 All right, are we good to go? We are good. Amazing. Thank you all out there in the audience for bearing with us through our brief technical difficulties. Welcome to Reimagine Theater, a panel series that brings artists and community leaders together to envision a new theatrical world. My name is Alex Lee Reed. I'm the Associate Director of Arts Engagement, Youth and Learning at Seattle Rep. I will give a physical description of myself for our blind and low vision attendees. I am a light-skinned black individual with short curly hair. I'm wearing glasses and a silver septum. Behind me are several plants and wooden blinds in my cozy dining room. I'd like to start by acknowledging that we are on the traditional land of the Coast Salish people, including the Duwamish, both past and present. We honor with gratitude both the land itself and the Duwamish tribe. This acknowledgement does not take the place of authentic relationships with Indigenous communities, but serves as a first step in honoring the land that we are on. For more information and how you can support local Indigenous communities, visit the Land Acknowledgement page on our Seattle Rep website. I want to say that I deeply, truly, truly, truly appreciate every one of these panelists for being here with us and having this conversation tonight. We're doing these panels so that we can envision what a future of equity and justice looks like and how theater, how the arts and how educational theater specifically should be a consistent part of community voice. The leading questions for our discussion tonight are number one, if you could wave a magic wand and build a new theater landscape, what would you create? And two, what does theater at the heart of public life look like? Of course, we'll go into, we'll have several tangents and side roads and deeper levels of conversation spinning off of those questions, but that's what's going to be guiding us tonight. For those of you out there in Zoomland, think about your questions, your answers to these questions as well as we'll be engaging you in the conversation throughout the course of the night. In the meantime, feel free to ask questions, send your reactions, blow up the chat. We're young and hip, we love it. They are. I speak for five out of six young hip individuals on this here Zoom. Speaking of those younger and hipper, I'm gonna throw it to my co-facilitator, Ms. Malia Silva. Would you please introduce yourself? Then we'll have the rest of our panelists do the same. Hi, I'm Malia. I am the youth intern at the rep. Yeah, am I supposed to give a physical description? Please. Okay, cool. So I have dark hair. I have light skin, but like not like heckle light though. I'm like on like the light brown spectrum, you know, like that nice caramel color, you know? And I have brown eyes and my glasses have been described as those a 30 year old divorcee might wear. So we're rocking those. Yeah, Micaela, or wait, Malika, sorry, Malika. Do you wanna be next? That's fine. Hi, I'm Malika. This is my first time doing anything with Seattle Rap. So that's pretty cool. I'm Indian. I have brown skin and I have caramel highlights. That's the description of me. That's about it. Does Gary want to introduce themselves? Hello, I'd love to. Hey, hi, I'm Gary. Words. Hey, hi. Oh, I am white. I got blonde hair. I'm wearing a lovely sweater right now that is white and has wonderful designs, alpaca. Yeah, yeah, and I got tons of rings on. Wait, I was supposed to say someone, Daisy. I am a student at UW and I have done sort of many different arts things around. I use sheer pronouns. I am white. I have long brown hair that you can't see all of, but it exists below the screen too. I'm wearing a pink sweatshirt and I'm wearing a little bit of lipstick and Kennedy, do you wanna go next? Yes, absolutely. Hello, my name is Kennedy. I am a freshman at Santa Clara University and I've done quite a few productions within the Seattle theater scene, including their most recent August Wilson monologue competition. I am a light-skinned black individual. I have brown eyes and dark black or dark brown hair, I guess, that's currently pulled into a bun. I'm wearing a black turtleneck and then behind me I have kind of this tan colored wall. And I will pass it to Thea. I think that is all of us, yeah? Yeah, yeah. All right, thanks for that, friends. So I wanna start out the conversation a little easy, chat a little bit, talk about some of your experiences in educational theater. Then, Malia, I'll hand it to you if you wanna ask some questions of your peers from this perspective before we really dig into the big questions. So what's on my mind? I'm curious when we say educational theater, right? You all agreed to join this panel on discussing what educational theater could be and should be. But the question I wanna ask is, what does educational theater even mean? Anyone feel free to chime in? We don't have to be civil. Cool, I'm gonna start off. So I think educational theater is opening up opportunities for not just only young adults, but kids as well and teenagers too. We don't see a lot of youth teenage engagement in theater. You will have high school theater, but other than that, it's very less likely to just see community theaters that is very inclusive. So I work at a Bellevue Youth Theater. It's in Bellevue, and it's mainly focused on youth and teenagers. And anyone that auditions will get a role in that, which I think is pretty cool. So in my opinion, youth engagement should involve everybody, and everyone should have a lot of opportunities. Well, when I think about educational theater, obviously I think about educating people into the basics of how theater works and how to act. But I also think about it as educating people about less known topics and less known groups and stuff. I, obviously a lot of that was shaped by the August Wilson Mama competition and my views on that. So yeah, when I think of educational theater, I think of educating people about different groups and different experiences through different times through how those groups tell stories and whatnot. I think it's pretty cool. I also, when I think about educational theater, I think that it can, we can, I mean, this isn't how we think about it now, but I think that it could be expanded to include people of all ages. We see the most educational theater for young people, which is really, really great. But I do, I think that we could involve adults who wanna have more art in their lives and who want to learn more about theater, who didn't get to do it as a child, who grew up in a place where the schools were underfunded and they didn't have good arts programs or any access, or who just like have gotten older and realized that they want other things in their life, right? Cause like art is a really important part of living a balanced and like happy life for lots of people. And so I think that everybody deserves access to arts education, including children and young people, but also including everyone. I would say that it's, I would say that it's about like, not necessarily teaching you how to act, but like guiding you on like how to approach this art style and therefore you learn, you educate yourself about the world around you and you and how you fit into the world and how you fit into yourself. And by exploring different characters and different scenarios, you're able to, you're able to sort of figure that out along the way, which I think is really cool. Oh, I'm sorry. Sorry, go ahead. Okay, I think for me, educational theater is inherently just theater that educates