 In California right now Michael Garza, so we're gonna get him on the phone real quick and then pick things up. So He's expecting Okay, well if you are a little black triangle right now, but I'm sure we can all picture you ahead So let's go ahead and get started then. All right. Thanks for joining us from afar Sure, sure. Um, so, uh, uh Maybe we'll start by um By talking a little bit about what the project is tomorrow tomorrow night. So, uh, the south Omaha stories The idea for it, uh began a couple years ago when um, one of the evening activities here was I think called the tapestries the south Omaha tapestries and um All the people at the conference were brought down to south Omaha and we watched as members of the communities shared their stories with us. So it was a mix of spoken word and um, some storytelling there was some dance there was um, uh, music Etc. And it was a it was a cool evening. Um, but the sharing was all sort of one way, right? Like we went and sort of received the stories and then um went and got a drink and and I um, and I emailed Scott and Kevin and said That was really cool. And I wonder if there's a way that we could think about um Or it also struck me that we were all going to see these tapestries there and the other the other evening events but um There wasn't much movement in the other direction right where or some where we were able to invite the community to join us in what we were doing And so I emailed them and I said, I wonder if there was a way for us to think about what it would mean to make something together Or to you know, also we've got these amazing dramatists who are converging Um and joining Omaha dramatists and could we make something together? Could we figure out a way to Bring our craft to meet their stories and Make something and so cut to This year where we decided to we the south Omaha stories this year is a collage of Of five different pieces Um written by these amazing writers Michael Garces is in California and Kia and Ruth and Scott and a guy named Virgil who's a local storyteller and We came out here in February and did some interviews with them We met them in their home and spent a few hours with them and also had an opportunity to do a follow-up meeting with them Mostly by phone And do some talking about what uh, what the piece what sort of the aesthetic Of the piece might be and uh, and then Michelle Michelle Phillips who is a local director worked with some local actors since for the last three-ish week something like that Putting the piece together, which you'll see tomorrow evening so the piece itself is this blend of Four different playwrights voices and the voices of Five Community members in Omaha So that's a little bit about the pieces and I wondered if we might start maybe by talking a little bit about what What your guys previous experience has been with Um making a community-based theater or not so much community theater right but theater that is actively trying to Partner with the community in which it's situated Um, Michael do you want to talk a little bit about Cornerstone the work that you do out there? Yeah, now we can Sorry about that I um, I run a theater company in Los Angeles. I've been here for almost 10 years now Called cornerstone theater company and we are an ensemble based company and Our focus is our mission is to create works in collaboration with uh, You know community So we will work with a given community to find sometimes by geography either a neighborhood in an urban Center or a small town, you know sort of a confined geography of some kind or determined geography Um or a community to find in other ways by faith job Sometimes issues that a particular group of people are grappling with that kind of thing And so we have a process by which we'll be in residence With the community over about a year and a half to year something like that and our playwright will Engage in various different activities one-on-one interviews Group activities that we call story circles. We have lots of exercises sort of illicit story and Conversation from people uh, and you know various other activities and uh, over time after sort of gathering Uh a critical mass hopefully of stories Uh, the player will write a play generally a fiction sometimes an adaptation of an existing text sometimes a new play Uh, that is based on those stories and the voices and the and the planks And uh, we uh Then go into the community and start uh, uh, you know Gathering people together who might be interested in auditioning in the play Being in the play and so we'll uh, then fully produce the play With a combination of a professional actor Often from our ensemble and non-professionals from the community in the full production Um, so that's that's essentially what we do. I've been doing that work for again about 10 years And prior to that I've done some community engaged work In some other contexts as well that I can talk about later. It's interesting. Great Um, and what about the uh, the rest of you guys? I mean, that's a very explicit way of engaging community in the creation of work What are the ways that you guys have created work with uh, with community in mind? Well I was thinking about the word community because I grew up in church and um I remember two things that I learned in church where um, a profit is without honor in his own country And that we should be in the world but not of it And so I grew up thinking that and and so that's a kind of circle that I was in that