk or students of color, the success of
these young persons requires something beyond an adequate K-12 curriculum.
Through my work with the Association for Theatre in Higher Education and
as Dean of Humanities, Arts, and Social Sciences at a small private Catholic
Hispanic-serving university, I have become acutely aware of the growing number of
undergraduate students of color, low number of graduate students of color, and the
small pool of qualified faculty of color. The intent of this study is to explore issues of
access and equity for students of color through an examination of the work of the
New WORLD Theater (NWT), which began in 1978 at the University of
Massachusetts (UMASS) and continues to this day. The NWT is an internationally
recognized theatre organization dedicated to developing works by artists of color and
known for its outreach projects to at-risk young people and communities of color.
Housed at the University of Massachusetts at Amherst, Massachusetts, NWT has
maintained its commitment to students and artists of color throughout its twenty-four
years of existence. The study (1) documents the history of the New WORLD Theater,
(2) examines in particular the NWT community outreach project known as Looking
In/To the Future/Project 2050, and (3) suggests the use of Project 2050 as a potential
model for enhancing diversity in higher education theatre programs and using theatre
1
pedagogy to promote issues related to diversity and access among at-risk and students
of color.
Setting the Context for the New WORLD Theater
The Five College, Inc. Consortium
The Pioneer Valley of Massachusetts is home to the Five College, Inc.
Consortium, which includes Amherst, Hampshire, Mount Holyoke, and Smith
Colleges and the University of Massachusetts at Amherst (UMASS). 1 These
institutions have maintained a cooperative relationship for many years, and have
created special professorships, unique events, collaborative scheduling, open access
to courses, and transportation for faculty and students that are shared by the five
schools. The aims of the Consortium are stated in its 20 July 1965 “Articles of
Incorporation” and are quoted in the 1999-2000 annual report:
The primary purpose of the corporation is to promote the broad
educational and cultural objectives of Amherst College, Hampshire
College, Mount Holyoke College, Smith College, and the University
of Massachusetts:
• by encouraging and fostering closer cooperation and understanding
among the faculty, staff, and students . . .
• by promoting and developing opportunities for joint lectures,
concerts, plays, games, and other activities for sharing the use of the
educational and cultural facilities . . .
• by promoting and developing opportunities for a better
understanding of the people, cultures, and institutions of other
nations . . .
• by facilitating the development of curricula ...
• by facilitating the development of, or acting as a participant in,
research or educational facilities, projects, or other undertakings.
—from the Articles of Organization, July 20,1965
2
(“Thirty-Five Years of Collaboration in Higher
Education.” 1)
Over sixty shared or joint appointments of faculty to the five colleges had
been made through the year 2000. The 1999-2000 annual report clarifies the longstanding purpose of the Five College arrangement:
The purpose of having joint faculty appointments has not changed.
These appointments give the institutions a means to test new and
emerging fields within the curriculum, provide them with an effective
way of including highly specialized areas not represented on any of the
campuses, and allow them an affordable avenue for bringing
celebrated and distinguished visitors to the five colleges. (“Thirty-Five
Years” 3)
In 1979-1982, I was a Five-College Professor teaching Theatre Voice and
Speech at all five theatre programs. 2 As such, I traveled the triangle between South
Hadley, Northampton, and Amherst, teaching classes, conducting workshops, holding
office hours and tutorials, coaching actors, and conducting rehearsals. During that
time I had the opportunity to observe the distinct personalities of each of the five
theatre programs and their respective institutions. My contact with the students and
faculty in the theatre programs was limited to classes, workshops, and rehearsals. 3
Other than one African-American student from Mount Holyoke College, the students
and faculty with whom I came in contact were White. 4
The Location and Changing Communities
The Pioneer Valley, in which the Five College Consortium is located, is a
beautiful location nestled along the Connecticut River, the longest in New England.
Lining the river is a greenbelt, mostly publicly owned floodplain, framed by
mountains. The largest city in the region is Springfield. The small towns in the area,
including Holyoke, South Hadley, Amherst, and Northampton, are served by the New
WORLD Theater through their productions, workshops, residences, and educational
3
outreach programs. In order to understand the community-related needs of the
audiences served by the New WORLD Theater, it is helpful to look at a few cities in
the area. The cities noted in the following section are those where individuals
participate in the projects of the NWT or as audience members for the various
productions presented by the company. These cities include Amherst, Holyoke,
Northampton, Springfield, and South Hadley. The five institutions of the Five
College Consortium are located in Amherst, Northampton, and South Hadley.
Community centers, community theatres, artists, cultural workers, and scholars from
these surrounding communities all have played a role in the work of the NWT over
the years of its existence. The demographics of the region, as reported in the 1980,
1990, and 2000 U.S. Bureau of the Census data for those towns and cities, provide
information useful for this study.
Shifts in the demographics of the communities in which the Five College
Consortium exists and those surrounding cities that are served by the NWT have
influenced its outreach activities. The population in Amherst almost doubled from
1980 to 2000, with the largest growth being in the Asian community. Amherst also
saw an increase in families living at poverty level and a decrease in the number of
individuals attaining higher education. The least diverse community of those housing
a Five College Consortium institution is South Hadley, which experienced the least
change over the past three censuses. Springfield and Holyoke are communities that
are actively served by the NWT. Holyoke has maintained a relatively stable
population over the past twenty years. Holyoke’s Black, Asian, and Hispanic
populations comprised 47 percent of the total population in 2000, with the Hispanic
group representing 41.4 of that total. In the year 2000, the Black community of
Springfield constituted almost twenty-five percent of the population. Springfield has a
low percentage of residents completing four or more years of college when compared
to Amherst, where over fifty percent of those twenty-five years of age or older have
completed four or more years of college. One other characteristic of the Springfield
community that may be significant is that almost a third of the population in the 2000
4
census reported speaking a language other than English in the home. Concerns related
to the immigrant populations and diversity in these communities motivated NWT’s
educational outreach projects. (See Appendix A and Tables 1-5 for more detailed
information.)
Methodology
Overview
With the intent of verifying the benefits of theater activity as a means to
enhance access and equity for at-risk and youth of color, this study investigates the
history and practice of the New WORLD Theater, including its origins and
production history. NWT’s background and production history are documented for
the first time and provide a context for a discussion of the outreach projects. In
addition, this study examines in some detail the outreach projects of the NWT, which
involved youth and communities of color in activities that connected them to artists of
color and the world of higher education, and explored the potential for using such
outreach projects as models for similar programs designed to increase access and
equity among youth of color. This study’s purpose has been accomplished by
investigating, through interviews, an examination of NWT archival materials, and
observation of two outreach projects of the NWT.
This investigation is a descriptive case study. In examining changes in the
region served by the NWT, demographic data was gleaned from the 1980, 1990, and
2000 censuses. Also, the Special Collections section of the UMASS Library and the
archive of the UMASS student newspaper, the Collegian, were reviewed for pertinent
data regarding the years leading up to the founding of the NWT. Interviews were
conducted with faculty from the theater programs at each of the institutions of the
Five College Consortium, as well as an administrator from UMASS; the NWT
Artistic Director; NWT staff; and artists, scholars, and counselors from the NWT
outreach projects. Finally, participant observation was conducted of the NWTsponsored Intersection II conference and two NWT programs: Looking In/To the
5
Future and Project 2050 summer retreats. The researcher gained access to the
personnel and materials of the NWT through her association with the Association for
Theatre in Higher Education, her years spent as a Five College Professor (19791982), and contact with the UMASS Dean of Humanities and Arts at the Council of
Colleges of Arts and Sciences (CCAS) annual meetings.
Goals of the Study
The original goal of the study was to address the relationship between the Five
College theater programs and the NWT. Open-ended interviews of chairpersons and
faculty of Five College theatre programs were conducted in Massachusetts in various
locations, including hotel lobbies, offices, restaurants, and campus lounges. The
informal interviews in public locations proved problematic due to ambient noise and
inaccuracies related to poor recall. In addition, those interviewed had had varying
degrees of contact with the NWT.
After the initial April 2000 interviews with faculty and chairs of the five
theatre programs, the researcher determined that examining the impact of the NWT
on the Five College theatre programs was not feasible. While the NWT clearly had
played a role in enhancing the awareness of multicultural issues in the Five College
area since its inception in 1979, it was not the sole influence in this regard. In the
1980s and 1990s, universities and colleges across the United States were dealing with
racial unrest and a lack of diversity in the student body and among faculty. The
production choices of theater programs were affected by this turmoil. Nevertheless,
because the NWT was a significant influence at UMASS, a shift occurred in the goals
of the study. It was clear that the NWT was a model for outreach to students of color
that could be used by theatre programs at other universities. The goal of the study
shifted to the development of a model that reflected educational research related to
access and equity.
Interviews with the staff, artistic director, students, and scholars of the NWT
and its outreach Looking In/To the Future/2050 Projects provided data that was
6
confirmed through NWT reports and archival materials, including records of
participants in projects, artist and production company publicity materials, grant
proposals and reports, publicity materials, programs and season brochures, mailing
lists, correspondence, agendas, meeting notes, and survey responses related to various
projects and activities of the NWT. Additionally, participation in the Intersections II
conference gave the researcher an opportunity to observe the artists and scholars in
action.
In case study research it is recommended that the researcher combine multiple
sources of evidence. The use of archival material and documents, interviews, direct
observation, and participant-observation allowed for what is known as triangulation
of results. All evidence was reviewed and analyzed allowing for such convergence of
data. This analysis will be discussed in the fifth chapter of this study.
The Use of the 2050 Youth Survey
The researcher attempted to survey the youth in NWT’s Project 2050;
however, due to a low return rate, the survey was not utilized in the findings except
for anecdotal student comments. Students selected for the survey were currently
participating in the 2002 session of Project 2050 and had participated in previous
Looking In/To the Future retreats. The researcher chose students from diverse
ethnic/racial groups within the Project 2050. The survey packet contained a cover
letter, release form, survey, and self-addressed stamped envelope. Of the twenty
surveys given to students, only five were returned to the researcher. An attempt was
made to re-issue the survey in the fall of 2002 by a member of the NWT staff, but that
too failed to obtain the researcher’s desired results (See Appendix B).
The low survey return rate limited the usefulness of the survey data. The
youth that did reply, while overwhelmingly happy with their experience, did not
report that their expectations of higher education had been influenced by their
participation in the NWT program. Several students referred to the project as “camp.”
The use of the term “camp” suggests that the goals of the Project 2050 retreat were
7
not clearly communicated to the participants. In fact, conversations with the artists
and scholars participating in the retreat revealed that their personal expectations for
the program were not specific to or directly aligned with the NWT goals.
Concentrating on the NWT’s production history and projects provided the
researcher with the opportunity to connect her interests in theatre, diversity, and
higher education. Observations of the activities of the NWT in the office, as well as at
workshops, conferences, classes, and performances were conducted with the
researcher’s compassion for the day-to-day struggles of staff, faculty, students, artists,
and scholars. Their diverse and sometimes conflicting goals stimulated the NWT to
great accomplishments, albeit at a significant personal cost to those involved.
Outline of the Dissertation
This dissertation is divided into five chapters. The present Chapter One
introduces the NWT, the demographics of the communities it serves, its location
within the Five College, Inc. Consortium, the intent of the study, and the
methodology used for data collection. Chapter Two provides the theoretical
framework for the study, including a description of several concepts critical to the
study recommendations (e.g., cultural capital, diversity, and access and equity in
higher education.). Chapter Two also presents an overview of research on diversity
and critical education theory, and relates theory to praxis. The work of theatre
practitioners who incorporate the approaches of Paulo Freire and Augusto Boal
illustrates the relationship already present between critical education theory and
theatre practice. Through this lens the work of the NWT is linked to the discourse on
educational reform, diversity, and access and equity.
Chapters Three and Four present the history of the NWT. Chapter Three
chronicles NWT’s background and production history. This chronological
presentation of productions and theater companies nurtured and presented by the
NWT documents the NWT’s remarkable accomplishments. The struggles of this
theatre company, born of the racial unrest on a college campus, mirror the struggles
8
of critical education theorists as they incorporate issues of access and diversity into
higher education and sets the context for the outreach project described. Chapter Four
provides a description of the educational projects that led to the creation of the
NWT’s Looking In/To the Future and Project 2050. In addition, Chapter Four offers a
detailed description of the activities of and changes to the outreach program over a
three-year period. The description is presented to provide examples that might serve
as models for other theatre-related outreach programs designed to enhance access to
higher education, as described in Chapter Five.
Chapter Five, then, examines the usefulness of the NWT as a model for
expanding diversity in theatre programs and the relevance of outreach projects such
as those conducted by NWT to national issues of student and faculty recruitment and
retention. Two questions form the basis of the analysis presented in Chapter Five:
(1) Can the development of the NWT serve as a model for other schools and
communities interested in increasing cultural opportunities for audiences and artists
of color? (2) Are the NWT’s community outreach projects relevant to the current
national issue of student retention? Chapter Five incorporates the literature review
and the history of the NWT and its programs in answering these questions.
1
Amherst, Massachusetts is home to Hampshire College, Amherst College, and the University of
Massachusetts. Smith College is located across the Connecticut River in Northampton, Massachusetts.
Mount Holyoke College is located in South Hadley, Massachusetts.
2
As a Five-college Professor, I taught one course each semester at Mount Holyoke College and one
course at one of the other four schools. I was hired by the Consortium to demonstrate the importance
of voice and speech training. The desired goal was that one of the schools would commit a faculty line
to this specialty. The University of Massachusetts eventually hired a voice and speech specialist.
3
In the three years the researcher spent in the Valley, she did not have the opportunity to see a
production of the New WORLD Theater. As a Five College Professor hired for a limited term the
researcher was both an insider and outsider who nevertheless knew of the minority student protests at
UMASS and the university’s purpose in hiring Uno, that is, as an experiment in solving the problem
of minority student dissatisfaction
4
The African-American student participated in the NWT and is now the Dean of Students at Mount
Holyoke College.
9
CHAPTER TWO
Literature Review: Shaping the Study
Introduction
Colleges and universities have struggled over the past twenty-five years with
changing demographics and racial incidents. Many institutions of higher education
have developed various strategies for encouraging inclusion and multiculturalism on
campus. Theatre programs have addressed the same need to involve minority
populations, with the added dimension that their success or failure is made visible to
their communities through their theatrical productions.
As noted in Chapter One, demographic reports suggest that, by the year 2050,
the size of the minority population in the United States will be equal to or greater than
that of the Anglo population. Such projections have raised concerns about access and
equity for students of color in higher education settings. The intent of this study is to
explore such access and equity issues through an examination of the New WORLD
Theater (NWT) community outreach project known as Looking In/To the Future
Project 2050 that began in 1994 at the University of Massachusetts and continues to
this day.
In Looking In/To The Future, the NWT worked with young people in the
Khmer, Vietnamese, Latina/o, and African-American communities surrounding
Amherst, Massachusetts (where the University of Massachusetts is located) to help
them define their cultural identities through writing and theatre activities. More
recently, the NWT engaged youth from these communities in Project 2050, a
program that seeks to address the problems that young people of color are likely to
confront in the future. This chapter reviews sociological and educational theories that
form the basis for the analysis of these two NWT programs, which will be examined
in terms of their potential to serve as model programs for greater access and equity to
10
higher education for at-risk students and students of color. More specifically, this
review will present the ideas of critical education theorists who have examined the
social implications of class and race in U.S. institutions of higher education and
examine scholarship related to educational reform, diversity, and theatre activities
that connect theory and praxis..
Critical Education Theory: Cultural Reproduction and Resistance
Over the last several decades, many studies have focused on issues of
academic access, equity, and multiculturalism, exploring such phenomena as racial
and ethnic differences in academic achievement and mobility. In the same vein,
educational policy-makers and administrators have developed plans to provide greater
access to postsecondary education for at-risk students and students of color. This
dissertation is consistent with such efforts, in that it highlights two factors shown to
influence the decision of at-risk and students of color to seek postsecondary
education: cultural capital and agency.
Students require more than an adequate high school curriculum to make the
leap to higher education. Students and their families need cultural capital, that is,
assets in addition to the monetary that add to the “wealth” of a particular individual.
Family and community involvement, for example, provide cultural capital that helps
students of color attain the experience and information necessary to succeed in
college. Further, cultural capital extends beyond the economic and skills level to
include advantages obtained through extra-curricular and co-curricular activities of
the sort that more affluent and privileged students typically experience. In addition,
at-risk students need to be able to picture themselves in and negotiate their way
through a higher education system.
Students, their families, and their teachers must be able to use as well as
acquire cultural capital, however. Reproduction theorists, who assert that schools
teach knowledge and skills that reproduce the dominant power structure of society,
downplay the importance of human agency, relegating students to a passive position
11
in terms of their successes or failures. According to Aronowitz and Giroux,
“Reproduction theorists focus almost exclusively on power and how the dominant
culture ensures the consent and defeat of subordinate classes and groups” (Education
Still Under Siege 68). Resistance theorists restore the concept of agency, although
both reproduction and resistance theories of education fail to acknowledge the
interrelatedness of structure (e.g., curriculum, classroom organization) and agency.
Without agency, students and families cannot utilize the cultural capital they do have
to resist the dominant culture. Without agency and resistance, they may not be able
to benefit from the emancipatory nature of education.
Critical education theorists blame schools for perpetuating the inequities of
the dominant society. They argue that change must begin by examining the structural
characteristics that limit the possibilities for teachers and at-risk students and/or
students of color. As Aronowitz and Giroux suggest, “Schools represent contested
terrains marked not only by structural and ideological contradictions but also by
collectively informed student resistance” (Education Still Under Siege 67). Such
theorists see schools as sites of complex resistance to the dominant social order.
Reproduction Theory and Cultural Capital
Sociological and educational theorists who write about cultural reproduction
have defined cultural capital differently, 1 however, and the commonly held meaning
of cultural capital refers to particular assets conveyed by middle- and upper-class
families to their children. This type of assets, according to McDonough,
substitutes for or supplements the transmission of economic capital as
a means of maintaining class status and privilege across generations.
Middle- and upper-class families highly value a college education and
advanced degrees as a mean of ensuring continued economic security,
in addition to whatever monetary assets can be passed along to their
offspring.” (Choosing Colleges 8)
12
Pierre Bourdieu originated the term cultural capital, describing it as the
conversion of experience, style, and language into a commodity that perpetuates the
dominant group. According to Bourdieu, dominant groups succeed because they
bring this cultural capital with them when they leave home. Further, culture is
reproduced through education controlled by the ruling class to perpetuate its interests.
In this way, Bourdieu connects power and culture. Although he believes in the
liberatory potential of education, Bourdieu’s ideology does not allow for resistance to
the transmission of the dominant culture (“The Forms of Capital” 241-58, “Cultural
Reproduction” 487-510).
Bourdieu contends that educators and society divide knowledge into two
categories, high-status and low-status, with low-status being the inferior of the two.
Michael W. Apple encourages researchers to “think of knowledge as a form of
capital” (Under Fire 99). He sees the university’s role in the production of knowledge
as significant, because it provides students with cultural capital. Schools perpetuate
the dominant culture through the distribution of knowledge, which some students are
more capable of receiving than others. For example, the dominant culture considers
theoretical subjects superior to practical subjects and working-class knowledge as
different from and inferior to high-status knowledge. However, Giroux argues that a
growing number of educators are anti-intellectual and that “educational criticism
itself has been transformed into a reductionistic celebration of experience that
resurrects the binary opposition between theory and practice, with the latter becoming
an unproblematic category for invoking the voice of pedagogical authority” (Border
Crossings 2).
Parental and environmental factors can help to determine the success of firstgeneration students, at-risk students, and students of color in matriculating and
completing post-secondary education. Students from middle- and high-income
families find their passage to college facilitated by the schools they attend, the
subjects they study, the cultural activities they experience, and their home
environments. At-risk students and students of color face obstacles to the
13
achievement of their college goals due to their economic situations, tracking in
schools, and a lack of cultural experiences that might expose them to the goal of
attending college.
Critical Education Theory and Educational Reform
Schools limit at-risk students and students of color to the extent that they
perpetuate actions that reinforce the lack of equality evident in society. Recently,
resistance theorists have moved beyond deterministic conceptions of cultural
reproduction to an analysis of power relationships in education based on identity
conflict and resistance. They have “sought to redefine the importance of mediation,
power, and culture in understanding the complex relations between schools and the
dominant society” (Aronowitz and Giroux, Education Still Under Siege 93).
Similarly, recent Marxist studies of education have focused on the way in which
curriculum can serve the interests of dominant groups in a society. Such studies
explore the interaction between structure and human agency.
Resistance theorists have studied the opposition of subordinate groups to
dominant groups.2 Critics of resistance theory argue for the existence of a “range of
oppositional behaviors, some of which constitute resistance and some of which do
not” (Education Still Under Siege 94). Other criticism asserts that resistance
theorists ignore gender and race, and instead focus on class. By looking exclusively
at the rebellious or disruptive student, resistance theorists overlook passive resistance
and the potential political power of students who recognize their position in relation
to the dominant group and choose to transcend it in order to complete college and
place themselves in a more powerful position in the future. Both overt and passive
resistance, then, can be powerful political tools.
A number of researchers in the field of educational sociology have expressed
concern, and even alarm, at conservative political trends that would return public
education to a meritocracy, a move that would clearly benefit the dominant class at
14
the expense of minority groups. 3 Carole A. Stabile fears that such conservative
educational initiatives will undermine the educational progress of minorities:
While we defend our theory and practice from accusations of
undemocratic principles, democracy is being undermined at the ground
floor. How many university professors realize that African-American
students are three times as likely to be tracked into special education
classes as white students, while they are only half as likely to be
placed in “gifted and talented” programs (if in fact these programs are
funded in their school systems)? . . .What does it mean to discuss
“difference“ and “othering” effects of Western culture, when the
“other” is once again being systematically excluded from such
conversations? (120)
Stabile’s observation that at-risk students and students of color are excluded from the
discourse of difference is true at both predominantly White institutions and those with
diverse populations of students and faculty.
Numerous scholars have called for educational reform, and for the public to
reevaluate educational systems and recognize that schools must change to suit the
changing demographics of the population. In our time, education has become a major
political issue. In the 1991 text, Postmodern Education: Politics, Culture, and Social
Criticism, Aronowitz and Giroux explore issues of race, class, and gender in the
politics of education, declaring their disillusionment with the state of educational
politics as the first Bush administration followed in the footsteps of the Reagan
administration. Aronowitz and Giroux note that the tactic of managing the drug
problem as a police and courts issue, rather than a social/psychological one, is a prime
example of the Bush administration’s approach to social problems, which focused
less on the underlying causes of social problems than on the “quick fix” (4). They
further assert that the Bush administration’s use of standardized tests to evaluate
student performance according to federal educational standards, as well as its
expectation that teachers and administrators promote “American” values, has created
15
opposition in the form of increased student empowerment and intellectual skepticism.
In the educational environment created under President George H. Bush,
unconventional learning styles did not measure up and therefore were “consigned to
subordinate niches in the economic and status order” (67). For their own part,
Aronowitz and Giroux argue for the relevance and intellectual validity of “marginal
discourse” or discourse from the margins of conventional society. They assert:
Any viable educational theory has to begin with a language that links
schooling to democratic public life, that defines teachers as engaged
intellectuals and border crossers, and develops forms of pedagogy that
incorporate difference, plurality, and the language of the everyday as
central to the production and legitimation of learning. (187)
It is this very discourse on the centers and the margins that has been debated
in educational theory for two decades. In Higher Education Under Fire, Michael
Bérubé and Cary Nelson examine the crisis in higher education that took place in the
early to mid-1990s. Their book brings together numerous voices--from the left as
well as the right--that together provide insights on faculty and politics in higher
education, as well as on critical pedagogy and difference. One contributing author,
Joan W. Scott, describes the crisis in higher education as a series of paradoxes:
1. The more the university community has diversified, the more
relentless have been the attempts to enforce community.
2. The more individualism is used by those opposed to the
institutionalization of diversity, the more advocates of diversity invoke
individualism.
3. The greater the need for open-ended research, reflection, and
criticism in the production of new knowledge, the more instrumental
the justifications for taking new directions have become.
4. The greater the need for theorizing—for the practice of questioning
unquestioned assumptions and beliefs—the faster has been the turn to
moralism and the therapeutics of the personal. (294)
16
The conflicts inherent in Scott’s observations suggest the following questions:
Does the mainstream community take priority over the diverse community? Does
individualism mean choice? Does individualization mean further segregation of both
the minority and dominant communities? How does conservative political educational
reform affect individual disciplines in the university?
Cultural and Critical Pedagogy
When researchers focus on race, gender, and class, they are forced to address
questions of power, politics, and pedagogy. Many important critical education
studies examine pedagogy, depicting the relationship between power, politics, and
education. Such work no longer exists at the fringes of educational research. Henry
A. Giroux and Peter MacLaren, for example, explore the political nature of cultural
studies.4
The transformation of education to accommodate students of color impacts the
very foundation of education systems. Chandra Talpade Mohanty stresses, “The
theorization and politicalization of experience is imperative if pedagogical practices
are to focus on more than the mere management, systematization, and consumption of
disciplinary knowledge” (152). Central to providing an equitable education for
students of color is the empowerment of at-risk students and students of color to
express their unique voices in the classroom. While there is some conflict regarding
the manner in which strategies that empower students might be implemented, the
goals of such strategies remain the same.
Radical education theorists view the best education as interdisciplinary,
rejecting the boundaries of individual disciplines and educating for democracy. They
challenge educators to go beyond the transmission of current social behavior, and to
question the status quo and embrace the differences inherent in a democracy. Radical
theorists, then, join theory and practice with praxis. The hopefulness of such theorists
as Giroux and Freire complements the practicality of a theorist like Apple. In one
interview, Apple eloquently states,
17
Our work is a form of cultural politics. This involves all of us working
for what [Raymond] Williams called the ‘journey of hope’ toward ‘the
long revolution.’ To do less, not to engage in such work, is to ignore
the lives of millions of students and teachers throughout the world. Not
to act is to let the powerful win. Can we afford to let this happen?
(Official Knowledge 175)
Academic and arts disciplines within educational institutions, then, can become
locations of cultural political action.
Diversity in Higher Education
In Racial Crisis in American Higher Education, editors William A. Smith,
Philip G. Altbach, and Kofi Lomotey compile the work of a diverse group of scholars
concerned with the importance of race and politics in higher education. Their book
first addresses the history of race in higher education settings and then turns to the
changing demographics of the student population in the twenty-first century.
Concerns related to individual minority student groups, such as African-American,
Latina/o and Asian-American, are covered, as well as issues of concern to faculty and
administration, such as racism on campus and faculty of color. Other scholars have
explored college choice and successful matriculation among students in
predominantly White, Black, and Hispanic institutions. Smith, Altbach, and
Lomotey, for example, argue that continuing racial challenges on campus should be
expected, while they remain hopeful that shifts in attitudes eventually will occur at
universities and colleges.
Educational sociologists have examined the links between changes in social
consciousness and the reform of educational structures and systems. Yet, with the
exception of the neo-Marxists among them, educational sociologists have failed to
address the relationship between education and economic inequality in our society.
Those sociologists who do write about economic inequality have tended to see social
mobility as the path to equality. In “Research and Equality and Education,” Kathleen
18
Lynch enjoins sociologists of education to do more than just report on injustice, and
instead “examine the transformative potential of our analysis” (102). Lynch suggests
that, until sociologists are “working with rather than for” those marginalized in
society, they have not done their part in realizing the goal of educational equality.
Paulo Freire was a critical education theorist who wrote about the potential of
education to raise the social consciousness of those oppressed by the societies in
which they live. In Teachers as Cultural Workers: Letters to Those Who Dare
Teach, Freire states, “A humanizing education is the path through which men and
women can become conscious about their presence in the world. The way they act
and think when they develop all of their capacities, taking into consideration their
needs, but also the needs and aspirations of others ” (xiii). Freire saw education as a
vehicle for lifting the poor and uneducated out of poverty. Freire’s Pedagogy of the
Oppressed similarly speaks to the potential of education to do more than just transmit
knowledge. Freire’s work, a potent testament to the power of education to raise the
cultural capital of otherwise marginalized individuals, has influenced a great many
scholars in many disciplines. 5 In Teaching to Transgress: Education as the Practice
of Freedom, bell hooks pays homage to the Brazilian theorist and practitioner: “When
I entered my first undergraduate classroom to teach, I relied on the example of those
inspired black women teachers in my grade school, on Freire’s work, and on feminist
thinking about radical pedagogy” (7). In her “playful” dialogue on Freire, hooks
further explains:
Paulo was one of the thinkers whose work gave me a language. He
made me think deeply about the construction of identity in resistance.
There was this one sentence of Freire’s that became a revolutionary
mantra for me: ‘We cannot enter the struggle as objects in order to
become subjects.’ Really, it is difficult to find words adequate to
explain how this statement was like a locked door—and I struggled
within myself to find the key—and that struggle engaged me in a
process of critical thought that was transformative. This experience
19
positioned Freire in my mind and heart as a challenging teacher whose
work furthered my own struggle against the colonizing process—the
colonizing mind-set. (46)
It is clear that hooks understands education as a process of liberation. hooks
proposes “engaged pedagogy” as a means of transforming curriculum so that it “does
not reflect biases or reinforce systems of domination” and allows students and
teachers to take risks that make the classroom a site of resistance (21). According to
hooks, the classroom must be a democracy, a place where all students feel safe to
participate and share responsibility for contributing to the learning that takes place.
A democratic classroom of this sort must move away from what Freire describes as
the “banking system of education,” in which students passively absorb the
product/knowledge dispensed therein. According to hooks, students of color
generally do not feel safe in the classroom, and teachers must re-learn how to teach
the diversity of students represented in the classroom today.
In Killing Rage: Ending Racism, hooks illustrates the necessity of exposing
and eradicating racism and sexism, and argues that we have not confronted the
colonialism in our own country. Hooks tackles class in Where We Stand: Class
Matters, but it is in Teaching to Transgress that she touches most deeply on ideas that
could change the educational system. Other scholars influenced by Freire have
discussed the concept of cultural workers, that is, those who work for the betterment
of the common good. Giroux notes that “professions such as law, social work,
architecture, medicine, theology, education, and literature” all have the potential to
engage in cultural work as long as they “mobilize knowledge and desires that may
lead to minimizing the degree of oppression in people’s lives” (Crossing Borders 5).
Within the discourses on identity, race, ethnicity, and class, many argue
against the essentialized language and social construction of race and ethnicity. U.S.Cuban scholar Coco Fusco decries the fact that the U.S. government and the media
have turned “hundreds of ethnic groups into one—Hispanic” (English is Broken Here
23). She resists as problematic the “current wave of multiculturalism” in the U.S.,
20
characterizing it as a double-edged sword. According to Fusco, much of the
celebration of multiculturalism regards difference “as light but exotic entertainment
for the dominant culture” (27). The celebration itself, she warns, gives the dominant
culture control over cultural difference (27). Though Fusco’s work deals mainly with
the performance arts, her frustrations are similar to those felt in elementary and public
schools and institutions of higher education, and among cultural producers within
those institutions. She believes that culture has the power to transform individuals
and that most of the art produced in the U.S. reflects “the legacies of the conquest and
colonization of the Americas” (36). According to Fusco, Latinas feel this legacy
within their being. At the same time, Latina/o artists and writers strive to open doors
for publication and performance and provide arenas for cultural productions. As
Latina author Cherríe Moraga states, “As a Latina artist I can choose to contribute to
the development of a docile generation of would-be Republican ‘Hispanics’ loyal to
the United States, or to the creation of a force of ‘disloyal’ americanos who subscribe
to a multicultural, multilingual, radical restructuring of America” (Latina 214).
Echoing Fusco’s desire to challenge identity and open doors, Moraga seeks to
redefine “our nation’s identity.” Moraga asserts: “We must learn to see ourselves less
as U.S. citizens and more as members of a larger world community” (Latina 219).
She continues to enjoin her readers to be politically active. As in her earlier text, This
Bridge Called My Back: Writings By Radical Women of Color, edited with Gloria
Anzaldúa, she calls the reader to political action.
This Bridge Called My Back, originally published in 1981, has become a
seminal text in academic courses focusing on diversity. The work is raw with the
realities of the lives revealed. Anzaldúa states, “It is difficult for me to break free of
the Chicano cultural bias into which I was born and raised, and the cultural bias of the
Anglo culture that I was brainwashed into adopting” (Bridge 207). Anzaldúa,
Moraga, and the other women writing in this work explicitly recount their histories
and their pain, giving the text an immediacy that theoretical works dealing with
difference cannot duplicate.
21
“Race,” Writing, and Difference, edited by Henry Louis Gates, Jr., is another
anthology from the mid-1980s that presents the ideas of key theorists in the field of
difference and post-colonial thought. Gates asserts, “Race has become a trope of
ultimate, irreducible difference between cultures, linguistics groups, or adherents of
specific belief systems which—more often than not—also have fundamentally
opposed economic interests. Race is the ultimate trope of difference because it is so
very arbitrary in its application” (5). This volume is stunning in its inclusion of the
provocative ideas of both critical writers and those who would refute them. Although
Gates and others in this anthology define race and other-ness, they do so in purely
theoretical terms without the call to action heralded by such scholars as Fusco and
Moraga.
A myriad of themes—Chicano studies; labor and politics; language, literature,
and theatre—can be found in Chicana Voices: Intersections of Class, Race and
Gender, the published proceedings of the 1984 National Association for Chicano
Studies. Edited by a committee chaired by Teresa Córdova and including Norma
Cantú, Gilberto Cardenas, Juan García, and Christine M. Sierra, the book contains
essays with frequent references to inequality and paternalism in academia, in theatre
companies, and in labor and politics. In her essay, “Women in El Teatro Campesino:
‘¿Apoca Estaba Molacha la Virgen de Guadalupe?’”, Yolanda J. Broyles describes
the paternalism of El Teatro Campesino (The Farmworkers Theatre), a group formed
in 1965 by Luis Valdez to support the farm labor organizing efforts of César Chávez.
Through interviews with women who performed with El Teatro Campesino, Broyles
uncovers dissatisfaction with both their roles and their treatment by male members of
the cast. After interviewing Teatro Campesino founder Luis Valdez, who described
how the group worked and lived together in a relationship he described as familial
(with Valdez in the role of father), Broyles concludes, “Male resistance to female
self-determination…should not be personalized or considered the special problem of
this or that man or group. In truth, it is not unique to El Teatro Campesino” (Latina
Voices 168). The struggle of the women interviewed for Broyles’ essay, however, is
22
only part of the larger struggle of women to move beyond their pre-determined roles.
The paternalism described in this article is similar to the paternalism exhibited
towards the New WORLD Theater and Roberta Uno. Uno could not disassociate
herself from the NWT and took personally the perceptions of her role within the
university.
Access and Equity in Higher Education
Postsecondary education is widely seen as a must for economic survival in
today’s world, since the employment options available to students with a high school
diploma or less have become ever fewer. Aronowitz declares:
For a clear majority, entering college is as much an imperative as high
school was after World War One, and this state of affairs is directly
traceable to the absence of real economic alternatives. The narrowing
of employment options is reflected by the fact that in the United
States, where in 1997 more than 83 percent of those entering high
school graduated, 62 percent of graduates go on to college, half of
them in community college. (The Knowledge Factory 8-9)
Given the requirements of today’s job market, it is imperative that African-American,
Hispanic, and Native American students are provided adequate opportunities for
successfully enrolling in and graduating from college.
In Educating a New Majority, Laura I. Rendón and Richard O. Hope note that
changing demographics demand a shift in how we educate disadvantaged students of
color. Transforming education requires a truly seamless connection between K-12,
community colleges, and four-year institutions. The authors call for partnerships,
changes in curriculum and structure, new systems of faculty rewards, diversification
of faculty and staff, and greater national leadership (465-69). Outreach projects such
as the NWT represent models for partnerships between higher education and
community organizations.
23
Historically, students from low-income, first-generation, or disadvantaged
minority homes have resisted traditional curricula that ignore them or track them
away from courses needed for matriculation into college. A secondary school
curriculum that provides the necessary linguistic code or academic knowledge to
prepare all students for college is an essential part of an adequate education. When
at-risk students and students of color resist the acquisition of the cultural capital for
political reasons or are placed in tracks that deny them such assets, they tend to drop
out of high school or graduate without the academic requirements necessary for
college. The economic situation today pushes minority student resistance into
university settings. At-risk students and minority students resist in college when they
realize that they are unprepared and when they don’t have strategies necessary to
acquire the cultural capital to succeed. Institutions of higher education must face
demographic and economic shifts and revise or create curriculum, which incorporates
diversity and globalization. Linda Serra Hagedorn and William G. Tierney note that
studies of equal access to higher education indicate that outreach projects may
promote the matriculation of at-risk students into college (Increasing Access to
College 1-8). The outreach projects typically studied are federally-funded national
programs such as TRIO, Upward Bound, and Gear Up.6 In addition, researchers
have examined nongovernmental programs (NGOs) that provide some support to
students through foundations, universities, and partnerships. While the evaluations of
various outreach programs often are inadequate, many of these studies have identified
particular strategies integral to student success.
One strategy that appears to be crucial for student success is the establishment
of collaborative partnerships. 7 Other key elements of successful outreach projects
include college awareness, the development of social skills, campus visits, cultural
activities, and training in study-skills. Hope and Rendón declare, “Higher education
must view itself as an integral part of the education continuum for a new student
majority. These institutions must play a central role in helping students, whether
black, brown, red, and yellow, to consider college a realistic option” (466). Projects
24
like those initiated by the NWT have provided just such opportunities for students
and artists of color.
Alexander Jun has studied preparation for college success among Latino
students in urban areas. His study followed five student participants in the
Neighborhood Academic Initiative (NAI), a college preparation program in
partnership with the University of Southern California.8 Jun described the five youths
in the study as “optimists” who “expressed their ambitions while simultaneously
registering a degree of critical consciousness” (113). He identified five factors for
student academic success: (a) begin early, (b) focus on academics, (c) involve
everyone, (d) address financial realities, and (e) create an environment for success
(120-21). Jun suggests the development of services that affirm the cultural
background of students of color. He found that the successful college graduate was
introduced to the idea of going to college at an early age.
Serra Hagedorn and Tierney, editors of Increasing Access to College, bring
together a number of scholars in their assessment of college access, college
preparatory programs, and suggested policy changes for higher education. In this
volume, Susan Yonezawa, Makeba Jones, and Hugh Mehan explore how the
acquisition of cultural capital by underserved students might be facilitated as one
means of means of increasing their access to higher education. The authors analyze
the response of the University of California, San Diego (UCSD) to the ban on
Affirmative Action in California. UCSD developed numerous collaborative projects
with local K-12 schools to increase the eligibility of underrepresented youth for
higher education. The multifaceted projects incorporated the development of cultural
capital to promote change and included student inquiry groups and a writing project,
both of which depended on “relationship building and dialogue” (163).
Tierney recommends that college preparation programs be consistently and
continuously evaluated. Tierney’s framework for evaluation includes: parameters of
students entering the program, development of reliable benchmark data, multiple
measures of effectiveness, one annual evaluation per year of a single facet of the
25
program’s effectiveness, and a plan for evaluating cost and communicating
effectiveness (224-229). Serra Hagedorn and Tierney caution that expensive college
preparation programs must always assess their effectiveness based on its specific
goals.
Class, Race and Gender in American Education, edited by Lois Weis,
examines how American schools and institutions of higher education perpetuate the
inequalities of society. In addition, this anthology captures the response of students
to college. In this volume, Amaurey Nora and Laura Rendón discuss Hispanic student
retention at community colleges. Their study addresses the perception that
community colleges may contribute to the failure of Hispanic students to graduate or
to transfer to four-year institutions, although they are the location for most
postsecondary Hispanic student matriculation.
Nora and Rendón looked at two retention studies and concluded that students
who earn an associates degree or transfer to a four-year institution must have a
commitment to the institution itself, or to the goal of transferring to a four-year
college. In addition, they need financial support in the context of realistic family
expectations about the costs of higher education, as well as early and competent
advising with faculty mentors (Class, Race, and Gender 126-43). Although the
conclusions of this study (conducted in the mid-1980s) were not entirely consistent
with the results of previous studies of student retention, student identification with the
institution and their own educational goals, together with financial support, remain
significant factors in the retention of students today.
Access and equity can be studied with student access or faculty access in
mind. Raymond Padilla and Miguel Montiel’s Debatable Diversity: Critical
Dialogues on Change in American Universities is a dialogue that confronts the unrest
on university and college campuses. They explore what happens when faculty of
color enter primarily white institutions and the challenge of diversity in a liberal
atmosphere that seeks to promote tolerance without changing the structures of
privilege. The book is written in dialogue in the style of and in homage to Freire, and
26
follows the history of Chicanos in university settings, including their personal
struggles, complaints, power struggles, and successes. The non-traditional approach
of the book to academic scholarship reflects the souls of scholars taking personal
responsibility for change. Montiel posits, “Why is it that we criticize institutions for
not changing when we do not know how to change ourselves? What is the connection
between personal change and institutional change?” (254). Debatable Diversity
presents the perspectives of Chicano faculty members teaching on a campus that
resists its own transformation.
Leonard A. Valverde and Louis A. Castenell, Jr. edited The Multicultural
Campus: Strategies for Transforming Higher Education. This anthology divides the
issue of access into three types: access for students, access for faculty of color, and
access for administrative positions. Valverde describes a shift that took place in the
mid-1980s, “from a press for access to a desire for meaningful participations within
campuses of higher education” (21). Tracing the roots of such access from the Civil
Rights Movement through the conservative 1990s, Valverde asserts:
Although the politics are getting worse and economics are making it
more difficult for people of color to access higher education
institutions, some forces are working in their favor. Specifically and
most importantly, the demographic trend of increasing numbers of
people of color will force higher education campuses to develop
proactive strategies to create multicultural campuses. (24)
Valverde maintains that the creation of truly multicultural campuses will require more
than increased access, it will require the transformation of the institutions themselves.
How Minority Students Experience College: Implications for Planning and
Policy by Lemuel W. Watson, Melvin C. Terrell, Doris J. Wright, and associates,
reports on a study of small, private, predominantly White institutions with high
retention rates for students of color. The researchers asked subjects three questions:
1. How do minority undergraduates experience learning outside the
classroom? How do they characterize such experiences?
27
2. How does racial identity influence minority students’ learning
experiences outside the classroom?
3. How does campus climate influence minorities’ out-of-classroom
learning? (101)
These questions led to other questions about the activities and initiatives provided
by the universities studied to address the unique social and cultural needs of
multicultural students. The researchers found that campus climates that consciously
supported difference and offered social and intellectual activities enhanced their
students’ college experience.
Theatre Praxis and Education
Many theater practitioners in community and educational settings have
understood Freire’s pedagogical theory through the work of Augusto Boal, who
conceived of using theater techniques to empower the audience/spectator/spect-actors
(audience members who take part in the action). Influenced by Freire’s Pedagogy of
the Oppressed, Boal published Theatre of the Oppressed in 1974.9 Theatre of the
Oppressed (TO) techniques first became popular in Latin America and Europe, and
then spread to North America in the late-1970s. Since that time, Boal has conducted
regular workshops on TO techniques at conferences, universities and in
communities.10 The techniques have been employed in locations such as community
centers, grass-roots theaters, therapeutic settings, and for political action groups.
Playing Boal: Theatre, Therapy, Activism, edited by Mady Schutzman and Jan
Cohen-Cruz, brought together reflections on Boal’s work from a number of scholars
and practitioners. The volume presents case studies of projects that employed TO
techniques, demonstrating with these examples the use of TO as a basis for
ideological exploration. In “Mainstream of Margin: US Activist Performance and
Theatre of the Oppressed,” Cohen-Cruz describes the development of the use of TO
in the United States (Playing Boal 110-23). Cohen-Cruz suggests that the
environment for political activism changed in the U.S. over several decades, from the
28
progressive mood of the sixties and seventies to the conservative mood of the eighties
and nineties. She maintains that this conservatism, together with a re-definition of
what constitutes theatre, opened the door for Theatre of the Oppressed in the U.S.
Canadian Lib Spry describes her search for a way to “fuse [her] political work
and theatre skills” in “Structures of Power: Toward a Theatre of Liberation” (Playing
Boal 171-84). Her search began in the early 1980s and took her to Paris, where she
worked with Boal. According to Spry, the value of TO is that:
It recognizes the knowledge and wisdom of those who experience
oppression, domination, abuse, and powerlessness; it connects the
body and mind; it understands that power relationships are
experienced inside as well as outside by each individual; it provides
tools to bypass the intellect and speech in order to reveal what is really
happening; and, at the same time, it encourages distance in order to
analyze what has been revealed. (Playing Boal 172)
Spry describes a number of projects in which she utilized TO exercises and
theory. While she saw the value of using TO techniques when working with
oppressed populations, Spry encountered difficulty when working with groups or
individuals who did not perceive their own oppression. She describes her discovery
that the term oppression itself was the stumbling block to such work. She began to
use phrases like, “power-over,” “power-with,” and “power-within” in place of
“oppression” when working with groups in Canada, with much greater success.