you, which sounds quite backwards, but I think for me it's any theater experience where you learn, if say you're an actor, you learn about behind the scenes aspect. So you learn directing, you learn, you know, set pieces and how that helps create a production, but also theater that educates people on issues that are largely unheard of, from communities that are largely unheard of or unheard from. Stories that come from people who have largely not been listened to, I think really is at the heart of educational theater because it not only educates the people that are bringing those stories forward, but it also educates the people that are listening to them and thinking, wow, I've never heard that before. That's a great story. Laika, you had something else you wanted to say? I was gonna say the same thing as Kennedy did. Also, like when people perceive theater, they mostly think about musicals and just they don't really like big musicals and stuff like that, but they don't talk about all the little stories that you can also like watch and do and as well as like learning other aspects of theater that isn't just acting. Thank you all. Malia, I'm gonna throw it to you. I would love for you to talk a little bit about your track to becoming our youth intern, our first ever youth intern at Seattle Rep and what made you decide specifically that this is a path that you might be interested in pursuing? The track was actually pretty simple. So I was kind of like, yo, Alex, can I work here? And he was kind of like, sure. I don't know, maybe. And yeah, but the reason why I asked is because while the monologue competition was going on, I was kind of like, I kind of like this, you know? And after, and I was just kind of thinking to myself, like after it's over, what am I gonna do? Like during the competition, I was just very emotionally invested. And I still am, but it was just in a different way. And I just found a passion that I never really had before. I never really looked at acting as an outlet. And I was kind of like, maybe this is what I wanna do with my life. Let's give it a try. And I like it so far. Lovely. And Malia, I know for a fact from working with you over the last year and some change now, you've got a lot of opinions about how we do what we do. Opinions, ideas, I don't say this as a bad thing. It's one thing that I adore about you. But I wonder if you can kind of guide us into this first big question, right? This is our wouldn't it be cool if our magic wand question? Yeah, sure. So like, okay. So the question is if you could wave a wand and change the acting world, change it or turn it into, or create whatever you want, what would it be? So yeah, what do you guys do? You wanna answer that question first or last? Yeah, oh wait, is that what, is that what, I was just, okay. So kind of like an idea that I had for it is like, here, wait, I made a list. I would say that first we diffuse the sort of like prestigious air around theater because like, yeah, we all watch movies, but like theater, like going to the theater and watching a play is now considered to be such a snobby thing to do. And honestly, and like even acting is considered a snobby thing to do. Like, oh, you're one of those drama kids. Like, it's like, I think that if you get rid of that sort of atmosphere, that theater is all Shakespeare and what have you and get down to it, theater is people expressing their emotions through bringing words to life. And like, I think that people could be passionate about it and it would be more widespread. And that could be achieved if you sort of diffuse the air around script reading itself and like reading just in general. And again, you know, people, I at least had this sort of opinion that like reading scripts is boring and like, especially the old stuff, especially Shakespeare and all the Greek plays. And then I just read Oedipus about how he screwed his mom and killed his dad. And then I just read Shakespeare about, you know, how Hamlet's mom and uncle conspired to kill his dad. And then they got together and Shakespeare was, and Hamlet wasn't having them. And like, if you diffuse that air and sort of see it for what it is, get past behind all the fancy language and the fancy faces that sometimes represent the theaters, then yeah, it also changed the faces that represent the theaters. Cause right now, we see, like growing up, I never saw anybody on screen that looked like me. I don't know if there's like any well-known mixed actor that I know right now, probably not mixed with the things that I'm mixed with for sure. And like, it's an even like in most theater representation, I'm pretty sure like the rep is probably one of the most diverse theaters out there, at least that I know of. And even then, even then it's everything can be changed for the better. And I think that by seeing more representation in the theater and in movies and in playwrights, you know, us minorities, like every minority, you know, Indians, Samoans, Hawaiians, fricking, you know, I don't like, I don't know, there's a lot of people in the world, like everybody. And yeah, that would be my changes. I'm sorry, that was long-winded. Anybody else wanna go? Not sorry, you're perfect. Building off of that, I love that. I love the role that theater has in sharing and amplifying unheard voices. And I agree, well, obviously I agree, because I said I love that, but yeah, no, I agree. There needs to be more representation, not only with the people who are acting, but with the kinds of stories that are being told. It's one of the reasons that I loved learning about August Wilson and learning, or in like reading his plays is because it's just, obviously it's an experience I never had. And it's just a complete different type of play than I'm used to. And I just, I love that. So I guess if I had to wave a magic wand, I would make it so that minoritized voices are able to find more of a, more, that, that, that. It will just find like a speaker in theater, like the megaphone, that's it, a megaphone in theater to not only amplify their presence and make their presence known, but also their culture and their unique experiences, these stories, I love it, and I think it's fantastic. Can I throw this question to you next? Yeah, absolutely. I think I definitely agree with all of the talk about including more minorities in theater because that's not something that I ever really experienced before I truly got into the theater scene specifically at Seattle Rep as well. I think going off of that, including more minority representation in those ancient stories that, well, I use the word ancient, but those older stories that Shakespeare and all of that, seeing more minority individuals in those kinds of roles or creating a space in which there were, if I could really go back, if there were more minority representations within those stories because I never saw myself in Shakespeare. I never saw myself in Greek tragedies. So I never really thought that that could be something that I could connect with. And to an extent, maybe I still do, but I think that that could really be something that could really further the beautiful diversity that already exists in theater as well as expand on it, yeah. Thanks, Kennedy. I'm getting silly. Walk in the line of not being afraid of the Zoom silence as we're thinking about these really kind of big questions and also want to poke y'all a little bit. Go in, Daisy. I'm happy to go. I would really, if I could live with magic wand, I would really love to see people get more excited about theater, which I think is exactly what