 Hello and thank you so much for joining us today. My name is Sarah Machiko Haber, and I'm the EDI Initiative Associate at TCG. My pronouns are she, her, and I'm here to welcome you on behalf of TCG and to go over a quick few housekeeping items. This session has captioning and ASL interpretation available and we'll be dropping instructions on for how to take advantages of those resources in the chat. I'm here to help support logistics today as are Amelia Smart-Denson and Sam Moriali. So if you are having Zoom trouble or you have any questions, feel free to private message any of us. And we'll also keep an eye on the chat and also the Padlet link, which will drop, which is where you can drop some questions that you may have for our panelists today. So just a reminder to keep yourself muted when you're not speaking. And again, if you have any questions, drop them in the chat or into the Padlet. I also want to let everyone know that TCG is recording parts of this session. So, and with that, I'm going to bring Clementine Bordeaux to join me and hand the session over to you. Hi everyone. So I will be moderating the roundtable today and kind of leading the discussion. My name is Clementine Bordeaux. I'm C Changu Oglala Lakota. And I'll put that in the chat. And I'm calling in from Oceti Shackling Territory, which is in the South Dakota region. And I'm calling in from Mini Luzoha Otumahe, which is Rapid City. So if the interpreter was having trouble spelling any of that, I just put it in the chat. So my pronouns are she, they, we. I include we because as a Lakota person, our pronouns aren't, we don't have pronouns in Lakota. And often our pronouns are relational. So that's why I add the we. A brief description, visual description of myself. I have red ish hair. I have yellow glasses on and a lavender scarf. So if you're looking for me in the little visual boxes, that is where I am. So I am going to let the panelists introduce themselves. I'll just put in the chat, the order, and then I'll let them take it away. Okay, name. My name is Oya May Duchess Davis are all. Right now I am a playwright at the National Black Theater in New York and the Lark Theater in New York. Okay. My pronouns I use they, they them pronouns on visual description. I kind of look like a pirate right now. Land acknowledgement. I am in Minneapolis, Minnesota. So that's the Dakota tribe. And one phrase that describes my practice transformative. Yeah. Thank you. My name is Alan. My name is Alan Hayton. I am Athabaskan, which in from Arctic Village and happy to be with you this morning. I'm calling from Fairbanks, Alaska, which is lower Tanana, then a land. My pronouns Athabaskan also doesn't have pronouns. He, she, they, but I go by he, him. Visually, I have a goatee very standard for Athabaskan people. You can't grow a full beard. So we throw it around here. And one word to describe my practice play. Cool. Thanks, Alan. James. My name is Jamesy Burnside. I am. I don't know where to start. I know I want to acknowledge that I am on the traditional territory of the coa wheel at the con. The lip on a patchy, the thonga humanos and the Comanche. I am a white male. He him his. I have gray hair. I have big ears. Large glasses for reading and a black and white t-shirt from tilt performance group. And I'm a disabled vet. And a playwright. Thank you, James. So thinking about both the theme of the conference and thinking about how important climate change is for the world and our work. The first question that I would like to start out with, and I'll put this in the chat as well, is how would you define theater ecology for yourself and for your work. And we will start with you. Oh, yeah. Okay, so the way that I like kind of describe the ecology is it deals with the relations of organism and how they relate to one another and then also relate to their environment. So the way that I do that is a very, I guess I use a very sociological lens in my playwriting. So, for example, the way I would, I would like write a play about like a low income family being like affected by like an incinerator or something, and it shows both how things that we're setting up in our society are both affecting low income people and also affecting the environment at the same time. Yeah. Thank you. Alan, what are your thoughts. Yeah, I was looking at the theme of the conference and the work that I do. Lately, I've been involved with playback theater, which involves applied theater form, and involves a conductor, actors, musicians, and an audience who an audience member will share a story. And then the company plays back the story. It comes from the theater of the oppressed school and you know there's a cross section of all different types of people depending on who's in the audience. We've been doing a lot of work with the Fairbanks youth facility. That is up until the pandemic like most theaters virtual now. And when I was looking at the theme of the conference, that's what I was trying to relate to the work that I've been doing lately the last few years. Thank you, Alan. James. Well, I'm an inveterate researcher. So the first thing I did was do an internet search of theater ecology, because it was not a phrase I'd heard but was not familiar with. I didn't like anything I read. It didn't speak to me. You know, I'm thinking about where are where the where my the theater I'm involved with tilt performance group, which is a theater group comprised of persons with disabilities. We were virtual like most theaters, but I don't think of that as theater. The theater needs it needs to be alive. I need to. For me I need to see the person feel the person being the same. Breathe