was sort of cloistered off into churches and And removed from the real world in a way. And so when I got out of that into the theater I think um, I discovered that there were a lot of other Circles of downtown theater new york uptown theater. Um, and then the um The world the larger world beyond america And I think I've spent the last 10 years of my work really trying to travel outside of my World because I wanted to know this world that was missing from my upbringing And I felt like I had to catch up with um This huge blind spot that I had from my childhood. So I think I was um and also just by geography I moved every three or four years up until the past Eight years. I've lived in Chicago So that's been the longest that I've ever lived anywhere. And so I'm now starting to think about my neighborhood and my apartment and my neighbors and my the two churches that are nearby that Maybe I could rehearse in in that space and and I'm putting down some roots in Chicago as I can and But I think that there are so many communities that I come in and out of that I think of as my community I think of my I think of them as sisters At da theater in in belgrade Serbia And there are people that of course I don't live with but that I have had a long standing kinship with And so um, I met them in 1996 and we are working on something new together, but we can't always Be together, you know, we're not always in the room together. So when we are We have to really have a depth of time and space that we spend And I think that's a really deep relationship that isn't contingent on geography and is often hampered by geography, but It has become a very important part of my community and I think also of my My artistic brother fred ho who has been a collaborator until he passed away last year Um, jose figaroa is another brother that now lives in minneapolis and is a martial artist Um, and I think of kia as my sister even though we're often not in the same city So I think that there is a community that That dwells in me and I am of that, but I'm not necessarily always in the room with it But I do think it's also important to do this kind of work that we're doing here, which is um, I think in my mind similar to what's called artistic exchange As you travel there are some grants that are like artistic exchange grants and I think of this project in that way Because we are sharing That our collaborators are sharing and we're trying to exchange ideas and methods and Styles and learn from each other. So you try to be as As open as possible, but you hope it's not that one way kind of street Have you guys made theater that Uh, where you have had to journey into a community that's not your own as the basis of some of the content of the work Does that make sense as a question? Written about a community that's not your own what you think of as your own community or Well, actually most of my work is not necessarily about my own community because I Every single play depending on what political issue I address could be a completely different community I've I've never done anything Exactly like this before with uh, that's sort of really interesting direct collaboration I did years ago. Uh, I did a play of mine that was already written about Women in prison and we did it a small theater in new york An off-off Broadway wanted to do it at this space the point which is a community center in the Bronx it's a very black and latino neighborhood and It was actually great. We did like three or four performances and it was completely Sold out meaning really reservation doubt because it was completely free tickets, but But it was cool because the audience all was there because They wanted to be it wasn't the subscription audience where they paid for the ticket And now they were gonna see what you know was was on the subscription, you know the the roster and so Everybody was really eager actually one of my favorite moments was There was a part where There were these these teenage boys who came a second time some of the actors were telling me about this and Because I sort of saw them in the corner But they they stood in the back because it was so packed that it was uh, I guess it was like some standing room and halfway through the halfway through the play Two of the women who were cellmates kissed And then the boys were completely satisfied. They saw that again, and then they left They didn't either see the rest of the play. They just came back to see that again but um, but uh, but that wasn't like this because it wasn't created that play was already written, but it, uh There was something about putting that there was much more of a community participation and half of the actors Uh were the I should say the principal actors were Professionals in New York and the others were of the community great and scott are what are What are the ways that you either investigate a community or invited community into Either the piece itself or the process either as an artist or in terms of your work at mcc or at the at the festival here Well, it was uh, it was really interesting for me Because you know, not only did I interview lucy and uh, you know worked on her piece But I was able to help virgil kind of dramaturg his his thing Virgil arondaris. He was a part of the uh, 2013 show that we did and he was just a really charming guy and Actually kevin suggested that we bring him on because we did want to have one actual voice from the community To represent, you know, we've got these great