everyone else is talking about too. I would really love to see people, the same way that we are excited about TV shows and movies, and we have these other very well-known and new music. I would love to see people get that excited about theater, and I would love to have new shows be as big of a deal and have experiencing live art like that be a thing that people are so excited about and invested in. And exactly the reason why that doesn't happen is because of all the roadblocks that everyone else is talking about so beautifully, because it seems elitist, because the history of discrimination in theater, because it is scary and weird still to go to some theaters for like, there's a lot of history, there's a lot of baggage that isn't good and isn't pretty and is not welcoming. And I think if we can ever find a way to move past that and move beyond that, I would really, really love to see people get excited about theater because they feel like it belongs to them and feel like it is for them and feel like they are a part of it and it is a thing that is supposed to serve them, right? So that's what I would change. Thanks, Daisy. Malika, I'm going to throw it at you. Oh, cool. Adding on to what everyone's saying, bringing more awareness. Also, bringing awareness to audience, it just seems like going into a play, not a lot of people go and watch a play in the theater because they're not aware of it. I think that we should be able to showcase, there's a play that anybody can watch. Five year olds can watch this play and then there's a play that's just for young adults or just adults or older people. So I hear that we wish to demystify what theater is to remove the elitism that air of theater is not for you to communicate to the public, to the community, to everyone that theater is for everyone, to make spaces for elevating stories, the stories that we're not telling. Right, yeah? Okay, so that's what we want to do. But what does that look like? I dare you to dream here. Okay, if you had, as students of theater, if you could walk out of your house and into the most ideal room, right? We use the term room loosely being in the room. That could mean a classroom, that could mean a theater building, that could mean maybe something outside of the idea of walls. I don't know. But if you could walk into this ideal space where you feel seen and valued and safe and loved and like your story matters, what does that space look like? It's okay to speak and draft. Your answers don't have to be huge or profound. It's okay to be a conversation too. You're welcome to respond to each other. I feel like for me as a black woman, that would look like walking in a room and everybody's black. The director's black, the producers are black, the entire cast is black, even the show we're doing is black. For me, that's what that would look like because I... Should we just pick up where we left off? Not from the room? No. Our audience is trickling back in. Apologies, everyone, for our abundance of technical difficulties today. Sorry about that. We're going to jump back into our conversation. Kennedy, can I give it back to you to... Yeah. Yes, absolutely. So as I was saying, my ideal room to walk in would be a place where everybody is black because that is one of my identities and the identity that I would feel most comfortable walking in and being in a room where everybody is like me, producers, directors, actors, the show that we're doing is about black people for black people or for anybody, but specifically really highlights crucial black issues, as well as black women, because I think that there is a lot that can be done, especially when it comes to black women as the directors, the producers, that kind of thing. But just in general, just being in that space, I think would be my ideal scenario because it's, for the most part, never really been my experience. There have been spaces where I felt quite comfortable, including the monologue competition, but there have never really been spaces quite like that or quite like the one that I would want to walk into. What are some thoughts about this? I would say that if I could walk into the perfect room, I think that I would want it to be all different types of people. I wouldn't want everybody to look just like me, because while I've never seen that before, the whole point for me of diversity is different people, but at the same time, it would be really cool if all of those people had the same sort of attitude and mindset toward the space that we're in. Because I find that the room that I'm most comfortable in is when everybody is kind of like running around, able to be silly, but at the same time, knowing their job and doing it well. That means I think that anybody can do that, of any color and any age. You just have to pick the right people. When I think about the ideal room, I think honestly, I think I think of my high school theater class. Just, I was thinking of this when Malia was speaking about like, you know, everyone running around, but they know what to do, do their job. I love the energy. Having like buoyant, like, you know, happy energy is like something that's really important to me. And if you're not having fun doing a show, if you're not having fun doing theater, then like, what's the point, right? I think that is, I think of, you know, it's a diverse place. And we're covering something like, we're covering words. We're doing a play that is like, okay, well, currently we're doing a collaborative piece, which I think is really fun because that allows us all to like, express our own bit of personality, our own like bit of who we are and bring ourselves to the stage. So something like that or something like showing, something like the August Wilson, right? Like something, I'm saying like a lot. Something that is not a terribly widely shown perspective view and bringing that into more of like a public sphere for people to watch. Like a decent size audience, but not too much that it's going to make you have a panic attack. And again, that energy, that vibrance of just joy of what you're doing. And, you know, it can get a bit hectic at times, but at the end of the day, you know what to do. You know your role and like what you're doing. I mean, my mind sounds a little bit silly compared to some of these really great ideas, which I think speaks to my relative privilege in those spaces because I do feel mostly comfortable in theater spaces already. But if I were going to make it, if I were imagining my ideal room, and I think one of the things that does make me feel pretty uncomfortable a lot of the time is there's sort of like a, like a smarmy, shoozy, got to be really nice to each other, but like not really like it's like this fake like, like saccharine, is that the word I'm saying correctly? Sugary. Just like a lot of false niceties and treating, and not always explicitly, but kind of going in with the idea that like other people are here maybe to help you get places and you don't want to make anyone mad, you don't want to be authentic because you might make someone mad and they might not like you in the future and then you won't be able to do things. And there's I think this sense especially in theater and maybe in the entertainment industry at large that like the connections matter and the connections you make matter and that means you like, you can't engage authentically and you can't actually enjoy being around the people you're with because you have to like be thinking about the long game and be thinking about how this will affect you in the future. And I hate that. I