the same air. And it feels to me right now like theaters have been. But I mean this is a very ancient medium. And it feels like it's like an old growth forest that's been burnt to the ground. And, you know, the big trees that the strong trees will survive and put out new leaves and are putting out new leaves and and will regrow the smaller trees may or may not survive. And but new things will grow from the soil. I'm waiting to see what will grow from the soil. I don't know that it'll be vastly different than the theater we had before, but I would like to see it somewhat different. I'm, I'm, you know, my, my, our little theater. Yes, we did some virtual performances, but we also started a an education program for everyone in the company. We called it tilt you and we did dramaturgy and state, you know, stagecraft and I led a playwriting organization group and, you know, acting companies and, and, you know, we educated ourselves about what theater was and is. And I hope that continues. I think that's something valuable. Listening to all of you, I know I had, you know, set up questions to really think about the theme but also considering these intersections of race class gender place. And, but in addition, you all seem to touch on the impact of COVID as well and I think for kind of furthering this discussion if you can one describe how your work addresses these intersections right and we're thinking about climate change and climate shift right our physical environment. But I also think about the impact of the climate of being in a relation, right. Oh yeah you said right thinking about ecology is a relation to each other and the same with you Alan like this playback it needs an interaction. And James like you, you know theater needs to sometimes be in person we need that audience. You know response so how would you all describe like first the intersections of these, and then I think just since COVID is on our mind and we have communities across the globe or that are still being impacted with really immense devastation. Like, what are the ways that your practice has shifted because of that. So, oh yeah may if you can start us off. Just just not with with COVID but because a lot of people are being sort of, I guess forced to and not able to connect and stuff it's kind of brought in theater, I guess to me in a way because I spend a lot have to spend a lot of time at home just because of my disability. So I feel like in ways, being able to do zoom and stuff I feel like I've, I've gotten to, I've gotten to connect with people and other theater. People in ways that I haven't gotten to in in a while. And just like but but then like, and that's helpful I guess, especially just when it becomes to like all the, all the devastation that's been going on lately both with people dying of COVID and then black and Asian and other people of color being like murdered and stuff whether it be by the police or racist people so I mean it's it's a way for us to I feel like COVID has kind of provided me a way to connect with people and then other disabled people to connect and then us all to connect together during such a devastating time. Yeah. Thank you, Alan. I don't know if it worked but I used the padlet to send a link. There was a photo on Facebook I just saw this morning and it's a village here in Alaska Buckland that is currently underwater. And I think it shows very clearly the impact that climate change is having here in Alaska Alaska is an area that globally it's being impacted at a higher rate. You know it's like a preview of what's to come for the rest of our world. And there's also warming temperatures here in Alaska. So we're just we're we are seeing all of these effects that are going to be shared with the rest of the world, you know, it's a harbinger of what's to come. But I think that you know it's it's often on my mind. How are we going to endure and see future generations thrives. If we don't address these issues and they're, they're mounting and I am a little bit hopeful, but also that's sort of tempered by our recent experience with COVID, where people refuse to wear a mask for instance and just refuse to make their individual contribution to the greater good. Calling it tyranny or, you know, it's a simple mask and it's intended to help others and to protect yourself. But if we can't take a simple step, such as that, how can we make these larger adjustments that we're going to need to do for the future. The Arctic Village and Arctic Village has been really working for many years to protect the birthing grounds of the porcupine caribou herd, which has been eyed by oil companies as prospective oil field drilling. So that's something I grew up with and I think it's a lesson from our people, the way that our people believe is we should only take what we need from the land and whatever we take, we need to use all of it and also to share what we take. And that's just a sign of respect to the animals, the caribou that give their lives for our nourishment and clothing and tools, all of these traditional uses that our people use the caribou for. And it's perhaps a lesson or a message to the larger world that we have to live together on this earth and in a way that will ensure that there is a future for the land, for the animals. And I try to, in my work, think about what kinds of messages are we sending out and what kind of stories are we telling and the playback form you hear a lot from a lot of different perspectives. And I think that is one thing that I really appreciate about playback is the inclusivity, and you never know what story an audience member might share. There's a lot of different stories