artists coming to visit And so we wanted an Omaha playwright, but then also someone from that community to speak in their own voice And it was great engaging with him. I basically just kind of gave him Like essay assignments and kind of asked him questions to help explore his imagination and Really see where he was coming from and things like that. I actually live in south Omaha now It's uh, I definitely call it home and it is, you know, one of the You know more diverse bustling kind of neighborhoods in town got a lot of history So I really feel a part of it that way And another thing great thing about metro is that, you know, as a community college There are a lot of non traditional students that come here with Incredible stories of their own backgrounds, you know, a lot of veterans a lot of people with second and third careers Um, and in playwriting class It's great to have them kind of Find their voice as well. And uh, that's one thing I enjoy is just like helping other people kind of facilitate Finding their voice saying what they have to say and and helping them share it in a sense So, yeah, I think that's kind of the the nature of the community work that I've Done mainly in the last last few years or so great And michael, um, I wonder if you might speak to what you think is important about this kind of work Um, what the goals are of this kind of work either for cornerstone or when you've approached this kind of work in your freelance career um, and and what you think But what's necessary about this kind of work as opposed to How we traditionally think of the way that theater approaches questions of audience Well, uh, you know, uh, you know, first of all, I'd emphasize that this work is Uh, I mean there's a long and strong tradition of this kind of work Uh Both in the united states and and also just in general making theater I mean theater is essentially people coming together to tell their stories and in various different ways and In the context of even professional American theater is a long tradition of professionals non-professionals working together So I think there are some conventions in how we think about professional professional theater That uh, uh, you know, uh, this isn't sort of in connection with something new although there's a there are new perspectives on it um, I think it's important because as Certainly as theater makers and sitting myself speaking individually I'm really I'm most excited when I make theater that feels really immediate and alive in the room and I look at, uh A strong response to the sort of aesthetic event in the audience and that there's like a high level participation in that in that in that In that interaction, so people aren't simply sitting back and looking at something Uh, but really, uh engaged with it in a strong way and I think doing work like this Uh gives you uh over maximizes some of the potential not the only way but a way to maximize that potential for immediacy um And I find that really exciting as an artist Um, I think it's also important because I mean, you know at the end of the day A lot of students are struggling with you know, diminishing audiences and trying to figure out how to remain relevant and You know, what's going to get people coming to people to come see the show and uh, the shows that they're making and I think When we talk about community engagement, we're simply talking about making work that you know, that deeply engages people That makes them want to see it that that that You know that that allows the artist to make work that is going to speak to an audience and so um I think this kind of work is one way to address This question and I think it's an exciting Uh way to do it and so that's that's Both that that's primarily what my interest is and certainly as a person and as a citizen human being it also Use your chance to sort of engage The big issues issues that are impacting a group of people in the present In the way that is deep and allows you to kind of spit outside yourself and really channel other people's perspectives as well and how for for any of you guys in terms of either this process that we engaged in or um other work that That is sort of community engaged How have you navigated or how do you navigate questions of hierarchy? And insider-ness versus outsider-ness With everything from uh, you know, theater literacy and how we're so trained to understand the work itself to The interpersonal interactions and etc I think there's a a kind of aesthetics that You can share in degrees And i'm thinking of a project seven that Was a little bit similar to how we worked on this In the sense that There were seven female playwrights and we interviewed women world leaders and wrote monologues and then Wove them into a play and it's called seven um, and I remember early on I was trying to Be really um close to the verbatim Way that ferrita azizi who was my uh interview we The way that she spoke the way that she told the stories And yet also bring my aesthetics Into this monologue I was writing and then we all seven had to you know work on it as a play and put our aesthetics together and And it was intensely challenging to Have seven aesthetics in the room and then the aesthetics of the storyteller and To remain true to the way that the story was told and an example was um that One of the very first readings we had at new dramatist one of the dramaturgs said To me, um, well, I don't really know if the taliban is good or bad. Sometimes it's