really, really don't like it. I wish that I could just like, it's not like I like talking to people. I wish that I could just actually talk to the people that I'm with and enjoy being with them and not have to think about like the other levels that are going on, especially because those feel like they're really fake sometimes, but I still like I should think about it just in case. So I think if I were to make, if I were to walk into one of my ideal rooms, it would just be a place where there isn't anyone trying to play the long game and people are just there and trying to, trying to actually be nice to each other and actually make each other feel comfortable and not with any ulterior motives. If that makes sense. That totally makes sense. Thank you, Daisy. Adding on to what Daisy said, like the people that like, if it's my ideal room, I want them to like actually love being, like love doing what they're doing. And like, I think it's important. Like if you don't feel comfortable being in theater or like not liking what you're doing, it can cause a lot of conflict. And also like I want to be able to have like communication with the people that I'm working. Sometimes like with theaters, things can get lost in communication if it's not like led properly. So it's very important for me to like have communication with not just like my co-actors, but like the tech team and the production team. So yeah, that would be my ideal room. Thanks y'all. And to further dig into this question a little more. So we know what the room looks like. We know what the room feels like, but what's happening? Okay. What is, if you could now walk into your ideal room in your ideal company, right? With your ideal peers, team, creatives, all of it. Right? What is the work that you're doing or what is the learning that you're doing? What is, what is the thing that you wish for that doesn't currently exist? In that, I would really, in that ideal world, I would really want to work on something that is very vulnerable or makes people very vulnerable. Because like, yes, while it is nice to have that fun, silly place and also the hard working place, I want to be able to feel comfortable, you know, sharing like maybe it could be like, you know, past sadnesses or maybe not even just sharing, but like, like expressing it through the acting. And I think that maybe in the ideal world, we could do work like, yeah, Shakespeare is cool and all, but maybe like something that's relevant to today. 2021 right now. And it's not some cheesy, you know, oh my God, zoom socks, like, yeah, we get it. But like, it's really like, it doesn't even have to do with zoom or the pandemic or anything like that. It could just be like what we're feeling, what we're thinking, maybe it's just, it's just vulnerable and authentic and it's current. That's what I want. Again, like adding on to Malia, like, showing the story how it is. Like when we look at like TVs or movies, the way they perceive high school and college is totally different from what it actually is. Talk about that. It's like all these stereotypes of like, geeks are like this, like band people are like this, theater kids are like this. Like it's all so fake and like, I guess like with right now, we have so much stress with education, getting into college and like how expensive college is. And then you look at TVs and shows and these kids are getting into Ivy leagues and I'm like, how is that possible? And they're like handling schoolwork and activities and they don't talk about like what kids go through with like depression, like what teenagers go through with depression or anxiety, like pressure from parents and peers. It's not something that's like talked about. And I want to see that like with theater and I think that we are able to do that with theater. I literally thought I was going to get bullied in high school because of how they portray on Netflix. I was like, oh my God, the mean girls are going to be rubbing the halls and there's going to be couples making out all over the place and I'm going to have to stop wearing glasses. There was this whole dilemma and then I went into high school and I was like, so it's nothing changed. It's literally no different than like elementary. It's still it's not bad. I mean, like they do show like, oh, you might lose friends and which is which happens like people grow apart. But like it's not shown like why people grow apart are like, you know, you it the way that like you from going to middle school to high school and college, it's not really shown authentically. It's just so fake. Yeah, I agree. I used to think that that was just like a generational divide like the people would get out of college and they'd be like film directors and then they'd be like, oh, well, I'm going to share my high school experience. But then as I've gotten older that hasn't changed. So like, yeah, I'm wondering if it is. Sorry. Anyways, um, yeah, that it isn't authentic. It isn't shown and you're right when most of the, most of the drama, most of the stress for characters comes from like interpersonal relationships, like what's going on, but it never has to do with like the actual stress of like, how much you have to do to get there and like the work you're doing every day. Um, and yeah, that would be a really cool thing to actually portray in theater, especially since, you know, uh, well, um, most of, yes, most of us here. Hi. Uh, are younger. Um, and we have. I'm sorry, Alex. Um, and have a much more like modern view of like how high school goes and that goes into the thing I was talking about earlier where, uh, in collaborative plays that you can write, you allow or you're allowed to like bring much more of yourself bring much more of your background and like how you grew up who you are into it rather than playing a separate character, which there's fun things you can do there, but it's always like, there's always a bit of distance between you and the character. Um, I think there's also something to be said about the portrayal of characters of color in that same vein in that at least when I watch the TV or I watch a theater production, I always notice how the black character is portrayed. It is always the super extroverted outgoing fashionable. Um, you know, sidekick and I think more accurate representation of how just people of color in my case specifically black people act is I'm very shy. Um, I think the only accurate thing is I like to think that I can dress well. Um, but besides that, you know, Friday nights, I'm not at a party. I'm in my room watching TV. I'm not doing any of that and nobody that I know is like that. Sure. There are people who had, you know, they had really tough experiences in high school. I was one of them, but it's, I have yet to see an accurate portrayal of high schoolers, especially high schoolers of color. And in that, um, again, like everyone's been talking about the struggle of college and being able to pay for college and applying for college and all of that. Um, also just the fact that it seems like none of the characters like go to school ever, which I find very interesting. Like there's some, it's just like, I can't remember who said it, but how they're getting into Harvard yet. I've never seen a scene where they're in class. Um, again, just more accuracy when it comes to these stories, be it on the screen or on the stage. Um, because I really think that that could help out somebody who's looking for that role model or that representation to think, oh yeah, I could do that or I could be that. Like adding on to all of that. I think that like another