that I've heard, and I've had the experience myself of sharing my own story and seeing it played back. That's a very profound experience just to have your, your story heard, and then portrayed. It's, I guess I would call it transformative in a way and I think it is a unique form of theater, then if you have an experience to seek it out, because it's, it's a very different approach to theater. But I appreciate your time and thank you for listening. I'll see. Thank you Alan you gave us a lot to think about games. And COVID for me has been surprisingly fruitful. And not because of anything I did on my own. People came to me and asked me to help. And I said yes. I wrote a play with a collaborator that we just finished. And a disability arts organization, not the one I'm associated with, asked me to write a play with them about institutionalization and persons with intellectual and developmental disabilities. That's been hard for me. Not because I didn't know how to do it, not because I couldn't do it, but because as I delve into the stories of these people who are largely invisible to the world. And I, I got depressed in trying to honor their stories and trying to share their stories and trying to be honest with their stories. And, you know, I'm, I'm glad I've had. I hate zoom. Let me be very honest I hate zoom. I want to, that's why I felt live theater is so wonderful for me is, I want to be in the same space with the people I'm participating with. Every week, or every other week, that a group of artists and activists have sat down with me, read my material, talked to me about what I was researching. Listen to what I have to say, given me suggestions, or the direction of this work of art, and it has kept me saying it hasn't kept me happy. I've started therapy and I'm taking some medication for my anxiety and my depression, but it's kept me working and grounded and and pushing forward. And that's the blessing that the sadness is, I, you know, all my friends who have disabilities, many of them are immunocompromised. I can't go anywhere near them. Not even with a mask on. And these are people that I hug and cherish and that's been a real hardship. I don't know what else to say. Thank you for sharing. All three of you I think I'm with you James I'm very tired of zoom. I've reached my capacity some days of just staring at a screen. And I think, right listening to the three of you discuss the way that COVID has shifted both positive and negative right we have roses and thorns, and thinking about what it means to be online. And also thinking about the way that our bodies continue to be weaponized, or othered in these spaces, right, we have people who are still impacted that we can't visit that we can't physically be around. We still have BIPOC folks that are are dying. And, and the, and the past year the way a mask has been weaponized right has been really frustrating and thinking about how do we care for each other, right and to what are the stories that we're telling. How are we centering those folks that might not be represented in the same way are facing systemic oppressions. So, I would like each of you to kind of discuss how you've continued to reimagine your relationships, however, whatever relationships, however relationships through your theater work. And it can be pre pandemic, or how how you're imagining post pandemic, how to reimagine these relationships because I think we all carry these intersecting identities and these intersecting experiences. So how, how have you continue to reimagine those relationships through your work. Oh yeah me. Can you say the question one more time. I also put it in the chat. So just how you have continued to reimagine your relationships through your theater work so the just thinking about the shifts that have happened over the last year, but also considering the impact of this broader climate change. So just the way that you're continuing to reimagine relationships. You mean like relationships like with other theater makers and however you would like to if it's with your community with other theater makers just yeah you can really however you want to take that question it's really up to you. I think. So, I recently had a, had a showing of a, of a play at the, at the Guthrie and it was on their YouTube website. And I mean, it was, I felt like it was so. It was so easy to just get the word out to people from my from like places where I grew up like people I grew up with who maybe like, can't afford to go to the Guthrie and stuff like that or like, or like if it wasn't on zoom maybe I got in a chance to catch it and stuff. So it was just, it was just like, I feel like it's connected me to like the community that I really want to connect to. Because it, it's just like making it more accessible for people I guess, because it's easier to just be able to pull something up on your laptop versus having to go somewhere and like have to pay a whole bunch of stuff. So I feel like that, that's been beneficial. Yeah, and it's been a, yeah, so I think I think that's been, and then also it's been helping me like I said before just because it's, it's harder for me to go out of the house like, I've been able to go to zoom meetings with people and meet people, like, and also them people like from other country, like from other countries and other, like states and stuff like I was able to connect with the people for my residencies and stuff and I wouldn't have been able to connect with them as easily, because they're from Minneapolis and they're in New York. So I feel like I'm able to get my word out better to my community, which are black people from low income families and