good in this in this monologue And sometimes it's bad. I and I said, but i'm not changing that that's how ferrita told the story and The taliban was at times helping her bring medicine to women who couldn't have a Regular childbirth and at times threatening to kill her So I wasn't going to change that but for the sake of the dramaturgy of the Understanding of the audience. It was important to me that that stayed true to how ferrita told the story Because that was her experience and the same with the muja hadin and the story her brother Was converted to be a muja hadin and and yet later they were fighting, you know, so um, so I think it's very important politically even to be careful about your own aesthetic Dramaturgy and these kind of projects where you're working with somebody else somebody else's story and So there's a very fine line that you kind of just navigate instinctually and maybe with a lot of feedback from the person whose story it is and and uh, we We were hoping to have more feedback actually with the people that we worked with but we ran out of time and so Um, but that can still happen. You know, we can still in tomorrow night We can talk with I can talk with dorthy and see if she's got more suggestions and thoughts and that kind of thing So it's not as if it's ever over and I think of this project as the very first or not the first step but one of many steps between the hierarchies of Omaha Theater and this conference where all of us kind of parachute in and And then there are other people that are living and making work here and how can we sit down at a table together and talk together and work together and um, that's when you really start to see artistic exchange because if it's this sort of like If you can cut down on the parachuting somehow, you know and and really Talk together spend time and really listen very deeply What was your experience of of um creating trust with the interviewees Either in that face-to-face weekend or uh in the time between then and and now Well, it was uh, it was kind of interesting for me Lucy, uh, you know, she's had a really full life and uh over the course of our conversation It got very very personal um discussions with uh about her mother and father about their border crossing her hopes and dreams and things like that and She felt comfortable enough There was just like four of us there at the time and it was very conversational and Just to try to kind of maintain that there were definitely some some details that I didn't feel were necessary To share out of respect for her mother, uh, who I'm sure will be there tomorrow night But still get a sense of the struggle that she went through and the person that she became And uh, yeah, and then with uh with Virgil since he was kind of telling his own stories And these are stories that he's told a million times to a million different people And so with him it was a lot easier. Uh, he just kind of needed to open up a little bit He's kind of a shy guy not much of a public speaker unless you put him in a corner But when I talked to him about this project He said that, you know, he views things that he hasn't done as a challenge So he just really rose to it and and then when I said well, would you mind being in it too? And uh, he once again, he just stepped up to it. So Um, so that was that was just kind of my take on it There were the aspects that I was I was honored that she shared with me But I didn't necessarily feel like Omaha needed to know some of those details. I suppose I mean, I I guess, uh, I was about to say that I was very fortunate because the two love is a senior in high school She was about to graduate. Uh Admittedly, it was very talkative and so she's a great interview. But then again, I guess, uh For all of us who whoever volunteered to be a part of this project was ready to be open in some level So I guess in some ways Uh There were somebody that were there were open to be trust trusting so that so Yeah, that was helpful Um, you start you touched on this Ruth just now. I'm curious. Um, how you guys navigated The tension between wanting to be truthful to the lives that you were that you were to portray With a finding something that felt like it had dramatic conflict or You know that felt Dramaturgically like what you wanted the piece to do and also Navigating their voice, right? I wanted to be authentic to how to their voice and also creating a piece of art that feels like your voice And Michael, feel free to jump in there as well of your thoughts Well, I guess uh to start off. I mean it was really interesting when we all started seeing each other's other's pieces um, the the last few projects I've worked on have been with Uh found text basically, um a couple of years ago. I condensed some Edgar Allen Poe Uh into four 15 minute readers theater pieces. Um, and uh, then shortly after that With a a class here at school. We did kind of a bio collage theater piece about Jackson Pollock Uh, and in that I mean we even used um Bill a bill of sale became a monologue in that piece. So in that tradition I I I pretty much stuck really close to Lucy's words I just kind of created um an environment in which she could speak for herself Um and just kind of went that way and just because a lot of the the details of her life have like little moments and things So I was I I stayed pretty close to that. Luckily we had them all transcribed, which was really nice um recorded and transcribed so that was Um, just kind of my approach. I