thing, except the characters are just too polished, like in their looks and in their actions because like you see them like, for example, I watched, I forgot what show it was, but I watched some of the show about like this Indian nerd, by the way, hi, I'm Indian. That's Indian nerd and like, it was like, she was like, supposed to be like really nerdy and you know, not very attractive. So the script said, and I think that they're always casting for that role. Somebody who, at least the actor doesn't seem like they would be a reader is actually pretty attractive. Um, has never been through the situation like the unrequited love situation or like, I just feel like, yes, it's acting. Cool. You know, we're not the characters. But at the same time, by not casting people who may have had similar experiences or by casting the complete opposite of who you're trying to portray, especially if they're never accurately portrayed is ridiculous. So, yeah. If I could go off that just really quickly. I do. I do have to agree with that just in that all of the actors looked so polished and pretty. If you take, you know, before, for example, Zendaya is supposed to represent me. She's got like clear skin and like perfect hair and all of that. But like these characters are supposed to represent me who I have bad acne days. You know, sometimes I don't always look as perfect. Sometimes my hair looks a mess. Um, but on top of that falling into those like those tropes of this is how a certain kind of character is supposed to act. Specifically, I also, I wear glasses. And so it's always interesting to me in how the female character, the male character or whoever wears glasses is ugly until they remove the glasses until. And the funny part is they're not ugly with the glasses, nor are they any better necessarily without them. So it's always interesting to me when the glasses are what make you ugly. So, and I think I really, I think you talked about how when you went into high school, you thought you might have to like take off your glasses. That was the same way for me. I would literally look at the board. I'm blind, but I'm like, I cannot wear my glasses. So it's just interesting and how those kind of messages then are filtered into us and how we perceive those and perceive ourselves as, oh, now I'm not supposed to wear glasses. I'm not supposed to say that I'm a theater kid because that how, what are people going to think? And so I just think that that's also a very interesting point. Wait, I'm sorry. Something just came to me while you were saying all of that. Like you, okay, so you know how you just said certain things are great to us because of the TV stuffs? Well, like, they've literally been ingraining fricking eating disorders, mental illnesses in our society and especially in our women because listen, I watched Pretty Little Liars when I was in fourth grade and I was like, wait, I'm only supposed to eat walnut a day. I was like, okay. Like, that's not supposed to happen. You're not supposed to be telling me 12 year old, telling me six year old that they're fat. Something's wrong with them because listen, one time I was riding the bus, right? I was still in elementary. I remember this clear as day this six year old was fixing her makeup. And I was like, like, like makeup itself is not the issue. If you like wearing makeup, you like wearing makeup, there is nothing wrong with that. But at the same time, the idea that makeup makes you inherently look better. And sometimes it does, but the idea that you have to wear it to look good is ridiculous. The idea that you have to be dressed up and polish all the time. Listen, a good friend of mine, she came in with her hair like this. She went into class the other day and I was like, girl, you look a mess. And she was like, oh, I just woke up. And I was like, relatable. So the thing is, is that nobody ever talks about that. When's the last time you saw a character come in with a bun that was actually messy? Or with sweatpants that had a bleach stain on them. Something that's actually, you know, or like they say, oh my God, my color family is so embarrassing when really they just be asking how your day was. You know, you really want to talk about an embarrassing color family. Bring me the slipper. Go get the metal spoon. Because that's like, I'm sorry. And also the fact that the color main characters are always ashamed of how different their family is, has put that trope into our society. The reason why some of us color peoples are ashamed of our family is because we learn that we're supposed to be and we're not. So y'all, y'all all talked one second and then I'll throw it back to you, Malika. Y'all all talked at the top of our conversation about this wish to see more representation in theater generally. And how we can use theater as a platform or as a megaphone to use Gary's analogy to amplify those stories. But I would love to hear y'all riff for a little bit too about how we can use theater to explore our own inner worlds. Kind of going off of this what we see and the messaging that media film TV and theater is guilty of it too, frankly. The messaging that media ingrains in us. I wonder, well, that's all I'm going to say. Actually, I was about to answer that. So at BIT we did this story called Rama. It's part of my culture and it's a mythology that we did. And doing that story helped me not only learn but also teach my peers about my culture and it made me not be ashamed of it because growing up I was so ashamed of being an immigrant and it was like, oh, it was always a stigma and it helped me understand my culture better and not hate it and it helped me become more like, oh, my culture is who I am. Leigh, I'm going to throw this back at you if I can put you in the spotlight for a moment. As we're exploring identity and we're exploring representation in your internship and there's an ongoing conversation about how by decoupling your culture and there's an ongoing conversation about how by decolonizing theater and decolonizing education we also are decolonizing ourselves and getting rid of all of the bullshit, BES, nonsense that society has put on us for all of these years and I wonder if you can riff on that a little bit. Can you like format that into like question form, please? I framed that in the form of a question. Malia, how does this show up for you? Really is the question, right? Can you talk some about the work that you're doing in exploring your own identity through building these classes for your peers as an instance through the play guides that we're working on creating? The glad to identity is. I would say what shows up for me is like, is the fact that a lot of places sort of do this thing, colleges do it, high schools do it, eaters do it or even like movies where they'll have like a couple colored characters, a couple colored writers, colored students, what have you and they use that as, oh, we're diverse. And what shows up for me is that by creating or attempting to create things, whether it be, you know, you one day writing a monologue or like getting together with a group of peers and presenting like an idea for like a play that you guys can perform or, you know, asking to be the youth intern at Seattle Rep. You can, in those instances, however small or big, you can make, you have the power to create a space where you feel comfortable and by surrounding yourself with people who make you comfortable and who challenge you and who also have the same, have the same goals, it can help create a space where the whole stigma of, you know, white theater, white