neighborhoods, and I'm able to give my work out to them more easily. I'm also able to connect with people in other states. So I think in that way it's been beneficial for my environment and my relationships. Yeah. Thank you for that and someone shared your play in the chat. So, if folks can check that out, that would be really great. What you said about accessibility, right, and that's one fear I have as things start to become in person, but at a limited amount is who will be able to access these things in person as we transition back, right. So that, that gives me more to think about. Alan, what about you how have you continued to reimagine you've talked a lot about this, the playback, but also concerns with climate. How, how are you moving forward. Since this pandemic has set upon us. I've been a part of several theater productions, which really were more like audio plays or radio plays, one with the Fairbanks Shakespeare Theater we did as you like it just about a year ago. And that was when the pandemic first set in. And then last fall, working with the sole rep theater in Karmia out of Dallas. That's something I probably wouldn't have done. And so the pandemic, you know, I connected with these companies through a mutual friend who recommended me and we did a play called my red hand, my black hand, and that was really interesting profound experience just in the fact that it was a collaboration of several companies on a story that I hadn't heard of. It was the tale of a single man and woman from the south who connected through music and ended up falling in love and being married partners and just through the pressures from both their cultures ended up the relationship did not endure. And it was just all the challenges that were before them. But it was a powerful production. I think that have been a part of it. And we've been creating new proposals with the playback theater company. We call ourselves breadcrumbs and with this proposal, if we're funded, we hope in the next couple years to be continuing to work with incarcerated populations. To Fairbanks Youth Facility or Fairbanks Correctional Center, and to workshop the playback form and encourage those audiences to share their stories to bring them out for other audiences to hear and share their stories and also I think just process of sharing your own stories. It is very powerful and could really change one's life. You know, I think back in my own youth when I first got involved in theater was in college, and I was 17 and ended up with the Thunderbird Theater in Haskell, Lawrence, Kansas. The experience, my own personal experience with theater, it really brought me out of my shell and probably changed the direction of my life. And through the course of my life has really taught me a lot and just about listening to others and seeing different points of view and opening my world and being aware of what else is happening in this world. So I think theater is really a place that all of these stories can come together with different stories and there's so many different worlds that are possible in theater. I'm looking forward, like James just said about going, getting back to live performance, I think that really is what theater is versus anything zoom or virtual, you know, it's just not the same experience at all but it's just hopeful that we will return and continue, the theater will continue to be a place where stories can be shared and audiences can be impacted by them. Thank you, Ellen, especially sharing about your experience coming into theater and theater being transformative for your own life. So James, is there anything you would like to add I know you've touched upon kind of the relationships that you've built already during the pandemic and anything else you would like to to contribute. I was under immediately under jet airplanes for six years in the Air Force, and I have hearing loss and tinnitus because of that. I didn't think and was labeled disabled by the Air Force. It was a convenient way I didn't, you know, it wasn't part of who I was until I started working with a disability arts organization and a group of disabled actors. I am disabled. I can say that today. Yeah, it's gotten a little worse over the years, but these are my people now. I'm one of them. And sharing my life with them and them sharing their lives with me has been especially in this last year. Because we've met weekly on zoom to discuss how to write a play. And as I've met weekly with disabled creators to help me create a play of my own. I've, it has become part of me that I am disabled as well. That's the most valuable thing I've gotten out of this is, I have a community now. My community is so valuable to me. I'm just overwhelmed by that. Thank you James. So both Ellen and James you, you touched on kind of the impact of finding a theater community and the way theater has transformed you. Yeah, may can, can you add about your own experience and coming into theater and and expand on any, anything. Yeah, so I actually, I actually just kind of started writing when I was 20, when I was 23. So I was, my goal was I wanted to be a professional boxer from like 14 to 19, and then I got diagnosed with multiple sclerosis. And for a while I wanted to go into sociology, and I learned a lot from sociology but then I started getting really into writing and I use sociology. So I started writing my plays and stuff, just to look at like the different, well to get words for all the things that I had been experiencing growing up in a, like, you know, white supremacist culture and stuff. You know, you learn the words but so I, I kind of like this, this year and like into so in 