mean I was pretty faithful to that But I still feel like Since that's how I've been creating plays in the last few years It felt just like the right way for me to approach it, but it was it was fascinating to see all the different styles though, too I mean this was uh probably I would say it's my voice, but differently stylistically than I usually write. Um There plays a mind that maybe once in a while, uh Maybe once a character may come out and address the audience in rare instances. I've done that whereas this It's a lot of a direct address. She talks to the audience then she's in the scene that she talks to the audience She's in the scene and uh, so she's a storyteller and she's of the story Back and forth at the same time, which is very challenging for the actor actually, but uh, uh, so So, uh, so that stylistically was different um And I Thankfully for the uh Transcripts was I was using a lot Uh, so it could be reminded of her voice and also we had recordings so I could be reminded of that and so because uh, it was really important to me. I used her words when I could and Other times when I felt it was more efficient to uh fiddle with them. I would do that but it's It's definitely I prioritized Uh, Batula's voice over my own Yeah, I think um That prioritizing is is important in a project like this But it's also interesting as as you guys were talking. I was realizing that um When I worked with fred ho, uh, we would co-write often and um When I first started working with him, he let me write the first draft and then the second one He wrote the music first and so But in a way, um, we're always co-writing You know, we're co-writing with the audience. We're co-writing with our collaborators were even when we're just writing a play We're sort of co-writing in a way. So there are different levels of that. Um, but the um, I was thinking about how I've I've tried to kind of train myself to withhold myself and my aesthetics in teaching um, because I think it's important to enter My students work with their aesthetics and to try to read it from within their aesthetics And so there's a certain amount of denying of my aesthetics that I've worked on as an artist and it's not easy. Um, but I think that um The draft that I brought into a little writing group that I have in in chicago and uh The draft of this a draft of this piece Um, a colleague of mine at the school of the art institute is a filmmaker and he's in my writing group and And he really chastised me for my draft and I told him it's in a material stage, you know, I'm I'm still getting a sense of its own inter inner workings and everything And he said some kind of harsh criticism And it was interesting because I haven't really been getting a lot of feedback as a At this part of my career, there's not a lot of you know feedback coming at me sometimes at early on And so it was humbling and I was really mad. His name is chris sullivan. I'll call him out there But he's a really respectful. I really respect his art So I thought about it and then I went back and rewrote it two more times and I think That it was better For me. He really was telling me to step up my aesthetics And so I did that in the second and third draft and and now I feel like I'm at a place When we go to rehearsal tonight Where I've also got to step back a little bit because we only have a certain amount of time and there are some aesthetic choices that I might change if I had time and and yet I've got to make it just I've got to step back again because it I could overstep Um my bounds of the process and the process has only like there's only so many notes You can take at a certain amount of time. And so so I stepped forward and now I'm stepping back So there's a little bit of to and fro Michael anything you want to add about navigating your voice and joe's voice or your aesthetic or artistic agenda with With the material that you had Yeah, I think the the the task the The situation because I was really complicated for a writer When I wrote the first piece that I wrote for cornerstone. I had I was lucky to Early on in that process spent some time with Austin Kerry who's one of the founders of cornerstone and writer at my own right And at one point she just looked at me and said look You have because you yourself with a sense of responsibility And to the person's story and the person's voice and honoring them and all that Which it can be a little bit paralyzing or to inhibit And she was like you got to let all that go. You just got to write your play You know, you have to trust yourself that they shared with you and And you sort of brought their expertise and their experience and their community to the table And now you have to bring your expertise to the writer to bear and your and your artistry I just write your play and So whenever I get stymied at this point, I try to come on that And and so You know that for me is challenge and I'm sorry. I'm getting an incoming call here. Am I going? And For me what I find always challenging is how to create how to how to how to find the You know how to find what makes it what makes it play essentially Because a lot of times the stories you hear are Beautiful and they're very detailed and specific, but they're unnecessarily dramatic And so for me always trying to find that advantage or where the conflict is essentially In a way that is respectful and that was that was the challenge of this piece as it often has been in the past for me Well, I'm curious if