A case study by David Diamond, “Out of the Silence: Headlines, Theatre, and
Power Plays” (Playing Boal 35-52), has much in common with the work of the New
WORLD Theater. Diamond presents a description of week-long workshops in which
the Headline Theatre of Vancouver, Canada, worked with participants to create “short
theatre pieces on issues of concern to them” (Playing Boal 35). With the Headline
Theatre, Diamond conducts these workshops “across Canada with Native
communities, women’s groups, peace activists, unions, cultural workers, counselors,
prison inmates, refugees, and others” (35). He claims that the TO work helps
29
oppressed groups to find their voices. Using Boal’s “forum theatre” as a model,
Diamond created Power Plays to provide “the audience the chance to use the theatre
as a concrete tool for creating alternative role models” (36). Diamond suggests that
North Americans discover their own uses for Boal’s techniques.
Other theatre scholars and practitioners have sought to use the practice of
theatre for social change. Susan C. Haedicke and Tobin Nellhaus, editors of
Performing Democracy: International Perspectives of Urban Community-Based
Performance, brought together practitioners who use a wide-range of approaches to
create theatre. Some of the practitioners in this volume use Boal’s forum theatre
technique; others use “documentary drama, agitprop, cabaret, puppets, skateboarding,
presentational dance performance, and everything in between” (3). Haedicke and
Nellhaus state that “if anything unites community-based performance practitioners, it
is their political commitment and artistic engagement” (4). They define community
in a number of ways, for example, temporary, voluntary, based on social conditions,
and political.
Empowerment and the New WORLD Theater
The individual projects described in Performing Democracy: International
Perspectives of Urban Community-Based Performance mirror in some ways the
outreach projects of the New WORLD Theater, which were designed to build
community and to empower youth of color. The production history of the NWT
documents the presentations, performances, and new works commissioned and
developed at the New WORLD Theater at the University of Massachusetts. Although
the original aim of the Theatre was to provide cultural programming for students of
color, the NWT soon came to represent resistance to traditional gender, class, or
racial inequalities by students, teachers, and administrators at the university. The
enhancement of access and equity and the retention of at-risk students and students of
color, although not among the NWT’s explicit aims, have clearly resulted from NWT
productions and programs.
30
In its work both within and outside the institutional structures of the
University of Massachusetts, the NWT regularly struggled with prejudices associated
with the hierarchy of knowledge. The types of contradictions in higher education
described by Joan W. Scott and quoted earlier in this chapter, for example,
exacerbated the problems faced by the New WORLD Theater and led to frequent
crises throughout its twenty-four years. Such crises sometimes originated in the
friction between theory and praxis—between high- and low-status knowledge. The
NWT was the “other” within a predominantly White institution, presenting theatrical
works outside the traditional canon. Over the twenty-four years of its existence, the
NWT has used the arts, primarily theater, to raise the social consciousness of
individuals in the communities they have served. Especially in its early years,
students of color found a haven at the NWT, which struggled to provide a
constructive outlet for resistance through productions, workshops, and course
development. The political commitment and artistic engagement associated with
community-based theatre practitioners have been major factors in the development of
the NWT over its many years of existence.
This review of the research on issues of gender, diversity, and
multiculturalism in higher education reveals that little research has been conducted on
the relationship between programs of theatre in higher education and issues related to
gender, diversity, and multiculturalism.
1
Among the many others writing on cultural capital, a significant few are: Bourdieu 1977; Freire 1973
and 1985; Lamont and Lareau 1987; and McDonough 1994.
3
Many scholars writing in this area are represented in anthologies on the crisis in education, such as:
Smith, Altbach & Lomotey 2002; Bérubé & Nelson 1995; and Aronowitz & Giroux 1993.
4
Henry Giroux and Peter MacLaren suggest that cultural studies “combines theory and practice in
order to affirm and demonstrate pedagogical practices engaged in creating a new language, rupturing
disciplinary boundaries, decentering authority, and rewriting the institutional and discursive
borderlands in which politics becomes a condition for reasserting the relationship between agency,
power, and struggle” (Between Borders ix).
5
Scholars frequently pay homage to Freire in their writings. Some who have mentioned him are:
Apple 2002; Aronowitz & Giroux 1991; Aronowitz 2000, 2001; Banks 1996, 1997 and 2001; Giroux
1993; Giroux & McLaren’s 1994; Giroux & Shannon 1997; bell hooks 1994, 1995, 2000; and Rendón
& Hope 1996.
31
6
TRIO is a federal program established in the mid-1960s as part of President Lyndon Johnson’s War
on Poverty. TRIO was part of Title IV of the Higher Education Act of 1965. The program is referred
to as TRIO because it began with just three programs, though it has since expanded to numerous
programs designed to serve low-income Americans. Upward Bound is a TRIO program that provides
support for students as they prepare to enter college. Upward Bound provides pre-college workshops
for high school students and their families. Upward Bound programs must provide support for math,
laboratory sciences, composition, literature, and foreign language. Students who are at risk of failing
high school may be eligible for an Upward Bound program. The summer classes/workshops function
to provide them with additional preparation as well as substitute passing grades for classes they had not
passed during the regular academic year. During the school year, students may participate in afterschool tutoring. Other TRIO programs include the Ronald E McNair Post-Baccalaureate
Achievement, which encourages low-income and minority undergraduates to consider a career in
higher education and prepares them for PhD programs. GEAR UP (Gaining Early Awareness and
Readiness through Undergraduate Preparation) is another program that focuses on intervention at an
early stage in the student’s education. In addition, numerous intervention programs at the state level
were designed to counteract the effects of the ban on affirmative action. Other intervention programs
were developed to serve low-income and minority student needs by nongovernmental bodies, private
individuals and foundations.
7
Also writing on the subject of access and equity are scholars such as Alexander Jun 2001; Tierney &
Hegedorn 2002; Nora 2002; Patricia Gándara 2002; Swail 2002; and Perna 2002.
8
NAI provides assistance to students beginning in the seventh grade and continuing until admission to
college. Students and their families participate in the program. The students are primarily African
American and Latino, and most of the Latino population are first-generation.
9
In addition to Theatre of the Oppressed, Boal has written Latin American Techniques of Popular
Theatre and Two Hundred Exercises and Games for Actors and Non-Actors. These works were
published in the mid-1970s. Boal’s work spread throughout Latin America, Europe and then the United
States as he conducted TO workshops. Boal has continued to conduct workshops and publish on
popular theatre and pedagogy.
10
Boal presented a pre-conference workshop and was the keynote speaker at the Association for
Theatre in Higher Education’s (ATHE) annual conference in 1992 in Philadelphia, PA. ATHE annual
conferences have continued to present his work through Boal himself and through theatre practitioners
such as Doug Paterson and Mark Weinberg. Paterson and Weinberg have brought Boal to various
campuses for intensive workshops. Dr. Paterson hosts an annual conference with Boal at the University
of Nebraska.
32
CHAPTER THREE
The New WORLD Theater: Background and Production History
This chapter describes the conditions that led to the origin of the New
WORLD Theater (NWT) and outlines the twenty-four year history of the theatre,
from 1979 through 2002.1 Over these many years, the NWT’s mission has been to
produce plays, develop new works, offer a site for discourse by artists and scholars of
color, and to provide educational outreach to at-risk and students of color. The
environment in which the NWT originated, the communities affected by the NWT,
the demographics of the population served, and the Five College Consortium were
described in the Chapter One. The following history will review, in chronological
order, the productions and projects coordinated by the NWT over its many years of
operation. The NWT’s educational outreach projects will be explained in more detail
in the Chapter 4. This production history provides the context for the educational
outreach projects that form the center of this dissertation. Out of the racial unrest of
the 1960s and 1970s, the NWT formed and continued to bring artists of color to the
university campus and to the surrounding communities. Not satisfied with presenting
and producing works by artists of color, the NWT developed educational
opportunities for the university, the Five College Consortium, and for the neighboring
towns.
Origins of the New WORLD Theater
The Pioneer Valley is a beautiful location nestled along the Connecticut River,
the longest river in New England. The largest city in the region is Springfield,
Massachusetts. The productions, workshops, residencies and educational outreach
programs of the New WORLD Theater service the small towns in the area, including
33
Holyoke, South Hadley, Amherst, and Northampton. Three of these towns--Amherst,
Northampton, and South Hadley--are home to the Five College Consortium described
in the Chapter One. 2 The consortium allows students at each of the five
participating institutions to take classes at any of the other schools, providing access
to transportation and special visiting professors, and facilitating communication
between members of the five institutions. 3
Like many other universities and colleges during the turbulent 1960s and
1970s, the University of Massachusetts at Amherst (UMASS) suffered various
protests and occasions of racial violence. Out of this unrest was born the Third World
Theater, later to become the New WORLD Theater (NWT), which is affiliated with
UMASS and the Five College Consortium. In order to fully set the stage for the birth
of the NWT, it is useful to examine the environment in which it was created.
UMASS is located in Amherst, Massachusetts, close to the Hadley town line.
The UMASS Southwest Dormitories are four high-rise buildings at the southwest
corner of the campus close to the rural fields of Hadley. The buildings are gray
concrete surrounded by concrete and asphalt surfaces. The area is utilitarian, austere
and forbidding in appearance. The Southwest Dormitories are home to over 5,000
students. The needs of the diverse population are met through a number of caucuses,
centers, or committees, such as the Center for Racial Understanding, the Women’s
Center, the Men’s Center, the Malcolm X Center, and the Civil Liberties Committee
of Southwest. The Southwest Center for Racial Understanding, initiated in 1972,
became the Center for Racial Studies (CRC) in 1978. The university provides a
student-run governing body--the Southwest Administration--that includes several
committees that meet in Assemblies. At the center of the dormitories is the Hampden
Center, which houses a small theatre space designed for student use.
What brought about the founding of what is now called the New WORLD
Theater? The late 1970s at the University of Massachusetts at Amherst (UMASS)
were a troublesome time. Students of color at UMASS, including Asian, Latin
American, African American, and Native American students, did not reflect the
34
community at large, and periodically protested the hostile and racist atmosphere on
campus. The riots and protests of the 1960s had led to the establishment of an African
Studies Department at UMASS, but the continued lack of a support system for
students of color led to the renovation of New Africa House as a cultural center for
students of color in the 1970s. It was during this period of time that UMASS hired
programming assistants in the Student Activities Office to facilitate event
programming for students in general and particularly for students of color.
When interviewed about their recollections of the times leading up to the start
of the New World Theater (NWT), Roberta Uno, artistic director of the New
WORLD Theater (NWT), and other faculty and staff remembered that several racial
incidents occurred around that time though no one recalled exactly what happened.
Retired director of the Fine Arts Center Dr. Fred Tillis, when asked about the racial
incidents that led to the hiring of Robert Uno in spring of 1979, described the
University of Massachusetts campus as liberal and believed that because of its diverse
student population clashes were inevitable. In reflecting on the events at UMASS
during the 1970s and 1980s, Tillis stated that it happened on all campuses. Tillis, a
long-time Black faculty member and later director of the Fine Arts Center, began the
Jazz program at the university. He watched UMASS cope with many periods of
student unrest. 4 Tillis understood the Administration’s point of view and recognized
the actions of the university as ahead of their time (Tillis interview). According to
Tillis, what distinguished UMASS was its open recognition of racial problems and its
active attempts to seek solutions.
From the fall of 1978 through the spring of 1979, the UMASS student
newspaper, the Collegian, reported on a series of incidents that indicated a campus
climate of serious racial unrest. Incidents, like the suspicious death of a Black female
student (that appeared to be covered up in the press), the beating of a Black student,
and a cross burning outside a campus event for students of color, were reported in the
student newspaper as well as in the local press. Nummo News, written by the Black
students of UMASS, supplemented the Collegian, which was published daily. The
35
Collegian had a daily section devoted to “Black Affairs.” Their close coverage of the
activities on campus and in the Five College area fueled racial tensions.
In the late fall 1978 the racial climate of the UMASS Southwest Dormitories
was heated. The UMASS student newspaper, the Collegian, reported on an intense
Southwest Assembly, held on December 5, 1978, that led to daily commentary and
articles in the Collegian. The Assembly meeting resulted in a call for the resignation
of the vice president of the Assembly, or for his public apology to the Third World
community (Collegian, 13 Dec. 1978: 4). The clash began with a request by the
Center for Racial Understanding for $900 to offer a CRC-sponsored course. The
Collegian reported that after the meeting, “shouting, threats and accusations broke out
from separate areas of the room” (Collegian, 13 Dec. 1978: 4). The meeting and
subsequent activities resulting from that event were reported in the student paper for
months to follow. An editorial by a member of the Third World Women’s Task force,
in the 30 January 1979 Collegian, responded to the issue of racial oppression, calling
upon the Third World community to stand up:
Because we ignore our responsibilities and disregard the reality of our
precarious position at U MASS and within the Valley, the system feels
free to openly abuse and commit barbarous acts against us. A few
examples of the attacks against the Third World community are the
KKK burnings of the cross both at UMASS and Hampshire College
last year, the Craemon Gethers frame-up, many acts of physical and
verbal abuse against brothers and sisters (remember Jill Dickerson and
Sita Rampersad), distortion of racist incidents by both the commercial
and student newspapers. (Collegian 30 Jan. 1979: 2.) 5
The editorial described some of the racial incidents that had occurred dating back to
1975, including deaths and wrongful arrests. In that same issue of the student
newspaper a break-in and vandalization of the New Africa House was reported. The
February 5th Collegian published another call to rise up, and again past wrongs were
36
spelled out. Eliseo Garcia outlined the class issues that confronting the Third World
community:
It is about time that we began to view the problems that confront the
Third World in the Valley from a realistic perspective, where the
problem is not only racial prejudice, but class repression. As objective
conditions indicate, Third World individuals and progressive white
forces that struggle against oppression will meet the same fate. Where
today the Third World is the target, tomorrow will be anyone who
demands change. As the political climate in this country moves further
right, the same is occurring within the Valley, perhaps a bit more
exaggerated. As the KKK is nationally on the rise, crosses are burned
in the Valley. As BaKKKe gains entrance in to school, in the Valley
hundreds of minorities are turned away. As Patty Hearst buys her
freedom from a jail resort, Craeman Gethers innocently suffers
through a jail sentence. (Collegian. 5 Feb. 1979: 3) 6
The angry tone of the articles published in the student paper escalated, polarizing the
Third World community. Although the Nummo News was regularly included in the
Collegian, the masthead of Nummo News on 12 March 1979 stated, “The Collegian
does not consistently print anything relevant to the Third World community.
Therefore, Nummo News proudly announces that it in no way is controlled,
manipulated or associated with the Collegian” (Nummo News, 1). Nummo News
continued to publish calls to act, to resist, to “organize the unorganized” (20
Feb.1979). The Undergraduate Student Senate adopted measures to combat campus
racism at a meeting reported on in the 1 March 1979 Collegian:
Charging the senate with a ‘conspiracy against the Third World
students and caucus members’ in particular, Senator and Third World
Affairs Coordinator Stan Kinard told the students it had the
37
‘responsibility as student leaders to address the problems of racism on
this campus.’
Kinard’s proposal, which passed 66-0, asked the senate to condemn
racist and sexist action, organize meetings with administrators and
students to investigate and denounce acts of violence against Third
World students, and organize dormitory meetings to discuss racism in
the housing system. (1)
A letter to the editor, printed in the Collegian the next day, challenged the
reporting of the statements by Kinard:
The caucus did not charge the student senate with conspiracy against
Third World students, but rather charges were leveled against certain
members of Whitmore administrative staff, certain RSO group, and a
conservative faction in the senate.
The Third World caucus contends that this conspiracy is aimed at a
denial of our Human Rights by the systematic harassment of Third
World RSO organizations, by attempts to limit the effectiveness of the
Third World caucus and by the intentional lack of recognition, or
racial incidents which have recently occurred. (Zulu, 2 Mar. 1979: 4.)
Articles in the Collegian and Nummo News continued to speak of the strife
between the UMASS administration and the Third World students. On March 7,
1979, the Collegian published an article entitled “Student Senate Launches Campaign
to Eliminate Racism on Campus” (8). The article listed past offenses, such as student
assaults, student deaths (one with a delayed investigation and no report), the burning
of a KKK cross outside a Third World student’s social function, and a rock-throwing
incident at the Malcolm X Center on campus. This same article railed against the
Collegian for a perceived lack of fairness, citing as examples the lack of photographs
in the paper of the Black Student President, and the front-page photograph of a Black
38
student charged with an alleged robbery without any photograph of the white student
who was implicated in the robbery. In addition, the article reported on a possible suit
by the Department of Health, Education and Welfare against UMASS for not
enforcing Affirmative Action. The next day, the Collegian published a short
statement from the Chancellor of UMASS, who condemned the “increasing number
of racially motivated incidents” on campus (Collegian, 8 Mar. 1979: 7). The
statement was met with derision from a member of the Third World Women’s Task
Force in a 12 March 1979 story in Nummo News.
Clearly, racial unrest pervaded the entire Five College area during this time
(Nummo News, vol. 7, issue 11, 23 Apr. 1979: 1-2). In April 1979, a cross-burning
incident occurred on the campus of Amherst College. Nummo News reported the
event and described the issues raised in a community meeting on the power of Third
World faculty, divestment in South African corporations, and Black Freshman
Orientation. The same issue of the paper printed “Black Student Demands at
Amherst College,” an article asking for student input, more Third World faculty, and
divestment in South Africa. At Converse Hall at Amherst College, a sit-in escalated
to the point that students took over the building. Hampshire College students
boycotted classes on 24 March 1979 to protest racism at academic institutions in the
Five College area.
The Collegian reported that the Amherst College Converse Hall blockade
ended on March 24th when the President of Amherst agreed to eight student
conditions (25 Apr. 1979: 5). That same day the Collegian published an article
entitled, “Purpose Statement of the Campaign to Combat Racism” by the Office of
Third World Affairs and the Center for Racial Studies. They called for renaming the
library and the Fine Arts Center for W. E. B. DuBois and Duke Ellington; expanding
Affirmative Action; developing a course to “expose students to the causes,
background and exploration of solutions to racism, sexism, business ethics, and the
handicapped;” and acknowledging the past repression of Third World students (25
Mar. 1979). On 27 April 1979 the outline of the proposed course was presented to
39
the administration. The awareness course requirement would “require all
undergraduate students to take two courses” on the issues mentioned above. This
proposal was passed by the Student Senate and was scheduled to move to the Faculty
Senate’s Academic Matters Committee, which agreed to hear this matter in the fall.
An atmosphere of racial tension prevailed on the campus, accompanied by a report of
an incident at a Third World student party at Crampton dormitory at Southwest and a
series of small fires throughout New Africa House. UMASS Chancellor Randolph W.
Bromery claimed, “this is the worst year in terms of women’s rights incidents and
racial incidents he has seen in the past 12 years” (Collegian, 8 May 1979: 1).
Into this climate of racial unrest came Roberta Uno, a twenty-four-year-old
Japanese-American woman originally from California and a recent graduate of
Hampshire College. The Student Activities Office hired Uno in the spring of 1978. At
the time she was hired, she was married to Michael Thelwell, a faculty member of the
Afro-American Studies Department at UMASS. According to Uno and Tillis, the
objective of the university in hiring her was to provide programming for students of
color.
New WORLD Theater: The First Ten Years
In the Beginning: Third World Theater 1979-80
Faculty and staff members who remember the early days of the NWT recalled
that it was formed to provide programming for minority students. After interviewing
a number of people, it is clear that no one remembers the actual event that triggered
the hiring of Roberta Uno, who was born in 1956, grew up in Southern California,
and moved to Amherst to complete her undergraduate education at Hampshire
College. Even as an undergraduate she was aware of the difficulties of being an
Asian-American in a predominantly White community.
40
Roberta Uno’s experience as a minority student in the Pioneer Valley in the
mid- to late-1970s placed her in a unique position to understand the desire of minority
students for entertainment and programming that reflected their various cultures and
experiences. The UMASS Student Activities Office recognized this need and hired
Uno in the spring of 1978 as a Program Specialist. Working with student
programmers Miriam Carter, Berry Claxton, Derek Davis, Karen Lederer, and Pavel
Shepp, Uno began to create cultural activities geared for students of color on campus.
Soon after Uno entered her position, she was involved in the development of
programming for Martin Luther King Day and Black History Month, which included
bringing groups and artists of color to the UMASS campus. Uno also understood the
frustrations that actors and playwrights of color felt due to the Eurocentric focus of
the theatrical productions in the area. She saw the power of theatre as a political and
cultural force, and made use of her position and the resources of the Student
Activities Office to realize her ideas. In her first year with the Student Activities
Office, Uno wrote and directed a play called In the Rock Garden under the auspices
of the Third World Theater. She noted in a local newsletter,
Everybody’s oppressed and we’re all equally oppressors. I
really feel heavily that Asian-American people have oppressed me and
I’ve oppressed myself as an Asian Woman. It’s our own selfperpetuation of the oppression—that’s what I want people to realize.
You can’t keep saying that it’s the white man out there because we
don’t have to even deal with that person on that sick dynamic.
(Lombardo “A Plot of Land in Foreign Soil”)
In an article about Uno’s play, Daniel Lombardo wrote, “It is this emphasis on all of
us–even third world people bearing the responsibility for oppression—that gives Rock
Garden its brilliant peaks.” The play was first produced at Hampshire College in
spring of 1978 and then re-produced at Smith College as part of its playwright’s
workshop series with funding from the Ada Howe Kent program. Lombardo
describes In the Rock Garden in an article promoting the play, “What In the Rock
41
Garden lacks in subtlety and dramatic power is more than compensated by the
ground-breaking freshness of its viewpoint.”
Karen Lederer, a work-study student in the Student Activities Office in the
first year of what was to become the NWT, commented that Uno always had a goal
(Lederer interview).7 Lederer remembered, “Roberta got hired. And she obviously
had these particular area of expertise and also vision.” Lederer recalled the morning
when Uno came into the Activities Office and told them about her dream to have a
theatrical company dedicated to works by artists of color. This dream was the genesis
of the NWT. A workshop entitled “Working Theater” was the initial project in
summer 1979.
Working Theatre presented the work of five local artists of color: Freida
Jones’s choreopoem Lucky Strikes Legacy, a three women tribute to the pioneers of
jazz; Andrea Hairston’s Handbook for Survivors, a reading with music; Mascheri
Chapple’s prisms, a one-act play about life in a Florida penitentiary; Bird of My Luck
by Bheki Langa, a one person play about South Africa; and Countdown, a play by
Melinda Goodman on women’s experiences. According to an article in The Contact
in September of 1979, “Uno wanted to test the atmosphere to see if Third World
Theater could breathe in the Pioneer Valley” (Hospedales). 8
All of the summer workshop presentations took place in the Hampden Center
for the Performing Arts in the Southwest Residential Area, which consisted of four
high-rise dormitories encircling the cafeteria and Hampden Center. The Hampden
Center is a small space that was converted for use as a performing arts center to
relieve the pressure of the dense living situation. The university’s purpose in using the
Hampden Center was to dedicate a space to student programming with the hope that it
would provide a cultural outlet for students of color. Fifty percent of the
programming was student generated. The Fine Arts Center provided the other fifty
percent. The University Administration hoped that the arts and cultural programming
would pacify the unrest in the dorms. In addition to the Working Theater, Uno
produced another summer series—The Bright Moments Theater Music Series. This
42
series promoted four young Black classical musicians. Uno clearly saw the potential
and importance of her work. She described these four young performers as the
“Masters of Jazz in the future.” From the beginning Uno felt it was her responsibility
to create programs as models: “In that way, Uno’s work is similar to the
accomplishments of early civil rights organizers—but translated into the arts. She is
creating ways in which struggling Third World artists can unite productively. Uno
also hopes her work will create jobs for the future” (CK, Contact September 1979).
Miriam Carter, a production staff member of the Third World Theater,
described how the Third World Theatre grew out of a great need in the minority
community in a Black Affairs article in the Collegian:
[…] non-white artists have in the past repeatedly experienced the
hopelessness of auditions which have only white parts, or roles which
are servile or alienating. Additionally, Theatre Arts Programs in the
Valley have repeatedly failed to utilize the skills of talented Black,
Hispanic and Asian artists. In fact, the programs have failed to fully
realize their own potential as an instrument for increasing student
awareness. (Hospedales)
Carter further states the goals of the fledgling company, “The group has three main
objectives—to act as a support group for young Third World artists in the area; to
expose the university community to professional Third World artists and to try to
reach a larger cross section of the community by offering plays at an affordable
price.” Puerto Rican/Jamaican-American Miriam Carter Langa, one of the original
Student Activities staff members, described the climate at UMASS, “Our cultures
were not represented and the people, outlook, focus was thoroughly white European
[. . .] we were looking for a progressive, political message we felt needed to be
communicated to the Valley audiences. We all understood the need; Roberta was the
one who articulated it” (Gillingham 14).
In the Fall of 1979, the UMASS student newspaper the Collegian promoted
two new fine arts series, A Duke Ellington Music Series and a Third World Theater
43
Series (Davis 1-2). The theatre series brought three groups and a student play to the
UMASS campus: Homeland by Selaelo Maredi and Steve Friedman and performed
by the Modern Times Theater; prisms by Mascheri Chapple, a student at Smith
College; And the Soul Shall Dance, by Japanese-American playwright Wakako
Yamuchi, performed by the New York City’s Pan-Asian Repertory; and Edward
Gallardo’s Simpson Street, a contemporary Puerto Rican-American drama performed
by the Puerto Rican Traveling Theater of New York. The Third World Theater Series
brochure spelled out the goal of the company:
Theater has always been an integral part of the lives and culture of
Black, Hispanic, and Asian peoples. Our theater has taken the form of
dance, music, oral, and written tradition. We have used masks, rituals
and poetry to convey our dreams and realities. The theater of Third
World peoples has preserved our cultures’ integrity, told our history
and insured our survival in a hostile world. Our theater has not been
restricted to what takes place in the space of three acts before a
curtained stage. It has evolved from the spontaneity and needs of our
everyday lives; the stage is an extension of our collective experience.
The Third World Theater Series was conceptualized as a
coming together of audiences and artists in a mutual sharing of
information and perspectives. As a celebration of the human spirit, the
series aspires to enlighten the university community to the struggles of
people of color.
The series has many goals. Some primary ones are; first –to
advance the state of the arts by supporting and encouraging the work
of young Third World theater artists in this area. The series will
feature original productions to further this goal. Second – to bring in
professional Third World companies to set a standard of excellence
and create a dialogue between the professional and university
44
communities. Third—to make culture available to everyone by
offering plays at an affordable price.
We are proud to present the works of three companies from
New York and to introduce an original play in our first season. A
second series is in the works for the spring. We hope you will share
your comments and criticisms and give your understanding and
support. This is an exciting—terrifying—necessary and long overdue
project. (Third World Theater Series brochure, fall 1979)
The jazz and the theatre series began with a screening of Woody King’s
documentary film, The History of the Black Theater Movement from Raisin in the Sun
to Colored Girls, shown at the UMASS Campus Center. Academic courses were tied
to the productions: a one-credit UMASS Southwest Dormitories course to develop the
audience and a three-credit course offered through the Afro-American Studies
department. The three-credit course included workshops with the playwrights and
visiting professionals. This combination of original works, visiting professionals, and
a relationship to academics began to set the direction of the future New WORLD
Theater. In a press article in the Valley Advocate, Charles C. Smith quotes Uno,
There’s a definite community of non-white artists living in this area…
It’s not like a community that has a geographical location, but there
are definitely people of color who are into the arts in various aspects—
dancers, musicians, theater people, poets . . . Although the cultures and
the themes may be very, very different, in terms of how Black, Latino
and Asian people have been treated in the arts, or in general, the
experience is very similar. So, it’s important for us to come together
and work together, and work with progressive white people, to deal
with things which are common to all of us. (“After the Summer”)
Uno’s thoughts were echoed in a letter sent by Mascheri Chapple dated 14
December 1979 following the summer workshop series and the Third World Theater
Series. Chapple’s play prisms was produced in both settings. She wrote to Uno,
45
Not only do both series offer those individuals directly involved a
good theatrical experience, but both series also offer the Five College
Community a cultural experience, a cultural diversity. I think that the
series are a positive force in the development of our Five College
Community to educate us about the various cultural theaters…I must
admit that I am from the South Bronx, New York, where I grew up in
a Puerto Rican neighborhood, and I have never seen a Hispanic play
until I saw Simpson Street. (Chapple)
For this Smith College student playwright, the opportunity afforded her by the
summer workshop and subsequent production by the Third World Theater Series was
invaluable.
Uno was committed to the concept that theatre could be used for political
purposes. By December 1979, Uno already commented in an article in the
Hampshire Gazette that, “What happens here is something very special [. . .]
Organizing among third world students was, more often than not [. . .] a reactionary
thing, a response to crisis, budget cuts, or racist incidents. So we decided to do
something positive, and we all love music and dance” (Wilson, 2 December 1979).
Uno considered herself an organizer. The article reported, “She grew up in a Mexican
neighborhood of Los Angeles. Her father was the founding editor of the first
Japanese-American newspaper in that city. At an early age, she joined in the
organizing efforts of the United Farmworkers in California.” (Wilson, 2 December
1979). Uno continued to espouse the original mission of the Third World Theater
throughout the group’s beginning years. In a 1982 Collegian article promoting the
fourth year she expressed the long-term goal of the series, “Ultimately, it would be
nice if there didn’t have to be a separate Third World Theater Series” (Walsh, 8
November 1982). Uno’s wistful statement was an underlying theme in her work with
the Third World Theater, later to be known as the New WORLD Theater.
In the early days of the Third World Theater, Uno focused on bringing groups
or artists of color to campus—interspersed with some locally produced works. In
46
various archival documents, such as press releases and grant proposals, Uno
mentioned the goal of bringing in three outside groups and one local production in
each season. Former Student Activities Office worker Karen Lederer continues to
live in Amherst and occasionally attend NWT productions. When asked about the
impact of the NWT, she commented upon the diversity of the programming:
I think it’s a really important—I think that it forwarded the connection
of the arts and politics together—it highlighted the importance of
cultural expression as well as awareness—I think its magnified the
kinds of offerings that particular groups can have—So, it’s not just
China Night, or you know, Haitian Dance Parties, you know you can
see other kinds of things. I think that it’s really established the
importance of inter-ethnic interest and dialogue.
Lederer also commented upon the audiences in the early years:
If we had a play that was about Chinese immigrants, there were
primarily Chinese folks who were in the audience. And then if you had
an African-American play there were primarily African-American,
and, as I would say to Roberta, there was always a sprinkling of guilty
White. [. . .] even in just the three seasons I was there, you began to
see that, because is was a series, [. . .] a Chinese student, or a ChineseAmerican who’d gone to the Chinese play thought, “Hey, this other
play seems interesting. Maybe I should check that out.”
Lederer recalled the importance of developing an audience that would see the value
in the variety of productions offered by the Third World Theater Series. She
understood, even in those early days, the remarkable ability that Uno had to see what
was new and bring it back to Amherst and the students at UMASS. Lederer still
works in the Women’s Studies program at UMASS, and sees the importance of
programs such as the NWT:
And because the staff was multicultural . . . it sort of wove together
that community. So I think that was really important—it legitimized
47
[the Third World Theater Series]. I think these kinds of programs
need an institutional home and a point person. You can’t just say well
it’s nice that it happened. […] Roberta went and got the really hot
innovative city theatre companies…to come here—which gave the
students a real opportunity. It probably was good for the companies
both financially and also for them to show their work to different
audiences. So I think there were a lot of good collaborations. And
then there were all the sort of other things then the shows. There were
those classes and workshops, series…and the ensemble came out of
that and the youth project…all these things that came way after me.
Lederer comments testify to the enduring impact of the NWT on the whole
community of UMASS and the city of Amherst.
In the spring of 1980 the Third World Theater began their second season
funded by the Student Activities Office. At that time they defined the seasons by
academic semester. The season included: I Just Wanted Someone to Know by Bette
Craig, performed by the Labor Theatre of New York City; East West in Review by
East West Players of Los Angeles; Lucky Strikes Legacy, an original production by
Freida Jones; and The Eight Million by Steve Friedman, performed by Modern Times
Theater in New York City. In addition to the Third World Theater series, the
programming of the Student Activities Office included a film series. 9 The Ellington
Music Memorial Solo and Duo Series, the Annual Black Musicians Conference, and
speakers, including Angela Davis and Theresa Rodriguez, were also presented in the
spring of 1980 (April Student to Student Calendar, 1980). Once again we see that, at
its inception, the Third World Theater Series was a small part of the overall
programming presented for the students of color at UMASS.
The Labor Theatre of New York City performed the first production of the
1980 spring season, I Just Wanted Someone to Know. The play was derived from oral
histories of working women. A statement given out at this production illustrated the
dynamic, collective, and politicized nature of the Third World Theater Series:
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We the staff of the Third World Theater Series wish to make the
following clarifications about tonight’s production of I Just Wanted
Someone to Know.
The play you will see tonight is not the production originally
invited to perform as part of the Third World Theater Series. The
original cast of five women consisted of Black, Asian, Hispanic and
White women. Without our knowledge or consent The Labor Theatre
made the cast changes which will be reflected in the performance
tonight. The de-emphasization of Third World women in the play and
the subsequent modifications of the script is a disappointment to us.
These changes overlook one of our primary goals which is to provide
opportunities for Third World actors, authors, technicians, and
companies.
We have discussed this problem as a staff and have decided not
to cancel the production. An understanding of oppression must involve
not only and understanding of racism, but must consider sex and class
as issues as well. We feel these issues are important, and while we are
a Third World Theater Series we recognize no single theater piece is
likely to address all those issues in a complete and thorough way. I
Just Wanted Someone to Know perhaps deals with issues of class and
sex more than race. This indeed deserves criticism, yet we hope that
rather than expend our energies on anger we can use this production as
a jumping off point for discussion.
In planning this season we made a potentially controversial
decision to feature two multi-racial plays involving Third World and
White actors. As a multi-racial staff ourselves we felt it important to
bring plays which would address positively the deep schisms between
Black, Hispanic, Asian and White students at University of Mass. We
49
also decided that simply showcasing Third World people on stage is
not enough. Political content of the plays is also important.
We hope you enjoy the first play of the Spring Season and join us in
honoring working women.
We encourage any interested persons to remain after the
performance for a discussion with the staff and theater group.
This statement, which was handed out at the performance or inserted into the
program, exemplified the political zeal of Uno and the NWT staff, and their
commitment to involve the audience in discussion. From the beginning open
discussion or master classes were part of the programming.
Third World Theater 1980-1981
The fall of 1980 brought a new season to the Third World Theater Series and
the Duke Ellington Music Series. Richard Mei, Jr., writing in the Black Affairs
section of the Collegian, focused on Roberta Uno, noting that she “has done more
than just bring dynamic and enlightening entertainment to the Pioneer Valley. She has
promoted and helped students further their artistic talents while exposing her
audiences to entertainment not typically found on a college campus” (Mei, “Third
World Arts Brought to UMass by Roberta Uno”). The 1980 fall season included:
Athol Fugard’s Sizwe Banzi is Dead; The Healing of Sugar, written by Valley
playwright Carlos Anderson; Gimme 5, produced by Teatro Cuatro, a Puerto Rican
collective company; and Black Girl by J. E. Franklin. In addition to the plays, the
Third World Theater Series arranged for lectures by Hanay Geiogamah on
contemporary Native American drama, Teatro Cuatro on collective theatre, Theodore
Yoshikima on Asian movement, and dance-theatre and Aisha Rahman on Black
women playwrights.
Defining their seasons by academic semester, the Third World Theater Series fourth
season, in spring 1981, included: The Mighty Gents by Richard Wesley, an original
production; Sister, Sister, a one-woman show by Vinnie Burrows; Vusu Musi by
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Bheki Langa, performed by the New African Company; Ol’ Sis Goose by New
African Company; and Flowers and Household Gods by Momoko Iko, performed by
the Pan Asian Repertory. The season included a play for the whole family called Ol’
Sis Goose, which was developed from the Fox and Goose stories of AfricanAmerican folklore by the New African Company. Langa, a South African committed
to its liberation, wrote Vusu Musi.
Third World Theater 1981-1982
In the fall of 1981, according to the Third World Theater archives, a break in
the production of Third World Theater plays occurred at UMASS. Conversations
with Uno indicate that funding sources dried up for a time. Then in the spring of
1982, the Collegian announced the fifth season of the Third World Theater Series.
The fifth season included: An Evening with Ossie Davis and Ruby Dee, a salute to
Black History Month with two legends of American theatre; Forty-Nine by Hanay
Geiogamah, an American Indian spiritual musical performed by Native Americans in
the Arts; Dance Bongo by Errol Hill, an original production inspired by the religious
bongo rituals of Trinidad and Tobago; and Paper Angels by Jenny Lim, a ChineseAmerican drama taken from over one-hundred poems recorded at an immigrant
detention center on Angel Island outside San Francisco. Keeping true to the original
vision and goals of the series, the plays reflected the diverse population of the student
body.
The NWT archives include a single type-written document noting the funding
sources for the fall 1982 season: the Dean of Students Office, the Office of Third
World Affairs, the Afrik-Am Society, the Asian-American Students Association, the
UMASS Arts Council, the Distinguished Visitor’s Program, and the Black MASS
Communication Project (The1982 Fall Season made possible by. NWT Archives).
Uno started early to take advantage of the system to gather resources for her vision.
At this stage in the evolution of the New WORLD Theater, she worked within the
51
university. Later she tirelessly and successfully would raise funds from multiple
sources.
That same typewritten document that listed the 1982 funding sources
contained a statement suggesting that public perceptions of the Third World Theater
had begun to change:
The Third World Theater Series was founded in 1979 in order to
present the theatrical works of non-European peoples as a major
contribution to contemporary theater arts. The concept of Third World
Theater does not seek to obscure the individual cultural traditions and
achievements of Africans, Asians, Hispanics, and Native-Americans,
nor consider them as one entity. Although the histories and cultures are
different, there exist many shared themes and experiences. The series
seeks to highlight the theatrical works of Third World people,
providing a forum for the expression of their struggles, aspirations, and
dreams. It is our goal to broaden the experience of the University
community by presenting a series of plays which reflects both the
beauty and diversity of people of color. (“1982 Fall Season made
possible by…” document in archives)
The statement responded to concerns within the Third World community that by
combining the works representative of many ethnic and racial groups under one title,
“Third World,” each group lost their identity. The statement was meant as a
justification of the need to continue this project.
Third World Theater 1982-1983
The fall 1982 season included: Home by African-American Samm-Art
Williams, performed by Daedeles Incorporated; Life in the Fast Lane, A Requiem for
a Sansei Poet, a one man tour-de-force by Japanese-Hawaiian poet Lane Nishikawa,
performed by Sansei Theater Company; an original production of Homeland by Steve
Friedman and Selaelo Maredi; and Home, a Broadway play brought to UMASS for
52
one-night by the Third World Theater Series, which also played at StageWest, a
professional repertory company in Springfield, Massachusetts (Madnick, 1982).
Along with this sixth season of plays, the university offered a Third World
Theater Colloquium, a class that included three plays, opening night discussion, and
three discussion periods (“Culture of Credits” flyer). The flyer did not state how
many credit hours were to be awarded to students attending this colloquium, but it
heralded the beginning of regular course offerings that included in their curricula the
productions of the Third World Theater Series.
The spring 1983 season included: For Better Not For Worse, an original play
by Selaelo Maredi; two one-act plays written in the 1960s, Los Vendidos by Luis
Valdez and Day of Absence by Douglas Turner Ward; Yellow Fever by R. A.
Shiomio, performed by the Pan Asian Repertory (“Third World Theater Series
Announces Spring ’83 Schedule”). The season also included a full line up of lectures
and workshops. Maredi presented a lecture discussion entitled “Black South African
Theater: At Home and in Exile” at Hampshire College. George Bass, associate
professor of theatre and Afro-American Studies at Brown University presented a
lecture at UMASS entitled “Art, Reality, and the Sacred Rite of Being in the AfroAmerican Adventure.” Ernest Abuda of the Pan Asian Repertory presented a
workshop at Smith College entitled “Introduction to Asian-American Theatre: Acting
Workshop.” Smith College costume designer Kiki Smith presented a filmstrip and
workshop, “Make-up for Non-White Actors.” Patricia Gonzalez, professor of Spanish
at Smith College, presented a lecture and slide presentation, “Latin American Teatro
Nuevo (Latin American New Theatre).” Playwright and director of the NativeAmerican Theatre Ensemble Hanay Geiogamah led the discussion and workshop
“American Indian Theater” (“Third World Theater Series Announces Spring ’83
Schedule”). By this time, the Third World Series involved students, faculty, and guest
artists at all Five College Consortium campuses.
Los Vendidos and Day of Absence were performed by students and directed by
two students, Lauren Price of Hampshire College and Rachelle Calhoun from Mount
53
Holyoke College (Day of Absence and Los Vendidos Press Release). Students of color
from the Five College area were becoming involved in the early days of the Third
World Theater Series as an ensemble of actors and directors. In 1984, this early
group of students eventually formed the ensemble of the New WORLD Theater,
which then became a program of the UMASS Fine Arts Center.
Yet an April 1983 Collegian article spoke to the fragility of the Third World
Theater Series. In the article (“Third World Theater: Bridging the Culture Gap”), Uno
spoke about the lack of roles for actors of color in mainstream theatre:
It’s difficult for third world students to find parts […] so you have a
Catch-22. Third World people aren’t going to be attracted into a
department where they’ll have a little part where they walk in as a
butler or maid, or something servile. [. . .] Ideally it would be nice if
[the Third World Series] didn’t exist at all [. . .] if all theater
departments covered the material, offered these opportunities to
students, we wouldn’t be needed. I don’t see where that will be
possible either philosophically or financially.
The article focused on two productions of the spring 1983 season, For Better Not for
Worse and Day of Absence, productions that reportedly mixed “politics and
aesthetics” and still attracted an appreciative audience of a variety of races and
cultures. The article also hinted at some difficulty in the relationship between the
Third World Theater Series and the Department of Theater at UMASS. A number of
people interviewed for this study (Tillis, Erdman, Kaplan, Uno, Conway, Mendez,
Page, and Werner) made reference to some tension in this relationship as well.
Third World Theater 1983-1984
The eighth season of NWT plays was presented in the fall of 1983 and
included Stepping Into Tomorrow by the Nucleus Theatre; Do Lord Remember Me, a
musical integrating traditional Negro spirituals and authentic oral histories; A.B.C.:
American Born Chinese, a one man performance by “Charlie” Chin exploring the
54
history, joys and sorrows of being Chinese in the United States (Fall Season—Third
World Theater Series press release).
The description of the New York-based Nucleus Theatre said that the
company “brings together the talents of two of the foremost proponents of freedom
and justice in this country, Malcolm X and Martin Luther King, Jr. They are Attallah
Shabazz and Yolanda King, who serve as Artistic Directors of the company”
(Stepping into Tomorrow program). Shabazz and King, the respective daughters of
Malcolm X and Dr. King, performed in the production and led a workshop at the
Mwangi Cultural Center at Smith College entitled “Changing the Face of Theatre:
The Next Step” (“Stepping Into Tomorrow” press release). The workshop provided
them the opportunity to speak of their fathers and their difficulties in moving beyond
the legacies of the two men. This play, a collaborative effort meant to be performed
only once, evolved into a touring production and was performed many times (Ling,
Nummo News). Newspapers covered the visit of Shabazz and King to the Valley. The
Springfield article focused on the impact of the fathers on the daughters and quoted
King’s comments to the audience following the performance: “Our two fathers
dedicated their lives so each and every one of you could reach for the sky. You can’t
stand up to a thing unless you stand up for yourself first” (Gordon, 18 October 1983).
This quote could have been a mantra for the Third World Theater, in its ongoing
efforts to stand up for students of color.
The fall 1983 season was off to a good start. The next play, Do Lord
Remember Me, was directed by Uno and focused on the memories of former slaves in
Virginia. Alison Maloon, staff writer for the Collegian, ended her review with, “And
although Do Lord Remember Me in itself was not a depressing show, I left the theatre
not only with a deeper knowledge of slavery but with a much deeper sense of guilt”
(Maloon, 8 November 1983). The Daily Hampshire Gazette, the Collegian/Nummo
News, and the Campus Connection favorably reviewed Do Lord Remember Me (Troy,
1 November 1983; Woods, 7-13 November 1983; Collegian/Nummo News 1
November 1983). John De Jongh originally wrote the play for a workshop at Smith
55
College, and it was later produced at the American Place Theatre in New York.
Another young writer for Nummo News, Brenda Ling, put the spotlight on Uno in a
pre-production article, noting that Uno originally saw the New York production and
decided to bring it back to the series. Uno mentioned in the article that the NWT
wanted to do a project with UMASS music professor Horace Boyer, and Do Lord
Remember Me was a good vehicle for such a collaboration (Ling, 24 October 83).