schools, white world isn't a thing anymore. Like because my goal at the end of the day is to have all this racism crap, something that kids just read in a history book. And they're like, they're like, what? Like there wasn't always, you know, like there wasn't always like a bunch of like different colored people up on the stage. Like it was just all white people like, huh, that's crazy. Yeah, yeah. That would be really the ideal world. And what do we need? What do we need in order to make this happen? I think we just need, like, we need time because we need a couple of things in one of them this time because people, a bunch of people think that like, you know, change is going to happen overnight and it's not, you know, like there's always like these like big movements after another that sort of fall away and some of them creates a platform for the next movement to build on. And I think that by, you know, taking baby steps, slowly making change in ourselves, our communities, and therefore affecting, you know, the representation we have in theater, then the representations we have in movies and in shows is going to be the ultimate thing. So I think that first we need to start with ourselves than our communities. And by communities, you can start with your friend group. You can start with your classroom, you know, your school, your district, your state. And then you can go, then you can be like, yo, Hollywood, open up. And because I genuinely think that, you know, movies and shows should place more inexperienced actors, you know, fresh starting actors, which is kind of a different opinion, but like, yeah. Can I add something on to you? Yes. Like we, when she, when she mentioned that like, like new actors who are just starting off, I feel like we should like when there's teenage characters in the show or something, I think it should be played by teenagers. And if they don't have to be professional, they can know like some, like they have some acting skills. Yeah, I agree. There is like a bit of a thing. Less so in theater, more so in movie where it's like, you want to get these big name people because they're just known rather than getting like inexperienced people and allowing them to like, have a chance to shine, have their moment, right? Give them the experience so that they can get up to that level. I'm going off of what Malia said, saying that it starts like in your community. Like building from there. I think that it doesn't even just have to, I think that we can add a step between district and state where we're also talking to other communities across like, I'm going to say the states, but it could just the world, right? Because theater isn't just in America. And because it's changes isn't going to happen if it's just one state, right? It has to happen in local communities all across for nationwide change, all across the nation for worldwide change, the globe, right? And I think that creating these organizations that can like, allow us to contact other communities and like, you know, spread messages, maybe use it as like this highway track to a highway tracks don't exist. Use it as this highway to like, show underrepresented things and show like, hey, this new play was just written by like a black playwright. Like send it to communities all around so that they know about it. They can like decide if they want to show it or not. Something like that I think would be good as well. Other thoughts. What do we need? What are we missing? Why can't we just flip the switch tomorrow and say, okay, this is how theater works now. What's stopping us? Kennedy, you go. No, you're good. Go for it. Oh, I was just going to say really quickly that I think a lot of it comes down to like the feeling of scarcity, you know, like a false belief that there isn't, isn't enough for all of us. There isn't enough recognition for us all to be able to do what we want to do. There isn't enough resources for us to create there. We want to make there aren't enough audiences if we make these different kinds of art. I don't know if I think that is, that that comes out in so many different forms, but I think that that is one of like the roots of why it is so hard to do different things is just like that myth of scarcity. Do you believe that there is a scarcity that there's not enough? I think, I mean, I am, I am just as socialized as everyone else, right? Like I, I, I consciously and consciously and you know, like I want to believe that there is, there is enough for all of us. Sometimes I have trouble believing that there is so much in the world that is trying to convince us that that is not true. But I definitely feel better and I feel, it feels the most right when I'm talking to, when I, when I'm reminded that there is, that there is enough that we are not, you know, all on our own trying to like succeed against everybody else. And I think that that is how like better art thrives to, right? Nothing about our lives are our individual and none of it is solo. And so I would like to believe that that is not true. What would, what would make you believe that? This might, maybe my last follow up question. I don't know. Maybe just like enough people telling me, I think that, I think that I don't know if we all want to believe this because I want to believe that it is true. I think it would just take like an example of it really happening or someone reminding me of a time that it has happened. I'm sure that it's happened. But sometimes like I feel very locked into scarcity myths. And I would, I would really like if someone, if something could show me that that's not true. Yeah. So I'm not, I'm not totally sure what it would take. I'm sorry. That's not a very good answer. That's a great answer that made me think of, and I'm going to throw it back to Kennedy in just a second. But that made me think about this sort of shift in language. Right. When we, we hear people talk a lot about underrepresented groups, but how does it change that narrative? If we say under invited, right? If we, if we own the responsibility as the organizations, as the people creating the space and say, okay, well, these people aren't here because we never fricking invited them back to you, Kennedy. Thank you. I think it also has to do with the fact that in order to change a culture, you have to change the people that are part of that culture. So sorry. Somebody's singing happy birthday out there. It's like a group of people. Happy birthday to them. Right. You know, happy birthday. But I think it also has to do with the fact that you have to change the thinking of the people that are part of that culture. Because to change theater, you have to change theaters all about the people. So you have to change the people that are part of theater. And there is such an ingrained mindset within the theater space that is going to be hard to break, but through, you know, new innovative plays and different people that are being, you know, brought in, I think that could really be, um, really be instituted. But I also think that there's something to be said on the topic of there not being enough for everybody, especially when it comes to theater. Um, I think that, that has kind of been my experience in that a lot of the productions that I've been in the same kind of person has been cast or the same person has been cast. So it's, they are there even enough roles for people, even you see it in kind of Hollywood. It's always who's the next biggest, biggest thing who can win the awards or win all of the awards. And so I think it, that also is something that's interesting within this