there are any questions from you guys or also to hear if any of you guys have your own experiences with creating work in collaboration with specific communities or Strategies that you guys have employed to invite community into your work either in terms of process or the product itself And once again come on down to the mic if you have it too so we can record it for howl around as well So my name is Howard Emmanuel My play Sun Dogs is going up on the main stage on Saturday morning and it's it's about a rack vets and returning to Kuwait and It based on the death of a friend in Afghanistan is what sort of sparked it and another Fellow from from my area Is is deeply in the play as well and I sort of dream of finding a Place of production for for the play where The veteran community can come in and Experience it and you know where it isn't just sort of read by a not-for-profit is great for not-for-profits are and saying You know whatever that I wrote the play as a ritual of healing Of this group of people and to then allow the theatrical experience to become that You know and and I'm sort of desperately searching for a way. So all of this is to say that I haven't created With the community. I've spoken to uh Glenn Stiverson's mom about about the play to whom it's dedicated and and you know So In that regard And that was a very fine line of what you know, she wanted What she would allow and I sort of had to step back and say okay. It's not About him. It is about the the event and and the attempt to move forward so um So so it's a difficult balance And I and I don't have an answer of how you know You sitting at home at home alone writing you can then get it to the people who you feel need to Consume That's Anyone else I would say I think communities can be initiated, you know, there there's a Guy named Navin Kishore in Calcutta who started a group called peaceworks right in 2002 right after The riots in Gujarat and he just said he felt that he couldn't go on As an artist as a hindu artist Without making this new Um community which is called peaceworks and it continues to this day So he he felt You know this burning urge to do something and to take an action and I think communities are started from those kind of Actions, you know, it's not like and sometimes they just they grow naturally out of things But I think sometimes somebody starts them and they they find their way, you know to find each other Great, right. Well, okay. Oh that one excellent. Yes Again another great topic every I feel like I'm coming with you every um every lunchtime. Um, but it all speaks to me And uh, so last year I had a play produced in la called the magnificent Dunbar hotel and it's about a a hotel that was a primary social and Place in me for music and everything in la during the 1930s and 40s and uh, it had the history of it without getting too long winded basically it had fell into uh decay and um was just renovated and Built to look like it did back in the 1930s. So part of my research in in writing this piece was I had I was looking to find people who were there During that time and I I wasn't that successful with that. Um You know so many people died, you know, it's a long time ago. I I did find a couple of people and it it was um and what was very informational but but What happened though was that When the play went up The turnout was tremendous because of what the hotel meant to the community At that time so even though a lot of the people who were there Were no longer there their descendants were still in la so the grand children and and the children came because their parents had been part of this Magnificent Dunbar hotel and and one of the most amazing things that happened for me Was during the course of the run. I think I told you about Scott. There was a woman that came She was 98 years old and She had worked at the Dunbar as a cigarette girl when she was 17 to 23 and um And and afterwards someone asked her well, what did you think did you like? It's no honey I didn't like it. I loved it and and um And she I I just wish you would have talked to me because I could have given you some more stuff You know so so, you know this whole thing about I this theater and the connection to the community I It's so important You know I was talking to someone else about this earlier today in terms of of how It resonates on levels that we we don't even get I personally think that like the lack of Having theater that is representative of what's going on political theater, whatever is is really kind of You can say it's partly responsible for the climate that we're in today You know this climate that we're in is you know if we if we had more theaters bringing people together And dealing with the issues that we're dealing with Then maybe some of these shootings and all this stuff wouldn't be happening. I that's just my belief Thank you Thanks you guys. Yeah. Um, thanks for for sharing your thoughts and you know Just one last thing closing it makes me think of the way that um You know so often. I think we've had the experience in theater Of um preaching to the choir, you know or or the theater is being made by the same people that it's being So performed for and in dialogue with and so I know for me in working on this it's been really Um, it's been really useful to think about other strategies of trying to speak to and with and make work with Other voices right different voices in my own. So thanks for that experience. Thanks you guys Thank you, Michael