101 and 119 W. 31st Street, NYC
RSVP to Chris Vine: chris.cuny.cat@gmail.com or (212) 652-2840/(914) 689-4909
This one-day conference will profile practical ways in which artists have attempted to implement educational and applied theatre practices to bring about social and political change.
In so doing, it will raise important questions about educational theatre and theatre activism. What are the similarities and differences? How can we develop our practices to move beyond ‘raising awareness’ into the realms of active engagement? Is that the role of theatre?
What does it look like? What steps do we need to take? Should we take them?
The morning and afternoon will both be framed by a keynote presentation from a prominent theatre and education activist, and will offer a selection of hands-on workshops and demonstrations led by individuals and organizations that are using theatre and participatory drama strategies to intervene directly in educational, social, economic and political processes. At the end of the day, time will be made available for participants to reflect on and critique the strategies they encounter, with a view to incorporating them into their practices and making action plans of their own.
The Keynote Speakers
Piper Anderson is a writer, educator, and cultural organizer who has spent more than 17 years leveraging the tools of art-making and community engagement to create social impact. Her work has taken her to numerous U.S cities, Mexico, and Rwanda delivering creative responses to racial and gender injustice.
In 2015, she founded Create Forward LLC, which delivers creative strategies for social change that activate the collective imagination. Piper is committed to ending mass incarceration. She was Blackout Arts Collective’s Lyrics on Lockdown National Tour Coordinator and directed the cultural campaign that reached more than 25 U.S communities catalyzing a dialogue about the impact of the prison system on communities of color. In 2016, Anderson was awarded a TED Residency to develop an art-and-design project called Mass Story Lab. Mass Story Lab works in communities grappling with the impact of mass incarceration.
Piper is a graduate of The New School and received her M.A. in Applied Theatre from CUNY’s School of Professional Studies. She currently teaches at NYU’s Gallatin School. Her writings have appeared in numerous publications and books including Huffington Post, Love, Race, and Liberation: Till the White Day is Done, Growing Up Girl, Seeking Wisdom, and How to Get Stupid White Men Out of Office.
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Meggan Gomez is the Executive Director at TONYC. She is a theater-maker, facilitator, and activist who has worked at the intersection of arts and social justice for over 15 years.
Before beginning her current role with TONYC, she was the Theater Conservatory Director at Working Classroom in Albuquerque, NM. Originally from Pennsylvania, Meggan studied acting in the BFA program at Montclair State University before moving to New York City to create her own work at theaters like Theatre for the New City and Abrons Arts Center.
Meggan's creative affiliations include Cornerstone Theater Company, The Hemispheric Institute of Performance and Politics, and TEDxABQ. Meggan is also a champion for the steering committee of the Latinx Theater Commons.
The Presenters
The Creative Arts Team (CAT) is a program of the City University of New York. It has been working with New York youth and adults for over 45 years. Its mission is to contribute to the growth and wellbeing of its participants by identifying and responding to as many facets of their personal, social, and educational needs as is possible and appropriate to address through the medium of theatre and the related conventions of participatory drama. When participants step into the world of drama, they become actors, not just observers. They can shape and re-shape the lives of characters faced with ordinary – and extraordinary – challenges. And in so doing, they can reshape their own - and the world around them.
Priscilla Flores is the Associate Program Director of the CAT College and Adult Program. Priscilla’s work involves creating and delivering CAT programs for college students, incarcerated adolescents at Rikers Island, and parents and families in social service agencies and shelters. Priscilla has performed Off-Broadway in productions at Theatre for the New City (The Fake History of George the Last, Brunch at the Luthers, Bread and Puppet Theatre’s Divine Reality Comedy); Bronx Hispanic Festival (Tomando Café), NYC Fringe Festival (Evangeline); and others. She joined CAT in 2004. --------
Daniel Banks has worked in the U.S. and abroad, directing such productions as the African premiere of August Wilson’s Jitney at the National Theatre of Uganda; the Eastern European premiere of Anna in the Tropics by Nilo Cruz at the Belarussian National Drama Theatre; and Tap Into Peace, a tap and spoken word tribute to love, set to the music of Stevie Wonder, at Playhouse Square in Cleveland. Daniel was Associate Director for the recent adaptation of Toni Morrison’s Jazz, at Baltimore Center Stage.
Daniel is the co-director of DNAWORKS, an arts and service organization dedicated to using the arts as a catalyst for dialogue and healing, specifically engaging the topics of representation, identity and heritage. Current projects include Hollow Roots by Christina Anderson and The Real James Bond…Was Dominican by and with Christopher Rivas, both touring; in development Dreaming Emmett a “lost” play by Toni Morrison and a mixed media adaptation of The Secret Sharer by Joseph Conrad.
Daniel is Associate Director of Theatre Without Borders and serves on the national cabinet of the U.S. Department of Arts and Culture. He is editor of the critical anthology of plays Say Word! Voices from Hip Hop Theater and co-editor of the forthcoming Casting a Movement: The Welcome Table Initiative.
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Theatre of the Oppressed NYC bases its work on a methodology created in the 1970s by the legendary Brazilian theatre director and activist Augusto Boal, who was himself inspired by Paulo Freire's Pedagogy of the Oppressed. As a form of activism and artistic practice, Boal’s Theatre of the Oppressed is now used in over 70 countries around the world.
TONYC partners with community members at local organizations to form theatre troupes. These troupes devise and perform plays based on their challenges confronting economic inequality, racism, and other social, health and human rights injustices. After each performance, actors and audiences engage in theatrical brainstorming – called Forum Theatre – with the aim of catalyzing creative change on the individual, community, and political levels.
As TONYC as an organization has grown, Legislative Theatre has grown with it. Legislative Theatre was developed by Boal, based upon his Forum Theatre methods, to engage legislatures with a view to turning ideas for “breaking” societal oppressions, into law! Unable to exist in a vacuum, the work is influenced and impacted by the organization’s capacity, by the panelists, the audience, the actors, and current events. Given the present political climate, Legislative Theatre, and the arts as an agent for change, are vital tools for educating constituents, empowering and engaging individuals, challenging the status quo, and altering policy for the better.
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Cynthia Henderson is an associate professor in Ithaca College's Department of Theatre Arts. A professional actor since 1985 in the U.S., Europe and Africa, Cynthia has performed on stage as well as in film and television. She is the founder of Performing Arts for Social Change. The theatrical practices of PASC “has multiple objectives. It can encourage the audience to take action. It can expand public discourse. It can empower participants. It can inspire an audience/participants to think in new ways.”
Cynthia has traveled world-wide, sharing her vision and developing projects in countries as diverse as China, Cameroon and Ecuador. Her work in the area of social justice has earned her the College Student Personnel Association of New York State's award for
"Outstanding Contribution to Social Justice." She was also cited at the 2008 NYS Women's Expo as one the "20 Outstanding Women You Should Know" in Central NY. Her directing credits include: Plumfield Iraq, The Exonerated, Burn This, The Colored Museum, Triad by EJ Gold, and other explorations. She has also directed for the professional arm of the Roy Park School of Communications, Park Productions. Cynthia is a proud member of Actors' Equity and a Fulbright Scholar. Peace.