Only one of the actors in the production was a student: Felicia Thomas of Mount
Holyoke. The other cast members were from the community, and none had studied
theatre. This article once more gave an inkling of the distance between the Third
World Theater Series and the UMASS Department of Theater (Ling, 24 October 83).
The last play of this fall season was A.B.C.: American Born Chinese. A preproduction article in the Collegian/Nummo News describes the satirical production
that is a “celebration of life and survival against many odds” (Collegian/Nummo
News, 28 November 1983). In addition to the performance, a free workshop entitled
“Twelve Years of Asian-American Performance,” was offered. A.B.C. received an
excellent review from the Collegian/Nummo News. The review quoted several
American-born Chinese students as they left the performance: “UMASS student
Karen Su said, ‘It’s good to have things like that around this area because there are so
few events that deal directly with Asian-Americans.’” Committee for the Collegiate
Education of Black and other Minority Students staff member Carol Young liked the
play ”because it was important to see an Asian on stage (who) accurately portrayed
what it’s like to be an A.B.C.” (“The ABC’s,” 5 December 1983).
Spring of 1984 brought the ninth season of the Third World Theater Series,
including the following productions: Proud by C. Bernard Jackson, performed by
Inner City Cultural Center of Los Angeles; A Sunday Visit with Great-Grandfather,
The Arrow that Kills With Love and Paint Your Face on a Drowning in the River, all
by Craig Kee Strete and performed by Native Americans in the Arts; and Gullah, a
musical play by Alice Childress (Spring Season—Third World Theater press release,
1984). The production of Proud was the first east coast performance by the Inner City
56
Company. The playwright, C. Bernard Jackson, won an OBIE for his play Fly
Blackbird. Two actors in the company, Glynn Turman and Phyllis Bailey, also held
an acting workshop at Smith College. The Collegian gave the production a good
review, praising the play, the performers, and the music (Jackson, 13 February 84).
The Springfield paper published an article about Glynn Turman and his career
(Gordon, 11 February 1984).
Craig Kee Strete, a “Cherokee Indian playwright, had written five foreign
films and been nominated for the Hugo and Nebula awards for his talent in science
fiction writing” (A Sunday Visit press release). Two of Strete’s plays, A Sunday Visit
with Great-Grandfather and The Arrow that Kills With Love, were meant for young
audiences. According to the press release that accompanied the presentation of these
plays:
The American-Indian Community House/Native Americans in the Arts
is an in-residence theater company, one of only two Indian theater
groups located throughout the U.S. This professional not-for-profit
arts presenting organization responds to the social, economic, cultural
and educational values of 14,000 American Indians living in the
Greater Metropolitan New York Area. (A Sunday Visit press release)
Well-known figure in American theatre Alice Childress directed the
production of Gullah, a musical play exploring “the lives of African-American
descendants of West African slaves, who reside in the sea islands off the coast of
South Carolina and Georgia” (Bryant, March 1984). Childress had received an artistin-residence grant for the 1983-84 academic year from the Five-College Third World
Theater subcommittee, allowing her to direct her own play in the Third World season.
The play was an original production collaboration between the Third World Theater
and the New World Ensemble.10 In personal conversations with the author, Uno
spoke of the “ensemble” of the New World Theater. The “New World Ensemble”
mentioned in the article above and performing in Gullah was established in 1983.
Claire Hopley, writing in the Amherst Bulletin, described the collaboration:
57
Both because these two performing groups are used to working as
teams and because the author also directs the play, the production is
exceptionally well focused. There are no performances which pull in
the direction of another vision and the actors work exceptionally well
as an ensemble. The play is fast-paced and while it is serious, it is also
funny, witty, endearing and moving. (Hopley, 11 April 1984)
Childress directed the production that prompted cheers and discussion.
Childress’ residency was sponsored by the Five-College consortium, and
appeared to be a spark in a tinderbox. Students and faculty debated the value of the
arts outside the traditional Western theatrical canon. The Five-College consortium’s
Third World subcommittee had people talking and challenging the status quo. The
New WORLD Theater archives contain several articles about the usefulness of or
need for a Third World Theater (“Third World Theater Straddles a Theatrical Fence,”
Marini, 5 September 1984). One Xeroxed copy of an article without any date or
evidence of its origin debates the Third World Theater’s goals compared to the
theatre departments in the consortium (“Third World Theater Straddles a Theatrical
Fence”). The article suggests that the value of the student-run organization, Third
World Theater Series, was being weighed against the theatre departments. Former
students who had performed with the Series were interviewed about the importance of
having had opportunities for roles that reflected their cultures. Uno commented that
producers and directors like herself “must chose new symbols to change the
stereotypes of Blacks, Asians, Hispanics and Native-Americans that still dominate
American movies, TV and stage” (“Third World Theater Straddles a Theatrical
Fence”). Alice Childress was said to support the notion of a separatist theatre and was
quoted as saying, “Many black people have never seen black plays or any plays at
all.” She saw the need to educate the black community through production of plays
written by and for that population. Len Berkman of Smith College’s Department of
Theatre, a long-time supporter of the Third World Theater Series, spoke for the
58
instructional function of the group. He called it a “stepping stone. . .a communal
celebration.”
According to the same article, Uno challenged traditional theatre departments:
“Why have you closed your doors? Our doors are open.” Julian Olf, chair of the
UMASS theater department was quoted as saying that third world theater “has an
identity that must be protected and not be assimilated.” Other faculty also registered
their opinions about the need for a separate theater for students of color. Walter
Boughton, professor of theater at Amherst College, offered the most reactionary
response to the concept of the Third World Theater Series and the need for
performance opportunities for students of color. The article stated that Professor
Boughton “wonders whether some minority students ‘would rather martyr
themselves’ than try out for major roles in traditional theater. He points to the roles
in productions this year at the college that could have been filled by third world
students but there were none who tried to get them. ‘If someone with real talent is
there, he gets the role’” (“Third World Theater Straddles a Theatrical Fence”). What
was spoken by faculty and members of the Third World Theater and what was heard
resonated for many years. The article referred to above, published just before the
opening of Gullah, illustrates the delicate nature of the relationship between the Third
World Theater Series and the Five-College theatre departments that saw the Series as
a topic of debate. It was around this time that the Third World Theater moved from
being a registered student organization at UMASS to operating under the auspices of
the Fine Arts Center under the name “Third World Programs” (O’Heir, 1989).
The first five-year history of the NWT indicates that it was not an easy
adjustment for the Third World Theater and for the university that sponsored it. Born
out of the racial unrest the theater struggled to find recognition and a home that
recognized the work that it was doing. What began in the Student Activities Office
was about to become legitimized by a move to the Fine Arts Center at the University
of Massachusetts. What began in reaction to dissatisfaction by students of color with
59
their treatment at UMASS became a producing arts organization that served the
community of color and the wider community surrounding the university.
The early days were rife with misunderstandings and misperceptions by the
members of the NWT and the university that supported it. The UMASS theatre
Department did not see the group as legitimate. The members were not professional
theatre practitioners. The early productions developed and produced by the group
could be considered community theatre by the faculty in the UMASS and FiveCollege theatre programs. In addition, the group was vocal about its disdain for the
Western canon produced by the Five-College theatre programs. Third World Theater
saw as its mission the production of plays not being produced by the more
mainstream producing groups on campus. Not only were the members not considered
professionals and the plays produced not esteemed by the traditional culture, the
group wanted to utilize the spaces controlled by the theatre department. As the group
moved under the administration of the UMASS Fine Arts Center, the space issues
grew more acute. The Fine Arts Center houses the UMASS Theater Department’s
two theatres, plus a larger concert hall and offices. The Fine Arts Center also ran the
Hampden Theatre used by the Third World Theatre.
1984-1985—The Third World Theater Becomes the New WORLD Theater
September 1984. Change was imminent. In September 1984, several
newspaper articles announced that the name of the Third World Theater had been
changed to the New WORLD Theater (Collegian; The Sunday Recorder; New
England Entertainment Digest; and Nummo News). Nummo News reported on
September 10, 1984 that the group had outgrown the original focus of the Third
World Theater, which was to “showcase works of non-European people, as a forum
to spark discussion of current issues and to broaden the cultural experience of its
audiences.” According to Uno:
After five years, I think the community knows we offer a comparative
look at the various theaters of Black, Hispanic, Asian, and Native60
American peoples; however, theatergoers and actors have sometimes
felt our former name indicated a separatist philosophy. Our new name
more accurately reflects our reality as a multi-racial program and also
our optimism about the future of the American theater. (“NWT: New
Name, Same Excellence”)
By this time, the New WORLD Theater (NWT) was housed in the Fine Arts Center
of UMASS with a staff of fifteen student workers and volunteers, a part-time
administrator, and a full-time director. In addition to its productions, the NWT
sponsored a multi-racial theatre ensemble, an internship program and a workshop
series. The New WORLD Theater Ensemble was “an acting troupe of local students”
that worked together throughout the year and performed in the original productions of
the New WORLD Theater. The NWT also sponsored “an internship program in the
areas of theatre production and administration, and a colloquium/workshop series”
(Marini, 5 September 1984). The NWT was committed to continuing the original
goals of the Third World Theater and to expanding its outreach.
The 1984-85 Season.
The tenth season for the theatre group opened on the heels of the name change
announcement and included: Love to All, Lorraine, a drama based upon the life of the
late Lorraine Hansberry by Elizabeth Van Dyke, performed by National Black
Touring Circuit; a reprise production of Life in the Fast Lane with Lane Nishikawa;
and a New World Theater Ensemble production of Short Eyes by Miguel Piñero.
Love to All, Lorraine received mixed reviews that primarily recounted the plot of the
one-woman show. Ronni Gordon wrote that the script deteriorated into a polemic
“speechifying about injustices such as segregation” and complained about the small
size of the audience in the large auditorium (“‘Love’ is a Difficult Drama”). The
NWT presented the New World Ensemble in a production of Short Eyes, a prison
drama that concerned the inmates’ response to the presence of a child molester. The
Latino playwright Miguel Piñero gave a lecture on the “Development of Short Eyes”
61
following the Saturday matinee performance (Short Eyes press release). At least one
review of Short Eyes was positive: “Drama and reality are so intertwined that at times
it is hard to separate them. The drama was intense, keeping the audience aroused to
the issues, some humorous, some harsh, some sad, but always for real” (Betances,
December 1984). At the end of the fall 1984 season the NWT produced a staged
reading of James Baldwin’s Blues for Mr. Charlie at Amherst College to “sold-out,
racially-mixed audiences which responded with uniform and extraordinary
enthusiasm” (“A Symposium: Mr. Baldwin’s Blues: the Politics of Theater”).
The eleventh season in spring 1985 began with a joint presentation by the
UMASS Fine Arts Center and the New WORLD Theater of The Negro Ensemble
Company’s production of A Soldier’s Play by Charles Fuller. The play was directed
by Douglas Turner Ward the founder of the NEC. In addition to the NEC production
the NWT season included David Henry Hwang’s The Dance and the Railroad,
directed by Uno and choreographed by Richard Cesario. Cesario presented a
workshop along with the production (“New World Theater Announces Spring
Season,” 1985). The program for The Dance and the Railroad printed a new
statement about the NWT and reported that the New WORLD Theater was now a
project of the Fine Arts Center. The move from the Student Activities Office to the
Fine Arts Center legitimized the NWT’s standing in the community and at UMASS.
The financial backing of the Fine Arts Center allowed the NWT to bring in larger
groups as part of its season. The new NWT statement was a revision of the prior
goals statement printed in all programs and press releases:
The New WORLD Theater was founded in 1979 as a showcase
for the theatrical works of Third World people, reflecting the
rich histories and cultures of African, Asian, Hispanic and
Native American peoples. The New WORLD Theater strives to
highlight the separate, yet related experiences of people of
color, to show the vastness of our artistic expressions, and the
62
depth of our histories and shared themes of our social realities.
(The Dance and the Railroad program)
The program also listed the various offices at UMASS that financially supported the
production. Uno skillfully managed to pull resources from many sources to get the
productions funded. The season concluded with a production of Errol John’s Moon on
a Rainbow Shawl directed by Uno and performed by the New WORLD Ensemble, the
multi-racial ensemble of students and community members that formed the pool of
actors for NWT productions (“Auditions set for New WORLD Theater” press
release). Dian Mandle, administrator with the NWT, ultimately directed the
production.
The New World Theater archives for spring 1985 included a flyer for a threecredit course in the UMASS Department of Theater, “The Theater of Third World
Americans,” taught by Uno. The description of the course utilized the language of
the new goal statement of the NWT: “This course is designed to introduce students to
the separate yet related theater movements of Blacks, Hispanics, Asians, and Native
Americans” (“The Theater of Third World Americans”).
New WORLD Theater 1985-1986
The NWT’s twelfth season in fall of 1985 opened with a reprise of David
Henry Hwang’s Dance and the Railroad, which was nominated for the American
College Theatre Festival. Unfortunately, the performances of this play were canceled
due to Hurricane Gloria, but they were presented the following weekend at the
Northampton Center for the Arts to excellent reviews (Reily, 2 October 1985). The
second presentation of the spring semester was In Living Color, an evening of one-act
plays by third world authors that included: Pigeons by Genny Lim, Marine Tigers by
Estrella Artau, and Loners by Joan California Cooper (“New World Theater
Announces New Season,” 26 August 1985). Lim’s Pigeons explored the relationship
between two Asian women. Marine Tigers examined the Hispanic community’s
difficulties with bilingual America and was presented at a special performance at
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Casa Latina, Inc., a center for popular education and culture in Northampton.
Following the performance the audience and actors participated in a multi-cultural
potluck dinner featuring traditional Puerto Rican foods (Casa Latina, Inc. press
release, 18 November 1985).
Cooper’s Loners was a Black drama about relationships (“New WORLD
Theater presents In Living Color,” 24 October 1985). The last production of the
spring 1985 season was Voices in the Rain by Jomandi Productions, the only major
Black owned and managed theatre company in Georgia. Jomandi Productions was
founded and co-directed by Marsha Jackson, a graduate of Smith College, and
Thomas W. Jones II, a graduate of Amherst College (“Area Alumni return in Voices
in the Rain,” 25 November 1985). Voices in the Rain was an evening of two of
Jomandi’s most popular plays, Jus’ Cumin’ Home and Sing til the Song is Mine
(“College Area Alumni return in Voices in the Rain,” 25 November 1985). The play
was well received, despite some complaints about a lack of cohesiveness: “The talent
both in the performing and the writing, is there. What this show needs is a good hardnosed director/editor to narrow its scope and bring it into clearer focus” (Robinson,
17 December 1985). The New WORLD Theater continued to bring productions to the
Amherst area that challenged audiences and were reviewed by local papers.
NWT continued to expand the group of students and community members
participating in the Ensemble. Students of color from the Five-Colleges became
Ensemble members and valued their experience with this community of color. It
appeared that the theatre department continued to view the NWT as a student
organization producing inferior work. Thus the struggle between the NWT and the
UMASS Theatre Department could be seen as an example of the resistance of the
subordinate group towards the dominant group. The very structures of UMASS
created the schism. It would be difficult for any group emerging from the Student
Activities Office to gain legitimation with the faculty. Even with the move to the Fine
Arts Center, the very home of the UMASS Theater Department, the conflict remained
close to the surface. Nevertheless, as mentioned in Chapter Two, Aronowitz and
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Giroux argue for the relevance and intellectual validity of “marginal discourse” or
discourse from the margins of conventional society. NWT spoke from the margins of
the discourse set by the established conventional programs surrounding it.
The NWT 1986 spring season opened with a play about the civil rights
movement of the 1960s, Freedom Days, by Steve Friedman, performed by New
York’s Modern Times Theater Company, which also offered a free workshop (“New
World Theater Season Opens with Freedom Days” press release, 16 January 1986).
Shango De Ima by Pepe Carril was the next play in the season, an African-Cuban folk
opera with Yoruban-inspired choreography by Cuban Roberto Borrell. Roderick
Robinson described the play as “always interesting, often beautiful and sometimes
powerful and moving” (Robinson, 11 March 1986). The reviews were positive, with
most focusing on the history of the Yoruban religion and the story of the play. A
brief note in the NWT archives about the New WORLD Theater Ensemble at this
time appeared in a source entitled Both Ears to the Ground. It mentioned that the
ensemble in the spring of 1986 was three years old and had grown from its original
seven members to a membership of sixty (“New World Theater Ensemble,” March
1986).
The last play of the spring season was a production by the New WORLD
Theater Ensemble of Lorraine Hansberry’s last play To Be Young, Gifted, and Black.
The press release for the show noted that the script consultant for the play was FiveCollege professor and author James Baldwin and that the play was directed by Esther
Terry from the Afro-American Studies Department (“New World Theater to Portray
Life of Lorraine Hansberry,” 26 March 1986). The press release also noted that both
Baldwin and Terry were close friends of Lorraine Hansberry. A Collegian article by
A. V. Thompson, “Zora: Black Folklore,” highlighted a production of a performance
of the play Zora in honor of Black History Month in February of 1986. The NWT did
not include this play in their list of productions although it was presented in the
Hampden Theater at UMASS and included in the cast performers from the NWT
ensemble.
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In addition to the productions in spring 1986 the NWT cosponsored with the
Amherst College Department of Romance Languages a lecture by Uruguayan
dissident playwright Mauricio Rosencof at the UMASS Campus Center. The lecture,
entitled “The Culture of Resistance Under the Uruguayan Dictatorship,” spoke of the
“intense covert cultural activities in the prisons and how the prison experience
affected [Rosencof’s own] writing” (“Latin American Playwright to Speak” press
release, March 1986). Also during that active spring season of 1986, the NWT
Ensemble reprised their popular production of Marine Tiger by Estrella Artau in the
Dever Auditorium in Westfield, Massachusetts (“Marine Tiger Performed in
Westfield,” 14 February 1986).
New WORLD Theater 1986-1987
The fall of 1986 brought two major companies to the NWT, the Market
Theater and the Negro Ensemble Company. The first play, Asinamali by Mbongeni
Ngema, was produced in cooperation with the Market Theater and Columbia Artists
Theatrical Corporation and presented by the Committed Artists. The Market Theater
is a South African company founded by Artistic Director Barney Simon and
Managing Director Mannie Manim. Ngema founded the Committed Artists
following a tour of the play Woza Albert in the United States. The press packet for
the Market Theater Company and the Committed Artists noted that Ngema had
trained the thirty-person company, which had become a group “with explosive energy
which gave rise to Asinamali.” Reviewer John E. Reily raved about Asinamali:
At the end of Asinamali, the stunning South African play presented in
Bowker Auditorium at UMass Saturday night, the audience rose en
masse to give a standing ovation to the five actors on stage because
there was nothing else you could do. After watching two hours of the
most dynamic, non-stop theater imaginable, you were compelled out
of your seat to clap, roar and give thanks. (Reily, 29 September 86)
The production must have been riveting. Reily described the music in the show, “a
cappella sing, itself worth the price of admission [. . .] this was gorgeous five part
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harmony akin to gospel, with the words in Zulu, and the power and beauty of the
music was overwhelming” (Reily, 29 September 86). The Market Theater Company
also presented Born in the R. S. A. by Barney Simon. The New WORLD Theater
Ensemble presented Be Still and Know by Stephen Newby. The last play of this fall
1986 season was the renown Ceremonies and Dark Old Men by Lonnie Elder III
performed by the Negro Ensemble Company.
The spring 1987 season included: Grandma and Grandpa, two one-character
Native American comedies, by the Native American Theater Ensemble; The Magic of
the Monkey King by Hong-Jun Guan of the Peking Opera; Williams and Walker of the
National Black Touring Circuit; Sun, Moon and Feather by Spiderwoman Theater;
and a New WORLD Theater Ensemble production of The Lion and the Jewel by
Wole Soyinka, presented by the UMASS Department of Theater and NWT. World
Awareness, Inc. presented an introduction to the Peking Opera in their production of
The Magic of Monkey King. Hong-Jun, a professional member of the Peking Opera,
presented a workshop demonstrating make-up application and the acrobatic fighting
skills of the mischievous Monkey King. NWT, Five College East Asian Studies, and
the University Asian Languages and Literature Program cosponsored the production
and workshop.
In honor of Black History month, the National Black Touring Circuit
presented Williams and Walker, a musical tribute to the legendary Black
vaudevillians Bert Williams and George Walker. Spiderwoman Theater, a Native
American feminist theatre company, presented a workshop demonstrating play
development, storytelling, and the role of Native American culture and theatre in
urban America. Richard Trousdell, professor of theatre at UMASS, directed The Lion
and the Jewel. The production was supported by grants from the offices of the
UMASS Chancellor, Dean of Faculty of Humanities and Fine Arts, and Dean of
Students; the Committee on University Lectures; the Graduate Student Senate; the
Afrik-Am Society; the Distinguished Visitors Program; the Five College Black
Studies Executive Committee; Five Colleges, Incorporated; the Five College Third
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World Theater Committee; the Hampshire College Third World Fund; and the
University of Massachusetts Arts Council. The breadth and number of sponsors is
another example of the extensive development process Roberta Uno used to realize
the work of the New WORLD Theater.
In the spring of 1987, the UMASS Department of Theater hosted a Black
Theater Conference to honor Professor Doris Abramson’s retirement. Abramson was
the one UMASS Theater faculty member who supported the work of the NWT from
its inception. “The Black Theater Scholar” Symposium, the “Voice of the Black
Playwright” Colloquium, the production of The Lion and the Jewel, and the awarding
of the Doris Abramson Playwriting Award for a Previously Unpublished Play by a
Black Playwright were presented at the conference (“A Black Theater Conference
brochure,” 1 May 1987). Some of the well-known scholars and artists participating in
this event included Errol G. Hill, Nellie Yvonne McKay, James V. Hatch, Rosemary
K. Curb, Margaret D. Wilkerson, Thomas D. Pawley, Esther Terry, William B.
Branch, Lofteen Mitchell, Alice Childress, and Louis Peterson.
New WORLD Theater 1987-1988
The productions of the fall 1987 season included: Alice Childress’ Wine in the
Wilderness by First World Images; Migrants by Teatro Pregones; a NWT production
of Sneaky by William Yellow Robe; and Sanctuary: The Spirit of Harriet Tubman, an
epic production combining masks, shadow puppets, projections, and live music
celebrating the underground railroad of the 1850s and depicting the plight of Central
American refugees in today’s sanctuary movement by the Underground Railway
Theater (New WORLD Theater Fall Season 1987 brochure). Wine in the Wilderness,
directed by Ingrid C. Askew, received favorable reviews in the Collegian (McDaneld,
25 September 1987). Migrants utilized music, drama, oral testimony, and historical
essays to portray the struggle of Puerto Rican immigrants in New York City from
1920-1940 (NWT Press Release, 2 September 1987). Teatro Pregones, a New York-
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based Puerto Rican theatre company founded in 1979, conducted workshops based on
the collective creation of scripts.
Sneaky, a world premiere, was the first Native American play performed by
the NWT Ensemble. The NWT presented other works by Native American touring
companies, but this local production helped to establish ties with the local Native
American community. Sneaky was the story of three Assiniboine brothers who decide
to reclaim their mother’s body from the morgue in order to conduct a traditional
funeral. One actor in the play, George Whirlwind Soldier, was a Lakota Sioux
working on a graduate degree at UMASS in public health. In a newspaper article, he
was quoted as saying:
There are a lot of differences between this campus and my reservation,
but it’s the similarities that stand out glaringly in my mind. The high
level of violence, the high level of alcohol and drug abuse, the racism.
It’s these bad things about—I hate to say it, but—white culture, that
seem to dominate, and that’s what we have in common real strong.
(Rohmann, November 1987)
The four actors portraying Native Americans in the production were Native
Americans from the community. Soldier claimed:
There are two cultures [. . .] and there is peace in both cultures, for
anyone willing to see deep enough. We tend to get consumed by all
this negativism. That’s what stands out in my mind now, but just like
anywhere else, on this campus or back on my reservation, there are
some gallant efforts being made to handle these problems and create
peace and harmony. (Rohmann, November 1987)
Chris Rohmann believed Sneaky was one of these “gallant efforts.” Playwright
William Yellow Robe visited the NWT, viewed the production, and shared his
experience with the NWT ensemble in workshops and discussions (“Notes for a New
WORLD.” Fall/winter 1987-88).
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Spring 1988 brought An Evening with Cicely Tyson; a NWT production of
Nzinga’s Children by Veona Thomas; Muffet Inna All A Wi by Sistren, a theatre
collective of Caribbean working-class women using music theatre and dance to create
the story of five Jamaican women; and The Tale of Lear, with actors from the
StageWest, Arena Stage, Milwaukee Repertory and Berkeley Repertory in a
contemporary adaptation of Shakespeare’s King Lear directed by Tadashi Suzuki.
The NWT collaborated with the Black Mass Communication Project to bring Cicely
Tyson to the UMASS campus. The evening was described as a collection of “portraits
of Black women in history” (“New WORLD Theater presents ‘An Evening with
Cicely Tyson’” press release. 19 February 1988).
Reviews of the NWT ensemble production of Nzinga’s Children praised the
production, but pointed out problems in the text (Reily, 16 March 1988; Polk, 17
March 1988). John E. Reily, a regular reviewer of NWT productions, questioned the
outcome of the play:
Last Saturday night the audience gave the cast a well-deserved
standing ovation at the play’s conclusion. It was no doubt a very
entertaining evening, but I was troubled by the basic message that
mixed couples can never be truly happy. It seems especially odd
coming from the New WORLD Theater which has always promoted
harmony and understanding between people of different colors and
creeds. (Reily, 16 March 1988)
The play is about Nzinga, a Black woman, who breaks up with her Black boyfriend
and begins to date her white boss. She is visited by the ghosts of her grandmothers
and is led back to the path of honoring her Black ancestry and her responsibility as a
Black woman. Several reviewers criticized the weakness and one-dimensionality of
the white character. Critic Betsy Polk thought—based upon the program notes—that
although the intent of the playwright was to write a play about feminism and
sisterhood, Nzinga’s choice to go back to her weak black boyfriend was a major
weakness of the show (Polk 17 March 1988). Ingrid Askew, a former UMASS
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student, well-known actress and director in the Pioneer Valley, and artistic director of
Third World Images, directed Nzinga’s Children. A Collegian announcement
mentioned that one of the cast members, Bryan Tinker, was the recipient of a New
WORLD Theater scholarship, indicating that the NWT had become sufficiently
successful and institutionalized to offer scholarships.
The Lear project began in August 1987 when three actors from four major
theatre companies traveled to Japan to spend nine months working with Tadashi
Suzuki, who for the first time worked with American actors on this production.
Suzuki’s work, combining traditional Japanese movement with an emphasis on
physical expression, gave rise to a radical form of actor training (“New WORLD
Previews Tadashi Suzuki’s ‘Lear,’” 9 April 1988). NWT was an early presenter of
Suzuki’s work in the United States.
Cosmo Macero, Jr., of the Collegian wrote about the climate for the NWT
spring of 1988. Yvonne Mendez, NWT staff member and graphic artist, was quoted
as saying: “We expose University people, and the whole Pioneer Valley to different
cultures, and we outline different experiences in the way that Third World People
live.” She connected the problems that happen on campus to the work produced on
the stage, “in hopes of enlightening the public to minority situation” (Macero, 6 May
1988). Macero pointed out that the NWT’s status as a registered Student Organization
made it subject to budget cuts: “They received an 1100 dollar cut in their budget,
dropping them from 8000 dollars to 6900 dollars annually” (Macero, 6 May 1988).
That the NWT was both a “student organization” at UMASS and a program of the
Fine Arts Center provides some indication of the delicate path the NWT had to travel
in fulfilling its goals.
New WORLD Theater 1988-1989
The 1988 fall season’s theme was: “Remembering Jimmy. . .A season
dedicated to James Baldwin and the continuing struggle.” In the spirit of this theme,
the NWT brought a number of productions and companies to the area, including:
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Quien Vive?/Who Lives? by the Antioch Theater Company, Vusisizwe Players’s You
Strike the Woman, You Strike the Rock; Carpetbag Theater’s Dark Cowgirls and
Prairie Queens; Blues for Mr. Charlie by James Baldwin, presented by the NWT;
August Wilson’s Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom by Amaryllis Productions; and an
“African Heritage Program” that included the No-Name Gospel Singers, Los Pleneros
de la 21, Papa Susso, and Thokoza for the World Music Institute.
Students from the Antioch College Theatre Department stopped at UMASS to
perform the student-written Quien Vive?/Who Lives, a play based on the life of a
twenty-seven year old American “killed by the U.S.-backed contra rebels while
working as an engineer in Nicaragua” (Gordon, September 1988). The play was cosponsored by the MacArthur Fund at Hampshire College, the Hampshire College
Theatre Department, and the NWT. The performance took place before the opening
of the regular NWT season and the proceeds were donated to Technica and
Necessidades, two area organizations doing related work to broaden awareness of
Central American issues (Uno letter to Dorothy Green of Necessidades, 26 July
1988). Dark Cowgirls and Prairie Queens portrayed “seven black women and their
confrontations with freedom” (Stipada, 19 October 1988). Baldwin’s Blues for Mr.
Charlie, was presented in conjunction with the W.E. B. DuBois Department of AfroAmerican Studies and the Institute for the Advanced Study of the Humanities. The
NWT presented a symposium on the history of Blues for Mr. Charlie during the run
of the production (“A Symposium—Mr. Baldwin’s Blues: The Politics of Theater”
press release, October 1988).
The African Heritage Program presented by the NWT spotlighted traditional
music of Africa and the African Diaspora in an effort to revive such musical
traditions and keep them alive. The No Name Gospel Singers was an acappella group
that relied on tight harmony, interlocking vocal parts, and a moving vocal bass line.
Los Pleneros de la 21, under the direction of Juan Gutierrez, was a group dedicated to
the perpetuation of traditional Afro-Puerto Rican music styles. Papa Sussa was a jali
from Gambia, in the tradition of jalalo, who were “professional musicians, praise
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singers, and oral historians who were attached to the royal courts in West Africa and
[whose] duties were to recall tribal history and genealogy, compose commemorative
songs and perform at important tribal events” (“New WORLD Theater Announces
The African Heritage Program,” November 1988). Another group composed of choral
Zulu singers, Thokoza, performed indigenous Zulu songs and dances. Finally, the
1988 fall program presented by the NWT included a symposium and video on “Ten
Years of New WORLD Theater” (“New WORLD Theater Announces The African
Heritage Program,” November 1988).
The 1989 spring season included: American Indian Dance Theater by The
American Indian Dance Theater Company and co-sponsored by the NWT with the
Fine Arts Center Performing Arts Series; Don’t Start Me Talking or I’ll Tell You
Everything I Know (Sayings From the Life and Writing of Junebug Jabbo Jones) by
John O’Neal for Roadside Productions, also co-sponsored by the NWT with the Fine
Arts Center Performing Arts Series; Fairy Bones & Pay the Chinaman by the Asian
American Theater Company; Webster Street Blues by the Asian American Theater
Company; and Encrucijada by Manuel Méndez Ballester, an original production of
the NWT.
The American Indian Dance Theatre was created to provide NativeAmericans an opportunity to share their heritage and culture. It was the first
professional dance company in the U.S. comprised entirely of Native-American
dancers and musicians. The Asian American Theatre Company presented two
performances for NWT in the Spring of 1989, Webster Street Blues, a play about four
teenagers growing up in San Francisco’s Japantown, and New Age of Wonders, two
one-act plays set in the California foothills in 1893, one about con men who gamble
with their savings and passage home and the other rooted in Chinese mysticism. The
Asian American Theatre Company also offered workshops at UMASS and Amherst
College (“Asian American Theatre Company” press release, Spring 1989).
Manual Méndez Ballester’s Spanish language play, Encrucijada, examined the
trials of a “Puerto Rican family living in Spanish Harlem in the 1950’s” (Encrucijada
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press release, April 1989). It was performed by the Latin American Theater Project
(LATP), which was described in this way in the Encrucijada press release:
This “arm” of New World Theater came into existence in an effort to
nurture an on-going relationship between NWT and the Latino
American community. LATP consists of a core group of Latino
students, faculty, staff and interested community members whose goal
is to research and produce plays that highlight the experience of Latino
people. LATP’s first production was a radio performance of
Encrucijada in December 1988 on WFCR and National Public
Radio.(Encrucijada press release, April 1989)
The play was presented during Puerto Rican Awareness Week. The programming
also included a visit from Puerto Rico by the playwright, as well as lectures and
workshops. The director of the play, Jaime Martínez Tolentino, was teaching at
UMASS at the time and working on a second doctorate in Spanish Literature. The
LATP provided a forum for creative and political activity in the community.
New WORLD Theater 1989-1990
The Tenth Anniversary Season. The Tenth Anniversary fall 1989 season
included: Woza Albert! by the Crossroads Theater Company; Project by the Free
Street Theatre, which was co-sponsored by NWT with the Fine Arts Center
Performing Arts Series; Unfinished Women Cry in No Man’s Land While a Bird Dies
in a Gilded Cage by Aishah Rahmam, an original NWT production with the
University of Massachusetts Department of Theater; Ariano by the Puerto Rican
Traveling Theatre Company; Spiderwoman Theater’s Winnetou’s Snake-Oil Show
From WigWam-City; and Coming Into Passion—Song for a Sansei by Jude Narita.
Woza Albert!, conceived by Percy Mtwa, Mbongeni Ngema, and Barney
Simon, was a fast-paced, poignant, and comical illustration of the lives and hopes of
Black South Africans using as a theme the second coming of Christ. The production
was brought to the NWT by the Crossroads Theatre, an Equity regional theatre
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founded in 1978 to promote multiracial appreciation. Crossroads presented six theatre
productions each season and a series of workshops, classes and demonstrations for
young inner-city artists, art groups, and teachers (Notes for a New World Fall 1989).
The Free Street Theatre, a political theatre founded in 1969, presented twenty-six
residents of Chicago’s Cabrini Green Housing Project in Project, a multimedia
documentary combining music, dance, rap, and video.
Unfinished Women Cry in No Man’s Land While a Bird Dies in a Gilded Cage
was an underground classic play about teenage pregnancy set on the day jazz legend
Charlie Parker died. The NWT used the theme of this play to continue their
community outreach. Leslie T. Laurie, Executive Director of the Family Planning
Council of Western Massachusetts thanked the NWT for providing “one dozen
complimentary tickets” to a number of participants in the “Family Planning Council’s
SAFE (Services for Adolescent Family Enhancement) program” (Laurie. Letter to
Gillingham. 4 December 1989). Laurie explained that SAFE was an enrichment
opportunity for pregnant and parenting teens in Springfield and Westfield. As the
NWT worked with community groups its understanding of the potential for audience
development grew. Providing outreach to at-risk youth in community settings was to
play a much larger role in the future projects of the NWT.
Ariano was a hard-hitting drama about an upscale Puerto Rican and his
obsession with acceptance in a white world produced by the Puerto Rican Traveling
Theatre. The Puerto Rican Traveling Theatre was founded by Miriam Colón in 1967
and had operated under Actor’s Equity contracts since its inception. The company’s
four units included: a touring unit that took free performances to low-income
communities; a training unit where young people fourteen years and older receive
free theatre training; a playwrights unit: and a permanent theatre located in the
Broadway area of New York. Ariano examined the tensions between light- and darkskinned people and raised issues related to race: prejudice, self-hate, pride, and the
pressures of assimilation.
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Finally, Spiderwoman’s Winnetou’s Snake-Oil Show From WigWam-City was a
review that brought together traditional ritual and hysterical parodies of fake
initiations performed by “wanna-be” Indians. Coming Into Passion/Song for a Sensei
explored Asian women’s stereotypes and realities.
The Tenth Anniversary Celebration. Uno saw the importance of the NWT
and sought to document its history. For the tenth anniversary of the NWT, Uno
planned a three-day commemoration conference. The weekend of events
incorporated two gallery retrospectives of poster designs and photography from the
theatre’s ten years; a performance of the Puerto Rican Traveling Company’s Ariano;
a panel discussion entitled “Meeting at the Crossroads”; a luncheon with keynote
speaker playwright-director Shauneille Perry; a performance by the Spiderwoman
Theater; a performance of Jude Narita’s one-woman show; a panel discussion entitled
“Tradition and a New Aesthetic”; and a NWT ensemble performance of Unfinished
Women Cry in No Man’s Land While a Bird Dies in a Gilded Cage (Bermiss, 29
November 1989).
The two panel sessions brought together artists of color and scholars to
discuss issues of importance to the NWT. Andrea Hairston moderated the panel
discussion entitled “Meeting at the Crossroads: What Direction for the 1990’s?”
Several well-known artists participated in this panel, including Cat Cayuga, the
director of Canada’s Native Theatre School; Tisa Chang, the founder of the Pan Asian
Repertory Theater; Miriam Colón Valle, the director of the Puerto Rican Traveling
Theatre; Rick Khan of the Crossroads Theater in New Jersey; Woody King, the
founder of the New Federal Theater; and Eric Hayashi, the artistic director of San
Francisco’s Asian American Theater (O’Heir, December 1989; Sullivan). The panel
entitled “Traditions and a New Aesthetic” was led by moderator Ramona Bass and
included another distinguished group of panelists: Jessica Hagedorn, Filipino
playwright, novelist, music and video artist; David Henry Hwang, Tony Awardwinning playwright of M. Butterfly; Honor Ford-Smith, director of the Sistren Theater
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in Jamaica; Carlos Morton, Chicano playwright from Texas; William Yellow Robe,
Native-American playwright from Fort Peck Reservation in Montana.
Yet again, Uno demonstrated her ability to pull together both recognized and
up-and-coming theatre artists and scholars of color for the NWT anniversary
celebration. The conference provided a site for discourse from the margins to occur at
UMASS. She shaped both panel discussions, writing to each participant to provide an
outline of the format that would be used and the questions that would be asked for the
panels. These letters to the panel participants, found in the NWT Archives, clearly
illustrate Uno’s personal perceptions about the strained relationship between
mainstream theatre and the work of artists of color and the ways in which those
perceptions framed the substance of the panel discussions. In a letter sent to the
producers panel, for example, Uno asked,
Is it true that as producers of ethnic theater, you have had to engage
the production styles, technology, and processes of mainstream theater
much more than vice versa: i.e. has the mainstream theater had to be
conscious and responsive to your realities? … Have you seen a move
away from the type of Eurocentric critical sensibility which has
dominated the critical discussion? (Uno, “Letter to Eric Hayashi.” 8
November 1989)
Uno’s questions also influenced the content of the playwright’s panel. In a
letter to the playwright David Henry Hwang, Uno wrote,
Your work has in common an awareness, use, and projection not only
of the experiences and themes of non-European cultures, but also
incorporates innovatively the cultural styles and forms of these
cultures. . . .Does this imply a rejection, perhaps as too narrow or
confining, of traditional Western theater’s perspectives, forms and
visions? …What historical forces and reasons explain this
phenomenon (movement) at this present time? The inhospitableness of
mainstream theater? (Uno “Letter to Hwang”)
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Uno’s point of view was evident in the questions she both asked and answered in
letters to panel participants. Seeing the work of the NWT as a process of
empowerment, Uno claimed, “I see the arts as one of the strongest tools that we have
to connect our history and share our history. [. . .] I see that the New WORLD
Theater is one of the few places that I’ve seen the various people come together in a
multiracial context” (Gillingham 56). Empowerment of artists and scholars of color
through discussion of common issues in such meetings links education to democracy.
Critical theorists such as Joan W. Scott argue that the diversification at universities
and colleges is not easy to accomplish. Scott describes the need for increased
justifications as new knowledge is created and assessed (Bérubé and Nelson 294).
Most frustrating to Uno was the constant need to justify what she perceived as
important and expanding knowledge.
The highlight of the weekend’s events was a banquet moderated by former
NWT Ensemble member Rev. Felicia Thomas, at which five people were recognized
for their contributions to the New WORLD Theater. Yat Man and Angela DoCanto
represented the many NWT people who worked behind the scenes (DoCanto
graduated from UMASS in 1987 with a degree in Family and Community Service
administration and was an administrative assistant in the NWT office. Man came to
UMASS in 1979 from New York City, later graduating from Brooklyn Law School in
1986 and practicing law in New York). In addition, Man and DoCanto recognized
early managing directors Yvonne Mendez and her predecessor, Beth Nathanson and
the conference co-coordinators Maya Gillingham and Pam Tillis. DoCanto
recognized E. Jefferson “Pat” Murphy as having founded the Five College Third
World Theater Committee, and mentioned that the committee had supported the Third
World Theater throughout the Five Colleges by funding plays, workshops,
residencies, and special projects.
At the banquet, Kevin Frazier and Ingrid Askew represented the many young
people who received encouragement from the NWT and eventually became
playwrights, actors, composers, designers, and directors. Frazier had founded
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Spectrum III in May of 1986 at Amherst College, where he had produced independent
productions and directed and acted with the NWT before graduating from Amherst in
1989. Askew had participated in numerous NWT projects as director, actress and
member of the crew. She had been a Theater major through the UMASS University
Without Walls Program and had founded First World Images in 1987 in Springfield
(Notes for a New World Fall 1989).
Others who had contributed to the success of the NWT were singled out for
praise as well. Frazier and Askew recognized two teachers, Dr. Pearl Primas and Dr.
Horace Clarence Boyer, who had been important to the students involved in the NWT
productions. Rev. Thomas acknowledged the four people who had created the NWT:
Miriam Carter Langa, Karen Lederer, Derek Davis, and Roberta Uno Thelwell. Carter
Langa spoke of the support, diplomacy, integrity, and vision of the Director of the
Fine Arts Center, Dr. Fred Tillis, describing his advocacy on behalf of multicultural
arts throughout the University and thanking him for giving a permanent home to the
NWT. Uno referred to the “amazing commitment” and incredible support of Dean
William Field during the early days of the NWT. Field had promised the NWT a
matching grant for every dollar they raised, a promise that was sustained through
times of small audiences and controversy (Banquet Script, 7 December 1989). Field’s
promise encouraged the NWT to go out and seek grant money, initiating the NWT’s
a relentless quest for funding and a long record of grant awards.
The tenth anniversary celebration took place at a financial crisis point for the
NWT and UMASS. Budget cuts had left the NWT, the Fine Arts Center, and the
Department of Theater operating at reduced budgets. Uno realized that the cuts were
coming just as the planning was being finalized for the anniversary celebration. She
decided to use the “reserve fund built up over the past five years and originally
intended for capital expenditures” (Rohmann, October 1989) to finance the
anniversary weekend, though the NWT continued to raise funds through the
solicitation of advertising from local businesses for the anniversary program
(Mendez. Letter to Vendors draft letter). Uno declared, “We could have just
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celebrated the 10th anniversary with the performance of one production [. . .]. Instead,
we wanted to show a variety of strategies for accomplishing the same goals—cultural
identity” (Bermiss, 29 November 1989).
Recalling the early days of the NWT, Uno related that she and the others
working with her during the late 1970s and early 1980s:
began the theater with an office staff of three students and a handful of
students and community members with an interest in theater. Working
on a tight budget she recalled having to barter for different services.
[Uno] remembers sending someone to chop wood for a woman who
would sew their costumes. (O’Heir, December 1989)
By the fall of 1989, the NWT Ensemble included seventy members. All
ensemble members were expected to work on all aspects of the production and on
“plays involving cultures different from their own” (Heir, 1989). The number of
students working behind the scenes and on production had grown substantially,
indicating the important influence the NWT had on the students. The first ten years
were years of struggle and growth. UMASS professor Music, Horace Clarence Boyer
recalls the struggle of the early years: “If you’re not going to present my plays, I’ll
present them. If you’re not going to present my music, I’ll present my music. If
you’re not going to present my art, I’ll present my art because it has to be there. And I
don’t want us to wait until they open the door. I want us to build the door ourselves
that we can open” (Gillingham 66). Much like Paolo Freire and bell hooks suggest,
the NWT allowed the members to understand their place in the world, to construct
their identities within the university and the community.
New WORLD Theater 1989-1990
Spring 1990. The NWT’s 1990 spring season included: Robeson! by Don
Oliver; The Mission by Culture Clash; Coyote Builds North America by the
Perseverance Theatre, which was co-sponsored by the NWT with the Fine Arts
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Center Performing Arts Series; and I’m on a Mission from Buddha by Lane
Nishikawa for the Asian American Theater Company.
Robeson! was a play about the legendary artist and activist Paul Robeson
(performed by Don Oliver) that was presented in conjunction with Black History
Month. The press commentary prior to the performance highlighted Robeson’s
activism, describing him as “champion of freedom for the oppressed, whether they
were Jews in Nazi Germany, copper miners in Utah, or Blacks in the United States”
(Robeson! press release). The west coast comedy troupe Culture Clash, composed of
the actors Richard Montoya, Herbert Sigüenza, and Ricardo Salinas, presented The
Mission, a comedy set against the backdrop of the California Missions and the alleged
ill treatment of the Costanoan Indians. Culture Clash was thought of as a new form of
mainstream Latino entertainment. Barry Lopez compiled and wrote the
music/theatre/dance production Coyote Builds North America based on NativeAmerican legends. The character of Coyote is the ancient trickster from the oral
traditions of Native Americans from the Great Plains to the Arctic. Lane Nishikawa’s
I’m on a Mission from Buddha, a sequel to Life in the Fast Lane, was a fast-paced
panorama of the Asian-American experience in the 1980s (New World Theater
Spring Season 1990, Maguire 12 February 1990 and 8 March 1990).
