Direct Address: Addressing Anti-Blackness in Non-Black Communities of Color


Event Details


Crowded Fire Artistic Director Mina Morita will facilitate a discussion focused on the specific ways anti-Blackness presents in different communities of color followed by affinity breakout sessions designed for deeper discussion. She’ll be joined by guest speakers:

Andrea Assaf (performer, writer, director, and cultural organizer)
Yalini Dream (organizer, arts & wellness specialist, teacher, and artist)
L. Duarte (theatre maker, teaching artist, writer, and director)
Regina Victor (director, multidisciplinary artist, and arts critic)

ASL interpretation will be provided.

5-7 PM PST

Register here


Bios:

Andrea Assaf is a performer, writer, director and cultural organizer. She is the founding Artistic Director of Art2Action Inc., and the National Coordinator for the National Institute for Directing & Ensemble Creation (a partnership with Pangea World Theater). Andrea is also a Trainer with Equity Quotient (EQ), an Artist-in-Residence/guest lecturer at the University of South Florida (USF) School of Theatre and Dance, and served as a Master Teacher for YoungArts (Writing/Performance, 2018-2020). She is a recipient of the 2019 NEFA National Theatre Project and NPN Creation Fund Commission for her new play, DRONE, currently in development. Her original theatre work, Eleven Reflections on September (commissioned by Pangea World Theater), has been featured at Oregon Shakespeare Festival (OSF) as part of CAATA’s 2016 National Asian American Theatre Festival, La MaMa, The Apollo Theatre, the Kennedy Center Millennium Stage (2015), and internationally. This work is being re-created in 2020-21 as a community-based, devised ensemble work Eleven Reflections: San Antonio, commissioned by The Carver Cultural Center. Andrea’s other original works include Outside the Circle (co-created with Dora Arreola and Samuel Valdez, 2012), Fronteras Desviadas/Deviant Borders co-created with Mujeres en Ritual Danza-Teatro (2005), and numerous devised works with veterans, refugees, and youth communities. Directing credits include Speed Killed My Cousin by Linda Parris-Bailey (The Carpetbag Theater, 2014-2019), breaking letter(s) by Suhier Hammad (New WORLD Theater, 2008), and many more. Additional awards include: 2017 Finalist for the Freedom Plow Award for Poetry & Activism (Split This Rock Poetry Festival), 2011 NPN Creation Fund commission, 2010 Princess Grace/Gant Gaither Theatre Award for Directing, and 2007 Hedgebrook Residency for “women authoring change.” Andrea has a Master’s degree in Performance Studies and a BFA in Acting, both from NYU Tisch School of the Arts. Former positions include Artistic Director of New WORLD Theater (2004-09), and Program Associate for Animating Democracy (2001-04). She currently serves on the Board of the Consortium of Asian American Theatres & Artists (CAATA), Alternate ROOTS, and is a Steering Committee member of the Middle Eastern/North African Theatre-Makers Alliance (MENATMA). For more information, visit: www.art2action.org/artists/Andrea-Assaf

Yalini Dream consults with Vision Change Win Consultingis an organizer; is an Arts & Wellness specialist with EM Arts; teaches Social Justice Pedagogy and the Arts at University of San Francisco; was an artist in residence at University of Michigan’s Center for World Performance Studies; and received the Jerome Foundation’s Fellowship in Literature.

L. Duarte (they, them) is a theatre maker, teaching artist, budding writer and director who has educated, protested, and campaigned for various civil rights issues since the age of 5 when her family created Chicano/a theatre in her grama’s backyard. Duarte continues to harness the power of theatre to help build community that cares and responds to the needs of the people. Their most recent project includes dismantling anti-blackness and anti-indeginous practices in the Latinx community. They are currently a proud member of Latinx Mafia, and currently centered in homelessness advocacy and GOTV movements across the Bay

Regina Victor (they/them/theirs) is a Black director, multidisciplinary artist, and arts critic. They are currently the dramaturg for Jeannette The Musical, book by Lauren Gunderson, music by Ari Afsar, where they will be assisting in the creation of an anti-racist process. One of New City’s Fifty People Who Really Perform for Chicago two years running, Victor has helped develop world premieres by Antoinette Nwandu, Anna Deavere Smith (Notes from the Field), and Sarah Ruhl. They are currently directing works in development by Brynne Frauenhoffer, Terry Guest, and Calamity West. They co-founded Rescripted in 2017, an arts journalism platform by and for artists, and have written for other publications including American Theatre, Playbill, and the Chicago Reader. Other notable artistic collaborations include Steppenwolf Theater, Jackalope Theatre, Berkeley Repertory Theater, Timeline Theatre, Theatre First, and California Shakespeare Theatre. Learn more at www.reginavictor.com

Mina Morita is the Artistic Director of Crowded Fire Theater, a critically acclaimed, intrepid company dedicated to developing a fierce contemporary theater canon that reflects the plurality of our world. Previously, Mina Morita served as the Artistic Associate at Berkeley Repertory Theatre—and a founding member of its Ground Floor program; as Board President of Shotgun Players; as a 2014 Lincoln Center Director’s Lab participant; as one of the founding members of Bay Area Children’s Theatre; as Community Arts Panelist with the Zellerbach Family Foundation; and Guest Artist at UC Berkeley and Stanford University. She is a recipient of Theatre Bay Area’s 40@40 award for her impact on Bay Area Theater. In 2015, Mina was honored to share her story on TEDx, and in 2016, she was chosen as one of the YBCA100, for “asking questions and making provocations that will shape the future of culture.”

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