2009 I got the I, I got the I am so residency at the National Black Theater, and before that I was a finalist for the, for this Lark fellowship that I now, I'm one. So I'm, I'm kind of now getting to connect with more while I'm connecting with Tim Lord, who was the previous receiver of the of the fellowship so it's like I because I got both the resident residency and the fellowship I'm now having the opportunity. So I guess to connect with people and by connecting with more theater people. I'm, I'm just like, I'm seeing all the different ways theater can be presented, like, like live theater but now, like this, this like whatever's going on right now to as well. It's been really interesting having that, especially because like, just a few years ago and I would have never thought that I would be getting all the stuff that I'm getting right now so it's been a true blessing. Yeah. Yeah. And just to work with other, especially other disabled writers and playwrights and actors that's been, that's been even a greater experience so working with both black and now disabled so yeah, yeah. Congratulations on those fellowships too. I think a lot of so I guess I didn't say this in my introduction but I'm a doctoral student right now and a lot of my research is looking at the intersection of place and land and culture with art and for me artists. I can reimagine and imagine futures that sometimes we can't quite grasp in our everyday life, and I think artists and theater makers and visual artists really see, see things that sometimes we can't see in our, in our, you know, in our everyday. So, one thing that I really wanted to ask you all is, what are your hopes for the future and the way that theater has helped you think about the future. I'll put it in the chat. And I'll just open this up if anyone wants to start with this question. You can just unmute yourself. There's two words that come right to mind to me are transformative, which means kind of taking what what it is and sort of flipping it on its head and letting new people speak and then authentic. We hear these stories like we hear these stories from like the real people who are actually going through and we see actors who like, who like portray these people that we are trying I mean like who portray these characters that we're trying to show and I think it's really important when moving forward and also like I like I like the ideas of imagining like a utopia, like people just like us coming together and just like imagining this utopia where we can all exist together with the environment, and why is that we have never been able to, which is why I think then transformation is so important, because what we need is something that has never happened so in order for it to happen I think we need to transform. Yeah, that makes any sense. Thank you. I think that makes perfect sense. Alan. I was happy to see you're involved with the Guthrie that was the last place I saw an actual play in the traditional sense be pre pandemic. I went to 12th night there in February of last year. I was traveling down to the Twin Cities area. To visit with a friend. We got to see a lot of things that we take for granted or took for granted at a time but aren't possible now like 12th night at the Guthrie or we went to see Michelle and Diego cello at the Paisley Park stage. All the museums as well we're still open at that point and restaurants and, you know, just the experience of entering a theater and finding your seat and sitting and waiting for you see the set there and the lights and music and waiting for the show to start and that show started with a land acknowledgement and I wasn't expecting that and it was very it just had an impact on me and my friend as well. She's Lakota and Tlingit. She lives there in St. Paul and we're just very appreciative that they took that step and and the cast was wonderful. They did a fantastic job. It's really quite something to experience live theater and the quality that they produced there at the Guthrie was wonderful and I just my hope for the future is to have theater again and I know many companies are finding ways to adapt but until we get audiences together and sitting in a live theater space, you know, that to me would be a wonderful thing to see again and I'm interested to hear how the theater will change, you know, to what kind of stories will be shared on stages after this experience we've been through together it's still not over, you know, there's still parts of the world that are it's just raging a wildfire and I think it is connected to global climate change and, you know, it's really one big event. All of these things that are happening in the world today, the climate change, global warming, loss of language and ecology and environment. I really see it as just one giant event, you know, we try to compartmentalize it and separate it out just maybe it's just to try and deal with the immensity of it but I don't think we can avoid being impacted by it and we do need to take action and I hope more people will come to that understanding in order for us to continue to be together on this planet, this little speck in the universe we do need to make accommodation and changes in our lives and I don't know what form that will take but that we are able to meet the challenge so I'll see, thank you. In 1963 I was in third grade and in school a horn went off and they, unlike usual we didn't line up out in the hall and march outside they told us to crawl under our desks I lived in South Denver and this was my first air raid drill warning that a nuclear bomb was about to strike nearby by the time I was 17 I did not believe I would grow