New WORLD Theater 1990-1991
The fall 1990 NWT season included: La empresa perdona un momento de
locura/The Company Pardons a Moment of Madness by Venezuelan playwright
Rodolfo Santana and performed by the Boston-based Latin American theatre group
Huellas Vivas; Twenty-First Century Groove by Alonzo D. Lamont, an original NWT
production; Yankee Dawg You Die by the Asian American Theater Company; and
Sarafina by Roadworks Productions, Inc., which was co-sponsored by the NWT with
the Fine Arts Center Performing Arts Series.
La Empresa was described as a NWT “production of theatre for social change
which stimulates emotion, intellect, and social awareness.” The play was performed
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twice in Spanish and twice in English. At the heart of the play is a factory worker and
a psychologist, both trapped by the imperialistic company that employs them. Caty
Laignel, a UMASS graduate and NWT member, translated and directed the
production, which gave a brutal picture of class exploitation (Nguyen 2 October
1990).
Alonzo D. Lamont won the James Baldwin Playwriting Award for TwentyFirst Century Groove. The award was created to commemorate the Tenth
Anniversary of the NWT. From Baltimore, Lamont was a writer for the television
show A Different World. Directed by Ingrid Askew, the play centered on a young
African-American woman at a point of crisis—torn between individualism and how
her family and society define African American identity (“New World’s Latest Prizewinning Play on Tap at UMASS”).
The San Francisco-based Asian American Theater Company performed Philip
Kan Gotanda’s Yankee Dawg You Die. According to Alexander Nguyen, “Yankee
Dawg illustrates the social issues facing Asian-American actors in mainstream
Hollywood” (“Asian American Play to Perform” November 1990). Along with this
production, the cast and artistic director of the Asian American Theater Company,
Eric Hayashi, presented a workshop that addressed the significance of the play and
issues related to Asian stereotypes and aspects of Asian- American theatre in America
(Yankee Dawg You Die project description).
The final production of the fall season was the Broadway hit, Sarafina!,
presented in cooperation with the Fine Arts Center Performing Arts Series. Sarafina!,
written and directed by Mbongeni Ngema with music by Hugh Masekela, was a
celebration of a South African student group’s resistance to the rebellion against
apartheid (Notes for a New World. Fall 1990).
The NWT spring season was advertised as “Works by Women” and included:
Praise House, performed by Urban Bush Women; Sisters, written by Marsha Jackson
and produced by Jomandi Productions of Atlanta; and the original NWT production
Letters to a Student Revolutionary by Elizabeth Wong. (“Works by Women”
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brochure). Praise House was a multidisciplinary piece examining the revelatory
experiences of southern African American women artists. The play was inspired by
the life of Minnie Evans, “who found her calling through a vision in which she was
commanded to ‘paint or die’” (“NWT Season to Feature Works by Women”). Urban
Bush Women is an ensemble whose work centers on culture as an expression of
social complexities and as a trigger for social change. They use folklore, spiritual
traditions of African Americans to create dance/music/theatre pieces that honor the
human spirit. After their performance, Urban Bush Women were “lauded for their
innovative multidisciplinary work expressive of the courage and vitality of African
people from the Caribbean to the rural south, from Brazil to the urban north” (“Notes
for a New WORLD” Spring 1991). Sisters was a humorous and “insightful study of
two women who, though not related by blood, learn to acknowledge their kinship as
women and human beings.” The play takes place in a corporate penthouse during a
snowstorm that strands two women, one Chinese and the other Chinese American,
one an outspoken cleaning woman and the other an ambitious advertising executive
(“NWT Presents Atlanta-based Theater Company”). Marsha Jackson (graduate of
Smith College) and Tom Jones (graduate of Amherst College), together founded
Jomandi Productions in 1978. One of the nation’s leading African-American theatre
companies, Jomandi offered a main stage season and tours two or three productions a
year.
Letters to a Student Revolutionary continued NWT’s commitment to
producing new works by emerging playwrights. The play was developed in the
UMASS theater department’s Theater in the Works project for the 1990 season and
received a staged reading. The production was directed by Nefertiti Burton, a
UMASS graduate student working on an MFA in directing. In addition to her
experience as an actor and director, Burton brought to NWT and UMASS her
experience as an arts administrator for Middle Passage Educational and Cultural
Resources, a media and arts production and consulting company in Boston. Two
forums were held in conjunction with the production: one on issues surrounding the
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Tiananmen Square uprising and the other on changing images of Asian women.
(“NWT Spring Original Production: Letters”). The play and the forums also were
part of a Symposium on Asian and Asian-American Issues held at UMASS. In
addition, “Notes for a New World” in fall 1991 announced four multicultural courses
available in spring 1991 and several courses that include works by playwrights of
color or a strong multicultural component.
New WORLD Theater 1991-1992
In the fall of 1991, the NWT season included performances of: Latins
Anonymous; Camp Logan by Mountain Top Productions; Walls by Jeannie Barroga,
an original NWT production; and M. Butterfly by David Henry Hwang, which was
co-sponsored by the NWT and the Fine Arts Center Performing Arts Series.
Latins Anonymous was written and performed by California-based actors
Luisa Leschin, Armando Molina, Rick Najera, and Diane Rodriguez. An outrageous
show that blasted Latin stereotypes, Latins Anonymous illustrated that jokes can have
a serious side (“Latins Anonymous Opens NWT Fall Season”).
Camp Logan was a docu-drama about the all-black 24th Infantry that rebelled
against their poor treatment in Houston, Texas in 1917. Though these soldiers
believed they would be sent overseas to prove their fighting ability, they were sent as
laborers to build a camp. The soldiers marched on the town and killed twenty
townspeople, resulting in the largest murder trial up to that time in U.S. history
(Dering).
Walls is about the building of the Vietnam memorial. Written by second
generation Filipino playwright Jeanie Barroga, the play was inspired by the
photographs in the Jan Scruggs’ book To Heal a Nation, a series of photographs with
accompanying text on the Vietnam Memorial. The Maya Lin character in the play
reveals the playwright’s frustration at being told to redo her art. Barroga believed that
the conflict over the design of the Wall was racially driven. She used Maya Lin’s own
words in a dialogue that eloquently defends the memorial. The play addressed a
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salient issue that was present in Barroga’s life—the denial of what you are. She
wrote,
how can you stand up there and talk about a memorial to an Asian war
and not point out that you are Asian. . .this seemed to be the perfect
opportunity to cover. . .that denial that I’ve seen a lot of Asians in
American society. . .you always have to be aware, you have to
acknowledge that otherness in you, especially when it’s physically
apparent. (“Notes for a New World” Fall 1991)
M. Butterfly was presented in cooperation with the NWT and the Fine Arts
Center Performing Arts Series. The production was part of the national tour of this
smash Broadway hit, which was based on the true story of a Western diplomat who
has an illicit love affair with a Chinese opera star.
In November 1991, NWT brought in the Underground Railway Theater for a
one and one-half week residency in which they spent time brainstorming a new
production dealing with the contemporary legacy of Columbus’ discovery of
America. With partial funding from the Lila Wallace-Reader’s Digest Art Partners
Program to further develop the play and present it in spring 1992, the resulting play
would eventually be funded by numerous groups on campus and the Five College
consortium (“Notes for a New World” Fall 1991). Miss Ida B. Wells by Endesha Ida
Mae Holland opened the 1992 spring season. The play was based on the life of the
early African American journalist, suffragist, and militant civil rights leader Ida B.
Wells. The season also included The Christopher Columbus Follies: An Eco Cabaret;
a special children’s presentation of Are You Ready My Sister? by the Underground
Railway Theater; and Foghorn by Hanay Geiogamah, another NWT original
production.
Miss Ida B. Wells was part of “Hear Our Voices: Reflections of Early African
American Experience,” a series sponsored by the NWT to provide a venue for the
voices of Black woman playwrights. NWT was awarded a $15,000 grant by the
Massachusetts Foundation for the Humanities to support the production, which toured
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three sites in Western Massachusetts. Presented during Black History Month, Miss
Ida B. Wells was directed by Uno and performed by Ingrid Askew, artistic director of
First World Images of Springfield, and Nefertiti Burton, graduate student in the
Department of Theater at UMASS. The performance was the subject of later panel
discussions with African American theatre artists, activists, and scholars, consistent
with the NWT goal of making theater more than an event. According to Uno, the
NWT sought to provide “an interactive educational experience. The [NWT] is deeply
committed to using cultural presentations as a catalyst for audience discussion and
response. . .” (“Notes for a New World” Fall 1991).
Ida B. Wells was ahead of her time, fighting biases so far ahead of her own
people that many were ashamed of her. The play’s main focus is Wells’ campaign
against the “lynch laws” that terrorized Southern blacks. Uno’s direction emphasized
the status of young Blacks, with opening and closing sound cues of young voices
speaking of being followed as they walk through a store (“Inspired Invective”).
Horace Clarence Boyer, recipient of recognition at the NWT tenth anniversary
celebration, was the musical director of the production. A symposium connecting the
historical with the contemporary followed the Saturday matinee performance of Miss
Ida B. Wells (Christopher, 2 November 1992).
The Underground Railway Theater from Cambridge, Massachusetts presented
cabaret-style The Christopher Columbus Follies: An Eco-Cabaret during this same
season. Using music, drama, and puppetry the play explored the legacy of Columbus
and his impact on the peoples and environments of the Americas. The Underground
Railway used a cabaret format like a dramatic version of an essay, using themes in
various contexts. According to Underground Railway Theater members, the scenes
in the eco-cabaret were created developmentally, with research inspired by a
conference for Clergy and Concerned Laity entitled, “Columbus in Context:
Rediscovering the Americas” (The Christopher Columbus Follies press packet). Postperformance discussions were designed to help the audience to process the material
presented in the eco-cabaret. The production was written-up in the New England
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Elementary Educator as an interesting “study trip” for elementary-age students
(“Historical Adventures Get Realistic Adaptation”).
Are You Ready My Sister?, a children’s play utilizing puppetry and masks to
depict the life of Harriet Tubman, was co-sponsored by the New England foundation
for the Arts and the NWT (Are You Ready My Sister? flyer). Kiowa playwright
Hanay Geigomah’s Native-American classic Foghorn was the last play of the 1992
spring season. The NWT had a twelve-year history of producing Geigomah’s plays.
Foghorn was a biting satire of American Indian experience touching on the myth of
the “Columbus “discovery,” the Pocahontas story, religious conversion, the Bureau of
Indian Affairs policy, Wounded Knee, the Lone Ranger, and FBI infiltration of the
American Indian Movement. Rochelle Calhoun, a former member of the NWT
Ensemble and a graduate of Mount Holyoke, directed the play. She went on to earn a
master’s degree in directing at Columbia University and is now Dean of Students at
Mount Holyoke College. As part of a celebration of American Indian Heritage, the
NWT also presented a symposium on issues surrounding Foghorn (“Kiowa
Playwright’s Foghorn Combines Tragedy, Ritual, Satire”). The play received a
scathing review from the Collegian student newspaper, however. The reviewer called
the NWT to task for presenting a “tasteless expression of everything that they
allegedly oppose. If the funds which this group is currently fighting for are given, one
can only hope that they will not waste them on more tripe like this” (McDonnell 27
April 1992).
New WORLD Theater 1992-1993
The 1992 NWT fall season included: the American Indian Dance Theater, cosponsored by the NWT with the Fine Arts Center Performing Arts Series; Marga
Gómez Is Pretty Witty and Gay and Memory Tricks by Marga Gómez; and a reprise of
Jude Narita’s Coming into Passion, Song for a Sansei. The American Indian Dance
Theater Company presented dancers and musicians from the Dakotas, the Southwest,
Canada, and the Great Plains performing authentic dances in different dress. Hanay
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Geigomah was the director and choreographer of this performance. Marga Gómez,
born in Harlem to a Cuban comedian and a Puerto Rican exotic dancer, was in
residence for one week at the NWT in October of 1992. She created two different
evenings: Marga Gómez is Pretty, Witty and Gay and Memory Tricks, Gómez’ first
full-length monologue written as she worked though her feelings about her mother’s
diagnosis of Alzheimer’s disease. The play was described as “an astonishingly funny,
blisteringly painful consideration of her family and of all our families as well.” Her
later piece, Marga Gómez Is Pretty, Witty and Gay, tore down cultural icons satirized
stereotypes of the gay and lesbian experience while exploring the author’s own fears
and doubts (“Spotlight: Marga Gómez Actress/Comedian/ Playwright”).
In the 1992-93 season, The Tragedy of Macbeth was performed at the Fine
Arts Center by the Committed Artists of Great Britain, Black actors from the Royal
Shakespeare Company, and the Royal National Theatre Company. The play was set
in twentieth century Africa. Director Stephen Rayne, a protégé of Adrian Noble and
Artistic Director of the Royal Shakespeare Company, wanted the audience to make a
connection between Shakespeare’s Scotland and Africa in the grip of tribal and
international war, famine, disease, poverty, AIDS, and overpopulation. Rayne saw
similarities between the political instability of Africa and the events that occur in
Macbeth (“Committed Artists of Great Britain in Macbeth at Fine Arts Center”).
The NWT decided to present on a regular basis the most popular of the past
productions. The last play of the 1992 season was a repeat of Coming Into
Passion/Song For a Sensei, which had been performed in the fall 1989 season. The
one-woman show, written and performed by Jude Narita, is described as a
journey of discovery, as a thoroughly assimilated young sensei—a
third generation Japanese-American—moves from ignorance and
indifference to an understanding and appreciation of her people’s
experience, both in the New World and under the sometimes horrific
impact of American influence in Asia. (“Alternate Visions” 27
October 1992)
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In the 1992-93 season, the NWT also received a grant for $11,000 from the
Massachusetts Foundation for the Humanities to extend the tour of the NWT
production of Miss Ida B. Wells. This grant provided funds for the production to tour:
the Heritage State Parks of Lynn, Lowell, Lawrence and Holyoke, as
well as to the Museum of Fine Arts in Springfield, the Friendly House
of Worcester, Stonehill College in North Easton, and two public high
schools; Amherst Regional and Central High in Springfield. The tour
took place September 1992-June 1993. (“Notes for a New World” Fall
1992)
Uno continued to raise funds in order to maintain associations with artists of color
and through repeated performances and residencies.
The spring 1993 NWT season included: Word!, an evening of student oneacts; Miss Ida B. Wells by Endesha Ida Mae Holland, a reprise of an original NWT
production; Fierce Love and Dark Fruit by Pomo Afro Homos, co-sponsored by
NWT with the Program for Gay, Lesbian and Bisexual Concerns and the Lesbian,
Bisexual, Gay Alliance; August Wilson’s Joe Turner’s Come and Gone, an original
production of NWT and the UMASS Department of Theater; Reverb-Ber-BerRations, written and performed by Spiderwoman Theater; and Tokyo Bound by Amy
Hill.
A trio of San Francisco-based actors made up the Pomo Afro Homos (the Post
Modern African American Homosexuals) Brian Freeman, Djola Bernard Branner,
and Eric Gupton. Their two productions, Fierce Love and Dark Fruit were
compilations of skits and monologues capturing Black gay life and Black gay
childhood. Freeman described the group’s purpose as “blowing those stereotypes out
of the water” (“Notes for a New World” Spring 1993). In conjunction with the
productions, a symposium entitled “Intersection: Confronting Racism and
Homophobia” and a brown-bag lunch discussion were conducted as part of the
Lesbian, Gay and Bisexual studies weekly series, “Who Is We? Race, Sexuality,
Identity and Culture.” (Jones 18-21 February 1993; St. John February 1993). The
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symposium provided a continuing connection with organizations on campus and
within the community served by the NWT. The conference gave a voice to a
community often unheard on college campuses.
August Wilson’s Joe Turner’s Come and Gone, the third co-sponsored
production with the UMASS Department of Theater, was directed by Nefertiti
Burton. Set in Philadelphia in 1911, the play traced the migration of newly freed
African slaves into the city. According to the promotion article in the NWT
newsletter,
Wilson describes how these people, ‘isolated, cut off from memory,
having forgotten the names of the gods, arrive dazed and stunned, their
heart kicking in their chest with a song worth singing’ and eventually
find in the city ‘a new identity as free men of definite and sincere
worth.’ (“Notes for a New World” Spring 1993)
Burton cited the NWT as one of the reasons she chose to study at UMASS, and Uno
described Burton as a member of one of the first groups of graduate students of color
in the Theater Department. The presence of the NWT had by now become a
recruiting resource for the UMASS Department of Theater.
Three sisters—Lisa Mayo, Gloria Miguel and Muriel Miguel—formed the
heart of Spiderwoman Theater. Reverb-Ber-Ber-Ration was a play about their Native
American spirituality and “connections to the drum, the heartbeat, to elders,
ancestors, tribes, nations and to the future generations,” and the spelling of the play’s
title was meant to reflect these connections. Some controversy existed about the
women playing the drums, which in Native American tradition were played only by
the men. The women of Spiderwoman Theatre cited “oral history sources” that
indicated that centuries ago Native American women did handle the drum, however,
if they were “no longer of childbearing age” (“Notes for a New World” Spring 1993).
The last production of the spring 1993 season was Amy Hill’s Tokyo Bound.
Actor/writer Hill had worked with the San Francisco Asian American Theater
Company, the Eureka Theatre, Los Angeles’ Mark Taper Forum, and the Los Angeles
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Theatre Center. Her background (her father was Finnish-American and her mother
was a Japanese war bride) contributed to her creative work. Tokyo Bound is Hill’s
story of her move to Japan at the age of eighteen and the six years she spent working
in television and radio as she developed her sense of comedy and ability to meet
widely different people. Hill stated:
You can use improvisation to break through barriers. . .not to give up
who you are and your life and experiences and the people who have
affected you, but also to embrace all the other things that everybody
else has seen and are making fun of too. We have to take it on
ourselves and become a political force. (“Comedy of Identity in Tokyo
Bound at New WORLD Theater”)
Identity was the theme of many NWT productions throughout the 1990s. The
transformative nature of education became real as performers explored their identities
for and with the audience.
The NWT announced in its spring 1993 newsletter a proposed collaboration
between the NWT and the Hampshire Multicultural Theater Collective (MCTC) to
commission Marga Gómez to create an original theatre piece. During the spring of
1993, Gómez spent a week in residence at UMASS, with the intention of performing
the new piece the following year. During this time she performed her stand-up
comedy both at UMASS and Hampshire.
New WORLD Theater 1993-1994
The fall 1993 NWT season included: Do the Riot Thing by the Chicano Secret
Service; Dark Cowgirls and Prairie Queens, a repeat production by Carpetbag
Theater; Cric? Crac! by Carpetbag Theater; 1992 Blood Speaks by Coatlicue Las
Colorado; and A Dream of Canaries, an original production by the NWT and the
UMASS Department of Theater.
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The fall semester began with controversy, however, about the moving of the
NWT offices from Hasbrouk Hall. The staff was not informed in advance of the
move, which resulted in the following coverage in the Collegian:
After the very turbulent semester we experienced last year on this
campus, I hope the University has reflected on some of the inane
decisions that are often made without any communication with
members of the community and which have been made with lack of
regards for the feelings of others. (Gomes, 13 September 1993)
The NWT staff perceived the move as an example of the administration’s callous
treatment of minorities. The article described the impact of the NWT on students and
the surrounding communities and noted that the NWT had been requesting expanded
office space since 1987 without any result. The student newspaper writer complained
that the Physics Department needed additional space and received that space at the
expense of the NWT.
The first production of the fall 1993 season, Do the Riot Thing, was created
out of the 1992 Los Angeles riots. The Chicano Secret Service was a group of three
men from the southern California barrios: Elias Serna, Lalo López and Tomás
Carrasco. Performing together since 1988, the group targeted “the youth and
[particularly] young Chicanos who are at that critical point in their lives when they
are making decisions and . . . questioning the systems . . . that control us in this
country” (“Notes for a New World” Fall 1993). The Chicano Secret Service sought
to confront their audiences with political and social issues and force them to think
critically. The group felt that the angry nature of this confrontation with the audience
made them significantly different from other Latino comedy groups. Carrasco stated,
“We don’t have to make material up. It’s there for us . . . We’re attacking the system
very cleverly, intellectually and streetwise . . . ly” (“Notes for a New World” Fall
1993). The Chicano Secret service also gave a workshop and presented a free
performance for Latino and other youth at Northampton High School.
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Knoxville, Tennessee’s Carpetbag Theater presented two plays that fall, Dark
Cowgirls and Prairie Queens and Cric? Crac!. A reprise of their 1988 production at
the NWT, Dark Girls used folktale and myth to examine the lives of seven pioneer
Black women. Cric? Crak! was a series of folk tales from Haiti, Senegal, and the
southern United States. The title referred to a Haitian convention of preceding the
telling of stories with “‘Cric?’ (Are you listening?) -- to be answered by the audience
with ‘Crac!’ (Yes!). Designed to teach children about the history of African American
storytelling” (“Notes for a New World” Fall 1993), the troupe also offered a free
workshop open to the public.
Written and directed by the Colorado sisters, Hortensia and Elvira from the
group Coatlicue Las Colorado, 1992 Blood Speaks looked at the Columbus myth
through Native American eyes. Pura Fe and Soni Moreno-Primeau joined the sisters
in this performance. The play included videotaped interviews of Zapotec women that
the sisters had conducted in Oaxaca, Mexico. The play incorporated different cultural
and historical perspectives and used English, Spanish, and Native languages, dress,
and music. Consistent with the Native American philosophy that “everything is a
circle,” the concept for the piece centered on the continuum of experience (“Notes for
a New World” Fall 1993). In addition to the performance, Coatlicue Las Colorado
conducted a free workshop at UMASS and Hampshire College.
The last play of the fall 1993 season was A Dream of Canaries by Diane
Sáenz, a joint production of the NWT and the UMASS Department of Theater and
directed by Uno. Located in an unnamed country, the play explored the issue of
disappearances. Canaries delved into the lives of people living under systems that
routinely violate human rights, people living on the edge, illustrating what living with
terror can do to a population. Roberto Clavijo, a self-taught musician/composer from
Chile, composed the original music for the production, which was accompanied by a
symposium on political violence in Latin America. The symposium brought together
Carlos Oliva, a community activist and political refugee from Guatemala; Liliana
Acero, a visiting sociology and Latin American Studies professor from Argentina;
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Paula Rojas, a local activist who left her native Chile during the Pinochet
dictatorship; Dalila Balfour, an activist who focused on health care as a human right
and who left her native Honduras after being involved in the revolutionary
underground; and Martín Espada, Puerto Rican poet and UMASS English professor.
The symposium brought together these panelists as well as the members of the
community in attendance.
The spring 1994 NWT season included: From the Mississippi Delta, written
by Endesha Ida Mae Holland and produced by Daedalus Productions; WORD!, staged
readings of plays written by students; A Grain of Sand by Nobuko Miyamoto; Wild
Woman At Large Performance Series Presents Marga Gómez, co-sponsored by NWT
with the Program for Gay, Lesbian, and Bisexual Concerns; La Carpa Aztlán
Presents “I Don’t Speak English Only” by El Centro Su Teatro, co-sponsored by
NWT with the Fine Arts Center Performing Arts Series; A Revival of Black Women’s
Stories: One Deaf Experience by the Onyx Theater; and two one-acts by Alice
Childress, Florence and Mojo, an original NWT production. In the spring season,
the NWT also received an invitation to present Miss Ida B. Wells at the Third Annual
International Women Playwrights’ conference in Adelaide, Australia, the only college
production participating in the conference (“New WORLD Theater Invited to
Conference in Australia,” 24 June 1994). A number of UMASS offices funded the
trip for the production.
Holland’s From the Mississippi Delta was an autobiographical story of the
playwright’s journey from childhood in segregated Mississippi to her position as full
professor at the State University of New York at Buffalo. The production employed
three actresses portraying multiple characters.
Third generation Japanese-American Nobuko Miyamoto was the creator of A
Grain of Sand. The play was a fusion of music, poetry and video that revealed
Miyamoto’s journey to find her own voice. The Los Angeles riots served as a
metaphor for Miyamoto to present her questions about how to use music and theatre
to create change (“Notes for a New World” Spring 1994).
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Marga Gómez’s 1993 residency at NWT honed Memory Tricks prior to its
performance at the New York Shakespeare Festival Public Theatre. In the spring of
1994, the NWT announced that it would co-commission a new play from Marga
Gómez in conjunction with the Mark Taper forum in Los Angeles. The new play was
to focus on her father and would be the third play in the autobiographical trilogy that
included Memory Tricks and Marga Gómez is Pretty Witty and Gay. Gómez, a
founding member of Culture Clash, had been a guest artist with Culture Clash in their
performance of Carpa Clash at the Mark Taper Forum in November-December of
1993, and Gómez had performed an evening of stand-up comedy in the fall 1993
NWT season. The NWT announced that it would present Gómez’ new play in the fall
1994 season (“Notes for a New World” Spring 1994).
Denver’s El Centro Su Teatro made their first appearance at the NWT with
their production of La Carpa Aztlán Presents “I Don’t Speak English Only.” Written
by the company’s artistic director Anthony J. Garcia and performed in the style of a
Mexican carpa vaudeville tent show, the play was “a probing analysis of Englishonly legislation through biting satire, music, singing and drama.” A multi-disciplinary
cultural arts center in the Elyria neighborhood of Northeast Denver, El Centro Su
Teatro was founded in 1971 and inspired by Luis Valdez’s El Teatro Campesino
(“Notes for a New World” Spring 1994; Notes for a New World” Fall 1995).
The Onyx Theatre is an American theatre company for deaf minority actors
founded by Michelle Banks in 1989. Banks created Black Women’s Stories: One Deaf
Experience, drawing on fourteen short stories and poems from eight hearing and deaf
Black women. The NWT and the UMASS Disability Services Office also cosponsored a symposium that looked at issues of the deaf community of color (“Notes
for a New World” Spring 1994).
Celia Hinson, a former NWT Ensemble member and student at UMASS,
studied the Suzuki Method at StageWest in Springfield, Massachusetts, and returned
as the head teacher and coordinator of children’s theatre productions at Capacidad in
Amherst. Hinson returned to the NWT to direct the last production of the spring
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season, two one-acts by Alice Childress—Florence, set during segregation, and Mojo,
a black love story. Hinson described these plays as having “basic human meaning.”
According to Childress, the plays concerned
women, the struggles of mothers and daughters and the legacy that
each generation passes down to the next. These are plays about things
that our culture takes for granted: communication, and developing
appreciation for the life givers. (“Notes for a New World” Spring
1994)
Hinson’s work perpetuated the NWT goal of involving the local community and
using theatre to effect change.
In addition to the productions of the spring 1994 season, the NWT engaged in
an audience development project funded by the Lila Wallace-Reader’s Digest Arts
Partners Program. The goal of the project was to broaden the audience for Latino
theatre by creating partnerships with communities outside the town of Amherst
(Latino Theater Project Final Report 1995-1996). The NWT targeted the
Massachusetts towns of Holyoke, Springfield, Northampton, and Amherst for the
Latino Theatre Project, the goals and results of which will be discussed further in
Chapter Four.
New WORLD Theater 1994-1995
The fall of 1994 NWT season included A Line Around the Block by Marga
Gómez; The Queen’s Garden and Tales of the Pacific Rim by Brenda Wong Aoki;
Open Wounds on Tlalteuctli by Coatlicue Las Colorado; Sheila’s Day by Duma
Ndlovu, an original production of NWT and the UMASS Theater Department;
S.I.N.G.: Silence is Never Golden, An Exploration of the Complexities of African
American Lesbian Lives by the Women’s Theatre Project which was co-sponsored by
the NWT and the Program for Gay, Lesbian, and Bisexual Concerns.
The fall season opened with Marga Gómez’ new work, A Line Around the
Block or My Art Belongs to Daddy. Commissioned by the NWT and the Center
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Theatre Group/Mark Taper Forum, the play centered on Gómez’ father and the world
of Latino show business in New York City. Gómez stated:
I was an only child of the marriage of a Cuban comedian-impresario to
a Puerto Rican dancer and aspiring actress. I grew up in the Sixties
believing that my parents were big time stars. . . and in the Latino
community of Manhattan, they were. There was nothing more fun
than tagging along with my parents to the Teatros on the weekend and
being a fly on the wall backstage while my parents and their show biz
colleagues (some very talented, others just well endowed) entertained
the familias, from grandparents to the babies, all dressed in their best.
It looked like church with a beat. (Notes for a New World Fall 1994)
Gómez pulled the performance material from her life. The piece was first developed
at the NWT, then worked on with Corey Madden, Associate Producing Director at the
Mark Taper Forum, and finally performed at Josie’s Cabaret in San Francisco, before
returning to the NWT. Madden came to the NWT for Gómez’ residency and directed
the workshop Gómez conducted at this time (Notes for a New World Fall 1994).
Brenda Wong Aoki’s The Queen’s Garden was the closing event of “Women
of Color: A Passion for Justice,” a day-long program presented by the Every Woman
Center. The local event brought together activists and organizers for a panel
discussion that included: Carmen Rosa, School committee member, Springfield; Tha
Bin of the Cambodian American Association of Amherst; and Marsh Burnet of Arise
for Social Justice of Springfield. Yuri Kochiyama, a community activist from Harlem,
delivered the keynote speech. A second program presented by the Every Woman
Center, “In Our Own Image: The Portrayal of Women of Color in the Media,” took
place in conjunction with Sheila’s Day in November. The Queen’s Garden examined
“urban violence from the perspective of a woman coming of age.” Aoki said the play
was based on her childhood, “mixed up as chop suey—I am Chinese, Japanese,
Chicano, and Scots, my work with street gangs in Long Beach and fifteen years
experience as a community organizer in Watts, East L.A., Hunter’s Point, the
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Mission, and Chinatown.” The NWT continued its work with community
organizations in the course of this project, an experience that would become a factor
in the development of NWT educational community outreach projects in the future
(Notes for a New World Fall 1994). NWT’s community outreach began as audience
development; however, the work quickly shifted to empowerment, politicization, and
indentity-building of the participants and artists involved in the projects.
The Colorado Sisters (Coatlicue Las Colorado) returned to the NWT with
Open Wounds on Tlalteuctli. The play was a “multi-media theater piece that
examined violence against women and against the earth.” The sisters described
themselves as “weaving stories of the goddesses with personal stories of their family
and themselves, incorporating the Nahuatl language and reaffirming their survival as
urban Indian women” (Notes for a New World” Fall 1994). The NWT established
long-term relationships with groups such as the Colorado Sisters, allowing the NWT
to play a role in their growth and development.
The production of Sheila’s Day was a collaboration between the NWT and the
UMASS Theater Department. The play was “developed by African American women
theatre artists at Crossroads Theater of New Brunswick, New Jersey Sangoma
Project, who collaborated with African writer Ndlovu to create a drama with music
which parallels the struggles for liberation on both continents.” The play’s name was
a reference to the traditional Thursday day-off for domestic workers in South Africa
known as “Sheila’s Day.” Directed by Roberta Uno, the play’s structure and themes
related the Civil Rights Movement to the South African struggle for liberation
(“Notes for a New World” Fall 1994).
The last play of fall 1994 was S.I.N.G.: Silence is Never Golden: An
Exploration of the Complexities of African American Lesbian Lives, co-sponsored by
the NWT and the Program for Gay, Lesbian, and Bisexual Concerns. Produced by the
Women’s Theatre Project, a multi-cultural, multi-racial, non-profit company
producing progressive, lesbian, feminist, experimental theatre, S.I.N.G. was described
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as “an autobiographical journey of identity, spirituality, humor and sexuality through
six women’s lives” (Notes for a New World” Fall 1994).
During the summer and fall of 1994, the NWT commissioned Lane Nishikawa
to write a new play, Heartbeat of America. The idea for the commission began in the
spring of 1993 with community meetings organized around the anniversary of the Los
Angeles riots that followed the notorious Rodney King beating. Nishikawa was
chosen because of his long-term relationship with the NWT, his ongoing contact with
the region, and the urban youth perspective reflected in his writing. Nishikawa visited
the area in the summer to meet with NWT organizers and saw the potential for a play
to explore the issues related to African Americans, Latino, and Asian Pacific
American youth. He addressed the issues from both national and local perspectives.
In May and June of 1994, Nishikawa held a series of workshops and
interviews with organizations that worked with youth of color in the San Francisco
bay area. In July 1994, he visited the NWT and met with residents of Springfield,
Holyoke, and Amherst as well as members of Springfield’s Youth Mobilization
Board, the Holyoke Teen Resource project, the Holyoke Youth Alliance, and the Self
Reliance Center in Springfield. Nishikawa’s plan was to produce his play as early as
spring 1995 in various locations in Holyoke, Springfield, and Amherst. The Asian
American Theater Company in San Francisco also planned to “produce and tour the
play to school and community settings” (Notes for a New World” Fall 1994).
The NWT 1995 spring season included: Monkhood in Three Easy Lessons
written and performed by Dan Kwong; Frederick Douglass Now written and
performed by Roger Guenveur Smith; Botanica by Dolores Prida, performed by
Repertorio Espanol; and a children’s play, My Snow White, written and performed by
MOTOKO.
Asian American performance artist Dan Kwong was based in Los Angeles.
He began his work as a visual artist and became fascinated by performance art. In
performance art he combined visual art, writing, music, storytelling, sound effects,
and physical movement. His athletic training in various martial arts influenced his
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movement in performance. Monkhood in Three Easy Lessons focused on male
identity from an Asian American point of view. Mingling physical movement and
visual imagery, Kwong created dialogues about his childhood and his Japanese
grandfathers. In addition to his performance, Kwong presented a movement workshop
for NWT Ensemble members (“Notes for a New World” Spring 1995).
The W. E. B. DuBois Department of African American Studies and the NWT
presented Frederick Douglass Now to commemorate the centennial of Douglass’
death. In addition, a symposium entitled “100 Years After Douglass: A Look at his
Legacy,” explored the impact of the great Black nineteenth century African American
orator and abolitionist on his world. One performance for area youth was a benefit for
the Grove Street Inn, an emergency shelter for homeless adults that served Hampshire
County (“Notes for a New World” Spring 1995), an example of the NWT’s
commitment to find ways to give something back to neighboring communities
through outreach like benefit performances.
Dolores Prida’s Botanica tells the story of the cultural conflicts between an
older Puerto Rican woman, her daughter, and her granddaughter. The Repertorio
Español performed the play in Spanish, and headsets were available for simultaneous
translation into English (“Notes for a New World” Spring 1995).
The last play of the spring season was the children’s production, My Snow
White, a one-woman play by MOTOKO that told the story of a Japanese woman’s
journey from youth to adulthood. The mime piece was accompanied by music and
moved beyond traditional street mime to exquisite storytelling through movement.
MOTOKO stated, “By choosing to express myself in a physical world instead of a
spoken world, a whole realm of possibilities are opened to me.” MOTOKO chose to
work as a solo artist so that she could maintain control of her work (“Notes for a New
World” Spring 1995).
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New WORLD Theater 1995-1996
The NWT 1995 fall season included Maija of Chaggaland and Ndito the
Masai Girl by Sheela Langeberg; Strawberries and Chocolate by Senel Paz, an Arete
Inc. Production co-sponsored by the NWT with the Stonewall Center; Tales from the
Flats, an NWT original production, written by Sandra Rodriguez, in collaboration
with New Visions and Teatro Moriviví of Holyoke, MA, presented by NWT’s Latino
Theater Project; Flyin’ West by Pearl Cleage, an original production co-produced by
NWT with the Mount Holyoke College Department of Theatre; Bones and Ash: A
Gilda Story by Urban Bush Women; and The Return of Margarita by Sandra
Rodríguez and Marilú Martínez Acosta, a GRUPO BRIDGES production.
Tanzanian performer and storyteller Sheela Langeberg opened the season with
Maija of Chaggaland, a story based on Langeberg’s mother. Langeberg used her
mother to represent every human being. Through music, dance, and storytelling the
story of a woman’s turmoil, trauma, and heartache were presented. Maija “faced
rebuke for refusing to marry the man she was arranged to marry and fighting to keep
her daughters from being circumcised.” This play was seen at the Third International
Women Playwright’s conference in Adelaide, Australia. Langeberg also presented
Ndito the Masai Girl, an adventurous and hopeful play for children based the true
story of a child from Tanzania who Langeberg followed for five days (“Notes for a
New World” Fall 1995).
Strawberries and Chocolate was an English translation of Cuban author Senel
Paz’s novella El lobo, el bosque, y el hombre nuevo [The Wolf, the Woods, and the
New Man]. The play was produced by Arete, a theatre company from Puerto Rico,
and portrayed the story of a middle-aged gay man in Castro’s Cuba. The play also
dealt with Cuba’s treatment of gays, homophobia, revolution, and betrayal (“Notes
for a New World” Fall 1995). Strawberries and Chocolate was also the title of a
Cuban film based on the same novella and inspired by this stage production.
Tales From the Flats was the culmination of the first residency of the Latino
Theater Project led by GRUPO BRIDGES playwright Sandra Rodríguez. Gloria
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Zelaya directed the production. Choreographer Julio Peña, set designer Miguel
Romero, visual artist Norma Rivera-Díaz, and musician/composer Jose González also
worked on the production. These artists collaborated with several Latino community
leaders (including Juan Rivera, Holyoke’s Teen Resource Center director and director
of the youth theatre New Vision/Nueva Vision; Miguelina and José Correa, Teatro
Moriviví directors; NWT’s Joshua Fontánez, Latino Theater Project coordinator; and
Uno) to create a theatre piece based on the experiences of the Latino community from
“the flats” of Holyoke. The groups worked together for six weeks and performed the
play in various community settings in Holyoke. The play spoke to the concerns and
struggles of the adult and youth community members. Rodríguez spoke of working
with the Holyoke community, “It was great to work with a Puerto Rican community
so different from the ones in New York.” The October performance of Tales From
the Flats was considered the third residency of the Latino Theater Project The next
Latino Theater Project residency was with the Denver-based Chicano theatre group,
Su Teatro.
Pearl Cleage’s Flyin’ West presented a story of pioneering Black women of
the West in the 1850s. The historical play, set in the all-Black town of Nicodemus,
Kansas, confronted issues of spousal abuse and highlighted the strength and capacity
of Black women to cope with the harsh realities of the West. The play was presented
in collaboration with the Mount Holyoke College Department of Theatre (“Notes for
a New World” Fall 1995).
Jawole Willa Jo Zollar, founder of the Urban Bush Women, directed and
choreographed Bones and Ash: A Gilda Story. Zollar aspired to create a “dance
company that depicts African American culture in a way that resembles how Blacks
express themselves when not in the presence of White people.” Urban Bush Women
are known for their celebration of the human spirit through a powerful fusion of
dance, music, and drama. Their work used ritual, myth, and folklore to explore issues
of social injustice as well as related issues such as homelessness, abortion, and
adoption. Bones and Ash is based on the Jewelle Gómez novel The Gilda Stories.
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Gómez worked with the company as they created this production. The play
“fragments the temporal and spatial linearity of the novel for a more non-linear
approach. The story harbours the theme of empowerment of women through history
and the basic human need to belong to a family group” (“Notes for a New World”
Fall 1995).
The last performance of the fall was a reprise of GRUPO BRIDGES’ The
Return of Margarita with Sandra Rodríguez and Marilú Martínez Acosta. The play
celebrated “Puerto Rican women—their struggles, laughters, strengths, choices, and
rituals for survival and blossoming even in the harshest growing season.” Rodríguez
based the story on the mujeres in her family. GRUPO BRIDGES also brought a
family play The Friendly Boat, to Holyoke, Amherst, and Springfield. The play used
music and games to portray a travel adventure through the Caribbean and Latin
America. Both The Friendly Boat and the residency of GRUPO BRIDGES were part
of the Latino Theater Project grant (“Notes for a New World” Fall 1995).
The NWT 1996 spring season included: Assimilation by Shishir Kurup; a
repeat performance of La Carpa Aztlán Presents “I Don’t Speak English Only” and
Night of the Barrio Moon by Anthony J. Garcia, performed by Su Teatro; Pinaytok
(Womyntalk) by Chris Millado, performed by Theater Mayi; More than Feathers and
Beads by Muriel Borst; and excerpts from Heartbeat of America, a staged reading of
a commissioned play written by Lane Nishikawa.
Shishir Kurup was born in Bombay, India, and raised in Mombasa, Kenya,
and the United States. He has referred to himself as Indo-African-American. His
play Assimilation is Kurup’s story of coming to California via India, Kenya, and
South Florida, and his struggle to fit in. It painted the picture of the complex world of
hyphenated integration. Kurup was the Director of the Asian American Theater
Project, a program of the Los Angeles Theatre Company, but left in frustration after
he determined that “they called it multiculturalism while what it was, was
ghettoization” (“Notes for a New World” Spring 1996).
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Su Teatro returned with their production of La Carpa Aztlán Presents “I
Don’t Speak English Only” and a new work in progress Night of the Barrio Moon.
NWT sponsored a symposium discussing issues related to California’s 1994
Proposition 187 and the National Language Act of 1995. Su Teatro participated in the
symposium and teach-in (“Notes for a New World” Spring 1996).
Mayi Theater Ensemble, the only Pilipino-American theatre company in the
East, presented Pinaytok. 11 The play explored the lives of three Pilipino women: one,
a domestic worker in Saudi Arabia who kills her employer while defending herself
from sexual and physical abuse; the second, a star at a film shoot for a pornographic
movie who reveals her abusive childhood and lost love; and the last, a woman
physically abused by her alcoholic husband. The stories were linked by music and
dance. Founded in New York in 1989, Mayi was a forum for Pilipino expression
(“Notes for a New World” Spring 1996).
Murielle Borst’s More Than Feathers and Beads presents four Native
American women based on her friends and family . Borst intended to portray some of
the struggles that Native-American women must endure. The characters—ballerina
Jessica who denied her heritage; fancy shawl dancer Crystal who went to college and
must return to the reservation; and stripper Stephanie who fears she is HIV positive-are drawn together by pop star Bunny. Because Borst was a principal dancer of the
Thunderbird American Indian Dancers, it is not surprising that dance linked the
characters in the play. Muriel Miguel of Spiderwoman Theater directed the play
(“Notes for a New World” Spring 1996). The shared goals of Spiderwoman and the
NWT to pass on the traditions were realized in Borst’s production at the NWT, since
Borst was a protégé of one of the founders of Spiderwoman.
In the spring of 1996, nine grants to support the development of new works by
artists of color were awarded by the NWT and the New England Foundation for the
Arts in partnership with a number of organizations, including Inquilinos Boricuas en
Acción of Boston, Rites and Reason Theater of Providence, and the UMASS
Department of Theater.12 The nine grantees submitted their works in May and four of
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the nine works were selected for further development during July. This play
development project was begun in collaboration with the UMASS Theater
Department. A call for submissions for the 1997 project was posted in the Spring
1996 NWT newsletter. Summer 1996 activities included the New Works For a New
World performance of Return of the Elijah, The African by Sekou Sundiata and
Chicomoztoc—Mimixcoa Cloud Serpents by Coatlicue Theater Company’s Elvira
Colorado (“Notes for a New World” Spring 1996). NWT’s commitment to develop
works by artist of color was a continuation of its earliest goals.
The New WORLD Theater 1996-1997
The fall 1996 NWT season included: Milk of Amnesia, written and performed
by Carmelita Tropicano; Amor Positivo/Positive Love; H. I. VATO by Albert “Beto”
Antonio Araiza; Rosa Luisa Marquez’ Son Corazon/Heartstrung; Undersiege Stories
by Keith Antar Mason and performed by the Hittite Empire; R. A. W. by Diana Son;
Lisa Jones’ Combination Skin; and a one-woman show by lê the diem thûy, Red Fiery
Summer “Mua He Do Lua.”
The NWT’s Latino Theater Project presented a week-long festival called
“Positive/Positivo Gay and Lesbian Latino/a Identities in the time of AIDS,” designed
to explore issues that lie at the intersection of health, race, sexuality, cultural identity,
and creative expression. “The festival centered on a production and symposium that
provided a forum for discussion of issues central to the Latino gay experience”
(Burns 1996). The production Amor Positivo/Positive Love, directed by Julio Pena,
was presented at the UMASS Hampden theater as part of the NWT fall season and in
community centers and gay bars in Springfield, Northampton, and Chicopee,
Massachusetts and in Hartford, Connecticut.