sphere of I do sometimes feel as though there aren't a lot of opportunities. Um, or there isn't enough for, you know, me specifically, but just in the scope as. If I can add on to that really quickly. Um, I feel like we feel it maybe more as women in theater too, like guys who do theater have such an easier time. It is not that hard to be a man who does theater and like have a good nice time. There are lots of parts. Um, but like being a girl in art spaces and in theater is really hard. Um, cause there's a bunch of us and like I, I like after having, you know, like kind of been around theater spaces for so long, like it creeps up in all different parts of my life where I'm like, is there, are there too many of us? Like, are we all the same? Like what? And like, I wish I hate that. I wish that I could just be like, we are, we are all good and we are all different. And like, there's enough for all of us, but it's really hard when you're like a girl and there's one part and there's like 15 different fun parts for the guys. Um, and that I just like, I, I, like that I feel like as an especially like significant dynamic in theater that, that I feel a lot about the scarcity. So I'm going to segue us into our last big question. Uh, and then leave it to y'all to jam for a little bit, which is what does theater at the heart of public life look like? So our vision at Seattle rep, as y'all know is theater at the heart of public life. Right. And I, I take that to mean we, we want to be a actively anti-racist organization. Number one, we want to be the theater that invites in and goes out to the entire community. We want to be a place for people. We want to be a place that people believe in, right? But what does that, what does that look like to you? So you know how everybody is like, all about squid game? Like, I feel like it would be like that, but like what's coming up in the next play? Like, oh my God, did you guys see what happened in jitney? Like, no, you have to watch it. You have to watch it. Cause like, you know, like that, like, and like everybody it's like, you know, um, like in the media, you know, people are excited about it. And, and there's not a scarcity of rules because it's such an abundant area in this ideal world. And there's a lot of smaller theaters that are being recognized because of the, you know, because of the thingy, thingy. And there's like more excitement. I feel like if theater were the heart of public life, I feel like life would be a more exciting place. I think that everybody would be like just, or most people would be like happier and like more energetic. And like, if the public, like as a majority was more like invested in the theater, I feel like the music that, you know, people like now would be in there. I feel like characters that they would want to see would be represented because when the majority says something, the majority gets it because if the majority doesn't get it, then nobody shows up. Nobody buys the thing. And so there's really no use for it. So you got to appeal to the majority. And right now the majority is ignoring live theaters. So that's why life theater isn't right. I got to say you pumped me up with that. Like just the way that you put that and like the description. And like, yes, I want that for theater. I want it to be like walking down the street. Like, yo, like, did you hear about what? I don't know what to play. Uh, Oh God. Let's see. Well, you used jitney as an example. So like, yo, what becker said to booster like before they left. Like, I can't. And I just, I want that. I find I need that now. I don't know what to play. And you're right. That is absolutely what it looks like for theater to be. At the core heart of public life. When. Theater was like being done in Athens and Greece and whatnot. I'm fully sure that there were people that were leaving the theaters or just not even leaving the theaters. Cause obviously they'd be talking about it leaving the theaters, but just. Around. Just in the area that we're talking about what they witnessed, because theater not only does it tell stories, but it gives ideas, right? Discussing the ideas that are in this media, this wonderful, wonderful media. And yeah, I don't have a full idea. I just felt like I had to chime in because that just. Made me real happy. I love that so much. I do. I really do. I think. Jerry saying Greek theater reminded me of, I think I don't know how true this is when I hear about Greek theater people, like it was a citizenship, like a society forming thing, you know, like theater tells stories and it builds like a. Communal consciousness. Um, and I think that like theater, I don't think that theater does that on a really widespread scale right now. Um, the way I think about it. Um, and I think that theater at the theater at the heart of public life, right? Needs to be aware of its position and have the position in the first place, but be aware of its position as a culture making thing. Um, and as a. Not just a thing that is acted upon, but that has agency and affects the people that come. Um, like it, it's not just a product. It has to do some of the creating and some of the producing and that, and that it's culture forming. Like I think that in order to be at the heart of public life, it has to be created. Some of that. Um, also on another note, I think that it has to not be scary. I think that everyone needs to feel safe when they go see theater. Um, that means so many different things. Um, but I think that is like a fundamental thing. If we want theater via the heart of public life, it needs to be safe for every single person. Like a lot of like mythology was spread throughout the theater. Like there was someone reenacting it. And that's why like, we know all these stories till this day because there was, it wasn't written down. Uh, for a while. Um, Going off of a bit of what Daisy had said to like, make theater non-threatening, like make it a little bit less scary. I feel, and obviously theaters have to make money, right? Because they have to buy the company. Right. So the show, they have to get all the props, pay the actors, whatnot. I feel that a big part of something that would like. Relieve anxiety or like. Fear about just going to theater is if it were like cheaper, or if there were more like matinees. Right. More days where it was free to go. So it really did feel like you were going to. Experience. Something rather than because when, whenever you put a price on something, you're inherently saying that it's something of like higher value. Right. And that I feel like does contribute to the. Culture around theater that was being discussed way back in the beginning of this. Um, about like it's upper echelons. I feel like that is in part because of. Like what was it? Hammering. Tickets were like in the thousands, weren't they? Like it was. Oh, say, expensive. Like. I think another issue. Like, you know, fear at the public, the heart of public life is great. It's a great vision. Like. But how, like. The thing is, is that it's just so much more convenient. For me to turn on Netflix. And not have to pay, you know, what for $14 a month. You know, and. You know, watch whatever I want. I can pause it whenever I want. I can go get snacks whenever I want. Use the bathroom. I can just turn it off completely if I don't like it. And I won't have lost anything. I think that that's another big issue. And I think that that's why. It might have. It might be an issue to get that at the heart of public life. Because our society values convenience more than it values. Quality. And yeah. If