up to be 30 I assumed that the world would be destroyed somewhere in my late 30s, 40s that finally left me but that's also when climate change began to be a reality began to be talked about in public ways I have grandchildren I don't want them to grow up thinking they're not going to live to be 30 I don't want them growing up thinking that the best is behind them I want them to have a future I want them, you know I am a very privileged man I know that everyone should have the privilege I have had but especially our children I want that I've spent my life working with children and I just I don't want them to go through what I went through fearing that they weren't going to grow up but that if they did grow up it was going to be horrible that's my hope for the future thank you James and thank you all I think about in my own community a lot of Lakota communities talk about a seven generations right seven generations behind someone made a decision or made plans to ensure that I would be here and living and surviving and so that I need to make choices and lay plans so that seven generations after me and it's terrifying to think about what seven generations down the road will look like for our descendants so there's a few folks have shared different documentaries and also resources that reflect disability images and disability representation and so I and I think about your reflection Alan about a land acknowledgement at the beginning of a play in the way that has shifted your experience of that play and I think about our kind of discussion today and in the ways that we want to see ourselves reflected but also in how we see ourselves reflected in the future so if you all can just describe maybe a time when the impact of seeing yourself reflected on stage of one of the ways that we can continue making that impact so that we can continue to see ourselves reflected on stage so I don't know Alan if you can expand on how how you see your work impacting future generations or the ways that you would like to see other theater makers or theater companies reflecting indigenous narratives sure I remember growing up we didn't have theater so much in Alaska but we did have film and a lot of the films we saw were the ones that depicted Native Americans were kind of dehumanized and savage there were some exceptions maybe a little big man or trying to think of other smoke signals that was more when I was an adult there were a human character behind the story that's when I could relate most to the depiction I was seeing on the screen or on the stage was just the human element and I hope that those type of stories can continue to be told and to step away from any kind of stereotypes generalizations but to really get to the human story at the core of it and bring that forth a lot of times the things we see on stage are the projections of someone else that don't really understand who you are but there are times when you see something and can really connect with it I really appreciate that and I hope that the work I do has that consciousness that I could be there have been people who have come up to me and say I saw you on stage I hope that that experience for them was something that might inspire them to get involved to audition for a play to test it out and to step out there because it is terrifying to get on stage in front of a bunch of strangers to even share someone else's story or to really step out there it takes a lot of bravery and I hope that others will be able to have that experience like James says it's a very privileged experience and just to have that experience being out there on the ledge in front of an audience it's live theater so a lot of things could happen that's just my hope, thank you thank you Alan Oya Mei what about you you can also describe the impact of writing a reflection of yourself for your community on stage so just thinking about the impact of seeing a reflection of yourself on stage and just describing the impact of that yeah I think so the time when I felt that the most I can't remember where it was but it was a small theater and they did for colored women I could consider suicide when the rainbows not enough and I remember just watching it and it was after I kind of went through a sexual assault and just seeing like black families on stage talking about this stuff and living and continuing to go on after that it just like it really blessed my soul and made me feel whole when I saw that and I think as a black family that's not something that has shown a lot in this society and not a feeling that I get to feel a lot so getting the opportunity to feel that was just everything for me and I hope it continues to happen thank you anything you'd like to add groucho what you're saying is the normal sensible me what I am in real life is more like groucho and what I aspire to be is more like groucho you know their work on stage became their work and their film and the entertainment they brought you know I want to be an entertainer yes I've written plays about climate change and about disability and about all kinds of things but if people aren't entertained I have failed as a writer and very few people have ever entertained me the way groucho entertains me and if I could be half that and much of an entertainer my life would be fulfilled thank you James it reminds me of telling right a lot of not to generalize but a lot of indigenous tribal storytelling there has to be a call and response there's a call and response we'd like to talk stories thinking about this ability to engage with an audience that understands where you're coming from listening to all of you reflect on your experiences it's