The Undersiege Stories took a hard look at the American justice system seen
through the eyes of three prisoners confined to their on-stage cells. The play was
performed by the Hittite Empire and playwright/actor Keith Antar Mason hosted the
evening. The review described the play as “a raw, no-apologies picture of the horrors
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of prison and the realities of an unjust criminal justice system” (Brown 28 October
1996). The Hittite Empire, an ensemble theatre group from Los Angeles, was founded
by Mason, Michael Keith Woods, and Ellis Rice with the goal of bringing the issues
of the Black community to the forefront of social thought.
The spring 1997 season began with A Laying of Hands written by Michelle
Maureen Verhoosky and performed by the Onyx Theatre Company and included 13
Dias/ 13 Days performed by the San Francisco Mime Troupe; a NWT original
production of Unmerciful Good Fortune by Edwin Sánchez; and Laughter From the
Children of War, written and performed by Club O’Noodles.
The spring of 1997 brought new energy and resources to the NWT. They
received increased funding and added three new positions to the staff: a managing
director, an education and access director, and a production/residency manager.
Yvonne Mendez moved from Managing Director to Director of Design and
Publication. These new positions provided assistance with the projects that had begun
to shape the mission of the NWT—New Works for a New World and the American
Festival Project “Looking Into the Future” community youth program. The new staff
was the result of advocacy on the part of Dr. Fred Tillis, Director of the Fine Arts
Center; Dr. Lee Edwards, Dean of the College of Humanities and Fine Arts; and Dr.
Fred Byron, Vice Chancellor for Research who recognized the significant
contribution of the NWT (“Notes for a New World” Spring 1997). The changes in
staffing at the NWT indicate an institutional realization that the outreach and
educational programs of the NWT were integral to the goals of UMASS. The NWT
was providing a source of diversity at UMASS that, despite the strained relationships
among departments, was of value to the administration.
The return of the Onyx Theatre for A Laying of Hands brought hearing and
deaf actors to the NWT. The San Francisco Mime Troupe presented 13 Días/13 Days,
a multimedia event documenting the Chiapas takeover in 1994. The play centered on
five main characters: a Mayan village leader, a Mexican Army commander for
Chiapas, the commander’s illegitimate daughter, the daughter’s Indian mother, and a
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thirty-something gringo who came to Mexico for “the simple life.” The San
Francisco Mime Troupe is a controversial company that has won numerous awards
for their productions, including Tony and Obie awards. A symposium focusing on
indigenous culture and resistance in Mexico and Latin America was conducted along
with this production. The symposium was supported by the American Friends Service
Committee, UMASS Latin American/Latino Studies, Hampshire College’s Peace and
World Security Studies, and Juan Carlos Aguilar.
Edwin Sánchez’s Unmerciful Good Fortune was directed by Uno. The hardhitting play concerned a district attorney and an hourly-wage earner accused of
poisoning twenty-eight fast-food customers. The last spring production was Club
O’Noodles’ Laughter from the Children of War. Club O’Noodles was the first
“instant Drama & Comedy Vietnamese-Flavored Theater Troupe” based in Los
Angeles. The play was a compilation of the troupe’s stories and a parody of the U.S.
media representation of the Vietnamese people. The troupe’s artistic director, Hung
Nguyen, had worked with Southeast Asian youth in Northampton and Springfield
through the NWT’s Looking In/To the Future project. The Looking In/To the Future
project will be described in detail in Chapter Four.
In the summer of 1997, The New Works for a New World, an NWT play
development project, conceived and produced: Clay Angels by Daniel Alexander
Jones and Todd Christopher Jones; The Good Guys: An American Tragedy by
Michael Edo Keane; Borderscape 2000 by Guillermo Gómez-Peña in collaboration
with Roberto Sifuentes; and E Nana ‘Ike Kumu (Look to the Source) by Leilani Chan.
New WORLD Theater 1997-1998
In fall 1997 the NWT season offered numerous productions, including The
Return of Elijah the African by Sekou Sundiata and directed by Talvin Wilkes;
Greetings from a Queer Señorita by Monica Palacios; Flipsoids by Ralph Pena,
presented by Theatre Ma-Yi; an evening of one-acts by early Black women
playwrights Marita Bonner’s one-act The Purple Flower; and Shirley Graham’s one107
act It’s Morning co-sponsored by the UMASS Department of Theater; and a restaging of the Looking In/To the Future youth performance Society Unmasked and
Homelands in collaboration with community groups New Visions, HCAC.
The NWT distinguished the performances they produced from the
performances they presented in a report entitled “Three-year Producing and
Presenting History,” used for fund raising purposes. The report noted the venues used
by the NWT: the Bowker Auditorium (capacity 650), the Curtain Theatre (capacity
100), the Hampden Theatre (capacity 150), and the Rand Theatre (capacity 40). The
NWT expanded the offerings in numerous locations on the UMASS campus and
collaborated with various production companies and groups between 1995 and 1998
In the spring of 1998, the NWT and the Five College Theatre departments
held a festival of student writing entitled WORD!13 Additional NWT fall productions
were: Quinceañera, created by Alberto “Beto” Antonio Araiza, Paul Bonin
Rodríguez, and Michael Marinez at the NWT in its New Works for a New World
project; Coyote Gets Sober by Alex Sherker, a workshop performance co-produced
with Josephine White Eagle Cultural Center; Fires in the Mirror, written and
performed by Anna Deveare Smith and presented by Trinity Repertory Theatre; Blue
Blood, a one-act play by George Douglas Johnson; Voices in the Rain by Michael
Keck; Marisol by José Rivera, co-produced with the UMASS Department of Theater;
Radio Mambo—Culture Clash Invade Miami, written and performed by Culture
Clash (Richard Montoya, Ric Salinas and Herbert Siguenza); Doña Rosita’s
Jalapeño Kitchen by Rodrigo Duarte Clark, performed by Ruby Nelda Pérez; and a
re-staging of the summer production E Nana ‘Ike Kumu (Look to the Source) I Loko I
Ka Na ‘Au (It is Within You), written and performed by Leïlani Chan in collaboration
with Kumu Hula Clarice Wahinealìi Nuhi.
NWT’s New Works for the New World developed three plays in summer
1998: Clothes by Chitra Divakaruni, co-sponsored by NWT and Mount Holyoke
College Department of Theatre and directed by Roberta Uno; The Doll Plays by Alva
Rogers; and Stories From a Nail Salon by Club O’Noodles. That summer the
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Looking In/To the Future youth outreach project organized by NWT took place on
the UMASS campus.
New WORLD Theater 1998-1999
In the fall of 1998 the NWT embarked on a new project called Intersections.
An October 8-11 NWT gathering included performances, case studies of works in
progress and process, discussion groups and panels. Performances re-staged at the
event included: Borderscape 2000 by Guillermo Gómez-Peña; the bodies between us
by lê the diem thûy; and Quinceañera, created by Alberto “Beto” Antonio Araiza,
Paul Bonin Rodríguez, and Michael Marinez. The case studies included discussions
of: Elijah by Sekou Sundiata and Craig Harris, created at NWT; Civil Sex by Brian
Freeman, co-founder of Pomo Afro Homos; and the indigenous women’s theatre of
San Cristóbal de las Casas (Mexico), FOMMA’s The Strength of Mayan Women
(Fortaleza de la Mujer Maya), discussed by Isabel Juárez Espinoza and Patrona Cruz
Cruz. Other productions of the NWT in the fall of 1998 included SKINning the
SurFACE by Maura Nguyen Donohue and the In Mixed Company; Basa-Mandala,
play with a cobra by Girish Karnad; and a reprise of the Looking In/To the Future
1998 performance.
The highly successful Intersection conference and play festival brought
together scholars and artists of color in various formats to dialogue and explore
connections and differences. 14 The conference presented panels, performances, and
small group discussion. The Artistic Director of Great Leap, Inc., Nobuko Miyamoto,
described the impact of the conference, “New WORLD (Theater) is going beyond
being an outpost, a beacon of hope in the jungle we are surviving in. It’s becoming a
center—a true Intersection, a place of gathering, an ‘ashram’ for the arts” (Notes for a
New World Spring 1999). The importance of a location for dialogue mirrors the
suggestion by critical theorists in education that the discourse from the margin must
take place. Indeed, it must take place at the center. The Intersection Conference
provided such a location.
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New WORLD Theater Spring 1999
The NWT Twentieth Year Anniversary celebration continued in the spring
1999 season, which included Stories from a Nail Salon, a work in progress by Club
O’Noodles; Two Tales From the Boroughs: Hazelle by Hazelle Goodman; Jails,
Hospitals & Hip Hop, a solo show by Danny Hoch; Sanango, written by azande, a coproduction of NWT and the UMASS Theater Department; Things Fall Apart adapted
from Chinua Achebe’s novel by Biyi Bandele and directed by Chuck Mike;
Junebug/Jack by Junebug Productions and Roadside Theater; The Wedding March,
adapted by Rosalba Rolon from Judith Ortiz Cofer’s book Silent Dancing: A Partial
Remembrance of Growing Up Puerto Rican, and performed by Pregones Theater. The
winner of numerous awards, including the OBIE and ACE awards, the Pregones
Theater was founded in 1979. In addition, the Mount Holyoke Theatre Department
and the Five College Multicultural Committee sponsored “WORD! Festival of Staged
Readings.”15 The Committee that selected the plays for that year included Roberta
Uno and faculty from each of the Five College theatre departments.
The NWT described Two Tales From the Boroughs as “two evenings with two
of America’s hottest solo artists.” Hazelle Goodman, a Trinidadian brought up in
Brooklyn, previously had performed her solo show as an HBO special. Hazelle was a
collection of ideas and characters that “caught the playwright’s fancy” incorporating
unique viewpoints and experiences. The solo piece Hazelle engaged the audience
directly. Goodman stated that the audience connected with the piece because “the
characters’ truths are universal” (Notes for a New World Spring 1999). Combining
“political discourse, hip-hop lingo, and social commentary,” New York native Danny
Hoch gave a stunning performance in Jails, Hospitals and Hip Hop. This stark solo
theatrical piece revolved around Andy, a heroin junkie infected with AIDS. Hoch
portrayed the myriad marginalized voices he grew up with in Brooklyn (Notes for a
New World Spring 1999).
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In 1977 African-American Chuck Mike moved to Nigeria to develop his craft
and to find a way to use theatre to foster “a more wholesome understanding between
African and African American on their existence in separate lands” (Notes for a New
World Spring 1999). Mike sought ways to create complex images that represented
Africans in the Diaspora. Mike’s residence at Mount Holyoke, in collaboration with
the NWT and the Five Colleges, provided an opportunity to demonstrate his evolution
in using theatre as a tool to “advance human and social development, dominantly
from within the community.” Mike received his masters degree in philosophy in
theatre arts from the University of Ibadan and taught acting and directing at the
University of Ife (now Obafemi Awolowo University) for 14 years. He formed the
Performance Studio workshop in 1991 as “an experimental training, research and
performance arena with a social service orientation.” Mike’s work brought together
various members of the community and their work was performed in markets, rural
dwellings, and schools. Mike directed Chinua Achebe’s Things Fall Apart, adapted
by Biyi Bandele. He described the importance of Things Fall Apart: “it speaks to the
specificity of ethnic [Nigerian/Ibo] interests as well as that of mankind” (Notes for a
New World spring 1999). In honor of NWT’s twentieth anniversary, Chinua Achebe
presented a reading of his fiction and poetry. This evening was sponsored by the
NWT with the W.E.B. Du Bois Department of African-American Studies as well as
the UMASS English, Theater, and Anthropology departments; Amherst College’s
departments of Black Studies, English, Anthropology and Theater; Hampshire
College’s Multicultural Education and Atopani; Mount Holyoke College’s
Departments of English and Theatre; Smith College’s Departments of Anthropology
and Theatre; Five College, Inc. and the Five College Department of African Studies.
This effort was another example of Uno’s skill at raising funds to present artists of
color in the broader community.
Junebug/Jack originated as a collaboration between Roadside Theater of
Kentucky and Junebug Productions of New Orleans. The play combined the
storytelling traditions of the two cultures using the dialects and speech patterns of
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each to force the audience to capture the true meaning of each story. The companies
intentionally kept the black and white experiences distinct. The “Jack” of the
Appalachian tradition is the symbol of the “inexhaustible spirit of the common man,”
while JunebugJabboJones of the African American tradition is the “voice that can
overcome the history of oppression.” These characters and their stories were
juxtaposed in order for the audience to confront the differences and the
commonalities in the two cultures (Notes for a New World Spring 1999).
Pregones Theater presented The Wedding March, a play that intermingled
women’s stories (cuentos). The two storytellers were the Mujer (woman) and the
Hombre (man). The play was performed in both Spanish and English and was largely
composed of the memories of the Mujer’s own mother growing up in Puerto Rico.
The summer of 1999 brought two regular projects of the NWT: New Works
for a New World, which presented Anybody Seen Marie Laveau? by Aishah Rahman,
and the summer youth retreat and performance Looking In/To the Future ’99:
Simultaneous Histories. The Bronx-based Universes ensemble also conducted
workshops on spoken-word poetry with participating youth.
New WORLD Theater 1999-2000
Universes opened the fall 1999 NWT Season with a performance of “U”
Fresh Out of the Box. Paul Bonin Rodríguez wrote and performed the second
production of the fall 1999 season: The Texas Trinity, comprised of three solo
performances—Talk of the Town, The Bible Belt and Other Accessories, and Love in
the Time of College. Other fall productions included: HA by Dawn Akemi Saito; a
reading from Urban Tattoo by Marie Humber Clements; and Magdalena Gómez’
Latinas: Remembering and Another Way to See. The last production of 1999 was
Shakin’ the Mess Outta Misery by Shay Youngblood.
Uno stated at a Theatre Communications Group annual conference in June of
1999 that the “future of theater may rest with groups like Universes in the Bronx [. . .]
groups of young artists working with different performance genres from innovative
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theater, spoken work, performance poetry, alternative music, hip hop, sketch comedy,
and digital media to energize and expand the contemporary theater and performance”
(Notes for a New World Fall 1999). Universes began at The Point, an arts center in
Hunts Point, South Bronx. Steven Sapp, Flaco Navaja, and Mildred Ruiz incorporated
hip-hop music and theatre into their work, which they saw as a new form of theatre.
They were described as “ an effervescent, racially mixed group [. . .] as likely to kick
some poetry as break out into a cappella singing, to orchestrate a vocal exercise as
they are to burst into a step show” (Notes for New World Fall 1999). Universes
returned in summer of 2000 to work with the youth in Project 2050.
Performance artist, writer, and Butoh dancer Dawn Akemi Saito brought her
solo performance piece HA to the NWT. The play explored the silences and
challenges of communicating through language: “HA is the story of a young girl who
‘swallows her voice the moment she sees her grandfather’s grotesquely disfigured
face.’ Saito performs this intense inter-disciplinary theatre piece incorporating Butoh
movement” (Notes for a New World Fall 1999). Saito described Butoh movement as
“a highly theatrical dance form, involving strong expression through the face and
entering into highly charged states” (Notes for a New World Fall 1999). Saito
continued NWT’s presentation of the synthesis of dance, theatre, and cultural critique
in many forms pointing to the future of theatre.
Urban Tattoo was a Native American tale of Rosemarie’s journey to the city
and home again. Playwright Marie Humber Clements and director Randy Reinholz
presented Urban Tattoo as a reading and led an accompanying discussion designed to
share the artistic process with the NWT audience. Reinholz describes the events of
the play as “tattoos, beauty marks that [Rosemarie] owns with pride” (Notes for a
New World Fall 1999).
Puertorriqueña Magdalena Gómez presented several pieces at NWT in the fall
of 1999. Gómez describes the purpose of her work as empowering women and
reclaiming their voices. Gómez worked with Enchanted Circle Theatre, a Holyokebased theatre for young audiences that performed the play at the NWT. Latino
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Voices/Voces Latina: Remembering and Another Way to See were designed to teach
youth and families about the power of words. Gómez explained,
Children are wounded by language, spic, nigger, fag, dyke. Those
words are real and they need to be said and acknowledged for the hate
words they are. I didn’t want to make it pretty, because it’s not pretty,
and children understand that. I want children to have the experience of
looking at the stage and saying, ‘Wow, that happened to me, too.’
Coming out of isolation is what heals people. (Notes for a New World
Fall 1999)
Like Uno, Gómez saw the power of theatre to act as a vehicle for social change.
Paul Bonin Rodríguez presented Texas Trilogy, the story of the adventures,
trials, and triumphs of small town “sissy-boy” Johnny Roy Hobson, Cedar Springs’
first and only openly gay male. The NWT provided the audience with the opportunity
to see the development of the playwright’s work in the three plays of the trilogy. The
three solo performances, all performed over one weekend, trace Johnny Roy
Hobson’s coming of age from high school to college; finding “love, lust and Lady
Bird Johnson at the local Dairy Queen;” and “joining forces with his Chicana
feminist/best friend and his African-American home economics instructor to protest a
Religious Right movement that has penetrated their school” (“New WORLD Theater
Announces a 21st Season for the 21st Century” press release). Rodríguez had
returned to the NWT having developed the multi-disciplinary project, Quinceañera,
in 1998, with Antonio “Beto” Araiza, Michael Marinez, and Danny Saldovar.
The NWT and the Mount Holyoke Theatre Department produced Shay
Youngblood’s Shakin’ the Mess Outta Misery. Celia Hilson, a former actress and
director of NWT productions, directed the play. The play tells the story of Daughter,
raised by the Mamas—a sisterhood of women, who came home to honor the Mamas
after their death. The play honored the African American oral tradition.
The NWT spring 2000 season included Clothes by Chitra Divakaruni, cosponsored by NWT and Mount Holyoke College Theatre Department; Civil Sex by
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Brian Freeman; a repeat of the Looking In/To the Future 1999 performance; and
Mary Stuart by Brazilian solo performer Denise Stoklos.
The first production of the spring season, Clothes, began as a short story in
Divakaruni’s collection of stories, Arranged Marriage. The production was supported
by a grant from Arts International. Uno worked with choreographer and performer
Aparna Sindhoor to create this interdisciplinary piece performed at Mount Holyoke.
Sindhoor, a classically trained Bharatananatyam dancer from Mysore, India, was
known for choreography inspired by writings with a political edge. The play is about
a young Indian woman who comes to America after her arranged marriage. The
themes of migration and women’s relationship with freedom attracted Uno and
Sindhoor to the story. Clothes was performed by Sindhoor and New York actress
Purva Bedi and designed by Leandro Soto as an installation. The production was
invited to the Fifth International Women’s Playwright’s Conference in October 2000
in Athens, Greece (Notes for a New World Spring 2000).
Civil Sex was a co-presentation of the NWT and the Stonewall Center. One of
the founders of Pomo Afro Homos, Brian Freeman, wrote the play about Bayard
Rustin’s life after interviewing numerous persons in his life. Rustin was a civil rights
activist, secretary to Martin Luther King, Jr., and a gay Black man. He is known as
the principal organizer of the landmark 1963 March on Washington. He was a
controversial figure in the civil rights movement because of his sexual orientation and
his membership in the Communist party for a number of years. Freeman said of
Rustin, “He was very much an architect of [the Civil Rights movement], a strategist, a
theorist. It would have been a very different struggle without him . . . And you also
recognize the very ambivalent relationship between the black leadership and Rustin;
they needed him, yet he was a gay man.” Civil Sex won the 1997 Will Glickman
Award for Best New Play when it was first produced at the Wooly Mammoth Theater
in Washington, D.C. The play was further developed at Joseph Papp’s Public Theatre
and was produced by the Berkeley Repertory Theatre before its production at the
NWT (Notes for a New World Spring 2000).
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In April 2000, the NWT presented Simultaneous Histories, a play created by
youths who participated in NWT’s summer 1999 Looking In/To the Future project.
The youths worked with themes drawn from historical and social events from 1968,
1975, and 1999 to create an imaginary 2061. The young people from various
Western Massachusetts communities investigated the different cultural perspectives.
The Looking In/To the Future youth retreat was held at Amherst College in summer
of 1999 and brought together twenty-five Latino, Asian, and African American youth
from Springfield, Holyoke, Northampton, and Amherst. This project will be
discussed in the next chapter.
Brazilian Denise Stoklos presented her solo performance piece Mary Stuart.
While in exile from the oppression of her homeland, Stoklos honed her skills as a
multilingual artist and focused on the “dynamics of the oppressor and the oppressed,
and the universality of the struggle for freedom.” Her work was both physically
demanding and “consumed by the function of language in performance . . . the
experience of ‘feeling in Portuguese and expressing in English’ revealed the denial of
that emotional flowing that happens simultaneously when using the music of the first
language” (Notes for a New World Spring 2000). Though Mary Stuart was framed by
European history, it incorporated contemporary references, such as Nelson Mandela
and a cell phone call to Stoklos from Mary Stuart herself.
The last play of the spring season was Polaroid Stories, a co-production of the
NWT and the UMASS Theater Department. Written by Naomi Iizuka, the play uses
Ovid’s Metamorphosis and Jim Goldberg’s Raised by Wolves as a framework for the
story of the lives of youth that live on the streets. Inspired by a photo essay on
homeless kids, Iizuka uses photographs in the production. Gil McCauley had worked
with NWT in 1989 and after a period working in California returned as a faculty
member in the UMASS Department of Theater. Polaroid Stories was his first
directing opportunity. McCauley stated that although the play was not “race specific,
it represents a vision of hybridity” (Notes for a New World Spring 2000).
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New WORLD Theater 2000-2001
The activities of the NWT in the fall and spring of 2000-2001 were announced
as one season and included numerous productions and included Intersection II, a
three-and-one-half-day gathering focusing on international, interdisciplinary and
intercultural work; and Project 2050. The fall 2000 performances included Antígona,
by the Peruvian group Yuyachkani; Somewhere in the Dream by the Everett Dance
Theater of Rhode Island, featuring youth from the Mount Hope neighborhood in
Rhode Island; Uttar Priyadarshi: The Final Beatitude by Ratan Thiyam’s Chorus
Repertory Theatre of Manipur, India; Yerma by Federico García Lorca, presented by
the NWT in collaboration with Mount Holyoke College Department of Theatre;
House of Wives by Fatima Gallaire, co-sponsored by the NWT with the UMASS
Department of Theater; and three open studio/open dialogue programs of the Project
2050 Youth. Spring performances included Universes’ Slanguage; Diana Son’s Stop
Kiss, a co-production of the NWT and the UMASS Theater Department; Culture
Class: Coast to Coast, a pastiche of past performances of Radio Mambo, The
Mission, and Nuyorican Stories, written and performed by Culture Clash; and I
Remember Mapa, Alec Mapa’s one-man show.
Rhode Island’s Everett Dance Company brought Somewhere in the Dream to
the NWT. The production integrated theatre, circus, hip-hop, dance, and stories of
the urban ghetto to explore education, race, and the American dream. The Everett
Dance Theater thrived in their Mount Hope community center, the Carriage House,
offering classes in ballet, hip-hop, break dancing, and modern dance. The actors were
of various ages and cultures and the performance combined diverse styles in an
ensemble that balanced assorted themes.
The Culture Clash performance was arranged chronologically to allow the
audience to see the group’s developing theatrical maturity. Their performances were
as varied as the Latino culture itself, reflecting the cultures of Chicanos, Cubans,
Central Americans, and Puerto Ricans.
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New WORLD Theater 2001-2002
Fall 2001 brought the Pan-Asian spoken word group “I Was Born With Two
Tongues” to the NWT. Members of the group facilitated an “open mic” program.
They described their work as “at the crossroads between art and activism, personal
identity and cultural heritage to unearth the rich histories of Asian people in America
and participate in the crafting of a new Asian American identity” (“I Was Born With
Two Tongues” press release 2001). The youth from the 2050 Project participated in
this open mic session, held at the W.E.B. DuBois Library on the UMASS campus. 16
Spring season 2002 included On the Difficulty of Sustaining Compassion for
Chrome Magnum Man, written and performed by Alberto “Beto” Araiza; the New
England premiere of Slanguage, written and performed by Universes and directed and
developed by Jo Bonney; Hair Stories by Urban Bush Women, a collaboration with
UMASS Residential Arts; and Peaches, a staged essay, dream sequence, slave
narrative, theatrical hodgepodge inspired by a song by Nina Simone, written by
Cristal Chanelle Truscott; and “Intersection: Future Aesthetics,” a two-day gathering
exploring the intersection of theatre, poetry, spoken word, and Hip Hop culture.
Araiza’s On the Difficulty of Sustaining Compassion for Chrome Magnum
Man was set in the neighborhood and streets of Los Angeles and utilized storytelling,
poetry, satire, and tragedy in a solo work that explored the relationship between two
brothers. This solo piece was developed in residence at the NWT in the summer of
2001. Both funny and explosive, the piece vividly portrayed the brothers’ contrasting
points of view on domestic and gang violence, AIDS, manhood and familia.
Universes, a five-member ensemble of multi-talented performers, combined
poetry, spoken word, theatre, politics, blues, and Spanish boleros in Slanguage.
Universes developed this work at the NWT in the “New Works for a New World”
project. The ensemble members also worked with the Looking In/To The
Future/Project 2050 in the summer of 2000. Two members of the group, Stephen
Sapp and Mildred Ruiz, received a grant from NWT to continue to develop their new
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work in association with the 2050 Project. They worked with the educational project
in the summer of 2001 and 2002.
Urban Bush Women’s Hair Stories looked at the relationships between
African American women, their hair, and self-image, social and economic status, and
cultural identity. The last production of the NWT season, Peaches, occurred during
the Intersection conference. This original work confronted the stereotyping of the
female African-American identity from the time of slavery to the present, creating a
complex portrait of the female Black experience. Although Peaches was inspired by a
Nina Simone song, it referred to scholarly and popular discourse on identity (“New
WORLD Theater Spring Season 2002” brochure).
“Intersection: Future Aesthetic” was a two-day conference that brought
together diverse artists and scholars for performance, dialogue, and workshops. Poet
Sekou Sundiata was the keynote speaker for the event. Sundiata was a Sundance Film
Festival fellow and professor at Eugene Lange College. His work was featured in the
Bill Moyers’ PBS special, Language of Life. NWT workshops included “Lyricism
for Life” with Rha Goddess, “Beatboxing and Playback Theater with Baba Israel, and
“Take it to the Stage: the Emergence of Hip Hop Theater” with Will Power. In
various sessions entitled “Dialogue and Insight,” conversations between artist and
collaborators focused on the process of developing new work. These dialogues
featured Luis Alfaro with Marisela Norte, Alec Mapa with Jessica Hagedorn, and
Danny Hoch with Mark Russell. Along with the dialogues, workshops, and
presentations, forums were presented for the discussion of innovative programming,
approaches, and priorities, involving various producers, curators, and producers from
groups such as the Miami Light Project, Florida; Mass MoCA, Massachusetts;
Intersection for the Arts, California; Yerba Buena Center for the Arts, California;
Bates Dance Festival, Maine; Hip Hop Theater Junction, Washington DC; the
Foundry, New York City; Mark Taper Forum, California; and New Jersey Performing
Arts Center. The Intersection: Future Aesthetic conference was supported by the
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Rockefeller Foundation and the National Performance Network (“New WORLD
Theater Spring Season 2002” brochure).
The summer of 2002 brought a variety of projects and performances to the
NWT. New Works for a New World continued the development of new works by
artists of color. Martín Espada and Rubi Theater presented Imagine the Angels of
Bread, a Hip Hop inspired, concert-version of Espada’s book of poems. The play was
created in New York at Rubi Theater and had further development in residency at the
NWT. The NWT commissioned Jorge Ignacio Cortiñas’ Shoplifting Oxygen, a
“chamber piece that explores the quiet surrealism of living in an apartment we can’t
afford and working at temp jobs that never end” (“New WORLD Theater Summer
02” brochure). Cortiñas was a playwright in residence at the NWT and supported by
the National Endowment for the Arts and Theatre Communication Group. Cortiñas
also worked with the educational outreach Project 2050.
Sekou Sundiata brought a work in progress to the NWT with his Blessing the
Boats. Based on his life, the poetic play bore witness to “a time when the scope of his
achievements was matched only by a constant barrage of medical traumas” (“New
WORLD Theater Summer 02” brochure). Project 2050 continued its outstanding
youth program with a youth retreat on issues facing the world’s future at Amherst
College, culminating in a performance of their original work. In addition, the
Amherst Theater and Dance Department and the NWT presented Condominium: A
Nightcap for Redcap by Peter Lobdell and The Belly Incantation by Constance
Congdon and Judyie Al-Bilali (“New WORLD Theater Summer 02” brochure).
Twenty-Four Years of the New WORLD Theater
In its twenty-four year history, the New WORLD Theater has presented plays,
solo performance artists, and production companies from across the United States and
around the world. The NWT’s commitment to developing and presenting works by
artists of color, which began in the Student Activities Office at the University of
Massachusetts, has been realized in the extension of these theatrical works to
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audiences in numerous venues throughout the U.S. and abroad. Roberta Uno’s early
desire to bring theatre by artists of color to students in the Five-College area as well
as to the communities beyond, has been fulfilled in the work of the NWT.
Uno sought every opportunity to create an educational experience beyond the
performances themselves. She was open to the needs of the community and created
projects that would reach out to youths who were badly in need of an opportunity to
understand their own identities and the issues that would shape their future. Uno’s
fearless tackling of subjects that were outside the mainstream added to the character
of the NWT. The group became a safe gathering place for artists of color, where they
could dialogue on common and disparate issues. If any single factor could account for
the longevity and quality of the New WORLD Theater, it would be Roberta Uno.
Twenty-four years later after the inception of the NWT, people at UMASS and in the
Five College community still speak of Uno’s drive, energy, and foresight.
This chapter outlined the remarkable performance history of the New
WORLD Theater. The positive impact of the NWT on numerous production
companies and artists of color is significant and undeniable. More problematic is the
relationship of the NWT to the Five College theatre departments over the NWT’s
many years of existence. Such difficulties may mirror the larger struggle of
communities and higher educations to address and accommodate diversity. The
difficulties faced by the NWT as they integrated themselves into the culture of higher
education are not unusual. Higher education can seem a closed community to the
diverse populations seeking acceptance as students, faculty, and artists. Educational
theorists describe these conflicts in their study of educational reform and diversity.
NWT experienced the early isolation and later the celebration of what they brought to
the table. Coco Fusco warns that much of the celebration of multiculturalism regards
difference “as light but exotic entertainment for the dominant culture” (27). The
NWT understood that warning. Uno sought new paths to explore the potential for
making change through the educational outreach projects.
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Paul Carter Harrison begins the Mother/Word to Totem Voices: Plays from
The Black World Repertory with a quote by Wole Soyinka: 17
When you go into any culture, I don’t care what the culture is, you
have to go with some humility. You have to understand the language,
and by that I do not mean what we speak, you’ve got to understand the
language, the interior language of the people. You’ve got to be able to
enter their philosophy, their world view. You’ve got to speak both the
spoken language and the metalanguage of the people. (xi)
Soyinka’s advice echoed in my thoughts as I investigated the NWT’s history and
interviewed its major players. There was a need to “speak both languages”—the
language of theatre by artists of color and the language of theatre in higher
education—and I found that they are not mutually exclusive.
This chapter touched on the many and varied outreach projects on which the
NWT embarked during the past twenty-four years. The next chapter will explore, in
detailed fashion, several of these projects, specifically the educational outreach
projects known as the Looking In/To The Future and Project 2050.
1
In this dissertation, the term "theater" is spelled either "theatre" or "theater" depending on the
preference of the company or department mentioned.
2
The Five College, Inc. consortium includes Amherst, Hampshire, Mount Holyoke, and Smith College
and the University of Massachusetts at Amherst.
3
The consortium hired “Five-College Professors” for a specific period of time in a field that is not
covered by any of the schools. In 1979, the author was hired as a Five-College Professor for a threeyear contract. During that time the author taught voice and speech studies, text and acting at the five
institutions with her home campus in South Hadley at Mount Holyoke College.
4
The interviewer’s impression from the interview with Tillis in 2001 was that his accomplishments
were achieved through working within the system. He came to the university with a Ph.D. in Music as
a classically trained musician and scholar. Faculty accepted him as a Black scholar and artist.
5
Trinidadian student Sita Rampersad was found dead at a motel in a nearby town. Third World
students argued repeatedly that the inquest and treatment of the case was a cover-up. In 1975, Black
student Craeman Gethers was allegedly framed and convicted of robbery. Numerous incidents such as
these were reported in the student newspaper in the mid- to late-1970s.
6
The U.S. Supreme Court ruling of June 28, 2978, Regents of the University of California v. Bakke
held that the “petitioner’s special admission program violated the Equal Protection Clause” (University
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of California v. Bakke). The Bakke decision expanded Civil Rights legislation to include equal rights
for Whites. The decision forced universities to stop special admissions programs for minorities.
7
Karen Lederer currently lives in Amherst and works in the Women’s Studies Program at the
University of Massachusetts.
8
Contact was a newsletter distributed at UMASS and in Amherst.
9
The films included: Blacks Britannica, the story of Black West Indians’ struggle for human rights in
Britain; I Will Fight No More, a documentary of the brutal 1877 military campaign against the
indigenous Nez Pierce; Song of the Canary, a documentary that examined industrial disease in the
U.S.; The Nationalists about the activities of the Puerto Rican Nationalist Party in the 1950s; Paul
Jacobs and the Nuclear Gang, a documentary about the U.S. government suppression of information
about health hazards of low level radiation; and Save the Planet, a film that included footage from
Three-Mile Island and the protest march in the Black Hills of South Dakota.
10
The Ensemble was a group of students from the Five College Consortium and community members
who performed plays with the Third World Theater.
11
“Pilipino” is the spelling of “Philipino” used in the press article by the NWT.
12
The artists receiving the awards and the title of their projects were: Rosa Luisa Marquez—Son
Corazon, lê the diem thûy—the bodies between us, Pregones Theater—Translated Women, Rhodessa
Jones—Deep Into the Night, Rosa Guy—Mystic Falls, Sekou Sundiata—untitled, Coatlicue Las
Colorado/Hortensia and Elvira Colorado—untitled, Rennie Harris—untitled, and Johanna Haigood—
untitled.
13
The plays included in the WORD! festival included: Country Dance by Penny Trieu, Mama by
Mequitta Ahuja, . . .It’s the Unraveling by Sandra Kuper, Sister Love by Lami S. Badu (Teresa
Alexander), Very Offensive Play by Jewel Younge, Sistahs Indeed! by Mariah L. Richardson, Full of
Grace. . . by Joe Salvatore, and Birdsong: A Choreopoem by Jésus MacLean.
14
The Color of Theater: Race, Culture, and Contemporary Performance, edited by Roberta Uno and
Lucy Mae San Pablo Burns, presents essays, interviews and performance texts from the Intersections
Conference.
15
The plays produced in staged readings on 9-10 March 1999 included: CIC: Contradictory Identity
Contradictions by Ruchika Mandhyan (Smith); Circle Journey by Marta Carlson (UMASS);
Perspectives by Megan Smith (Mt. Holyoke); an untitled work by John Hamilton White (Hampshire);
When the Chickens Come Home to Roost by Iami D. Badu (Smith); Mouthpiece by Shannon Sickels
(Smith); Staging the Indian by Margaret Bruchac (Smith); Story of a One-Boat Man by Penny Trieu
(Mt. Holyoke); Tijeras by Olga Vaquer de Samalot (Smith); and Visa: It’s Nowhere You Want To Be
by Raju Sivasankaran (UMASS).
16
An open mic session included students from the audience reading their poetry and original writings.
17
Harrison, Paul Carter. “Mother/Word: Black Theatre in the African Continuum: Word/Song as
Method.” in Totem Voices: Plays from the Black World Repertory. New York: Grove Press, 1989.
Harrison describes his use of “Mother/Word as in fore/word or first/word or the word as in truth.”
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CHAPTER FOUR
New WORLD Theater Projects
While the New WORLD Theater has conducted numerous projects over the past
twenty-four years, this chapter will concentrate on the NWT outreach project called
Looking In/To the Future/2050 Project. 1 The project is an extension of the NWT
mission to educate students of color, and to develop, produce, and present plays by
artists of color. This chapter traces the origins of the Looking In/To the Future and
Project 2050 in the earlier NWT Latino and Asian Theater Projects. In addition, it
describes the early years of the Looking In/To the Future projects and its eventual
transformation into Project 2050.
This study suggests that the methods employed in the Looking In/To the Future
project encourage youth to matriculate to higher education. Twenty-four years ago,
Roberta Uno and the NWT began to create opportunities for young people of color
not only to see works by artists of color but also to participate in the production of
those works. Uno describes the NWT's present work as educational, accessible, and
community-based. She characterizes the NWT's early work as a "desegregation
project rather than integration" (Personal interview, 1-2 May 2000). 2 Just as regional
and national awareness and action related to diversity has increased, so too the work
of the NWT has grown (Uno, "The Way of Inclusiveness" 25). The Looking In/To
the Future project is one example of the commitment of the NWT to young people of
color.
Origins of the Looking In/To the Future Project
The NWT youth projects began in 1996, though their roots can be seen in earlier
NWT projects, such as the Latino and Asian Theater projects. In an April 2000
interview, Roberta Uno described how the NWT assessed the changing demographics
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of the Five College Consortium region in 1994 and targeted the largest community of
color, the Latino population. Through grant funding by the Lila Wallace Reader’s
Digest Foundation and support from other sources, the NWT brought its expertise in
community organizing and artistic production to the nearby Holyoke and Springfield
communities. 3
The Latino Theater Project
The goals of the Latino Theater Project (LTP) were to increase Latino theatre
activity, to create and strengthen collaboration and partnerships with community
organizations, and to share professional Latino theatre methods with the local artistic
community. 4 Through the LTP, the NWT brought together two professional theatre
companies (New York City’s GRUPO BRIDGES and Denver’s Su Teatro) and two
local companies (Teatro Morivivi, an adult company, and New Visions, a youth
theatre troupe from the Teen Resource Project [TRP] in Holyoke, Massachusetts).
The professional theatres worked with the local companies using community-based
theatre techniques, some of which were based on Augusto Boal’s Theatre of the
Oppressed exercises.
GRUPO BRIDGES director Sandra Rodriguez and playwright Gloria Zelaya
worked with local companies in a six-week residency held June and July 1995. 5 The
LTP hosted two residencies by Su Teatro in September 1995 and in February 1996.
Su Teatro artistic director Tony Garcia and Managing Director Rudy Bustos designed
and facilitated “capacity building workshops for human resource workers, teachers
and other Latino organizations in the area” (Latino Theater Project: Final Report
1995-1996). The plays developed by these groups were presented at annual Latino
Festivals in Holyoke and Springfield and were presented as part of the NWT season
in Amherst, Massachusetts. 6
The experience of the NWT with the LTP would influence its planning for the
future Looking In/To the Future project. Although problems arose related to the
commitment of and communication between all partners, these issues ultimately
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proved instructive for the NWT. The LTP included in its activities the production of a
booklet, Notes on a Process, prepared by Gloria Zalaya and Sandra Rodriguez. Notes
documented the process of creating Tales From the Flats: Two Plays in One Act:
Colors & Familias. Grupo Bridges utilized techniques from a variety of familiar
sources, including Augusto Boal, Paulo Freire, Viola Spolin, Uta Hagen, Constantin
Stanislavski, and others, to develop the exercises and resulting plays. In particular, the
exercises from Boal’s Games for Actors and Non-Actors and Spolin’s Improvisation
for the Theater provided the core of the exercises used in working with the actors
from the local companies.
The LTP advisory group brought together people from various departments
and centers at UMASS, as well as Five College faculty, regional artists, and advisors
from Casa Latino in Northampton and the Teen Resource Project (TRP) in Holyoke
(later to partner with NWT in the Looking In/To the Future project). In more than one
interview and casual conversation, Uno mentioned the importance of establishing
community partnerships in order to maintain NWT projects (Uno, Personal
Interviews 2000, 2001, 2002). The continuing partnership between the NWT and the
TRP in Holyoke is the result of deliberate relationship to enhance the work of both
the TRP and the NWT. 7 The TRP’s goals are still in line with those of the NWT, that
is, “to help youth develop positive self-esteem and give them tools they can use for
prevention of drug abuse, teen pregnancy, and gang involvement” (“Latino Theater
Project Final Report” 19). The Latino Theater Project opened up new audience
members for the NWT and furthered its desire to involve the community in political
action.
The Asian Theater Project
Following the ultimate success of the LTP, the NWT began planning the “Asian
Theater Project” (ATP). An announcement was made in the local Daily Hampshire
Gazette that workshops with nationally known theatre artists and local Vietnamese
and Cambodian groups would begin in February 1996. The announcement also stated
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that the project was funded by a grant from the “American Festival Project, an
Appalachia-based coalition of artists and activists” (Watson, “New World Plans
Asian Theater Project” 1). 8 The two local community groups working on this project
were the Khmer Organizing Project of the Hampshire Community Action
Commission in Northampton and the Vietnamese-American Civic Association
(VACA) in Springfield. In the spring of 1996, four theatre artists presented
workshops as part of the Asian Theater Project: Smith College faculty member Dong
Il Lee; performance artist Ping Chong of New York; Indian actor Shishir Kurup of the
Cornerstone Theatre in Los Angeles; and Hung Nguyen, director of the Vietnamese
theatre group Club O’Noodles in Los Angeles (Watson, “New World Plans Asian
Theater Project” 1).
Unlike the NWT, the community organizations participating in the Asian
Theater Project did not hold the arts as integral to their missions. Rather they were
primarily concerned with political advocacy, outreach, organizing, and skill building
for new immigrants. For example, VACA’s projects included SAT preparation, afterschool tutoring, and youth education in such health issues as teen pregnancy and
smoking. The work of the ATP, then, mainly involved skill-building and community
education.
In addition to the artists and the community groups participating in the Asian
Theater Project, CIRCLE, one of its collective partners, participated in the
documentation and evaluation of the workshops throughout the spring 1996 semester.
The CIRCLE Student Advisory Council (SAC) was said to consist of refugee and
immigrant undergraduates who are in leadership training for promoting grassroots
community building” (Ly, Natividad, and Xiong, “American Festival Project”). The
SAC students provided peer mentorship, and “through active participation in the
workshops and interaction with the youth in and outside of the workshop spaces,”
produced a written evaluation (“American Festival Project”). The evaluation report
outlined the methods they used and the outcomes of the numerous workshops, 9 and
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chronicled the techniques used by the NWT to investigate its practices and revise or
re-organize future projects.
The SAC evaluation was based on four factors related to the artists and their
workshops: general rapport with youth and other participants; accessibility of material
and exercises; flexibility and versatility of the artist; and understanding,
acknowledgement, and integration of the project’s purposes and goals (“American
Festival Project”). The reasons these factors were chosen bear on the role they might
play in future outreach projects sponsored by the NWT or other community groups.
The level of general rapport with youth and other participants was deemed as
important because, according to the SAC report, “relationship” is significant when
working with youth “because an artist must be able to not only grab their attention but
also garner their respect” (“American Festival Project”). Hung Nguyen opened his
workshop by speaking Vietnamese and urging youth to feel free to speak Vietnamese
if it made them more comfortable. The SAC report indicated that the youth
participating in the project identified with and respected Nguyen, but were less
respectful of other artists. The SAC students also noted that the only woman artist in
the spring workshops was Page Leong, who worked with Shishir Kurup. They
observed that the girls in the project responded well to Leong and to the women of the
NWT. They commented that Leong and Kurup used laughter to break down
inhibitions.
The accessibility of materials and exercises was a problem for some of the
artists involved in the project. The SAC report mentioned that Dong Il used
meditation and traditional Korean theatre exercises, though it observed that
meditation was not appropriate for the high energy level of the youth. The Korean
theatre exercises worked better with the Khmer youth, since they were from a
traditional Khmer dance troupe. SAC maintained that the exercises that were based
on the participants’ lives and experiences were more successful than others. They
suggested that artists should be sensitive to issues of gender, ethnicity and language.
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The flexibility and versatility of the artist in responding spontaneously to space,
group energy levels, and language difficulty was another factor that was used to
evaluate the artists. Some artists used exercises that were language heavy and
required greater English proficiency than some youth could handle. Translators were
used in some cases, but the artists’ ease in using the translators was noted as a
concern. SAC again noted that Dong Il, because he never did change his original
plan, used unsuccessful meditation exercise with both of the groups with whom he
worked. The SAC report also noted that some artists did not remember names, were
rigid in their approaches, or did not allow for the variation in ages of those in their
groups, which affected the motivation of the youth with whom they worked.
The SAC report highlighted the responsibility of NWT and the artists to
understand, acknowledge, and integrate the goals of the project within the workshops.
While some artists reportedly were better than others at achieving the objectives of
the project, SAC believed that all artists could have heightened their effectiveness by
insuring that the youth in the project understood the objectives of the workshop
process. SAC suggested that in the future the NWT staff provide the youth with an
orientation to the project, one that defined theatre generally and described the kind of
theatre they were hoping to create. According to the report, such an orientation would
enhance the artists’ ability to clearly communicate the intended outcomes of the
project. The SAC evaluation report was used in making decisions about which artists
would be used in the ensuing summer project. The observation that the objectives of a
particular project should be explicit and communicated to the participants eventually
proved to be an important point impacting a number of NTW outreach projects.