I can, I don't. Sorry, I'm talking a lot right now. But if I can. I was listening to Malia and I was like, the solution that I thought of, right? Like the way that theater, because it is, it is so much easier to go on Netflix. Like it is a thousand times easier. There's, there's very little risk. It is sometimes very high reward. It's great. But. The nice thing about theater. And I think like the pandemic has really like shown that, at least back when I remember it was like to go see theater is that like theater is communal and like. Theater at the heart of public life. Like the thing that theater offers is you are there with other people. And so if there was a way to like up the community factor of it all and like. Let people talk during the shows. It's more fun. But like doing like. Like ways to make. The going to the theater and the watching of the show. Like an actual, like engage to like communal experience with people that you know and love already or people that you haven't seen. Before, but that you're not just like anonymous, you know, boxes all sitting there watching something. I think that that is potentially right. Like the thing that theater can offer is that Netflix doesn't. But it is more of an investment. For sure. I'm prepared y'all for an entire sidebar conversation after this in the next week. About breaking down what a play is. And deconstructing audience. And I think that's a great idea. To be able to sort of think about. What a play is and deconstructing audience expectations. That totally is a conversation that we can need to and should have. We got eight minutes left in our time together. And I'm going to. to you. So this is part one of a two part series. Okay, so part one, we're hearing from you as the youth who are participating in theater, some of you are in transitional phase into in your undergrad or in internships or in administrative roles and influencing. And then in part two, we'll have another panel that consists of various theater makers, educators, adults in the world of educational theater. And the last question that I have for all of you before I shut up is, what do you want those people to think about? I guess, like, it would be very important to get our feedback as young adults, because most of these educators do work with like young people. So it's very like it's very important for our voices to be heard. And this is one of the like a great opportunity for our voices to be heard. And it should be done in a like a big, bigger spectrum. I think that people in education, or adults in the theater world should think about how they introduce theater to their families, because I'm aware that when people are older, they have kids. And I'm not telling anybody how to raise their kids. But if you like introduce it as something like, oh my God, are you guys excited to go see that play? You know, then it'll make them as people have that ingrained in their personality. And they'll just think that it's a normal thing, like, oh my God, like, everybody goes to see plays, you haven't seen play, go see play. And then that can be, you know, the little ripple in the pond that makes the whole thing change. Maybe, I don't know, maybe like to not be afraid to make things easier for the future than they have been in the past, right? I think there is this real, I don't know if this is total universal, I think it is fairly common, this instinct to like, take the hard things that have happened to you and the things that were difficult and the ways that people held you back, and like, recreate that for, for people who are doing the same thing in a sense that like, I survived this, you can too. This is how we get here, like it shouldn't, like if it's hard for me, it has to be hard for you. I definitely feel like that sometimes, it's not a good impulse, but I think that it happens. And I think that we, I think that also like, it's okay to make the world better than it, than it was. And it's okay for people who are younger than us to have better experiences with things than we did. Even if it is sort of hard for us to see. So I don't know, something along the lines of that. I hit the space bar instead of all, hey, wait, oh, what you, okay. I guess mine is kind of like too pronged. It would be don't be afraid, like, don't just stick to the script of like, what you learned to educate people with, but also like, how did you learn, right? And use that, like, what is it? Daisy talked about the, it was hard for me, it was hard for them, what made it easier for you to get along. And then the other part of that is like, just try to remember when you were not necessarily orange, because it could be younger, it could be older. But like, when you were getting into theater, like, how scared that can be, how scary that can be at first, and even later on, like, it can still be very scary. And just like, I just, I guess, just be mindful of who you're talking to, and use the learned skills that made it easier, I guess, is words. Yeah, to go off a previous point, I think it's also important, and I don't know how younger olds, the people on this panel will be, but if they are airing on the older side, to not be afraid to have used voices for opinions, because while we learn from older generations, older generations can learn from younger generations. And I think that there can be a lot of authenticity that can be brought when you address people who are younger than you, just like there can be more authenticity brought if you, you know, have conversations with people older than you have more knowledge. Because while you may have more knowledge on a certain topic, the younger generation might have more knowledge on something else that you don't even don't even know. So I think not being afraid to, you know, engage others that may not, you know, may not be on your same age level, or someone who you think that may not have as much, you know, knowledge or education in that specific topic that you're talking about to just kind of talk to them and see what their opinion is on that. I think that something that older people should think about is that like, how one of the biggest regrets that I hear from people is that they didn't do drama in high school. And one of the reasons why they say that they didn't is because they were, you know, too cool for it at the time or it just wasn't a thing that people of their high school stature did. And I think that maybe thinking about like, what would have convinced you to do it? You know, like, if somebody talked to you, would you have listened? You know, would you had to have like a certain coincidence happen? Could you perhaps make an atmosphere or a situation where that could happen to some students that you know, in your class? Or like, even you're like, your family members, your friends that might be younger, whatever. I think that that's important. Thank you, all. Apologies for the delay and my furious note typing. Um, alright, y'all, this is all of the time that we have tonight. I would like to thank the five of you for being here and sharing yourselves and your thoughts and your hearts with us. This is only the beginning of this conversation. So we've invited you to be a part of this panel. And my hope is that we can continue this conversation into the future and that you will all continue to be a part of how we create programming and opportunities at Seattle Rep. Yes, thank you. And that's all I got to say about that. Thank you all for joining us. Please tune in for part two in November. We'll be back with Arts Educator Edition. Until then, thank you. Good night.