really exciting to think about how we engage with audiences that then normalize our bodies and normalize our experiences and not have to see it from a deficit or see it as extraordinary that what we're experiencing is an everyday experience in different types of communities so we have about 10 minutes left of discussion and I just want to remind the audience if you have any questions for our panelists to just put it you can either put a question in the padlet or you can direct message me a question and then I'm just going to turn back to our panelists and see if there are any final thoughts or anything you would like to include as we come near the end of our conversations so I'm going to anyone like to add any stories or any reflections I guess just one thing with me I just like through getting to getting the opportunity to do this fellowship at the LARC I have wanted to create a piece that is like a one man show and I want to be my spirit or soul I call him my spirit I mean my soul Tino and he's my nightmare are my soul and I want to make a piece surrounding him and for a long time I was afraid to do this just because I was afraid of how my body would look on stage as the disabled family and through him and through understanding the love of my body as a disabled person I have wanted to start performing which was something I was always scared of doing so that's been helping me getting the chance to connect with people and honor my body as a disabled person and honor my souls as well yeah so I'm a Alaska Theatre Writers Group and we've been meeting regularly online and each of us have had different stories in mind and ideas and it's really inspiring to hear what others are doing I'm a novice at writing I've been an actor for many years but to actually have a very different experience I just hope that whatever the outcome is that the stories I'm able to generate will actually stand a chance to compete against an audience and they come into the theatre and their real lives right now are just so elevated like how can you present a theatre production with the experiences we've been through with this pandemic that will be able to compete and we're just entering I think a lot of new territory with our world and how can we tell stories that will be able to move audiences because there's such extreme events happening and theatre I think will change because of all these things that are happening the way that we tell stories and present them I'm interested in seeing what will be down the road in that department Alan said he's going from performer to writer my tilt has decided to put me on stage I have resisted this my whole life I have struggled with anxiety and I acted some as a youth but I was too anxious to enjoy it but they are putting me on stage for a play we've been writing I wrote a short piece and they said no that's got to be in the show I'm reluctant but I will be doing it Alan I feel your pain as you think about Trent changing and Oya May you'll be beautiful on stage thank you all for reflecting on these shifts and these transitions of how we're understanding our bodies on stage and writing our bodies on stage and also writing our spirits Oya May I think that's such a wonderful visual to think about how to represent yourself and how you feel comfortable James sometimes we get a lot of questions and I think that that volunteering is really important and I really appreciate hearing you all reflect on these intersections and thinking about the shifts that we hope are coming for our community so we are almost at time and I haven't seen any questions yet but I think it's really important to address a lot of the issues that our audience wanted to there's some comments uplifting you Oya May in the chat and Alan and James so definitely if folks want to oh I would also open our panelists how can we find out more information about your work so I'll throw it to Oya May or if you have any social media handles you'd like to share Yeah I got an Instagram and it's just I think it's the Oya May I'm going to have some stuff at the National Black Theatre I am doing the I Am Soul residency and then also later I'm going to have some stuff at the Lark Theatre as well and it's my real name druselladavis.com so any of those places would be a great place to find more of my work Alan Blossom House it's our umbrella organization that the Break Crumbs Theatre is a part of so you could visit BlossomHouse.org I put a link in chat to Tilt Performance Group you'll find me on the board of directors other than that you probably won't see me you'll see my friends and colleagues and you can look at some performances at least some snippets from performances I've got works on new play exchange if you're interested in looking at them so I'm going to call Sarah back out here to close this out Clementine where can the people find you yeah I will drop my website in the chat amazing and while Clementine is doing that I'm actually going to invite our audience members to turn on their videos and I want to thank our panelists and to thank them so much for sharing with us today welcome thank you thank you and thank you so much to our audience for joining us as well we encourage all of you to keep the conversation going on Mighty Networks so yeah your feedback helps us program for events so we would really appreciate it just one more time I want to say thank you so much to our panelists and to Clementine for moderating this conversation we so appreciate all of you and your work and to seeing your work in person thank you very much thank you Clementine I can if you want me to thank you thank you thank you thank you thank you thank you