Thus, groups of at-risk youths and youths of color began sharing their cultural
backgrounds in workshops designed to expose the youth to theatre methods as a
means for cross-cultural dialogue and creative expression. The spring of 1996 was
considered the planning phase of the project. Guest artists presented two four-day
workshops with the groups. In April of 1996 the NWT held a planning meeting with
the Teen Resources Project’s New Visions Troupe about joining the project. 10
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Originally the NWT had met and intended to work with Artist Celia Hilson from New
Visions. When she moved to California, Brenda Cotto-Escalera and Noelia Cortiz
were selected to work with New Visions. 11
In May 1996, work completed thus far was evaluated. The local Khmer and
Vietnamese groups put together an evaluation of the artists with whom they had
worked.12 VACA and the Khmer Classical and Folk Dance troupe selected Hung
Nguyen as the artist with whom they wished to continue working. At this time the
project was re-named the “Looking In/To the Future: New WORLD Theater’s
Community-Based Youth Theater Project” (“Looking In/To the Future” flyer and
timeline). The project now included New Visions of the Teen Resource Project, the
Khmer Classical and Folk Dance Troupe of Western Massachusetts from the
Hampshire County Action Commission, and the Center for Immigrant and Refugee
Community Leadership and Empowerment (CIRCLE), a statewide organization
based at the University of Massachusetts.
Looking In/To the Future Project: 1996
In the summer and fall of 1996 Looking In/To the Future emphasized themes
of identity using theatre as a tool for encouraging young people to participate in
society. 13 Uno stated that projects such as Looking In/To the Future “afford minority
groups a way of finding their own voice instead of being lumped together” (Gordon,
“Cambodian Students Talk Out Their Pasts”). The groups shared experiences, taught
each other culturally-based social dances, and became better acquainted through
various theatre techniques. The Vietnamese youth performance was shaped by a
group of artists that included Vietnamese artists Hiep Mai of Club O’Noodles,
performance artist lê the diem thûy, and choreographer Maura Nguyen Donohue, and
was led by Hung Nguyen. The performance was based on “improvisations, singing
songs, dancing with different parts of their bodies, sharing stories in a circle, and
breathing exercises” that incorporated the participants’ stories into performance
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themes of life in Viet Nam, the journey to the United States and life in the United
States (Bao, “Community Acts Up” 13).
The next phase of the project was to identify issues that would allow them to
create a collaborative work. Hung Nguyen conducted a three-week residency with
VACA, which concluded with a performance of their original work, “The Good Guys
Gang & Queen Renee,” on 27 July 1996 at the Holy Name Social Center in
Springfield, Massachusetts. The VACA youth interviewed their elders in order to
bridge the gap between the Vietnamese elders and the young people and to bring the
elders closer to the American culture. Van Nguyen, executive director of VACA,
affirmed that the theatre project was a first step in bringing the youth and elders
together to work on this issue (Hamel, “Youth Group Explores Theatre Craft.”). Hung
Nguyen recounted the effect working with the youth had on him,
I remember one of the young men said to me on the first day that we
met that he had no stories to tell. He repeated that he had “nothing”
interesting to say. Two weeks later that same young man, standing in
front of his peers and the audience shared his memories of growing up
in Vietnam and his journey to America. He danced as his voice moved
with emotion. Many laughter and tears were shared during the process
of sharing stories. (Burns, “Voices of Vietnamese American Youth” 7)
The artists and counselors were inspired by their experience with the young
participants. They described the work as transformative, difficult, and courageous.
The success of the summer workshops encouraged the NWT to continue moving
forward with the planning for Looking In/To the Future.
In August and September 1996, Hung Nguyen conducted two two-week
residencies with the Khmer Classical and Folk Dance Troupe and a performance was
held 29 September 1996 in Northampton, at the Jackson Street High School gym. The
youth participating in this workshop were of the Cambodian American communities
of Amherst and Northampton. The performance incorporated dance training with
Sokpeth Ding— dance director for the Khmer Classical and Folk Dance Troupe—and
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work with Hung Nguyen of Club O’Noodles. The youth in the Cambodian group
were nine to eighteen years of age. The majority of the performers were in elementary
or middle school at the time of the workshop and performance.
Brenda Cotto-Escalera and Noelia Cortiz conducted numerous workshops
with New Visions between September 1996 and May 1997. The NWT conducted
cross-cultural workshops and a video workshop with all the groups in Holyoke
October and December 1996. In order to expand the theatrical awareness of the
participants, the NWT invited the groups to attend performances that included thûy
lê’s bodies between us, Diana Son’s R. A. W.’s Cause I’m a Woman, Lisa Jones’
Combination Skin, and Maura Nguyen Donohue’s dance group In Mixed Company. 14
The NWT also used portions of the youth group’s performance work at a fund-raising
event in Amherst November 1996. The groups participated in a third cross-cultural
workshop in Northampton in January 1997, during which the youth led theatre games.
Looking In/To the Future: 1997
The planning process for the 1997 Looking In/To the Future summer retreat
involved numerous participants. A meeting with American Festival artists Linda
Parris-Bailey and Raniero Daza Medina was held February 1997. All artists and
groups attending the meeting participated in a cross-cultural workshop entitled
“Creative Process and Ways We Get to Performance,” led by Brenda Cotto-Escalera
and Hung Nguyen (“Looking In/To the Future” timeline). The planning meeting
defined the participation and structure of a projected camp. The notes from that
meeting, titled “Summer Youth Theater Camp,” outlined the issues needing
consideration, such as participation, transportation, schedule and artists. Rough notes
and brainstorming by the community groups, artists, youth, and the NWT evolved
into a full schedule, with each person’s responsibilities outlined and a roster of
participating youth drawn up.
Cross-cultural workshops with students and artists continued through the
spring of 1997. New Visions youth performed in Holyoke in May 1997. The goals of
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the 1997 summer retreat, as stated in the program copy, were “to create a
collaborative work, exploring issues they identify, and to create a laboratory for
leadership training using theater for youth and community organizers to use beyond
the parameters of the project.”
The intensive six-day theatre retreat with all the groups occurred at the
Bement Campsite and Recreation Center in Charlton Depot, Massachusetts on 17-23
August 1997. The NWT hoped that by bringing the groups together “out of their
everyday urban setting and into a more natural environment, they [youths] could
reflect on their experiences as young people of color growing up in America and
discover what they have in common” (Robinson and San Pablo, "Honoring the
Voices of our Foremothers"). Three lead artists, Hung Nguyen, Linda Parris Bailey,
and Brenda Cotto-Escalera worked with the youth to create a collaborative intercultural performance piece (Uno, Letter to Dora Robinson). 15 The retreat began with
a planning meeting on 16 August 1997 with the staff, artists, community organizers
and counselors. That afternoon they all participated in “Cross Cultural Mediation”
with Richard Ford. The camp provided opportunities for the groups to work
separately with an artist and to come together into mixed groups.
A person was assigned to each activity to document the work of the group.
The artists were responsible for facilitating the workshops and for helping each group
create a twenty-minute performance piece and a framing piece. 16 The community
organizers were responsible for assisting the artists and supervising the youth in nontheatre activities. 17 The NWT staff was responsible for documenting the artist
workshops, assisting with the technical and production aspects of the performances,
and supervising youth in their non-theatre activities. 18 Counselors were to coordinate
with the Camp Bement staff to provide the non-theatre activities, document those
activities and present a slide presentation.
The youth participants included ten Vietnamese youth (six males and four
females), seven Khmer youth (four males and three females), and nine New Vision
youth (three males and six females). The schedule provided time for swimming, team
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and board games, hoops (basketball), nature activities, dancing, and art activities.
The youth also organized a Talent Night performance.
The collaborative work, described in the press release as “a gripping and
honest exploration of cross cultural dialogue and contemporary issues that confront
youth of our community,” was performed at the conclusion of the workshop, followed
by a discussion with the audience. The performance was repeated during the NWT’s
fall season, as well as in numerous community venues such as high schools and
community centers. 19 The youth groups met to rehearse the performance pieces
September through November at various community locations.
The production in the NWT fall 1997 season was titled “Looking In/To the
Future 1997.” It included a restaging of the summer’s Homelands: Stories for
Tomorrow and the New Visions’ Society Unmasked (Robinson, “The Making of
Homeland: Stories for Tomorrow”). Homelands incorporated games, songs, dances
and the languages of the youths’ homelands into the production. The reprised
performance took place during the NWT spring 1998 season and at community
venues, including the Southeast Asian American Theater Festival. The youth groups
continued to meet to explore theatre skills and work with other artists brought to the
NWT.
The NWT leveraged the continuing work of the Asian youth into a grantfunded audience development project titled “Viet New: A Generation Emerges.”
Funded by Lila Wallace-Reader’s Digest, “Viet New” brought three Vietnamese
artists to the NWT for play development residencies: Hung Nguyen of Club
O’Noodles, choreographer Maura Nguyen Donohue and In Mixed Company, and solo
performer thûy lê. The NWT utilized their ongoing play development project, New
Works for a New World, to combine funding, thereby overlapping the projects, goals,
and outcomes of the various programs. Hung Nguyen and Club O’Noodles continued
to work with the Looking In/To the Future project in conjunction with their work in
the NWT’s New Works for a New World project. In the New Works project, Nguyen
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and Club O’Noodles developed a new script, Tales From the Nail Salon. These works
and performances would be featured in the first Intersections Conference in fall 1998.
Uno corresponded with and met with various groups in an effort to expand the
Looking In/To the Future project to include an African-American community partner.
In a letter to Dora Robinson of the MLK Community Center in Springfield, Uno
describes the benefits of participation with the Looking In/To the Future project as
opportunities for youth to attend
youth-appropriate productions and youth workshops with guest artists
. . .an artistic outlet for youth that focuses on self-discovery,
empowerment and peer mentorship; access to artistic resources
including nationally recognized artists and various forms of technical
support; continuous access to information on grants that may apply to
our partnership; and substantive connection with other community
organizations working with youth populations. (Uno Letter to Dora
Robinson)
She further outlined the criteria that the NWT would use to choose a community
partner for the project:
•
the level and ease of communication between the community
organization and the New WORLD theatre
•
the commitment of the organization to the use of theater as a tool
for the empowerment of their youth and to cross-cultural partnership
•
the organization’s capacity to meet regularly, organize community
events, and the investment of their time to this project. (Uno, Letter to
Dora Robinson)
The community performances increased the participants’ self esteem and broadened
their capacity to mentor other youth. New Visions youth not only performed their
work dealing with gang violence in high schools and community sites, they “canvas
their city offering help and straight talk to other teens about the dangers youth face in
relationships, at home and on the street” (Norris 13 June 1996).
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The NWT’s goals for Looking In/To the Future were as follows: to build the
skills and capacity of the partner organizations; to explore the issues and identify
primary voices; to give the participating artists the opportunity to build on their
artistic skills through collaboration with other artists and through working with the
community; to create cross cultural dialogue; and to explore tools of peer mentorship
(“Looking In/To the Future” participants list). The local newspaper articles, press
releases, and reports located in the NWT archives proclaim their achievement of
those early goals. Uno remembered that, in this early project with the VACA, there
were concerns related to the selection of the participants:
We had all those bad gang boys and we had all that pressure from the
Vietnamese community, “why are you working with these boys and
not our honor students?” Well, one of the most . . . moving things was
last year when one of the boys, Khoi, came to my office and said, “I
want you to be the first person to know I got into UMASS.” He’s a
UMASS student. (Uno personal interview 2000)
The notion that the project would result in students’ attending college was not clearly
stated at the beginning. However, by the summer of 2000, Uno was aware of the
additional benefit of introducing youth to a site of higher education.
Looking In/To the Future: 1998 and 1999
Looking In/To the Future moved to the UMASS campus in the summer of 1998.
Housed in the Southwest Dormitory, students walked the campus from workshop to
dorm to cafeteria to Hampden Theater. Though the activity on the UMASS campus
diminished during the summer, students gained a sense of university life. The retreat
followed the same pattern as the previous summer. The youth were separated into
groups based on their race or ethnicity. Each group focused on issues that were
integral to their particular culture.
The Khmer group discussed and did improvisations around the theme of
relationships with parents. In addressing this issue they discussed living through the
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war, treating their parents poorly, coming from two different worlds, and not
understanding each other. (Such ideas might be similar in each group, but each
culture might have specific ways of coping. Each group contained participants who
were immigrants.) In discussing relationships, the Khmer group covered issues
related to their community and the tensions between the Khmer and American
culture. Some topics that arose in the work with the participants included: the use of
ghost stories to frighten the youth; parents’ suspicions about education and fears that
it might make young persons disrespectful to their parents; parents’ repeated talk
about the past, which the young people characterized as “guilt trips;” and parents’
statements that “only white people are good” and “only elders have knowledge”
(“Khmer Notes”). Discussions and improvisations centered on these themes and
ultimately were developed into a performance piece for the final presentation.
New Visions, the Latino youth group from the Holyoke Teen Resource
Center, also participated in the 1998 Looking In/To the Future retreat at UMASS. The
work of these young persons drew from their dreams and the condescending and
racist treatment they experienced at school. For example, one scene, which was
enacted for the final performance, began with a meeting between a student and a
counselor to discuss what the student would do following graduation. The student
presented a list of performing arts schools. The counselor dismissed her ideas in a
discouraging and racist manner and suggested she consider trade schools. The scene
continued with the students at the youth center discussing colleges, performing arts
schools, and trade schools with encouragement from the youth center supervisor. The
scenes that followed allowed the youth to present their dreams and talents. The final
scene of the New Vision youth section of the performance was their presentation of
“Ending Poem:”
I am what I am.
A child of the Americas.
A light-skinned mestiza of the Caribbean.
A child of many diaspora, born into this continent at a crossroads.
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I am Puerto Rican. I am U.S. American.
I am New York Manhattan and the Bronx.
A mountain-born, country-bred, homegrown jibara child,
A product of New York ghettos, I have never known.
I am an immigrant
and the daughter and granddaughter of immigrants.
We didn’t know our forbears’ names with a certainty.
They aren’t written anywhere.
First names only, or miga, negra, ne, honey, sugar, dear.
I come from the dirt where the cane was grown.
My people didn’t go to dinner parties. They weren’t invited.
I am Caribeña, Island grown.
Spanish is my flesh, ripples from my tongue, lodges in my hips.
the language of garlic and mangoes.
Boricua. As Boricuas come from the isle of Manhattan
I am latinamerica , rooted in the history of my continent.
I speak from that body, just brown and pink and full of drums inside.
I am not African
Africa waters the roots of my tree.
And my roots reach into the soil of two Americas.
Taino is in me, but there is no way back.
I am not European, though I have dreamt of those cities.
Each plate is different.
Wood, clay, papier mache, metal, basketry, a leaf, a coconut shell.
Europe lives in me but I have no home there.
The table has a cloth woven by one, dyed by another,
embroidered by another still.
I am a child of many mothers
They have kept it all going
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all the civilizations erected on their backs.
All the dinner parties given with their labor.
We are new
they gave us life, kept us going,
brought us to where we are.
Born at the crossroads.
Come, lay that dishcloth down, eat, dear, eat.
History made us.
We will not eat ourselves up inside anymore.
And we are whole. (“New Visions Notes”)
Young participants Rosario Morales and Aurora Levins Morales wrote this poem
during the retreat. The poem’s performance was an example of the youth’s
transformation through discussion, improvisation, and artistic development
workshops provided by the Looking In/To the Future artists and staff.
The 1998 final performance brought the various groups together. The
development of the final project provided an opportunity for each group to see the
others work. In addition to this formal collaboration, the students interacted in the
activities outside of the workshop, at meals, and in the dormitory, where the youths
lived together.
Due to the closing of the Hampden Theater (for fire code violations) the
Looking In/To the Future Project moved to the Amherst College campus in summer
1999. Twenty-five Latino, Asian and African American youths participated in the
retreat. The youths from Northampton, Springfield, Holyoke, and Amherst were
from the same community resource organizations as in the Looking In/To the Future
1998 project. They were nominated by their respective community organizations and
accepted by the NWT staff. As in the past, there were youths returning to the Looking
In/To the Future project from previous summer retreats.
In the year prior to the turn of the millennium, the media reflected on the past
and tried to imagine the future. Participants in the 1998 retreat had begun looking
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ahead to the future in discussions and workshops, but the themes in 1999 were more
clearly focused on the future. Youths and artists Kate Nugent, Phyllis Robinson,
Greg Alexander, and Olga Vaquer investigated historical and social events from
1968, 1975 and 1999, and imagined their world in 2061. The nine-day workshop
allowed for time to do research at the Amherst College Jones Library and to develop
the research into a performance. The group created Simultaneous Histories, a
performance piece that explored their cross-cultural experiences. They presented
Simultaneous Histories in July and again in April, in the UMASS Bowker
Auditorium during the NWT 2000 season. The 1999 Looking In/To the Future
Project was funded by the SURDNA Foundation, the Rockefeller Foundation, and
received support from the Massachusetts Cultural Council (Mendez, “NWT
Bulletin”). Uno saw the potential to move this community-based project to the next
step. After attending the Ford Foundation’s Animating Democracy Initiative
symposium, she clarified the objectives and methods and sought funding to ensure the
future of the project as a multi-year program.
Looking In/To the Future/Project 2050: 2000
Supported by additional funding from the Animating Democracy Initiative (a
program of Americans for the Arts at the Ford Foundation) the summer 2000 Looking
In/To the Future youth retreat took the new title Project 2050. The millennium change
and census data reports influenced journalists writing popular articles in newspapers
and magazines. They commented on projections that by 2050 people of color would
be in the majority in the U.S. (See appendix C.) At the same time, it was noted that
racial and ethnic hybridity would begin to blur racial categories. The NWT realized
the potential implications for its youth project, with its focus on identity, crosscultural communication, and self-esteem, and now felt pressure to address such
projections. It was evident to Uno and others that the school-age population in
Western Massachusetts was already diverse and that this diversity increased the
tensions in the communities. The NWT sought funding that would allow them to
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combine their continuing work with diverse youth groups and artists, with the
additional input of scholars. The inclusion of scholars in the project was designed to
provide deeper understanding of the project’s themes and lead to an original theatre
work that imagined “a variety of future scenarios, with the explicit intention of
stimulating wide-ranging discussions of their implications and creating a broader
basis for cross-cultural understanding” (“Massachusetts Foundation for the
Humanities Grant Narrative”).
The 2000 youth retreat experimented with new methods for creating
intergenerational, cross-geographic, and cross-cultural dialogue. Artists participating
in the 2000 Project 2050 included: theatre directors Phyllis Robinson, Gil McCauley
and Roberta Uno; playwrights Alice Tuan, Jorge Ignatio Cortiñas, and Carl Hancock
Rux; Hip Hop theatre company Universes led by Mildred Ruiz and Steven Sapp; and
Hip Hop/Break Dancers Millicent Johnnie, Rocafella and Kwikstep. 20 Scholars
participating in the workshop included professors Alberto Sandoval-Sánchez, Deirdre
Royster, and Louis Prissock III. 21 During the one-week retreat, scholars, artists, and
college-age counselors worked together with participating youth to create an artistic
response to the scholar’s ideas about such topics as lies, money, power, and space.
Housed once again on the Amherst College campus, the workshop allowed the
young persons in the project access to the private space of the campus, where they
had never entered, though they lived nearby. The youths ate at the cafeteria, roomed
in a dormitory, and attended classes in studios on campus. The environment at
Amherst differed from UMASS. The campus is much smaller and thus provided easy
access to the workshop spaces. The Georgian brick and ivy-covered buildings
contrasted with the bare modern gray construction at UMASS. Amherst is clearly an
East Coast Ivy-League liberal arts college, and the retreat afforded these youths rare
access to the elite campus. Artists and scholars did not reside with the youths on
campus in the 2000 retreat. Most scholars lived in the area and only participated in
their assigned sessions, though some attended the youth talent show and project
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performance. Artists were housed in a local bed-and-breakfast establishment close to
the Amherst campus.
The first day of the 2000 workshop made available time for the counselors,
artists, and scholars to get acquainted and to hold meetings related to the structure of
sessions, and policies for youth and staff. (See appendix D—Retreat Policies.) The
young participants arrived on 4 July to a full schedule of introductory workshops with
the artists and orientation to the rules. The group went to a fireworks display that
evening. The regular schedule for the retreat began the next day, with an opening
scholar session by Deirdre Royster focusing on the theme of “Lies.” This session was
followed by workshops with the artists. Students were divided into groups and
attended sessions based upon their track. The counselors provided mini-workshops in
DJ-ing, Stepping, Caribbean dance and singing.22 Free time for the youths allowed
them to experience the Amherst campus—swimming, basketball, indoor tennis
courts, football and a fitness center for youth fifteen and older. Another scholar
session was held after dinner and followed by some collaboration time.
The researcher’s observations of the 2000 youth retreat revealed that while
some of the scholars connected with the youths in their presentations, others did not.
23
In spring 2000 and just prior to the retreat, the NWT attempted to meet with the
scholars in order to discuss the project and their expectations—though not all scholars
attended these sessions. This made the integration between the scholars’ material and
the artists’ workshops more difficult. For example, sociology professor Dr. Louis
Prissock, III presented a session on money. He mentioned the word “hegemony”
during his presentation but, when questioned by a youth at the session, was not able
to clearly define the term. Later, in Hip-Hop dancer Millicent Johnnie’s class, the
researcher observed a missed opportunity to help the youth understand the morning
scholar session. The dance instructor described a movement that related to the
African warrior woman’s pushing aside the sheaves of grass in a powerful way. If the
dance instructor had mentioned the idea of power, linking it back to the concept of
hegemony, the student might have had a visceral experience of the word. Since
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students learn in multiple ways, the physical experience of the concept of hegemony
or power might have been a potent lesson. Had such an integration of scholarly
notions and artistic experiences been accomplished, the twelve-year-old retreat
participant might have experienced a moment of recognition. The day after Prissock’s
scholar session, Sunaina Maira, Assistant Professor of Asian American Studies, and
Alice Nash, Assistant Professor of Native American History, co-facilitated a
workshop at the retreat that focused on power. They utilized scenarios from different
social contexts, which allowed the youth to think about relationships of power in their
own lives, and to enact strategic responses to the situations. Maira described the roleplaying exercise as having: “emphasized creative skills but it also led into a critical
discussion of the meaning of power, notions of hegemony, and the role of social
structures” (Maira, letter 28 March 2001). This workshop was a more active
exploration of power. One youth participant wrote about this scholar workshop in her
evaluation comments:
I liked professor Sunaina Maira, who split us up to do role-plays about
race and power. We had different roles where we showed our
prejudice. People make assumptions about me because I look Spanish
but I have grown up in a white neighborhood. I am living in a world
that is very divided. It made me think about culture and ethnicity in a
different way. We talked about how we all have prejudices and
assumptions about other people. I don’t need a label. I am just me. Our
society puts up dividers but really we are one humankind. —Damaris
Delgado (Project 2050 Evaluations 2000).
This young person’s comments demonstrate the impact of the scholar sessions on the
development of critical thinking skills in the participating youth.24 All the scholars
were faculty at institutions of higher learning and most were unfamiliar with the
needs of a younger audience. Yet in the course of their involvement with the project,
they became aware of the need for a different kind of preparation for the retreat
activity.
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The youth participating in the retreat were sponsored by numerous community
organizations, including: ABC House/Violence Prevention; Amherst College
Community Outreach Program; Amherst-Pelham Regional Middle School; New
Visions/Nueva Visiones Theatre at the Teen Resource Project; and RadioActive
Youth, sponsored by the Men’s Resource Center of Western Massachusetts (See
appendix E—Biographies of youth participants). The age range of the participants
was twelve to eighteen years. Older students may have understood more of the
information presented by the scholars. By the end of the retreat the youth reported
favorably on the addition of the scholars, though the artists’ workshops were favored
overall, as the following excerpted evaluations demonstrate:
It was very interesting to hear everyone’s opinions during the scholar
sessions. Everyone felt comfortable to disagree or give another point
of view. I learned that in many cases I can have power. In some case, I
might not, but I will try my best to achieve that power. I also learned
the world is changing every minute, . . . it is the youths’ responsibility
to shape a better future. —Hao Pham
Before I met [UMASS sociologist] Dee Royster I thought about race
mostly in terms of myself as an African American, and about racism
separately from being who I am. I thought it was really interesting
when she talked about “phenotype” and about how your culture and
environment affects who you define yourself as and how other people
define you. I’m still thinking about what she said about culture and
behavior. I don’t know if I agree with her, but what she says makes me
think about different people I know. At first I thought some of the
ideas were too abstract, but the examples they gave helped me to relate
what they were saying to my own life. —Jamille Hazard
144
Some of the scholars didn’t know how to talk to us. I really didn’t like
it when one of them acted like what she was saying was so important,
when it was so obvious. One I really liked was Alberto Sandoval
because he said some really interesting things about how people “read”
you in different social spaces. It was interesting to see how spaces
change by who is there and that we can also change the spaces we are
in. I also thought it was a good point to talk about emergency rooms
and social class. In my theatre workshop after, we used that for an
improv, setting it in the future. —Mikiko Thelwell
I really liked that I got to meet a scholar who is Latino, who showed
me that a Latino can be educated and do something and become
something. —Tatiana Salgado.
(Project 2050 Summer 2000 Participant Evaluations)
These comments from the youth evaluation forms document the value of including
the scholars in the project. The thoughtful comments of the youth demonstrate their
commitment to the project as well. NWT staff reviewed the information gleaned from
the evaluations, and evaluated the commitment and activity levels of the youth during
the retreat in selecting eighteen participants to return the next summer.
The artists’ responses in the final evaluation also indicated the value of adding
the scholars to the project:
The scholars were very articulate and able to guide us through seeing a
life of the mind. It allowed me to see how academia need not be dry,
but that it can be moisturized by the humanity of ideas. It really took
the students, and myself, to a higher level of thinking and observation,
especially without the encumbrance and clutter of pop media. —Alice
Tuan
145
Too often arts-related programs get us in touch with the place we
already are. That’s important, but not enough. The scholars helped us
to take it to the next level. They troubled our too-easy conclusions and
conventional ways of thinking around issues like race, class and
citizenship. The scholars gave us a new set of tools to continue that
dialogue, they helped strip the superficial patina off those issues. They
got us in touch with where we are, but also helped us imagine where
we might want to go and how to start getting there. —Jorge Cortinas
(Project 2050 Summer 2000 Participant Evaluations)
The comments by the artists show the dynamic relationship the artists, students, and
scholars. They also hint at the prior perceptions of the youth and artists toward the
scholars. The NWT discussions with the artists and scholars during the retreat,
evaluations completed by them, and observation of their work with the youths
influenced the selection of artists and scholars who would be invited to return the
following summer.
Due to a long performance and the need to turn the space over to another
performing group, there was no discussion following the closing performance at the
2000 summer Project 2050 retreat. However, the NWT held community forums in
community settings in Holyoke, Springfield, and Amherst following performances of
the “works-in-progress” during fall 2000. The youths were invited to participate in a
re-staging of several of the performance pieces done in the summer. Steven Sapp and
Mildred Ruiz of Universes and Roberta Uno directed the re-staging. The rehearsals
took place at the Amherst Middle School with transportation provided by the NWT
student interns. The youths received twenty-five dollars for the performance.
Professional facilitator Dr. Patricia Romney stimulated the discussion and deepened
the thematic content for the youth and the audience at community performances and
forums. Artists Alice Tuan, Carl Hancock Rux, and Jorge Ignacio Cortiñas and
scholars Alberto Sandoval-Sánchez, Deirdre Royster, and Louis Prissock, III
participated in the fall community sessions entitled “Project 2050: Open Studio/Open
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Dialogue.” These forums provided an opportunity for the NWT to develop its
understanding of the dynamics of public dialogue. Uno was not satisfied with the
level of the dialogue at the retreat and in public forums and was determined to
improve that aspect of the project in the next cycle. She did not feel that the dialogue
explored the underlying issues and the future implications of the content presented by
the youth in performance.
Project 2050: 2001
The NWT used evaluation and observation of the retreat and community
experiences to plan changes for the next stage of the Project 2050.25 A planning
meeting was held 28 February 2001 to discuss the possible themes, development of
additional scholars and the role of dialogue in the upcoming project.26 Greater effort
was put into selecting the right scholars for the 2001 Project 2050. The NWT sought
scholars who had the “talent, experience, and know-how to make effective
connections with [the] youth participants and the general public, and who can exploit
the potential of their humanities disciplines to provide a bridge between cultures and
generations” (“Massachusetts Foundation for the Humanities Grant Narrative”). The
scholars included: Alberto Sandoval-Sánchez, Professor of Spanish Literature, Mount
Holyoke College; Daniel Banks, Adjunct Professor of Performance Studies, New
York University; Jennifer Ho, Visiting Lecturer in English and Asian Studies, Mount
Holyoke; Agustin Laó-Montes, Instructor of Sociology, Center for Latin American,
Caribbean, and Latino Studies, University of Massachusetts; James Loewen,
independent scholar, author of Lies My Teacher Told Me; and Michelle Stephens,
Assistant Professor of English, American and African-American Studies, Mount
Holyoke. In addition, they added a dialogue facilitator, Diana Coryat, who had
experience in the arts and humanities, with youth, and with social change work.27
Coryat worked with the artists, scholars and youth to develop the retreat curriculum.
The goal was to create a performance that would be a “catalyst for serious
engagement with the issues as they relate to the spectators’ lives” (“Massachusetts
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Foundation for the Humanities Grant Narrative”). The 2001 Project 2050 artists
included: playwrights Alice Tuan, Ricardo Braccho, and Jorge Ignacio Cortiñas;
performance poets Mariposa and Rha Goddess; dancer/choreographers Rocafela and
Kwikstep; and theatre directors Gilbert McCauley, Kamilah Forbes, and Roberta
Uno. (See appendix F Artists biographies.) Artists Tuan, Cortiñas, Rocafela,
Kwikstep, McCauley, and Uno continued from the 2000 retreat. The continuing
scholars, artists and participants added stability to the project and demonstrated
commitment to the goals.
While the performances were seen by the families, peers, local community
groups, and Five College audiences, the intended outcomes of the project remained
focused on the forty-five youth participants. Participants were chosen through
nominations from a number of social service agencies, schools and individuals
throughout the area. The eighteen youths continuing from the 2000 retreat were
designated as Youth Leaders. The Youth Leaders acted as peer counselors and
received additional training in critical thinking and civic dialogue. They also worked
with the scholars and artists as co-facilitators in the dialogue sessions.
The staff from NWT, some of the youth from the 2000 retreat, scholars, and
artists met during spring 2001 to decide on the themes for the upcoming retreat.28
The chosen topics included: Immigration, Identification, Incarceration, Exploitation,
and Negotiation. The themes revolved around the power struggles the youths faced
and what they perceived as issues they would continue to face in the future.
Immigration and Identification addressed continuing issues from past retreats.
Incarceration was selected based on the increasing number of young Black males in
prison or on parole. Most of the youths chosen to participate in the retreat were
working in the service sector. The youths were concerned about issues related to the
exploitation of workers of color in the United States and abroad. Finally, Negotiation
was defined as a strategy to aid civic participation. Through Project 2050, the NWT
hoped to explore these themes and to find new ways to “overcome differences
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through creative dialogue” (“Massachusetts Foundation for the Humanities Grant
Narrative”).
Project 2050 began with a final planning day on 4 July 2001 and included the
participating artists, scholars, Youth Leaders, and counselors. Dialogue facilitator
Coryat held a training workshop. The exploration involved information presented by
the scholars, which was explored in exercises and used as a basis for the theatre
pieces the youth would create. In order to make the theoretical information accessible
to the youth, scholars incorporated poems, literature, dramatic video/films, music, and
song lyrics into their presentations. The personal experiences of the youths were
investigated through dialogue and movement, and in creative exercises. The youths’
creative skills were developed through workshops with the artists in writing, acting,
movement, and improvisation. The nine-day residential retreat at Amherst College
ended with a performance and dialogue in the Amherst College Experimental
Theater. New work by the Project 2050 youths was developed and remounted at the
Bowker Auditorium at UMASS 30 October through 9 November 2001 as part of the
NWT Season.
This chapter described the Looking In/To the Future and Project 2050. By
understanding the history of these projects, it is possible to evaluate their usefulness
as a model for other diversity-related outreach projects at institutions of higher
education, particularly those designed to enhance access and equity in higher
education for at-risk youths and youths of color. The next chapter will examine the
potential of the NWT activities to serve as such a model, and explore in some detail
how such a proposed model might be actualized.
1
Additional NWT Projects include: New Works for a New World, a play development project; Asian
American Women Playwrights Archive, housed in the W. E. B. Dubois Library at the University of
Massachusetts; the Latino Theater Project, a community and artistic project resulting in the
development of plays/performances; Asian Theater Project; helping community groups dramatize
social issues; and Viet New: A Generation Emerges, an audience development project to confirm and
celebrate a new generation of Vietnamese American artists in theatre (Conway personal interview, 122-98).
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2
Uno referred to the NWT’s early works as a “desegregation project” because the activities were
designed for the minority students and the audiences tended to align with the particular group for
which the activity was planned.
3
The Lila Wallace Reader’s Digest Fund granted $120,000 to the NWT for the Latino Theater Project.
It was the largest single grant that the NWT had received to date. Other funding sources for the Latino
Theater Project include: Massachusetts Cultural Council; Eugene A. Dester Charitable Fund
(administered by the Association of Performing Arts); the Nan and Matilda Heydt Fund (administered
by BayBank as trustee); the Community Foundation of Western Massachusetts; the UMASS Vice
Chancellor for Research, Graduate Education and Economic Development; and the UMASS Office of
the Chancellor.
4
LTP community organization partners included: Proyesto Vida, Brightwood Elementary School,
Kensington Ave. School, and Nueva Esperanza.
5
Puerto Rican actress, singer, and director Sandra Rodriguez is the artistic director of Grupo Bridges.
She is an alumna of Pregones Theater in New York. Gloria Zelaya has collaborated with the Pregones
Theater, LaMama E.T.C., the Puerto Rican Traveling Theater and Mass Transit Theater; was the
artistic director of the Latino Experimental Fantastic Theatre; and was a founding member of the
Augusto Boal Theatre Lab in NYC.
6
The plays developed by Grupo Bridges in the LTP are Tales From the Flats: Two Plays in One Act:
Colors y Familias. Su Teatro developed The Night of the Barrio Moon. In addition, Su Teatro
performed their production of La Carpa Aztlan Presents: I Don’t Speak English Only at the NWT and
in local high schools.
7
The Teen Resource Center was to become the one community group that maintained a relationship
with NWT projects on a continuing basis through 2003.
8
The American Festival Project is “a national coalition of artists, community-based organizations,
presenters, community activists, educators, and cultural workers whose work is rooted in the belief that
cultural exchange can provide a context in which diverse communities can begin to understand and
respect one another” (Burns, “Voices of Vietnamese American Youth” 7).
9
The SAC also produced a Handbook of Techniques in Community Theater (Ly et al., “American
Festival Project”). The Handbook described the exercises used in the various workshops and was
meant to be used by other community groups.
10
The Teen Resource Project was involved with the Latino Theater Project and was a natural addition
to this project.
11
The artists selected to work with the youth groups were Hung Nguyen, artistic director of Club
O’Noodles, and Brenda Cotto-Escalera, director, dramaturg, and professor of theatre at Massachusetts
Institute of Technology.
12
The Asian-American artists included: Ping Chong, Shishir Kurup, Dong Il Lee, Page Leong, Hung
Nguyen, and Hiep Mai.
13
Roberta Uno continued to be successful in putting together funding for the NWT projects. The early
stages of the project were funded by the American Festival Project, the Massachusetts Cultural
Council’s Youth Reach Program, the Healey Public Service Grant of the University of Massachusetts,
the Nan and Matilda Heydt Fund, the Eugene A. Dexter Charitable Fund (administered by BayBank as
trustee), and the Western Mass Community Foundation.
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14
In Mixed Company presented by the UMASS Asian Dance and Music Program.
15
Linda Parris-Bailey was added to the project representing the American Festival Project. She was
the Executive and Artistic Director of the Carpetbag Theatre, Inc.
16
Each artist was assigned to a primary group: Hung Nguyen to the Vietnamese Americans, Linda
Parris Bailey to the Khmer, and Brenda Cotto-Escalera and Noelia Ortiz-Cortes to New Visions.
17
The community organizers included: Elsie Reyes of New Visions; Sokcheat Chen and Sokhen Mao
of the Khmer; and Uyen Nguyen, Nhac Troung, and Khoi Dinh Vo of CIRCLE, working with the
Vietnamese Americans.
18
The NWT staff included: Roberto Uno (Artistic Director), Karimah Robinson (Education and
Access Director), Lisa Hori-Garcia (Production and Resident Manager), and Lucy Burn (Literary
Manager).
19
The Looking In/To the Future theatre performance piece was presented 20-22 November 1997 at the
Hampden Theater on the UMASS campus as part of the NWT fall season.
20
Universes is a five-member troupe of performers who fuse poetry, theatre, jazz, Hip Hop, politics,
blues, and Spanish Boleros to create theatrical works. The members include Steven Sapp, Flaco
Navaja, Gamal Abdel Chasten, Lemon, and Mildred Ruiz. Universes performed at Performance Space
122 in New York, the New York Workshops Summer Play Lab, and the Mark Taper Forum. They also
performed at the NWT in the New Works for a New World series, and at the Intersection II
conference. Their performance of Slanguage, directed by Jo Bonney, was presented at the New York
Theatre Workshop in spring 2001.
21
Alberto Sandoval-Sánchez is a Professor of Latin American Literature at Mount Holyoke College.
Deirdre Royster is professor of sociology at the University of Massachusetts. Louis Prissock III is
professor of Sociology at the University of Massachusetts.
22
Counselor Marcus Pinn conducted a workshop in DJ’ing. Mikiko Thelwell and Nuk Thann (Jamie) led
Stepping workshops. Evelyn Aquino led a Caribbean dance workshop. Heather A. Lord and Josh
Arond led a singing workshop. Each workshop presented a performance in the final production of
Project 2050.
23
Comments that follow are taken from my notes of observations July 2000.
24
The Delgado twins, Damaris and Christine, participated in several 2050 projects. The author
observed them in 2000 and again in 2002.
25
Funding for the project was provided by: Ford Foundation’s Animating Democracy program,
Massachusetts Cultural Council, Western Massachusetts Community Foundation, NPN Community
Fund, Office of the President of Amherst College and the University of Massachusetts.
26
Attending the meeting were: scholars Alberto Sandoval-Sánchez, James Loewen, and Agustin Laó
Montez; artists Steven Sapp and Mildred Ruiz; and NWT Artistic Director Roberta Uno, Managing
Director José Tolson, and Literary Manager Cathy Schlund.
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27
Diana Coryat was the Co-Executive Director and Co-founder of Global Action Project, Inc., an
internationally recognized media arts organization that trains New York youth to produce videos and
new media on social and cultural issues that concern them.
28
Diana Coryat facilitated several meetings in May and June 2001 with the scholars and artists to
explore collaboration between the two parties to widen their methodologies. She also led workshops
for the Youth Leaders and two college counselors to train them in their role as dialogue co-facilitators.
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CHAPTER FIVE
Analysis and Conclusions
Introduction
This dissertation examined the background, production history, and outreach
projects of the New WORLD Theater (NWT) in terms of its usefulness as a model for
diversifying theatre programs and, more importantly, for utilizing the work of theatre
programs to address issues of access and equity in higher education for at-risk
students and students of color. Determining how theatre might be used as a tool to
encourage young people to participate in society and eventually matriculate to higher
education was integral to the motivation behind this study. The researcher’s
extensive experience in both theatre and higher education, and awareness of equity
and access issues among both students and faculty informed the goals for this study as
well. The production history and background presented in Chapter Three provides the
context through which the outreach projects were developed. This is the first time that
the NWT significant production history has been presented in published form. This
chapter presents an analysis of the extensive data collected in the course of this study,
specifically in terms of its applicability to current efforts to promote matriculation to
college among at-risk students and students of color.
The Intersection of Praxis and Theory
Roberta Uno and the NWT created opportunities for young people of color-not just to view works by artists of color but also to participate in the production of
those works. During the past twenty-four years the NWT has evolved into an
153
internationally recognized theatre organization known for its development of new
works and innovative outreach programs.
In Chapter Two, theoretical issues related to diversity and education as a
process of liberation were discussed. bell hooks proposes “engaged pedagogy” as a
means of transforming curriculum so that it “does not reflect biases or reinforce
systems of domination” and allows students and teachers to take risks that make the
classroom a site of resistance (Teaching to Transgress 21). Through the work of the
NWT, Uno established a place where students of color could feel safe in the
classroom and in theatre production. Students, faculty, and staff of color achieved
agency in their work with the NWT. This was not accomplished without a struggle.
Over the course of the NWT’s history, times of conflict within the home institution
coincided with particular developments within the UMASS and Five College
community. The problems encountered by the NWT emerged from a lack of
understanding among various players, issues related to space and location, and the
choice to present diverse theatre productions rather than those of the predominantly
Western theatrical canon.
In Killing Rage: Ending Racism, hooks makes a case for the necessity of
exposing and eradicating racism and sexism, and argues that we have not confronted
the colonialism in our own country. Theorists such as Giroux, Gates, Banks, Fusco,
and Moraga contend that artists and scholars must overcome the colonialism in higher
education. The NWT challenged the colonialism at UMASS. Despite the difficulties
encountered, the NWT shared such goals to reduce racism and confront colonialism,
and its determination resulted in a twenty-four-year history of developing works and
presenting productions by artists of color.
The NWT's outreach work with young students correlates to the objective of
this researcher to connect theatre and the work of theatre departments to higher
education’s obligation to increase successful matriculation among at-risk and students
of color. Uno described the NWT's work as educational, accessible, and communitybased. Although she characterized the NWT’s early work as a "desegregation project
154
rather than integration," the growth of the NWT paralleled increases in awareness of
diversity issues at both regional and national levels (personal interview 20 June
2001). The NWT's mission, to present diverse theatrical experiences and provide
outreach to young people in the community, corresponds with the researcher’s own
experience in theatre in higher education and as a dean at the University of the
Incarnate Word (UIW). The diverse nature of the UIW student body has heightened
the researcher’s concern with issues related to diversity and theatre, and provided
impetus for encouraging students of color to break the boundaries of traditional
expectations in higher education and in the limitations of the Western theatrical
canon. The NWT’s Looking In/To the Future/Project 2050 is an example of the way
theatre can be used to enhance access and equity among at-risk students and students
of color.
Exploring the Potential of the Looking In/To the Future/Project 2050 Model
As discussed in Chapter Four, the community-based Latino and Asian Theatre
Projects led to a refining of the educational focus of the community-based work of the
NWT. The Looking In/To the Future project’s initial goal was to take the young
people out of their environments and help them to develop their personal stories of
identity. Students were not selected by audition but rather by the community groups
with which the NWT worked. The artists and cultural workers who worked with the
youth in this project were committed to using their skills to help to realize the
potential of the young people involved.
In the beginning, the community groups involved with the NWT did not see
the potential benefits of the collaboration. At first, the work centered on immediate
issues and problems facing the youth. One community group was concerned that the
youth involved in the NWT project were problem students who would give a bad
impression of the group as a whole. Uno commented in various interviews and
conversations that the success or failure of the relationship with the community center
hinged on the extent to which the supervisors of the community center saw the work
155
of the NWT project as valuable. The Teen Resource Center in Holyoke,
Massachusetts, was one such collaborator. The Center’s relationship with the NWT
was strong from the outset and remains strong to this day. The directors of this
program continue to support the NWT by participating in planning, facilitating the
selection process, and supporting the teen’s participation in other work of the NWT.
Looking In/To the Future was a model project that brought artists and youths
together to explore issues of identity. The artists used techniques based loosely on
Augusto Boal’s Theatre of the Oppressed and other theatre-related games and
activities. Early exercises also incorporated the songs and dance of the students’
particular cultures into the project. Research indicates that by exploring their stories
and cultures, the students’ self-esteem benefited. Centering the work on identity
allowed students to develop a heightened appreciation of their culture in relationship
to the cultures of other groups represented. Whether the artists’ skills were enhanced
by this collaboration is difficult to determine. From the archival material studied, it
appears any artist whose work with the youth was deemed inadequate or
inappropriate was not asked to return the following year. Such determinations were
based on observations made by NWT staff and others working with the group.
Determination of staffing was finalized by Roberta Uno.
The summer of 2000 brought a change to the NWT’s outreach project. Project
2050 shifted the direction of the Looking In/To the Future Project, adding scholars to
the mix of artists, youth, and NWT staff. The scholars were added to provide a base
of knowledge for the issue to be explored by the artists and youth. The decision to
add scholars to the project was made following participation by Uno in an Animating
Democracy meeting, which brought together a number of groups conducting projects
supported by the Ford Foundation. 1 Uno remarked to this researcher that at that
meeting she became aware of the potential of the project to move beyond issues of
identity. Uno claimed that too many groups were working in that area and that she
wanted to expand the project’s political potential. This new objective increased the
need for both youth and artists to become aware of concepts fundamental to action for
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social change. The outreach project’s new political focus coincides with bell hooks’
call to action against the colonizing nature of higher education.
In the first summer of transition from the Looking In/To the Future project to
Project 2050, the theme of a working retreat centered on issues that might be
important to youth in 2050. (See Appendix C.) In one morning session, scholars
presented their views of social issues that might affect youth in the future. The youth
then proceeded to various workshops and classes throughout the day. Scholars were
not truly integrated into the actual work of the artists and students, however.
According to Uno, this deficiency was due to lack of planning time set aside for artist
and scholars to collaborate and the failure of the scholars to adapt their presentations
to the younger audience.
2
For example, scholars used vocabulary that was
unfamiliar to the students and some of the artists. Therefore, the artists were often
unable or unwilling to fully incorporate the scholars’ concepts into their own work
with the students. Alternatively, the artists were not committed to fully exploring the
academic material presented at the scholar’s sessions. There appeared to be an antiintellectual bias on the part of some artists that made it difficult to accomplish true
integration of theory and practice.
Following the 2000 summer transition retreat, Uno developed the Project
2050 planning process, which added a facilitator to the project in subsequent
summers. In addition, youth from the project participated in the planning. These
subsequent workshops were described in detail in Chapter Four.
After observing and studying the materials of Project 2050, it is clear that this
format could be used as a model for increasing access and equity among at-risk and
youth of color. Using the same framework—scholars, artists, and youths working
together on a college campus for a week to ten days followed by continuous
collaboration over the following year—higher education theatre practitioners would
add activities related to college attendance; the youths’ families; the education of
scholars, artists, and staff about access and equity; and the project’s objectives. In
applying the Project 2050 model to access and equity in higher education, the
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personnel of the workshop would include staff from college admissions and financial
assistance offices, and college-age peer mentors.
The theatre activities and writing, dance, and music workshops that formed
the structure of the NWT's Project 2050 would be an integral part of such a higher
education-related project. Artists leading these sessions would participate in a
thorough orientation to the issues related to access and equity and to the themes of the
particular session. Such orientations would be conducted by experts in the field of
education theory as it relates to diversity and reform. In addition, the orientation
sessions would provide time for scholars and artists to work together in order to better
prepare the artists to incorporate the concepts presented by the scholars and for the
scholars to grasp the artistic content to be explored in the workshop. Artists
participating in such a project would need to understand the reasons for the
participation of scholars in the workshop and appreciate the value of higher
education. 3 These criteria for artist selection might more fully involve artists
working in education settings and the various arts departments on campus. Scholars
would be selected based upon their disciplinary area, research, and ability to work
with younger students. Further, it would be vital that the scholars and artists involved
be presented equally as role models.
As presented in Chapter Two, research has shown that successful students
bring with them the cultural capital needed to succeed in higher education. At-risk
students and students of color often do not have the cultural capital to succeed. They
do not have the background, appropriate high school curriculum, cultural
opportunities, or parental support and expectations that their upper- and middle-class
counterparts have. A project modeled after Project 2050, which already has
successful scholarly and artistic components in place, could provide some of that
cultural capital and potentially open the door to higher education.
The NWT realized early on the value of theatre pedagogy and performance as
avenues to raising the consciousness and improving the skills and self-esteem of atrisk students and students of color. This is evident in the numerous educational
158
components linked to the productions throughout its twenty-four year history. The
added elements described in this dissertation’s research concerning access and equity
and the demographics of a changing majority would allow other theatre programs to
replicate this successful project with the intention of increasing the diversity of their
institutions and theatre programs. Workshops such as those conducted by the NWT
would additionally position theatre departments at the center of the effort in higher
education to increase not only access and equity but also retention and persistence
among at-risk students and students of color.
Using Theatre to Promote Access and Equity: A Model
The model being suggested in this dissertation relies upon the research of
several scholars presented in Chapter Two. According to Linda Serra Hagedorn and
William G. Tierney, studies of equal access to higher education indicate that outreach
projects may promote the matriculation of at-risk students into college (Increasing
Access to College 1-8). Key elements of successful outreach projects include:
community partnerships, college awareness, development of social skills, campus
visits, cultural activities, and training in study-skills. Alexander Jun identified five
factors for student academic success: (a) begin early, (b) focus on academics, (c)
involve everyone, (d) address financial realities, and (e) create an environment for
success (From Here to University 120-21). These researchers indicate important
essentials to creating any outreach project aimed at increasing access and equity for
at-risk students and students of color. Student identification with the college or
university, as well as the student’s personal educational goals and financial support,
remain significant factors in the retention of students in higher education. Using a
number of these features and the NWT’s Project 2050 as a model, this researcher
sought to develop a model geared to promote access, equity, and successful
matriculation among at-risk students and students of color.
For a model utilizing theatre to enhance access and equity in higher education,
the project director or participating theatre department should first establish criteria
159
for the identification of participating artists and scholars. Factors such as location,
expertise, ability to work with young people, knowledge of the themes of the
workshop, and desire or commitment to the project as a whole should be included in
such criteria. It is critical that the artists and scholars selected for this project be
respectful of the other’s expertise and willing to invest in their own personal and
professional development during the process. In addition to artists and scholars,
personnel who might be needed to provide additional activities related to the goals of
the program should be identified. Such personnel might include individuals from the
offices of admissions, financial assistance, and career services, as well as student
leadership organizations on campus.
Students should also be selected for the workshop based on characteristics
important to the institution conducting the workshop. Criteria for selection may
include such items as income range, potential first-generation college student,
ethnicity, recommendation by high school teacher or counselor, affiliation with
community center, and academic potential. Students may also show interest in
theatre, creative writing, dance, music, or the visual arts. At this early stage of
development of the project, it would be ill-advised to base student acceptance solely
on an audition.
The administrators of the workshop must complete all arrangements for room
and board for participants, space reservations for workshops, and finalize
appointments with the additional personnel (such as admissions, financial assistance,
and career services) that might be utilized during the workshop. Additionally, student
mentors or counselors should be hired to assist with supervision of the participants.
The orientation to the project would enlist facilitators and experts from
various community and university locations. The orientation for scholars and artists
might offer:
•
sessions by faculty in the education department on issues of access and equity
and educational reform;
160
•
sessions by scholars in areas related to the themes and concepts to be
presented at the workshop;
•
sessions by artists to explore the techniques and methods they will be
presenting;
•
collaborative sessions with artists and scholars to explore the workshop
themes and concepts in the format of theatrical pedagogy;
•
sessions with admissions, financial assistance, and career services personnel
to discuss the importance of bringing this information to the students
participating in the workshop and their families and the methods that might be
used to present that information; and
•
sessions with college-age peer mentors to orient them to the goals of the
workshop and the rules of participation.
The adult participants in the workshop should be identified early in order to
participate in an orientation workshop to take place at different times during the
semester prior to the workshop, or all at once in the week prior to the workshop. It is
critical that all adult participants be present at the orientation sessions for any
workshop to be successful. Given the typically busy schedules of those who might be
involved, it may be easiest to obtain such a commitment if the orientation is built into
the initial agreement with the participants. 4 It would be useful to invite the peer
mentors or counselors to portions of the orientation as appropriate. They should
understand the concept of the workshop and their role in achieving the goals.
Following the adult orientation, the youths would arrive on campus. Their
orientation would begin immediately following their move-in with a session
presenting the “rules” of the workshop. These rules must be set up in advance and
have clear consequences for students who fail to comply. (See Appendix D for a
sample of Project 2050 policies.) The next session would introduce all the
participants in the workshop to one another. In this way, the students can meet the
artists, scholars, peer mentors, and other personnel with whom they will be in contact
over the course of the workshop. The NWT’s Project 2050 also includes an artist
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presentation, in which each artist does a short performance by way of introduction. In
Project 2050, the scholars only participate if they do so in the form of a performance.
This arrangement may or may not be successful in another setting. Scholars may be
more comfortable presenting a brief account of their backgrounds and interests
instead of a performance. Another alternative might be the use of an exercise that
would allow all participants to introduce themselves and engage with one another.
Such an activity might take the form of a theatre game or a Theatre of the Oppressed
exercise in the tradition of Augusto Boal.
A model program of the sort proposed here would incorporate a tour of the
campus and the locations that would be available to students during their time on
campus. Such a tour should include the library, computer laboratories, classrooms,
gymnasium, swimming pool, cafeteria, and student center, as well as studios, shops,
and theatres. In order for the students to envision themselves as college students on
campus, it would be helpful to enlist the participation of the Admissions Office in this
activity, since admissions personnel frequently offer tours to prospective students.
The staff or project director and peer mentors should accompany the students on any
such tour to ensure they are aware of the information delivered to the students. Artists
and scholars might also be included, particularly if they are not from the campus.
If the program includes research activities, the group may need a special tour
of the library by librarians who could explain the resources available to the students
and how they might gain access to them during their time on campus. 5 The entire
workshop should last a minimum of ten days to two weeks, as it takes time for
students to assimilate the many new experiences offered by the activities and
environment. The objectives of the workshop should be reinforced throughout the
period of the students’ stay. For example, when the students are eating at the
cafeteria or enjoying break time in the dormitory, the program mentors may take time
to speak about their experiences at college.
The project director and adult participants also should evaluate the sites of
activity. If one goal of the program is to provide an opportunity for students to “see
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themselves in the environment,” then helping students to “read” the environment may
be important. For example, Project 2050 took place for a number of years on the
Amherst College campus. When eating with the artists and scholars, the researcher
noticed that the cafeteria walls were covered with pictures of men in sporting
activities. Women were not evident in the displays, though Amherst has been
coeducational for over twenty years. How might a female student interpret that
omission? If such overt sexism were apparent in a campus setting where a workshop
was to occur, the facilitators might have to discuss related issues in the cafeteria. Very
likely, the discourse would be educational for the students and would mitigate the
impact of any sense of exclusion.
If a model workshop were to follow the format of Project 2050, students
would move along on “tracks” through workshops following scholarly sessions to
provide some background to the themes selected. The “tracks” would be simply
divisions of students into paths through the workshop sessions. Students may have
expressed interest in writing, as opposed to acting or dance, and may be assigned with
a group to work with specific artist and scholars in those fields. This would become
especially important as the number of students involved in the workshop increases.
Scholars should be integrated into the artist’s workshops as observers but as
participants in the discussion. A longer workshop would create time for relaxation
and enable students to use the campus facilities. This extended period would also
create time for sessions such as, “How to Apply to College” or “How Can I Afford
College?” The admissions and financial assistance office staff should present these
sessions.
Parents and other family members ought to be involved in sessions related to
admission to college and financial assistance. Special sessions for the families of
participating students could be created. Sessions with students and families prior to
the workshop would be beneficial to all involved, helping to establish relationships
with families early on and allowing for discussion of what families could do to assist
their students in matriculation to higher education. The family sessions should
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include information about K-12 curricula and how to assist their student’s successful
entrance to and graduation from college. For example, research indicates that
tracking at the K-12 level places at-risk students and students of color in classes that
do not provide the knowledge required for admittance to and graduation from college.
At-risk students and students of color are frequently advised to take lower-level math
rather than algebra in middle school, a choice that could derail the student’s progress
toward higher education. Parents and families should be made of aware of these
contingencies as early as possible, and be provided with such information at a family
session of the workshop. Sessions with the families of younger participants would be
particularly important.
The workshop should have a culminating experience. Project 2050 held a
performance on its final evening. When possible, Project 2050 engaged the audience
in a community discussion following the performance. Such a performance would
present the activities of the workshop to the students’ families and the community. It
would be valuable to invite admissions counselors, high school guidance counselors,
and project funding organizations to such an event as well. Just after the final
performance the students, artists and scholars should be asked to complete a
workshop evaluation form. (See Appendices G, H, and I for a sample of Project 2050
Evaluations.) The evaluations should be completed on-site and collected for the best
return rate. The evaluations should be tailored to each audience: students, scholars,
and artists. Evaluations should be analyzed to determine success, problems, and
potential changes to be made in the next year’s workshop.
Project 2050’s final performance was rehearsed and restaged later in the NWT
season. In addition, the performance was presented at community sites and open
discussion followed. The model proposed here would include such a performance, as
well as performances at high schools and middle schools, which would extend the
objectives of the project. Moreover, the continuing relationship with the students and
their families that would result from these extended performances would enhance
their identification with the sponsoring higher education institution, a factor that has
164
been shown to increase the likelihood that a student will complete college. Finally,
the performance component of the project could provide an opportunity for the
institution’s theatre program to contribute to increased enrollment and retention.
Thus, the NWT’s Project 2050 model seems easily adaptable to the goal of
increasing access and equity to higher education among at-risk students and students
of color. The NWT has developed a workable, creative approach to theatre-related
educational outreach. With a few added elements specific to the issue of increased
access, equity, and diversity to higher education, the NWT projects provide a useful
model for theatre programs wishing to join in the outreach efforts of their institutions.
Conclusion
The first chapter of this dissertation introduced the NWT, the demographics
of the communities it serves, its location within the Five College, Inc. Consortium,
the intent of this study, and the methodology used to gather the data. Chapter Two
provided a literature review and the theoretical framework for the study, including a
description of several concepts critical to the final study recommendations, that is, the
concepts of cultural capital, diversity, and access and equity in higher education.
Interviews and observation, along with archival research, enabled the
researcher to place events in local and national perspectives. The combination of
sources of evidence provided a variety of views of the same events and allowed the
researcher to draw conclusions regarding the value of the NWT as a model for
increasing cultural opportunities for audiences and artists of color.
A review of the research on issues of gender, diversity, and multiculturalism
in higher education reveals that little research has been conducted on the relationship
between programs of theatre in higher education and issues related to gender,
diversity, and multiculturalism. As indicated in Chapter Two, critical education
theorists have called for the reform of educational institutions. Paulo Freire's work on
radical education and his text Education for Critical Consciousness, for example,
seem particularly appropriate to this study of the NWT and its goal of presenting
165
works from the periphery. bell hooks, drawing upon Freire's work, also speaks to the
education of students of color in her book Teaching to Transgress: Education as the
Practice of Freedom. Other authors such as James A. Banks, Henry Louis Gates, Jr.,
Michael W. Apple, Stanley Aronowitz, and Henry A. Giroux have joined in the
scholarly debate of issues of diversity, radical education, and educational reform. All
of these theorists have contributed to the analysis of the data and conclusions drawn
in this study. Further, current national questions and discussions related to the
recruitment and retention of students of color, the lack of qualified professors of
color, and the diversity of the curriculum can all be tied to the twenty-four year
history of NWT.
Chapters Three and Four were chronological accounts of the work of the
NWT. Chapter Three provided the NWT’s background and production history. The
history of the productions and companies produced and presented at the NWT
represents a remarkable accomplishment, which heretofore had not been published.
Chapter Three also chronicled the prominent companies and performers who have
worked with the NWT, as well as the numerous original plays created under the
auspices of the NWT. Many of these plays have been published and performed in
other theatres across the United States. Roberta Uno and Kathy Perkins edited,
Contemporary Plays by Women of Color, a collection of plays performed at the
NWT. Uno and Lucy Mae San Pablo Burns edited, The Color of Theater: Race,
Culture, and Contemporary Performance, a collection of essays and plays from the
first Intersection Conference. The NWT continues to provide opportunities for artists
of color to have the time, space, and performers needed to develop their original
works. Frequently the artists developing new work at the NWT were also working
with the various educational outreach projects. Chapter Four described the outreach
projects of the NWT beginning with the Latino Theatre Project and the Asian Theatre
Project, two projects that set the stage for the Looking In/To the Future project.
Chapter Four also provided a detailed description of the Looking In/To the
166
Future/Project 2050, as well as a detailed description of the activities of and changes
to the outreach program over a three-year period.
Finally, Chapter Five concerned the applicability of the NWT’s outreach
projects to the national issue of student and faculty recruitment and retention and the
usefulness of the NWT as a model for expanding diversity in theatre programs at
institutions of higher education.
The goals of the NWT’s Looking In/To the Future project included building
the skills and capacity of partner organizations, exploring issues and identifying
primary voices, creating cross-cultural dialogue, exploring tools of peer mentorship,
and helping participating artists to build on their artistic skills through collaboration
with other artists and the community. (See Appendix E “Looking In/To the Future”
participants list.) Local newspaper articles, press releases, and reports located in the
NWT archives support their achievement of those early goals. Beyond these stated
goals of the project is the added potential of the NWT model to assist at-risk students
and students of color with successful matriculation to college. The NWT's community
and educational outreach programs illustrate its continuing commitment to crossing
borders, developing audiences, and nurturing new works by artists of color.
This study found that the NWT’s Looking In/To The Future/Project 2050
correlates well with current national issues related to diversity, access, and equity in
higher education institutions. By bringing together marginalized artists and scholars
of color, the NWT has provided a site for continued discourse providing access and
equity. The Looking In/To the Future Project, later re-named Project 2050, was
designed as educational outreach to at-risk students and students of color. The work
of the project seeks to politicize the discourse of at-risk students and students of
color, and as such, is situated in the politics of performance. In observing the project,
the researcher noted that the work strengthened the political stance of the participants.
The students increased their knowledge of political issues relevant to their lives and
were articulate in expressing their opinions in discussions at the workshop. Early
167
feminist theorists proclaimed that the personal was political; clearly this is true of the
NWT and its operations.
The significance of this study lies in its documentation of the work of the
NWT, a unique institution operating within an equally unique five-college
consortium. The NWT's twenty-four year history of productions, workshops,
educational outreach projects, successful external funding, and national and
international attention is evidence of its importance as a theatre, and merits an
examination of even greater depth than this study, which barely begins the process.
Further research would assist the NWT in securing funding and continuing service to
the regional and national communities.
A great need exists for the study of existing cultural projects with the potential
to increase access and equity to higher education. Theatre programs could use the
model created by NWT to develop their own projects. By involving themselves in the
university’s goals of increasing diversity and preparing at-risk students and students
of color for college, theatre programs could position themselves for greater visibility
and become indispensable to the life of the campus and the larger community.
1
“Animating Democracy was established by the Americans for the Arts Institute for Community
Development and the Arts in 1999 with support from the Ford Foundation. The initiative fosters
artistic activity that encourages civic dialogue on important contemporary issues” (Animating
Democracy). As an Animating Democracy initiative, Project 2050 is described on the Arts USA
website:
Project2050 was an artistic exploration of the post-millennium demographic shift in
which racial and ethnic hybridity will progressively blur racial categories. Dialogues
considered the effects of this shift on the future of today's youth and on power
relationships, politics, and social change as a whole. New theater pieces created by
the ensemble Universes, led by Stephen Sapp and Mildred Ruiz and guest
playwrights Alice Tuan, Carl Hancock Rux, and Jorge Cortiñas played out a variety
of future scenarios using popular culture aesthetics. Community-based theater pieces
engaging the 2050 theme were created by 40 African-American, Latino, and AsianAmerican youth from western Massachusetts communities in collaboration with
noted scholars, lead and guest artists, and local theater directors. Works in progress
provided the impetus for issue-based discussion and dialogues that, in turn, informed
the artistic works. Some dialogues and post-performance discussions were
facilitated by a multi-cultural interactions specialist; some by scholars whose
expertise, experience with youth and diverse cultures, and ability to illuminate the
issues in a deep yet accessible way assured exploration of the issues transcending
168
ethnic and cultural differences. Project 2050 examined the creative relationship
between artists, scholars, and youth and specifically pursued a more effective model
for engaging scholars to connect their scholarship in practical terms to the creative
process and to civic dialogue.” (Animating Democracy)
2
In the course of conducting the research for this study, Uno and this researcher had several
conversations about how to incorporate scholars into future workshops. She was unhappy with the lack
of the scholars’ commitment to the project. As a result, later selection of scholars required a
commitment that they would participate in advance planning.
3
After observing several Project 2050 workshops it became apparent to the researcher that the balance
between the scholars and artists was a delicate one. Because of an apparent lack of preparation of the
scholars, their participation was not received respectfully or in a way that would allow for students to
identify with the scholars as role models. In fact, some scholars shared with the researcher that they
felt the workshop seemed anti-intellectual. The scholars’ sessions were marginalized and mediated by
a person hand picked to relate each scholar’s presentation to the artists and scholars at active
discussions.
4
Such a project would benefit from early work with the admissions and financial assistance personnel,
as they would most likely be involved in summer orientations and other programs for the coming
academic year.
5
The project director should investigate the need for temporary identification cards for the students
and guests involved with this project for the length of their participation on campus. This will need to
be arranged prior to the workshop and built into the schedule.
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APPENDIX A
Amherst Demographic Information
Amherst, the city in which the Amherst and Hampshire Colleges, the
University of Massachusetts, and the NWT, are located almost doubled its population
from 1980 to 1990. The number of foreign-born persons living in Amherst rose from
7 percent to 12.4 percent in 1980-1990 and grew only about one percent from 19902000. While the Black and Hispanic populations in Amherst grew moderately
between 1990 and 2000, the largest growth was seen in the Asian community.
According to 2000 Census data, the Black, Hispanic, and Asian communities madeup 22.8 percent of the population of Amherst. The poverty level there jumped from
20.6 percent in 1980 to 26.5 percent in 1990, and decreased to 20.2 percent in 2000.
This change may indicate that the large group of immigrants who moved into
Amherst lifted themselves above the poverty income level between 1990 and 2000.
The level of education attained by the population over twenty-five-years of age also
shifted downwards in 1990 while the number of those completing a bachelor’s degree
or higher increased by almost 20 percent in the 2000 census. The Asian population of
Amherst is comprised of persons from China, India, Korea, Japan, Vietnam, and the
Philippines, in descending order. The aggregate Asian population of Amherst more
than doubled in the years from 1990 to 2000. (See Table 1.)
Northampton Demographic Information
The population of the city of Northampton, home to Smith College, remained
stable over the last three census periods, fluctuating by just over three hundred. The
Black, Asian, and Hispanic populations are relatively low, comprising only 10.4
percent of the total population in 2000. The major ethnic groups represented in the
2000 statistics are Chinese, Indian, Korean, and Puerto Rican. The 1990 statistics also
170
included a large group from Cambodia that is not represented in the 2000 data. This
change may be attributable to the area’s reputation as a “gateway” for Asian
immigrants. Thus, the Cambodians living in Northampton in 1990 may have
dispersed across the region by the year 2000. It is interesting to note that although
only 8.3 percent of the population reported as Asian and Hispanic in 2000, 12.5
percent reported speaking a language other than English in the home.
The census data collected in 1980, 1990, and 2000 all indicate a high
percentage of the population twenty-five-years or older completing high school or
higher education. The percentage is also high for those completing four years or more
of college. In Northampton, the highest percentage of those completing four or more
years of college occurred in the 1980 census (55.4); the lowest percentage occurred in
1990 (32.9); and the percentage rose again in 2000 (46.1). Poverty statistics for
Northampton indicate a steady decrease in the percentage of those living below the
poverty line: 20.6 in 1980, 11.5 in 1990, and 9.8 in the 2000 census data.
Northampton is the not the least diverse of the communities served by the NWT. The
least diverse and the smallest in population is South Hadley. (See Table 2.)
South Hadley Demographic Information
Mount Holyoke College, another member of the Five College consortium, is
located in South Hadley. The population of South Hadley has remained steady since
1980. Neither the 1980 nor 1990 census collections showed a large percentage of
foreign-born persons living in South Hadley, and the poverty level is low. In the past
two censuses, the percentage of the population below poverty level was 4.4 in 1990
and 5.9 in the 2000. The Black, Asian, and Hispanic populations totaled only 7
percent of the total population in 2000, a rise from 3.8 of the total in 1990, but not a
significant number overall. The two largest groups in the Asian community reporting
in 2000 were Asian Indian and Chinese. Of the 405 members of the Hispanic
population reporting in 2000, the Puerto Rican community of 207 was the largest
group. It is interesting to note that while the Asian and Hispanic populations comprise
171
5.3 percent of South Hadley’s total population in 2000, twelve percent reported that a
language other than English is spoken in the home. South Hadley is the most
geographically isolated of the three communities that house the Five College
Consortium. Of the cities served by the NWT, Springfield and Holyoke are more
urban and South Hadley is more rural. (See Table 3.)
Holyoke Demographic Information
In close proximity to South Hadley, the town of Holyoke has maintained a
relatively stable population over the past twenty years—44,678 in 1980, 43,704 in
1990, and 39,838 according to the 2000 Census. The Black, Asian, and Hispanic
populations comprised 47 percent of the total population in 2000, with the Hispanic
group representing 41.4 of that total. Of the Hispanic population of Holyoke, Puerto
Ricans represented 36.5 in 2000. Of the foreign-born residents of the community,
31.3 percent entered the United States between 1980 and 1990. Only 1.4 percent
reported that they had entered between 1990 and March 2000. Perhaps reflecting the
significant number of Hispanics in the census data, the percentage of foreign-born
reporting that a language other than English is spoken in the home was 42.8 in the
2000 data—up from 35.3 percent in the 1990 census figures. Almost one- quarter of
the population was below the poverty level in both the 1990 and 2000 census data.
Holyoke residents participated in the outreach projects sponsored by the NWT. (See
Table 4.)
Springfield Demographic Information
Springfield is the largest city in the region served by the NWT. The
population experienced a slight shift upward in the 1990 census, but receded to the
1980 total in the 2000 census data. The percentage of foreign-born residents of
Springfield also remained relatively consistent. The largest number of foreign-born
were from Latin America. The percentage of individuals at or below the poverty level
shifted from 17.8 percent in 1980 to 23.1 percent in 2000.
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The Springfield population included a large percentage of Hispanics (27.2)
and Blacks (22.9) in the 2000 census. In fact, in the year 2000 the Black, Asian, and
Hispanic population combined represented over half the population of the city. The
largest increase was in the Hispanic population, which was reported at 16.3 percent in
1990. The overwhelmingly largest of all Hispanic groups was the Puerto Rican
(23.2). In the year 2000, the Black community of Springfield made-up almost a
quarter of the population. Compared with Amherst, where 55.4 percent of those
twenty-five years of age or older have completed four or more years of college,
Springfield has a low percent of residents (11.8) completing four or more years of
college.. One other characteristic of the Springfield community that may be
significant is that 31.6 percent of the population in the 2000 census reported speaking
a language other than English in the home. (See Table 5.)
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TABLE 1. Demographic Census Data for city of Amherst, Massachusetts. City
Amherst
1980
1990
2000
Total population
17,773
35,228
34,874
% Foreign-born
7.0%
12.4%
13.2
%Entered 1980-1990
72.8
% Entered 1990-March 2000
7.7
Persons 25 years or more
% High school or better
89.9
88.9
95.1
% 4 years or more of college
55.4
49.2
68.7
20.6
26.5
20.2
% Black
4.6
6.4
% Asian
8.0
10.2
% Hispanic
5.1
6.2
Asian population
1,138
3,570
Chinese
550
1,188
Filipino
49
73
Vietnamese
47
188
Japan
108
205
India
104
556
Korea
133
448
1,796
2,159
% Income below poverty level
Hispanic population
Mexican
.4%
Puerto Rico
2.5%
983
Cuban
.3%
92
1.9
895
Other Hispanic or Latino
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TABLE 2. Demographic Census Data for city of Northampton, Massachusetts.
1980
1990
2000
Total population
29,286
29,242
28,978
% Foreign-born
5.1%
6.4%
1,870
City
Northampton
%Entered between 1980-1990
31.3
% Entered 1990-March 2000
2.6
% Speak language other than English at home
11.7
12.5
Persons 25 years or more
% High school or better
89.9
81.9
88.7
% 4 years or more of college
55.4
32.9
46.1
% Income below poverty level
20.6
11.5
9.8
% Black
444 or 1.5
2.1
% Asian
825 or 2.8
3.1
% Hispanic
999 or 3.4
5.2
Asian or Pacific Islander population
825
906
Chinese
258
217
Cambodia
228
India
76
225
Korea
101
155
Vietnam
22
56
Philippines
13
38
Thailand
8
Other Asian
74
Pacific Islander
6
Hispanic population
999 or 3.4%
1,518 or 5.2%
Mexico
92 or .3%
106 or 0.4%
Cuba
15 or.1%
37 or 0.1%
Puerto Rico
746 or 2.6%
1,011 or 3.5%
Other Hispanic
74 or .5%
364 or 1.3%
160
175
TABLE 3. Demographic Census Data for city of South Hadley, Massachusetts.
City
1980
1990
2000
16,685
17,196
5.2%
1,170 or 6.8%
South Hadley
Total population
% or # Foreign-born
----
% Foreign-born from Europe
41.7
% Foreign-born from Asia
29.3
% Foreign-born from Latin America
7.5
%Entered 1980-1990
4.2%
% Entered 1990-March 2000
392 or 2.3%
% Speak language other than English at home
11.3%
12.0%
Persons 25 years or more
% High school or better
----
83.4%
89.4%
% Four years or more of college
----
25.6%
32.9%
----
4.4%
5.9%
% Black
219 or1.3%
290 or 1.7%
% Asian
321 or 1.9%
499 or 2.9%
% Hispanic
102 or .6%
405 or 2.4%
Asian population
321
499
China
24
82
Philippines
27
37
Japan
43
30
India
84
99
Korea
59
53
Vietnamese
-
20
Cambodia
23
-
Hmong
-
-
Laos
-
-
Thailand
14
-
Other Asian
47
114
102 or .6%
405 or 2.4%
Mexico
15 or .1%
54 or 0.3%
Puerto Rico
42or .3%
207 or 1.2%
Cuban
5
6
Other Hispanic
67 or .2%
138 or 0.8%
% Income below poverty level
Hispanic population
176
TABLE 4. Demographic Census Data for city of Holyoke, Massachusetts.
City
1980
1990
2000
Total population
44,678
43,704
39,838
% Foreign-born
7.1%
5.6%
2,152
Holyoke
% Foreign-born from Europe
44.6
% Foreign-born from Asia
15.2
% Foreign-born from Latin America
29.9
% Entered 1980-1990
31.3%
% Entered 1990-March 2000
1.4
% Speak language other than English at home
35.3%
42.8
Persons 25 years or more
% High school or better
59.7
84.3
70.0
% Four years or more of college
10.4
28.2
16.9
% Income below poverty level
19.3
25.7
26.4
% Black
1,472
1,828 or 4.6%
% Asian
500 or 1.0
399 or 1.0%
% Hispanic
5.1
16,485 or 41.4%
From Latin America
41.4
Asian or Pacific Islander population
500 or 1.1%
399 or 1.0%
Chinese
20
64 or 0.2%
Philippines
44
30 or 0.1%
Cambodia
163
-
Japan
30
7
India
22
83 or 0.2%
Korea
23
25 or 0.1%
Vietnam
74
14
Other Asian
86
101 or 0.3%
Pacific Islander
38
Hispanic population
13,200 or 30.2
16,485 or 41.4
Mexico
58 or .1
85 or 0.2%
Puerto Rico
12,343 or 28.2%
14,539 or 36.5%
Cuba
18 or .1
58 or 0.1%
Other Hispanic
781 or .5
1,803 or 4.5%
177
TABLE 5. Demographic Census Data for city of Springfield, Massachusetts.
City
1980
1990
2000
Total population
152,319
156,983
152,082
% or # Foreign-born
8.4%
7.4%
12,159 or 8.0%
Springfield
% Foreign-born from Europe
33.0
% Foreign-born from Asia
24.0
% Foreign-born from Latin America
33.5
%Entered 1980-1990
33.7%
% Entered 1990-March 2000
4,661 or 3.1%
% Speak language other than English at home
24.1%
31.6%
Persons 25 years or more
% High school or better
63.5
69.6%
73.4%
% Four years or more of college
11.8
15.0%
15.4%
17.8
20.1%
23.1%
% Black
30,289 or19.3%
34,863 or 22.9%
% Asian
1,322 or .9%
3,468 or 2.4%
% Hispanic
25,642 or16.3%
41,343 or 27.2%
Asian population
1,322
3,468
China
150
404
Philippines
51
115
Japan
145
73
India
147
205
Korea
39
104
Vietnamese
588
1,501
Cambodia
7
-
Hmong
46
-
Laos
79
-
Other Asian
70
514
25,642 or 16.3%
41,343 or 27.2%
Mexico
249 or .2%
630 or 0.4%
Puerto Rico
23,396 or 14.9%
35,251 or 23.2%
Cuban
172 or .1%
232 or 0.2%
Other Hispanic
1,825 or 1.2%
5,230 or 3.4%
% Income below poverty level
Hispanic population
178
APPENDIX B
New WORLD Theater 2050 Project
Student Survey
It has been my pleasure to observe the 2050 Project in 2000 and 2002. My observations will
be used to write a dissertation (book) about the New WORLD Theater. It would be helpful for
me to have your personal thoughts and/or feelings about your experiences in the 2050
Project. In order for me to be able to use your comments, you will need to sign and return a
“Consent Form.” I have provided one copy of the form for you to keep and one to return,
signed, with your completed survey. Please fill out this form and the survey and return to
Donna Aronson, or to Irma Mayorga. Please write as clearly as possible. If you need more
room use the back of the page.
Date:
Name:
Address:
Age:
Telephone:
E-mail:
What years did you participate in the 2050 Project?
2000
2001
2002
How did you get involved with the 2050 Project (i.e., TRC, school, person, etc.)?
If you were involved in more than one workshop, describe the changes from one year to the
next? What made them important to you?
179
Name the people who were most important to you in the 2050 Project and explain why they
were important (such as a particular artist, scholar, counselor, etc.)
Describe the activities (or people) that have most influenced you between workshops?
Describe your experience of living in the dorm and being on the Amherst College campus.
What do you plan to do after you graduate from high school?
Get a job
Other (describe)
Go to college
Has anything about the 2050 Project influenced your attitudes or feelings about going to
college? Please describe these influences and your plans?
180
If you are now a counselor, please describe what this leadership position means to you.
Additional comments?
181
APPENDIX C
Project 2050 Statements
IN THE YEAR 2050 IT IS PROJECTED THAT:
A BILLION PRIVATE CARS WILL BE ON THE ROAD • ROBOTS WILL WORK IN FAST
FOOD PREPARATION • ALMOST 100% OF THE TROPICAL RAIN FORESTS IN THE
WORLD WILL BE DEPLETED • WHITES WILL BECOME A MINORITY IN THE U.S. BYT
THE YEAR 2050 • THE OLD DISTINCTIONS BETWEEN FIRST AND THIRD WORLDS
WILL BE MEANINGLESS IN CYBERSPACE • AN AFRICAN AMERICAN WILL BE
ELECTED TOT HE OFFICE OF PRESIDENT OR VICE PRESIDENT IN THE UNITED
STATES • AT LEAST HALF OF THE WORLD’S 6,000 LANGUAGES WILL BE EXTINCT BY
THE YEAR 2050 • SOLAR, GEOTHERMAL ENERGY, AND WIND WILL BE THE
DOMINANT ENERGY SOURCES • AIDS WILL BE ELIMINATED • THE AVERAGE
HOUSEHOLD WILL CONSIST OF 1.9 PEOPLE • AFRICA WILL SEE 34% OF THE
GLOBE’S POPULATION INCREASE. CHINA AND INDIA WILL ACCOUNT FOR 25% •
GLOBAL POPULATION WILL TOTAL 8.9 BILLION • THERE WILL BE PIONEER
COMMUNITITES ON MARS AND A LUNAR BASE • ENVIRONMENTAL REFUGEES
NUMBER 150 MILLION BY 2050 BECAUSE OF ENVIRONMENTAL CRISES • THE
NUMBER OF AMERICANS AGED 65 AND OLDER WILL INCREASE 135% BETWEEN
1995 AND 2050 • THERE WILL BE LONG-TERM MALE CONTRACEPTION • LARGE
SCALE FACTORIES USING GENETIC TECHNIQUES WILL PRODUCE MUCH OF THE
WORLD’S FOOD • THE HISPANIC AMERICAN POPULATION WILL MAKE UP 24.5% OF
THE TOTAL U.S. POPULATION • USE OF NON-LETHAL WEAPONS SUCH AS STICKY
FOAMS AND AEROSOLS THAT INDUCE SLEEP WILL INCREASE • VIRTUAL WINDOWS
WILL ALLOW EVERYONE TO HAVE A GREAT VIEW IN THE OFFICE: A CITISCAPE ONE
DAY, A COUNTRY SCENE THE NEXT • PCS AND PHONES WILL HAVE VANISHED INTO
THE WALLS • GLOBAL TEMPERATURES ARE SET TO RISE UP TO FOUR DEGREES
CELSIUS BY 2050 • ALL MONEY WILL BE ELECTRONIC
PROJECT 2050
NEW WORLD THEATER
182
APPENDIX D
Biographies of Project 2050 Youth: Open Studio/Open Dialogue
Claude Brown—Youth from GTFT, Inc. He has been a part of New WORLD Theater’s Looking In/To the Future
Project for the past four years. Currently lives in and attends school in Springfield.
Michelle Brooks is a junior at Amherst Regional High School (ARHS), graduating a year ahead of her class. She
is the choral director of the ARHS gospel choir, which she founded.
Tiffany Nicole Campbell—I am Jamaican. I live in Springfield and attend Central High School. I am athletic and
I love to write.
Peter Chhum—I like to play tennis and soccer. I’m in the 8th grade at Amherst Middle School.
Christina Delgado—I am 14 years old. I go to Amherst Regional High School. I enjoy theater and dance. I am
interested in being a psychologist or sociologist. But, the arts is something I’ve been doing all my life. I am part of
the Amherst High Theater Company.
Damaris Delgado— I am 14 years old. I go to Amherst Regional High School (ARHS). I love to sing and write
music and lyrics. right now my family, schoolwork, my religion and my music are the most important things in my
life.
Jamille Hazard—Jamille Hazard attends ARHS where she is coach of the drill team, member of the gospel choir
and People of Color United (POCU). She comes from a family of seven siblings and is proud to say that she does
not consume alcohol.
Aisha Jordan—I love to sing and perform. Doing this makes my life complete.
Cassie Madera—I am sixteen years old and live in Holyoke, MA. the New Visions theater group is my only after
school/extracurricular activity because is takes up most of my week. I hope to do something in the performing arts
as a future career.
Andre McPherson—Age 16, attends Holyoke High School. I was raised in Flatbush and when I finish with high
school I want to go to college. Making people laugh and dancing are my hobbies. I have been in new Visions of
Holyoke for one year.
David Ortiz—I am a Puerto Rican male from the South Bronx, NY. I love to sing and dance and express myself.
Jessica Robies—I am 18 and I enjoy performing. I have learned how to understand, communicate and be with
new people through this project. that’s why I love it.
Edward Rueda—I am an actor, I’m a comic, I’m half of a poet, I’m devilishly handsome, and boy do I know it.
Tatiana Salgado—I’m 14 and enjoy acting. I also like working with new people and learning new things about
them and what they are about.
Nuk Thann (Jamie)—I am very wired. I like to eat, dance, and act. I am in the sixth grade at Shutesbury
Elementary School.
Mikiko Thelwell—I am a sophomore at ARHS, a coach of the drill team, dancer at Amherst Ballet, and work part
time at Zoots. I hope to someday be an established spoken-word poet.
(“Project 2050: Open Studio/Open Dialogue” program. 2000)
183
APPENDIX E
This list of artists was included in a grant proposal to the Massachusetts Foundation
for the Humanities sent by Roberta Uno and the NWT April 2001. The proposal also
included curriculum vitae and “scholar statements” for the proposed scholars.
The Artists
Baba, born and bred in New York City, was raised in the Living Theater, a world-traveled political
performance group. He is a skilled emcee/poet, beatboxer, producer, musician, and actor. He has
worked as a street performer in the Hip-Hop poetry world, and as a community activist and educator.
Baba has shared the stage with acts as diverse as Common, Mos Def, Outkast, Black Eyed Peas, Kool
Keith, Jurassic 5, Soulive, Rhazal, Shuman, DJ Logic, Afrika Bambatta, Grand Wizard Theodore, and
Vernon Reid. He has performed at the Rocksteady Anniversary with the pioneers of Hip-Hop culture
and with jazz greats John Scofield, Lester Bowie, and Anthony Braxton. The title of Baba’s debut
album is Mind Music.
Richard A. Bracho is an educator, organizer, and playwright. For the past decade he has taught
theater and creative writing workshops to lesbian and gay youth of color and Latino gay and bisexual
men in community contexts, while also lecturing and teaching at universities in the Bay Area and
around the country. He has recently taught Hip-Hop Hybrid, a playwriting workshop for Hip-Hop
artists at Intersection while also working on the Hip-Hop Project (Health in Prison, Health Outta
Prison) at San Quentin Prison for men. He is a recipient of a Creative Work Fund grant from the
Walter and Elsie Haas Fund and a 1999 NEA/TCG Playwright’s Residency.
Jorge Ignacio Cortinas’ fiction has been awarded first prize in the 1998 Bay Guardian Fiction
Contest, the 1999 Jmes Asstly Memorial Prize, and the 2000 Beth Lisa Feldman Prize. He has
published in Puerto Del Sol, Ciptali, Frontera, Socialist Review, and Modern Words. His plays include
Maleta Mulata (Campo Santo Theatre Company, San Francisco), Odieso, could you stop for some
bread and eggs on your way home? (INTAR, New York), and Sleepwalkers (Area Stage, Miami,
Carbonell Award, Best New Work). He was recently named ‘playwright of the year’ by El Nuevo
Herald’s year-end list.
Kamilah Forbes is a director, actress, and playwright. She is a graduate of Howard University’s
Theatre Arts Department and is co-founder of the group, Hip Hop Theatre Junction, founded in
August, 1999 in Washington, D.C. Hip Hop theatre Junction puts a spin on theatre arts by including
graffiti, b-boys, and twelve dj’s during their performances. Hip Hop theatre Junction incorporates HipHop performance and theater techniques, creating a crossroads upon which two traditionally separate
forms come together. Kamilah Forbes is currently the Artistic Director of Hip Hop Theatre Junction
and the author and director of its most recent publication, Ryhme Deferred.
Michael Edo Keane is an actor, playwright, and the Co-Artistic Director of San Francisco’s KaiHsin
Productions. As an actor, Michael has performed at the Next Wave Festival, and toured the United
States, Japan, and Singapore with Ping Chong and Co. in Deshima and Chinoiserie. He has also
performed at Theatre Des Amadiers in Paris, Huntington Theatre, American Repertory theatre,
Berkeley Repertory, San Jose Repertory, and the Music theatre of Oregon.
184
A Bronx native, Mariposa is a poet, spoken word performance artist, free-lance writer, painter,
educator, and human rights activist. She has rocked audiences with her brand of poetry and spoken
word performance art since 1989 in such venues as the Nuyorican Poet’s Cafe, Tramps, the Joseph
Papp Public theatre, The Cotton Club, Irving Plaza, C.B.G.B.’s, El Instituto de Cultura Puertoriquena
in San Juan, Puerto Rico, as well as colleges and universities throughout the Northeast including
Brown, Yale, and NYU. Her paintings have been exhibited at the Longfellow Arts Gallery in the
Bronx. Mariposa’s poetry is featured in Americanos: Life: Latino Life in the U.S., a documentary
produced by Edward James Olmos and Time Warner. It premiered on HBO in May 2000 and featured
Carlos Santana, Tito Puente, Amigos de la Plena, the Taco Poets, and El Vez.
Gilbert McCauley has directed at the National Theater of Ghana , American Conservatory Theater,
where he served as Artistic Director. His recent directing credits include Polaroid Stories by Naomi
Iizuka, Ball by Bertolt Brecht, Joe Turner’s Come and Gone by August Wilson. He is an associate
professor in the Department of Theater at the University of Massachusetts at Amherst.
Rha Goddess is a world-renowned pioneer performance/recording artist known for her unique blend
of “spoken word consciousness and Hip-Hop energy.” Rha Goddess has collaborated and performed
with such artists as Weldon Irvine, The Last Poets, Nona Hendryx, Olu Dara, Angelique Kidjo, A
Tribe Called Quest, Mos Def, Erykah Badu, Public Enemy, and KRS-ONE. She has recently been a
featured artist in Russell Simmons’ Def Poetry Jam Tour, CD compilation, and forthcoming HBO
series. Rha also penned and performed the Def Poetry Jam theme song. In May 2000, Essence
Magazine recognized Rha as on of the “30 women to Watch” in the new millennium.
Rocafella and Kwikstep lead Urban elements, a specialized Hip-Hop dance class that breaks doen the
dance forms which make up a larger part of Hip-Hop freestyle, funk, and videography. Rocafella and
Kwikstep have recently appeared in BET’s Rap City, Malcolm McLaren’s “Buffalo Gals (Remix)”
video, Maria Carey’s “Rooftop” video, and KRS-ONE’s “Step Into a world” video. James Everett
(Jazzy), also renowned for his Hip-Hop freestyle and locking and popping dance style, will be
working with Rocafella and Kwikstep in the Summer 2001 Project 2050 Retreat.
Alice Tuan is the author of Last of the Suns and Ikebana, which were produced at Berkeley Repertory
theatre and East West Players. She is the 2000 recipient of the Mark Taper Forum’s Robert Sherwood
Award and also a writer in ACT/Hedgebrook Women Playwright’s Festival. A graduate of the MFA
Creative Writing Program at Brown University, Ms. Tuan is a recipient of the NEW/TCG Playwright
Residency Grant at East West Players. Ms. Tuan is also the resident playwright at Los Angeles theatre
Center.
Roberta Uno is the artistic director of the New WORLD Theater, which for over twenty years has
produced, presented, developed and commissioned works by artists of color in the theater. She is also a
professor in the Department of Theater at the University of Massachusetts at Amherst. She is the editor
of Unbroken Thread: An Anthology of Plays by Asian American Women, Monologues for Actors of
Color: Men and Women, and co-editor of the forthcoming The Color of Theater: A Critical
Sourcebook on Race and Performance.
185
APPENDIX F
This list of artists was included in a grant proposal to the Massachusetts Foundation
for the Humanities sent by Roberta Uno and the NWT April 2001. The proposal also
included curriculum vitae and “scholar statements” for the proposed scholars.
The Artists
Baba, born and bred in New York City, was raised in the Living Theater, a world-traveled political
performance group. He is a skilled emcee/poet, beatboxer, producer, musician, and actor. He has
worked as a street performer in the Hip-Hop poetry world, and as a community activist and educator.
Baba has shared the stage with acts as diverse as Common, Mos Def, Outkast, Black Eyed Peas, Kool
Keith, Jurassic 5, Soulive, Rhazal, Shuman, DJ Logic, Afrika Bambatta, Grand Wizard Theodore, and
Vernon Reid. He has performed at the Rocksteady Anniversary with the pioneers of Hip-Hop culture
and with jazz greats John Scofield, Lester Bowie, and Anthony Braxton. The title of Baba’s debut
album is Mind Music.
Richard A. Bracho is an educator, organizer, and playwright. For the past decade he has taught
theater and creative writing workshops to lesbian and gay youth of color and Latino gay and bisexual
men in community contexts, while also lecturing and teaching at universities in the Bay Area and
around the country. He has recently taught Hip-Hop Hybrid, a playwriting workshop for Hip-Hop
artists at Intersection while also working on the Hip-Hop Project (Health in Prison, Health Outta
Prison) at San Quentin Prison for men. He is a recipient of a Creative Work Fund grant from the
Walter and Elsie Haas Fund and a 1999 NEA/TCG Playwright’s Residency.
Jorge Ignacio Cortinas’ fiction has been awarded first prize in the 1998 Bay Guardian Fiction
Contest, the 1999 Jmes Asstly Memorial Prize, and the 2000 Beth Lisa Feldman Prize. He has
published in Puerto Del Sol, Ciptali, Frontera, Socialist Review, and Modern Words. His plays include
Maleta Mulata (Campo Santo Theatre Company, San Francisco), Odieso, could you stop for some
bread and eggs on your way home? (INTAR, New York), and Sleepwalkers (Area Stage, Miami,
Carbonell Award, Best New Work). He was recently named ‘playwright of the year’ by El Nuevo
Herald’s year-end list.
Kamilah Forbes is a director, actress, and playwright. She is a graduate of Howard University’s
Theatre Arts Department and is co-founder of the group, Hip Hop Theatre Junction, founded in
August, 1999 in Washington, D.C. Hip Hop theatre Junction puts a spin on theatre arts by including
graffiti, b-boys, and twelve dj’s during their performances. Hip Hop theatre Junction incorporates HipHop performance and theater techniques, creating a crossroads upon which two traditionally separate
forms come together. Kamilah Forbes is currently the Artistic Director of Hip Hop Theatre Junction
and the author and director of its most recent publication, Ryhme Deferred.
Michael Edo Keane is an actor, playwright, and the Co-Artistic Director of San Francisco’s KaiHsin
Productions. As an actor, Michael has performed at the Next Wave Festival, and toured the United
States, Japan, and Singapore with Ping Chong and Co. in Deshima and Chinoiserie. He has also
performed at Theatre Des Amadiers in Paris, Huntington Theatre, American Repertory theatre,
Berkeley Repertory, San Jose Repertory, and the Music theatre of Oregon.
186
A Bronx native, Mariposa is a poet, spoken word performance artist, free-lance writer, painter,
educator, and human rights activist. She has rocked audiences with her brand of poetry and spoken
word performance art since 1989 in such venues as the Nuyorican Poet’s Cafe, Tramps, the Joseph
Papp Public theatre, The Cotton Club, Irving Plaza, C.B.G.B.’s, El Instituto de Cultura Puertoriquena
in San Juan, Puerto Rico, as well as colleges and universities throughout the Northeast including
Brown, Yale, and NYU. Her paintings have been exhibited at the Longfellow Arts Gallery in the
Bronx. Mariposa’s poetry is featured in Americanos: Life: Latino Life in the U.S., a documentary
produced by Edward James Olmos and Time Warner. It premiered on HBO in May 2000 and featured
Carlos Santana, Tito Puente, Amigos de la Plena, the Taco Poets, and El Vez.
Gilbert McCauley has directed at the National Theater of Ghana , American Conservatory Theater,
where he served as Artistic Director. His recent directing credits include Polaroid Stories by Naomi
Iizuka, Ball by Bertolt Brecht, Joe Turner’s Come and Gone by August Wilson. He is an associate
professor in the Department of Theater at the University of Massachusetts at Amherst.
Rha Goddess is a world-renowned pioneer performance/recording artist known for her unique blend
of “spoken word consciousness and Hip-Hop energy.” Rha Goddess has collaborated and performed
with such artists as Weldon Irvine, The Last Poets, Nona Hendryx, Olu Dara, Angelique Kidjo, A
Tribe Called Quest, Mos Def, Erykah Badu, Public Enemy, and KRS-ONE. She has recently been a
featured artist in Russell Simmons’ Def Poetry Jam Tour, CD compilation, and forthcoming HBO
series. Rha also penned and performed the Def Poetry Jam theme song. In May 2000, Essence
Magazine recognized Rha as on of the “30 women to Watch” in the new millennium.
Rocafella and Kwikstep lead Urban elements, a specialized Hip-Hop dance class that breaks doen the
dance forms which make up a larger part of Hip-Hop freestyle, funk, and videography. Rocafella and
Kwikstep have recently appeared in BET’s Rap City, Malcolm McLaren’s “Buffalo Gals (Remix)”
video, Maria Carey’s “Rooftop” video, and KRS-ONE’s “Step Into a world” video. James Everett
(Jazzy), also renowned for his Hip-Hop freestyle and locking and popping dance style, will be
working with Rocafella and Kwikstep in the Summer 2001 Project 2050 Retreat.
Alice Tuan is the author of Last of the Suns and Ikebana, which were produced at Berkeley Repertory
theatre and East West Players. She is the 2000 recipient of the Mark Taper Forum’s Robert Sherwood
Award and also a writer in ACT/Hedgebrook Women Playwright’s Festival. A graduate of the MFA
Creative Writing Program at Brown University, Ms. Tuan is a recipient of the NEW/TCG Playwright
Residency Grant at East West Players. Ms. Tuan is also the resident playwright at Los Angeles theatre
Center.
Roberta Uno is the artistic director of the New WORLD Theater, which for over twenty years has
produced, presented, developed and commissioned works by artists of color in the theater. She is also a
professor in the Department of Theater at the University of Massachusetts at Amherst. She is the editor
of Unbroken Thread: An Anthology of Plays by Asian American Women, Monologues for Actors of
Color: Men and Women, and co-editor of the forthcoming The Color of Theater: A Critical
Sourcebook on Race and Performance.
187
Appendix G
Project 2050
Summer Youth Retreat 2002
Questionnaire for youth
This short questionnaire is part of the process of getting your voice heard at Project 2050. It will also help
us to improve our program. Please take time to fill this out as completely as you can! Feel free to use the
back of the sheet. Thanks!!
1. Name:
2. Did you attend Project 2050 last year?
yes________
no________
3. What are some of the things you hope to get out of Project 2050?
(for each item, please check your answer.)
Important
Not Important
Don’t know, or have
not thought about it
Important
Not Important
Don’t know, or have
not thought about it
Circle whether you will ‘learn’ or ‘improve’
Learn to/improve acting and performing
Learn to/improve dancing/movement
Learn to/improve my singing
Learn to/improve my writing
Learn to/improve my DJing skills
Learn to/improve my drumming skills
Learn to/improve my visual arts skills
Learn to/improve my beatboxing/lyricism skills
Learn to/improve my speaking in public
Work with people from other cultures
Work with artists and activists
Learn about important national and global issues
Express how I feel about issues that concern me
Acquire leadership skills/communication skills
What else do you hope to get out of this experience?
4. Have you ever performed in public? If you have, please describe when/where:
5. Do you consider yourself to be an artist?
6. What are your plans after you finish high school?
7. Do you plan to go to college? If not, please describe why (feel free to use the back of this sheet).
188
APPENDIX H
Project 2050
Summer Youth Retreat 2002
Questionnaire for youth, pt. 2
We’ve given you back the form you filled out on the first day. Take a look at it. Has this project met your
expectations that you had?
PLEASE FEEL FREE TO USE THE BACK OF THESE PAGES IF YOU WANT TO WRITE MORE!!
1. What are some of the things you got out of Project 2050? (please mark “X” with your answer)
YES! a lot
A little bit
Not at all
Learned to/improved performing theatrically
Learned to/improved my dancing/movement
Learned to/improved my singing
Learned to/improved my writing
Learned to/improved DJing skills
Learned to/improved drumming skills
Learned to/improved beatboxing/lyricism skills
Learned to/improved visual arts skills
Worked with people from other cultures
Worked with artists/activists
Learned/improved how I communicate
Learned about important global issues
Expressed how I feel about issues that concern me
Learned/improved my speaking in public
Acquired leadership skills
Improved my self-esteem/confidence
I improved my (you fill in the blank)
2. Name 3 things that you really liked about Project 2050.
1.
2.
3.
3. Name 3 things that you would change about Project 2050. Give us some advice for next summer.
1.
2.
3.
189
4. Project 2050 is about mixing art-making and dialogue, or speaking out. Did that happen? Why or why
not?
5. Did this experience affect your future plans? In what way?
6. Rate how you liked these different parts of Project 2050 from 1 to 5, 5 being the highest score, 1
being the lowest score.
Intro-day (orientation, introductions, ice-breakers
Morning warm-ups
Artist Workshops
Talent Showcase
Open Mic
Knowledge for Power Sessions
Collaboration time in the evening
7. Would you like to return next year? yes________
no________
not sure________
8. Were there artists, scholar/activists or counselors that you felt were REALLY effective, please list them
here:
9. Why were these persons especially effective—please be specific about them!
10. How do you feel you demonstrated leadership during Project 2050?
11. How did you challenge yourself during Project 2050?
12. Would you like to return as a Peer Leader, or a future counselor?
13. Would you like to nominate a youth to be a peer leader? Who, and why?
1.
2.
3.
190
APPENDIX I
Project 2050
Summer Youth Retreat 2002
Evaluation form for Artists, Scholar/Activists, and Counselors
We really value your feedback. Feel free to use the back of this sheet if you need more room.
1. Name (optional):
2. Role (circle one):
Artist
Scholar/Activist
Counselor
NWT staff
3. Name three things that you got out of Project 2050:
1.
2.
3.
4. What didn’t work for you? Please suggest ideas to make these components better:
5. What would you change about Project 2050?
6. In your opinion, was art and dialogue successfully interwoven? Why or why not?
7. The following are some of the objectives we though were important for artists, scholar/activists, and
counselors to get out of this experience. Please rate your experience in each category, on a scale from
1 to 5, with 5 the highest score and 1 the lowest. You—
Were able to lead or collaborate in the creation of art/performance of a high standard
Developed your ability to relate with youth
Engaged in cross cultural, intergenerational dialogue
Enlarged your own skills as educators, artists, or organizers
8. Rate how you liked these different parts of Project 2050 from 1 to 5, 5 being the highest score, 1 being
the lowest score. Put “X” if you didn’t attend certain parts.
Intro-day (orientation, introductions, ice-breakers)
Morning warm-ups
Artist Workshops
Talent Showcase
Open Mic
Knowledge for Power Sessions
Collaboration time in the evening
Final Performance
191
9. Would you like to return next year? yes________
no________
not sure________
10. Would you like to recommend a scholar, artist, or counselor to us? (If you cannot think of one at the
moment please indicate that we should contact you for follow up.)
Name
Area/Genre
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
11. Would you like to nominate any “first year” youths to be a peer leaders for next year?
12. Are there any youth you would like to make special mention of, please describe?
13. How could New WORLD Theater lend more assistance or support to artists/scholars/counselors?
192
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Taped Interviews:
Conway, Dennis, Managing Director of NWT. Personal interview. 27 April 2000 at
the New WORLD Theater Office In Amherst, MA.
----. Personal interview at his office at the Fine Arts Center at UMASS. 29 September
2000.
Dial, Metta and Damon. 2050 Counselors. Personal Interview at restaurant in
Amherst, MA. 6 July 2000.
Edwards, Lee. Dean of Humanities and Fine Arts. Personal Interview at UMASS
Faculty Club. 20 June 2001.
Erdman, Dr. Harley, Associate Professor of Theater at UMASS. Personal interview.
1 May 2000 in his office at the University of Massachusetts in Amherst, MA.
Kaplan, Dr. Ellen, Chair of Theater Department at Smith College. Personal interview.
29 April 2000 in the Bluebird Diner in Northampton, MA.
Lederer, Karen, founding staff of NWT. Personal Interview, in her office at UMASS,
Amherst, MA. 20 June 2001.
Lemly, Dr. John, Chair of English and Theater Departments at Mount Holyoke
College. Personal interview. 29 April 2000 in the lobby of the Howard
Johnson's Inn in Amherst, MA.
Lobdell, Dr. Peter, Chair of Theater Department at Amherst College. Personal
interview. 1 May 2000 in his office at Amherst College in Amherst, MA.
212
Mendez, Yvonne, first Managing Director and currently Director of Design and
Publicity. Personal interview. 27 April 2000 at the New WORLD Theater
Office in Amherst, MA.
Page, Priscilla, former literary intern and Literary Manager of the NWT, also MFA
Candidate at UMASS. Personal interview. 29 April 2000 at the Lord Jeffrey
Inn in Amherst, MA.
Robinson, Phyllis. Personal Interview. 5 July 2000. At a restaurant in Amherst, MA.
Tillis, Fred. Retired Director of Fine Arts Center at UMASS. Personal Interview.
21 June 2000. At his home in Amherst, MA.
Uno, Roberta, founder and Artistic Director of the NWT. Personal interviews. 1-2
May 2000 at the New WORLD Theater Office in Amherst, MA.
----.
20 June 2001 in her office at the New WORLD Theater in Amherst MA.
----.
Phone interview. 7 June 2002.
Werner, Jenni, former intern, company manager for New Works for a New World
and Interim Director of Education and Access of the NWT, also MFA
Candidate at UMASS. Personal interview. 27 April 2000 at the New
WORLD Theater Office in Amherst, MA.
Personal Observations:
Production:
Polaroid Stories. by Naomi Iizuka, Dir. Gil McCauley. Perf. Rand Theater,
UMASS. 28 April 2000.
Projects:
"Looking In/To The Future: 2050 Project.” July 2000.
"Intersections II" September 2000.
“2050 Project” July 3-9, 2002.
213
BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH
DONNA B. ARONSON Professor of Theatre Arts Dean, College of Humanities, Arts, and Social Sciences EDUCATION 1974 Master of Fine Arts/Theatre. Florida State University—Asolo Conservatory Program Bachelor of Fine Arts. Virginia Commonwealth University Tenured Professor and Dean, College of Humanities, Arts, and Social Sciences University of the Incarnate Word Tenured Associate Professor and Director of Theatre Department of Theatre Arts: Directing/Acting/Voice College of Arts, and Sciences, University of the Incarnate Word Sabbatical Graduate Assistant, Florida State University Tenured Associate Professor and Director of Theatre. Department of Theatre Arts: Directing/Acting/Voice, University of the Incarnate Word Assistant Professor and Director of Theatre. Department of Theatre Arts: Directing/Acting/Voice, Incarnate Word College Assistant Professor of Theatre, Head of the Voice Program and Director. Graduate Actor Training Program. Brandeis University Assistant Professor of Theatre Voice. Five Colleges Inc.: Amherst, Hampshire, Mount Holyoke and Smith Colleges and the University of Massachusetts Teacher of Voice Production. Lee Strasberg Theatre Institute, New York City Private Vocal Coach, New York City Guest Artist ‐ Department of Theatre. University of California/San Diego. Instructor of Theatre Voice/Acting. University of Texas/Austin 2004 1971 Florida State University. Ph.D Dissertation: “Access and Equity: Performing Diversity at the New WORLD Theatre” CAREER 1999‐present 1997 ‐ 1999 1996 ‐ 1997 1992 ‐ 1998 1989 ‐ 1992 1982 ‐ 1989 1979 ‐ 1982 1978 ‐ 1979 1976 ‐ 1979 1977 1974 ‐ 1976 214
ADMINISTRATIVE EXPERIENCE As Dean of the College of Humanities, Arts, and Social Sciences (HASS), 1999‐2002, I have: Developed fund raising strategies for College of Humanities, Arts, and Social Sciences Developed and supervised budgets ($4,000,000+), including the operating, equipment and salary lines for HASS Supervised faculty hiring and evaluation with focus on minority hiring and retention Provided pro‐active leadership in establishing a positive climate for minorities and women—hired 5 minority faculty and 9 women faculty Developed new interdisciplinary major and minor in Cultural Studies Developed a specialization in urban administration for the masters in administration in collaboration with San Antonio community leaders and the School of Business Collaborated with School of Education in revisions of programs for K‐12 education Developed a BlackBoard (Bb) site for HASS faculty communication and information. Worked in coordination with Instructional Technology to support and promote faculty training and us of technology Developed and implemented HASS infrastructure (committees, faculty evaluation, program development and review, office operations, etc.) Recruited and evaluated faculty and staff Supervised the development of academic schedules Supported faculty development in language, scholarship, assessment, advising, and leadership As Director of Theatre at the University of the Incarnate Word (1989‐1999), and as Head of the Voice Program in the Brandeis University Graduate Actor Training Program (1982‐1989), my responsibilities were to:
Articulate artistic and academic vision for the theatre program Develop and implement undergraduate theatre curriculum Recruit, develop and evaluate faculty and staff Plan production and academic schedules Create and implement development and fund raising goals and activities, including grant writing Direct operating, equipment and production budgets for theatre Provide pro‐active leadership in establishing a positive climate for minorities and women Manage facilities Conceptualize and implement publications, including promotional, programmatic and archival materials Oversee public relations activities, including community, donors, alumni and audience Establish & promote interdisciplinary connections to CORE Curriculum Recruit, audition, advise and evaluate students Implement Scholarship recruitment process Develop and manage high school outreach program MEMBERSHIPS American Association for Higher Education (AAHE) Association for Theatre in Higher Education (ATHE) Actors Equity Association (AEA) Professional Union Council of Colleges of Arts and Sciences (CCAS) International Council of Fine Arts Deans (ICFAD) National Association of Schools of Theatre (NAST) National Conference of Academic Deans (NCAD) Texas Association of Deans of Colleges of Liberal Arts and Sciences (TADLAS) Texas Council for Arts in Education (TCAE) 215
PROFESSIONAL ACTIVITIES Association for Theatre in Higher Education (ATHE) 2003‐2004 ‐ Mentor, ATHE Leadership Institute 2001‐2002 ‐ Past‐President 2001‐2002 ‐ Chair, Nominating Committee 2001 ‐ Chair, Redefining Scholarship for Field of Theatre Task Force 1999‐2001 ‐ President 1997‐1999 ‐ President‐Elect 1997‐1999 ‐ Chair, Management Transition Task Force 1997‐2002 ‐ Governing Council 1997‐1999 ‐ Chair of Strategic Planning Committee 1997‐1998 ‐ Co‐chair of Development Task Force 1997‐2001 ‐ Operations Committee 1995‐1996 ‐ Board of Governors 1995‐1996 ‐ Vice President for Conferences 1991‐1992 ‐ Secretary 1991‐1992 ‐ Board of Governors 1988‐1989 ‐ Vice President for Conferences 1987‐1988 ‐ Associate Vice President for Conferences 1987‐1988 ‐ Theatre FORUM Chair 1987‐1990 ‐ Board of Governors Council of College of Arts and Sciences (CCAS) 1999‐2002 ‐ Member, Issues and Resolutions Committee Texas Association of Deans of Liberal Arts and Sciences (TADLAS) 2000‐2003 ‐ Member‐at‐large, Executive Committee Voice and Speech Trainers Association (VASTA) 1989‐1993 ‐ Board of Directors Texas Educational Theatre Association (TETA)
1991‐1992 ‐ Committee on Advocacy American Theatre Association/University and College Theatre Association (ATA/UCTA)
1984‐1985 ‐ Theatre Voice and Speech Committee for Establishing Optimum Standards 1983‐1984 ‐ Finance Committee 1983‐1984 ‐ Governing Council 1982‐1984 ‐ Theatre Voice and Speech Program: Chairperson National Committees (Representative) ATHE Leadership Institute. Mentor, 2002 and 2003. CCAS Issues and Resolutions Committee, 1999‐2002 ATHE Chair, Task Force on Redefining Scholarship for Theatre, 2001 ATHE Operations Committee, 1997‐2001. ATHE Governing Council, 1997‐2003. ATHE Chair, Strategic Planning Committee, 1997‐1999. 216
ATHE, Chair, Digital Technology in Teaching and Performance Review Committee 1997‐99. ATHE, Chair, Management Transition Team 1997‐1998. ATHE Task Force on Development, Co‐Chair, 1997‐1998. ATHE/AATE Joint Conference Committee, 1995‐1996. ATHE Task Force on Theatre s Role in Educating and Humanizing, 1992‐1994. ATHE Representative to the Task Force on Production and Curriculum, ATHE, National Association for Schools of Theatre (NAST), and the United States Institute of Theatre Technology (USITT), 1991 ‐ 1992. ATHE Task Force on Outcomes Assessment, 1990. VASTA Task Force on Hiring, Retention, Promotion and Tenure, 1989 ‐1992. ATHE Task Force on Membership, 1989 ‐ 1992. VASTA Task Force on Promotion and Tenure, 1989 ‐1991. VASTA Task Force on Promotion and Tenure, 1988 ‐ 1992. VASTA Committee on Guidelines for Evaluation, 1988 ‐ 1990. VASTA Liaison Committee, 1987 ‐ 1991. ATHE Task Force on Promotion and Tenure, 1987 ‐1990. VASTA Liaison to ATHE THEatre FORUM, 1987 ‐ 1988. Theatre Voice and Speech Committee Establishing Optimum Standards 1984‐1985. ATA/UCTA Finance Committee and Governing Council, 1983 ‐ 1984. ATA/UCTA Theatre Voice and Speech Program, Chairperson, 1982 ‐ 1984. COLLEGE AND COMMUNITY SERVICE University Committees (Representative) Member, Educational Effectiveness Committee, UIW, 1999‐2001 Member, Planning Commission, UIW, 1999‐2004 Member, Dean s Council, UIW, 1999‐2004 Member, Committee on Probations and Suspensions, 1999‐2004 Chair, HASS Chairs’ Council 1999‐2004 Member, Assessment Committee, 1999‐2004 Member, Program Review Committee, 2001‐2004 Chair, School of Business, Administration, and Applied Arts Dean s Search Committee, 2001‐2002 Member, SACS Accreditation Planning Committee, 2001‐2002 Member, Planning Commission Task Force on Scheduling, Advising, and Registration, 2000‐2002 Member, Academic Policy Committee, 2000‐2001 Member, Post‐Tenure Review Task Force, 2000‐2001 Member, Admissions/Orientations Committee, 2000‐2003 Grants writer, Theatre Arts Department, Written or assisted in over a dozen grants for the department, regularly received grant of approximately $6,000.00 per year from the Barbara Bradshaw Stokes foundation, assisted in the writing of a 1.3 million dollar grant to the Maddux Foundation 1997,awarded $100,000.00 from the Maddux Foundation 1997, assisting with the December 1997 request to the Maddux Foundation 1989‐99 Member, Fine Arts Cluster, UIW, 1997‐1999 Member Junior Faculty Mentoring Team, UIW, 1997‐1998 Member, Vision of Integrated College Experience‐VOICE, UIW, 1997‐1998 Editor, FSU School of Theatre “Curtain Call” a weekly newsletter, 1996‐1997 Consultant, FSU School of Theatre Artistic Advisory Committee, 1996‐1997 Chairperson, Performance Position Search Committee, IWC, 1994, 1995 Chairperson, Amy Freeman Lee Chair Search Committee, IWC, 1995‐1996 217
Member, Vision Statement Steering Committee, 1995‐1996 Member, Admissions Committee, IWC 1995‐1996. Chairperson, Amy Freeman Lee Chair Search Committee, IWC 1994‐1995 College of Arts and Science Steering Committee, IWC, 1995‐1996 Football Task Force, IWC, 1995‐1996 Task Force on Vision of the University of the Incarnate Word, IWC, 1995‐1996 Rank and Tenure Committee, IWC, 1995‐1996 Chairperson, Faculty Association, IWC, 1993‐1995 Member of the IWC Board of Trustees, IWC, 1993‐1995 Member of the IWC Board Academic Affairs Committee, 1993‐1995 Academic Council, IWC, 1993‐95 Chairperson, Faculty Executive Committee, IWC, 1993‐1995 Chairperson, Virginia Cerna Joseph Student Award Committee, IWC, 1994 Task Force on the San Antonio Law School, IWC, 1993‐1994 Academic Vice President Search Committee, IWC, 1993‐1994 Student Development Matrix Committee, IWC, 1992‐1993 Grievance Committee, IWC, 1992‐1993 Chair, Performance Position Search Committee, IWC, 1992‐1993 Higher Education Week Planning Committee, Chair/member, IWC, 1991‐1992 Assessment Committee, IWC, 1990‐1991 Amy Freeman Lee Chair Search Committee, IWC, 1990 ‐ 1993 Coordinated the Tenth Anniversary Gala Committee, the Gala included the performance of Twelfth Night and receptions following. IWC, 1990‐1991. Curriculum Committee, IWC, 1990‐1992 Faculty Affairs Committee s Task Force on Faculty Salaries, IWC, 1989‐1990 Member, Task Force on the Catholic Television Station, IWC, 1989‐1990 Search Committees for Positions in Speech and Theatre Arts, IWC, 1989‐1992 Theatre Arts Promotion/Tenure Committee, Brandeis University, 1988‐1989 Faculty Senate: Committee on Nominations, Brandeis, 1986‐1988 Faculty Senate, Brandeis, 1985‐1988 Chairperson, Search Committees, Brandeis and IWC, 1984‐1992 High School Outreach Program, Brandeis, 1984‐1988 Committee on Academic Standing, Brandeis, 1983 ‐ 1985 Theatre Arts Acting/Directing Committee, Brandeis, 1982‐1989. State Committees (Representative) TADLAS Executive Committee, 2000‐2003 University Intercollegiate League, Critic Judge, TETA, 1993‐99 Resource Committee, TETA, 1993‐94 Procedures and Policies Committee, SWTA, 1993‐95 Committee on Advocacy, TETA, February, 1991‐93 University and College Association s Nominations Committee, TETA, 1991 Community Service Bexar County Arts & Cultural Fund, member of Board 2004 Women Leadership, Member of Panel, International School of the Americas, NEISD, 1999. 5A Zone A and B One Act Play Contest Critic Judge, March 1998. Mickee Faust Club Performance Troupe, Consulted on Development of Mission, 1996‐1997 218
Northside Independent School District, conducted an improvisation workshop for the Gifted and Talented Program students, Fall 1997. Texas Junior College Theatre Association, Critic Judge, Spring 1996. San Antonio Theatre Coalition, 1995‐1998 31‐5A Zone A and B One Act Play contest Critic Judge, March 1995 Peer Review of Tenure Documents for a faculty member at the University of Dallas, Spring, 1995. YWCA, Member, Rising Stars Council, honoring “Women in the Arts,” 1995 North East Independent School district, conducted workshop session “The Magnificent Voice: An Essential for Acting and Interpreting.” August, 1995. Northside Independent School District, conducted workshop on Shakespeare and Language for the Gifted and Talented Program students, Fall 1994 District 28‐5A UIL One Act Play Festival, Critic Judge, September 1991 Delivered Theatre Lecture at the Institute of Texas Cultures. November 1991. AWARDS Voice and Speech Trainer’s Association Award for Leadership and Service. Chicago, August 1994. Alamo Theatre Arts Council “Globe Awards” Best Production, Co‐Direction, and Co‐Costume Design for Comedy of Errors. September 1995. PUBLICATIONS, WORKSHOP, PAPER, AND PANEL PRESENTATIONS “Deaning the Arts” panel. ICFAD annual conference. Fort Worth, TX. 2003 “NAST Panel” ATHE National Conference. San Diego, CA, 2002. Symposium on Distance Education. Park University, Parkville, MO. 2002. Academic Freedom and Security on University Campuses. TADLAS Annual Conference, Austin, TX, 2002. CCAS Small‐Institutions Deans Clinic. CCAS Annual Conference. Washington, DC. 2001. Past President s Panel: Future Directions. ATHE National Conference, Chicago, IL, 2001. Orientation to ATHE and the Annual Conference. ATHE National Conference, Chicago, IL, 2001. How to Become a Faculty Member. ATHE National Conference, Chicago, IL, 2001. Diversity: Recruiting and Retention of Faculty and Students of Color. Chair and Member of Plenary Panel. ATHE National Conference. 2000. Orientation to ATHE and the Annual conference. ATHE National Conference. 2000. Assuming the Deanship: The First Year NCAD Annual Conference, Denton, TX, July 2000. Theatre and the New University Agenda NAST Annual Conference, Albuquerque, NM, March 2000 Race, Gender and Class: Diversity s Impact on Theatre Program s in Higher Education and ATHE. Chair and Member of Plenary Panel. ATHE National Conference. 1999. Reconsidering Scholarship Reconsidered: Impact on Theatre Studies in Higher Education. Respondent to Panel. ATHE National Conference. 1999. Orientation to ATHE. Presenter. ATHE National Conference. 1999. Celebrating Scholarship. Presented paper. UIW Faculty Workshop. August 1998. “Roundtable on Race and Gender. Member of Panel. ATHE National Conference. 1998. San Antonio, TX. The Job Interview. Presented paper. ATHE National Conference. 1998. San Antonio, TX. To Improvise or Not To Improvise: The Creative Nightmare?” Chair. ATHE National Conference. 1997. Chicago, IL. Celebrating Diversity. Co‐Chair of the Conference. Joint Conference of ATHE and American Alliance for Theatre Education (AATE). 1996. New York, NY. 219
Objective Evaluation of Theatrical Voice Data on the Voice Disordered Actor.” Authors: Pamela Lynn Harvey, Dr. Robert Coleman, and Donna Aronson. The Voice Foundation Annual Symposium. 1993. Jefferson Medical College of Thomas Jefferson University. Philadelphia, PA. Theatre s Role in Educating and Humanizing: Task Force Report. Chair and presenter. ATHE National Conference. 1993. Philadelphia, PA. Higher Education in the 21st Century: Impact on Theatre Education. ATHE National Conference. 1993. Philadelphia, PA. Acoustic Evaluation of Actor s Voices: Normative Data. Authors: Pamela Lynn Harvey, Donna Aronson, and Dr. Robert Coleman. The Voice Foundation Annual Symposium. 1992. Philadelphia, PA. VASTA Models for Promotion and Tenure. Co‐author with Marian E. Hampton. VASTA Publication. Bettyann Leeseberg‐Lange, ed. July 1991. St. Louis, MO. Presentation of VASTA Models for Promotion and Tenure. ATHE National Conference. 1991. Seattle, WA. Workloads and Non‐tenured Colleagues: Overloaded and Undervalued. ATHE National Conference. 1991. Seattle, WA. Acoustic Evaluation of Actors Voices: Teaching Applications. The Voice Foundation Annual Symposium. 1990. Philadelphia, PA. Objective Analysis of Actors Voices: An Initial Report. Journal of Voice. 1989. Raven Press. New York Approaches to Violence on the Contemporary Stage: The Sounds of Violence Chair. ATHE National Conference. 1989. New York City, NY. Challenge to the Profession ‐ The Relationship of Production to the Educational Mission Panel. ATHE National Conference. 1989. New York City, NY. Vocal Coaching and Speech Pathology: An Exchange of Ideas Panel. The Voice Foundation Annual Symposium. 1989. Philadelphia, PA. Objective Analysis of Actors Voices: A Statistical Analysis. The Voice Foundation Annual Symposium. 1989. Philadelphia, PA. The Actor s Voice: What Can It Teach Us? Seminar. American Speech and Hearing Association National Convention. 1988. Boston, MA. The Voice/Speech Specialist: To Tenure or Not. Half‐day Panel. ATHE National Conference. 1988. San Diego, CA. Guidelines for Tenure and Promotion for Technical Directors and Voice and Movement Teachers. Panel. ATHE National Conference. 1988. San Diego, CA. Objective Analysis of Actors Voices. Paper. 1988. The Voice Foundation. Annual Symposium. New York, NY. The Objective Analysis of Actors Voices. ATHE National Conference. 1987. Chicago, IL. Directors: Safeguard Your Performer s Vocal Health. ATA Theatre News. April 1984. Volume 16, Number 2. K. Weinstein, editor. The Care and Maintenance of the Performer s Voice. Paper. New England Theatre Conference. 1984. Providence, RI. The Care and Treatment of the Performer s Voice. Developed Program and Chaired One‐day Workshop. ATA National Convention. 1984. San Francisco, CA. Vocal Strain: What Is It, How Not To Get It, and What To Do If You ve Got It. Chair. ATA National Convention. 1984. San Francisco, CA. ATA/UCTA Theatre Voice and Speech Program Newsletter. July 1983. D. Aronson, editor. From Whence the Golden Tones: Physiology of the Vocal Mechanism. Chair. ATA National Convention. 1983. Minneapolis, MN. Warming Up For Vocal Health. Workshop. New England Theatre Conference Annual Convention (NETC). 1982. Hartford, CT. Expressing Sensory Perception: Imagery and Its Physical and Vocal Expression. Workshop. ATA National Convention. 1982. New York, NY. 220
A Vocal Warm Up: How and Why? Workshop. American College Theatre Festival XIV (ACTF), Region I. 1982. Providence, RI. Voice in the Valley. Five College Theatre News. April/May 1981. Volume 2, Number 4. D. Meservey, editor. Forum: Integrating Voice/Speech and Movement with the Acting Process. Panel. ATA National Convention. 1981. Dallas, TX. CREATIVITY DIRECTING Twelfth Night by William Shakespeare. Spring 1999. University of the Incarnate Word. Ghosts by Henrik Ibsen. Fall 1998. University of the Incarnate Word. The Beaux ‘ Stratagem by George Farquhar. Spring 1998. University of the Incarnate Word. “Old Testament” and “The Florida Song” March 1997. Mickee Faust Club Performance Troupe, Tallahassee, FL. Macbeth by William Shakespeare. Spring 1996. University of the Incarnate Word. Tons Of Money by Alan Ayckbourn. Summer 1995. Incarnate Word College Summer Theatre. I Ought To Be In Pictures by Neil Simon. Summer 1994. Incarnate Word College, Resident Company. Director and Costume Designer Year Of The Duck by Israel Horovitz. Summer 1992. Incarnate Word College, Resident Company. Director and Costume Designer Comedy Of Errors by William Shakespeare. Spring 1995. Incarnate Word College. Co‐ Director and Co‐Costume Designer. The Trial Of God by Elie Weisel. Fall 1994. Incarnate Word College. Antigone by Sophocles, translated by Timberlake Wertenbaker. Spring 1994. Incarnate Word College. Standing On My Knees by John Olive. Spring 1993. Incarnate Word College. Rhinoceros by Eugene Ionesco. Fall 1992. Incarnate Word College. Tartuffe by Moliere, translated by Richard Wilber. February 20‐29,1992. Incarnate Word College. SmokeScreen by Sheila Lynch Rinear (original). October 3‐13, 1991 Incarnate Word College. Twelfth Night by William Shakespeare. February 21‐24 and March 7‐10, 1991. Incarnate Word College. The Diviners by Jim Leonard, Jr. October 4‐14, 1990. Incarnate Word College. The Trojan Women by Euripides. April 25‐29 and May 2‐5, 1990. Incarnate Word College. The Dining Room by A. R. Gurney. October 16‐23, 1988. Brandeis University. A Coupla White Chicks Sitting Around Talking by John Ford Noonan. March 21‐22, 1988. Brandeis University. Bus Stop by William Inge. April 8‐12, 1987. Brandeis University. Passing Game by Steve Tesich. February 12‐16, 1986. Brandeis University. Breakdown Lane by Doug Grissom (original). April 17‐21, 1985. Brandeis University. 221
The Diviners by Jim Leonard, Jr.. February 22‐26, 1984. Brandeis University. Lila Mae by Doug Grissom (original). April 6‐10, 1983. Brandeis University. Calm Down Mother by Megan Terry. Spring 1982. Mount Holyoke College. Cages by An Evening of One‐Acts. “Epiphany” by Lewis John Carlino. March 6‐8, 1981. Mount Holyoke College. James and the Giant Peach by Roald Dahl. Spring 1976. University of Texas at Austin. Adapted and Directed. DRAMATURG Top Girls by Caryl Churchill. Fall 1996. Florida State University. ACTING “You Can Never Have Too Much Sky”: An Afternoon of Readings from the Works of Sandra Cisneros. Fall 1997. University of the Incarnate Word, Extended Run Players. Return Engagements by Bernard Slade. Summer 1993. Incarnate Word College, Resident Company. Rumors by Neil Simon. Summer 1991. Incarnate Word College, Resident Company. Actor and Costume Designer The Octette Bridge Club by Paul Osborn. Summer 1990. Incarnate Word College, Resident Company. ACTING COACH — VOCAL COACH Incarnate Word College — 1993. Roosters (director Mary Beth Swofford) Acting and Vocal Coach. Brandeis University — 1982 ‐ 1989 Vocal Coach Rhinoceros (director Michael Murray) Enemies (director Ted Kazanoff) Twelfth Night (director Danny Gidron) Private Life of the Master Race (director Danny Gidron) Equus (director James Clay) The Threepenny Opera (director Danny Gidron) An American Clock (director Danny Gidron) Summer and Smoke (director Ted Kazanoff) The Rivals (director Charles W. Moore) A Midsummer Nightʹs Dream (director Danny Gidron) Good (director Danny Gidron) Malcolm (Director Edward Albee) The Little Foxes (director Ted Kazanoff) Comedy of Errors (director Danny Gidron) The Matchmaker (director Danny Gidron) The Crucible (director Charles W. Moore) Measure for Measure (director Danny Gidron) The Time of Your Life (director José Quintero) Venus Observed (director Charles W. Moore) 222
University of California/San Diego — 1977 A View From The Bridge (director, Jorge Huerta), Vocal Coach Mount Holyoke College — 1982 The Trojan Women (director Nancy Enggass) Vocal Director. TEACHING COURSES TAUGHT Fundamentals of Directing Advanced Directing Beginning Acting Intermediate Acting Advanced Acting Acting in Verse Acting Styles: Restoration, Greek, Commedia Acting Shakespeare Scene Study Voice Studies for Actors Voice and Imagery Text: Verse Theories of Acting/Directing Voice and Speech Dramaturgy Graduate School Preparation CONFERENCES ATTENDED CCAS Annual Conference. 2003. Orlando, FL ICFAD Annual Conference 2003. Fort Worth, TX. ATHE Annual Conference. 2003. New York, NY. NAST Retreat for Administrators of Theatre Programs in Higher Education, 2003, Snowbird, UT.. Annual Meetings of the Texas Association of Deans of Colleges of Liberal Arts and. TADLAS, 2003, Austin, TX. Council of Colleges of Arts and Sciences. CCAS Annual Conference, November 2002, San Francisco, CA. Annual Meetings of the Texas Association of Deans of Colleges of Liberal Arts and. TADLAS, 2002, Austin, TX. ATHE Annual Conference. 2002 San Diego, CA. AAHE Annual Conference. 2002. Chicago, IL. Council of Colleges of Arts and Sciences. CCAS Annual Conference, November 2001, Washington, D.C.. Annual Meeting of the Texas Council for Arts in Education, October 2001. Dallas, TX. Practice, Theory, Technology and the New Student, ATHE Annual Conference 2001. Chicago, IL. NAST Retreat for Administrators of Theatre Programs in Higher Education, 2001, Richmond, VA. AAHE Annual Conference. 2001. Washington, DC Carnegie Academy for the Scholarship of Teaching and Learning. CASTL Meeting for Scholarly Associations. March 2001, Washington, D.C. AAHE and Carnegie Academy for the Scholarship of Teaching and Learning. CASTL Meeting for Campus Collegium. 2001, Washington, D.C. Annual Meetings of the Texas Association of Deans of Colleges of Liberal Arts and Sciences and the Texas Association of Colleges of Teacher Education. TADLAS, 2001, Austin, TX. Council of Colleges of Arts and Sciences. CCAS Annual Conference, 2000, Toronto, Canada. ACE and Carnegie Academy for the Scholarship of Teaching and Learning. CASTL Meeting for Scholarly Associations. 2000, Washington, D.C. Dreaming the Century ATHE Annual Conference 2000. Washington, D.C. NCAD Annual Conference, 2000, Denton, TX. 223
AAHE Workshop for Chairs and Deans, June 2000, Washington, D.C. NAST Retreat for Administrators of Theatre Programs in Higher Education, 2000, Albuquerque, NM. Rethinking Theatre Teacher Education. Invitational Think Tank for Change Makers. AATE/ATHE/EdTA, 2000, Chattanooga, TN. The Recovery of Paideia: the Intellectual, Moral, and Spiritual Formation of Students. Lilly Foundation Regional Meeting. 2000. Waco, TX. Annual Meetings of the Texas Association of Deans of Colleges of Liberal Arts and Sciences and the Texas Association of Colleges of Teacher Education. TADLAS, 2000, College Station, TX. Council of Colleges of Arts and Sciences. CCAS Annual Conference, 1999, Seattle, WA. Crossing Borders ATHE Annual Conference 1999. Toronto, Canada. Workshop for New Chairs and Deans. ACE Conference, 1999, Washington, DC. NAST Retreat for Administrators of Theatre Programs in Higher Education, 1999, Pittsburgh, PA. “Reflections on the Past.” TETA Annual Convention. 1999. Austin, TX. “Performance Frontiers and Cultural Connections.” ATHE Annual Conference 1998. San Antonio, TX. American Society for Theatre Research Annual Conference. ASTR, 1998, San Antonio, TX. “Dramatic Interactions.” ATHE Annual Conference 1997, Chicago, IL. “Celebrating Diversity.” ATHE Annual Conference 1996, New York, NY. “Gateways to the Next Millennium,” ATHE Annual Conference 1995, San Francisco, CA. “Theatrefest ‘96.” TETA Annual Convention, 1996, Houston, TX. Texas Thespian Festival, 1995, Denton, TX. “Making Connections II: Claiming the Past, Shaping the Future: Women in Catholic Higher Education, NAWCHE: National Association for Women in Catholic Higher Education, Loyola University, Chicago, IL. “Theatrefest ‘95.” TETA Annual Convention, 1995, Houston, TX. NAST Retreat for Administrators of Theatre Programs in Higher Education, 1994, Houston, TX. Texas Thespian Festival, 1994, Duncanville, TX. SWTA Annual Convention, 1994, New Orleans, LA. “Theatrefest ‘94,” TETA Annual Convention, 1995, Houston, TX. The Voice Foundation 22nd Annual Symposium: Care of the Professional Voice, 1993, Philadelphia, PA. Imagine the Future,” ATHE Annual Conference 1993, Philadelphia, PA. NAST Retreat for Administrators of Theatre Programs in Higher Education, 1993, Atlanta, GA. Higher Education in the 21st Century: Impact on Theatre Education. ATHE Annual Conference 1992, Atlanta, GA. “Celebrating Many Cultures.” ATHE Annual Conference 1991, Seattle, WA. SWTA Annual Convention, 1990, Dallas, TX. “Theatrefest ‘90.” TETA Annual Convention, 1990, Houston, TX. Association for Communication Administration, Annual Conference, 1990, Houston, TX. “ Issues of the Nineties.” ATHE Annual Conference 1990, Chicago, IL. “Connections.” ATHE Annual Conference 1989, New York, NY. “Bridging the Gap.” ATHE Annual Conference 1988, San Diego, CA. ATHE Annual National Conference 1987, Chicago, IL. 224