 Can you hear me? So time is up. If I could get everybody's attention, our time. OK, so let's bring those last thoughts in. Do you have to? OK, so for folks on livestream, we're wrapping up some work sessions where we've organized some of our thoughts from the weekend into little pods. And we've done some little working groups. And we were trying to come up with action items. Conversations seem to be heated. OK, let's four, three, two, one. There we go. Yay. Thank you, everybody. Whoa, those conversations sounded heated. So I'm really glad we're having them. So we're going to start out some report out. Abigail's going to support us in recording our ideas on the board. And we can also collect and share notes afterwards. So if anybody would like to volunteer, if any group would like to volunteer to go first to report out on their conversation, we put up two mics here so the note taker doesn't have to feel like they're the only one that has to report. Great. Just name the group that you're coming from first. Discussed identity. Identidad. Question that we spoke about was, it started with a quote, you don't represent somebody with someone else. Uno no representa alguien con alguien que no es. Is it irresponsible to take a job when you're not from a specific culture that is pertinent to the story? Si es una falta de responsabilidad, tomar una posición de representación que debería ser de otra persona. And the example was being cast in a Cuban play when you're Colombian. So our initial take was Miami is a place of abundance. This is a place where you should be able to find these folks to be in your shows. But it's also a very regional specific question. And we are interested in this kind of, is it better to have a Latinx person representing another Latinx culture rather than having someone from outside of those cultural traditions? And we think the answer is yes. Es una pregunta regional porque lo que tienen aquí es una abundancia de talento que representa honradamente auténticamente esas diferentes culturas y experiencias que no se encuentran en otras partes del país. Entonces la pregunta es si cuando uno tiene la oportunidad de representar un cuento, una historia que si no se representa con un Latinx no se va a representar. Entonces pensamos que si es importante poder representar ese cuento, esa historia aunque no sea perfectamente representada por las personas que están, si no se puede hacer. Que vale la pena. And then we also had a discussion about trans and non-binary characters and actors being in a different situation. And it is very important to represent those identities in a really conscious way on stage. Que es diferente de la representación de la comunidad trans, LGBTQ, que se tiene que representar una diferente sensibilidad. And then our conversation kind of steered into the idea that this question has been asked and not that we have solved casting in America. But this question has been asked a lot. How do we start to expand these circles? Who are we hiring backstage? Who are we hiring to design our shows? Who's in our box office? Who's in our administration offices? How do these circles continue to expand and become more intentional? Que es una pregunta que no solo tiene que, se trata de los actores, ni los directores, ni los dramaturgos, pero también toda la gente que apoya la creación de una obra, la gente que son los diseñadores, la gente que está en la taquilla, la gente que salude la gente de la audiencia, etc. ¿Cómo encontrarnos esa representación en todos los partes del teatro? And then we kind of wrapped up our conversation with some solutions. So thinking about a coalitional casting, can you form coalitions with other organizations or with universities who might help you tap into a population that maybe your theater or organization doesn't have direct access to? ¿Cómo puedes conseguir apoyo con otras instituciones como universidades, otros teatros que nos pueden apoyar en hacer el mejor producto que queremos crear? And then we also had a brief discussion about kind of cultural consultants. Can you, if you are in a place where you might not be able to hire the identity that you desire for that role that that role is specified for, is there a consultant that could come in and help? But that should always be done with a real clear eye towards not tokenizing the person you're bringing in. That every time a question is asked heads whip around and like no one can be the sole kind of cultural navigator of an entire population. Para apoyar esos proyectos donde no podemos encontrar la representación precisa, ¿Cómo podemos invitar a expertos de una cultura que sí pueden representar, que sí pueden compartir de su experiencia, auténticamente la experiencia y el sentimiento debajo de los cuentos que estamos tratando de contar? Y al mismo tiempo que esa persona no sea la única persona, el experto en el salón que cada vez que hay una pregunta tenemos que mirar a ver si fue o si o no, si nos van a dar la prueba o no. Y porque también a nosotros no tenemos que tener la responsabilidad para representar todos que estamos trabajando en obras que nos están representando nuestra propia, en nuestro propio cuento. Yeah, yeah. So we also briefly spoke about Latinx theater in Florida and kind of highlights from that include deeper teams that Afro-Latinx folks should be involved, need to be involved at every level with theater making, playwriting, casting, directing, designing, working backstage, et cetera. La comunidad de Afro-Latinx tiene que representar en todas partes del hacer de teatro. And then the last two thoughts I'll wrap up with are the idea that currently we are raising Afro-Latinx folks from the stories we are telling. Playwrights can help by being more specific in their character descriptions, casting can be more specific in character descriptions actively seeking out and inviting folks to apply and audition. Estamos borrando la historia y la presencia del Afro-Latino en nuestras presentaciones y tenemos que ser intencional sobre cómo hacemos el casting, claro, como invitamos a la gente y saber también al mismo tiempo que hay mucho dolor ahí and I know you didn't say this but there's pain there y que uno tiene que tener cuidado con esa invitación y saber que si no aceptan es porque hay una herida y hay muchas heridas en nuestra familia y tenemos que tener, estar pendiente de eso, pero extender la invitación no solamente en castings y no solamente en dramaturgia, pero en todas partes del creación del teatro. Thank you, next group, and I think we can give us like six minutes, yeah. Hi, so our group was looking at next generation of Latinx artists in particular with a focus on education. So I'm gonna just try to do this all bilingually. One action item was formar colaboraciones entre profesores de teatro con profesores de otro disciplina, o sea literatura, estudios chicano, psicología, que podemos tener colaboraciones más profundas con toda la disciplina. The next one is to refine or expand BA and BFA training to include additional tracks so that students leave undergrad with a variety of skills to make a living, so make sure that they have some knowledge and basic training around theater management and budgeting, having some design and technical skillset so that this was in relation to the question about how do we encourage students to pursue their passions and not follow what might be a familiar pressure, familial pressure to go into like medicine or banking or something that is viewed as quote unquote secure. So if they leave with a larger skillset and we identified that the MFA program as a goal is also a barrier, so how can we, even undergrad is a barrier, but how can we make sure that if they're leaving undergrad with a variety of skillsets that then they can find work in a variety of aspects of our field. In terms of what's being taught in the classroom, we talked about decolonize the classes, decolonize our syllabi and to like restructure the canon, what we consider to be canonical in the American theater. Latinx classes don't, I mean, playwrights don't only have to be taught and shouldn't only be taught in the Latinx theater class or the Latinx week of your syllabus. We have to have collaborations between the universities and the professional theaters that are in the area so that the students can graduate with professional practices. So this is, we were talking about internships as an option or how can universities partner with local theaters, but we must be responsible for paying attention to the funding structures that are associated with things like internships or independent study through working at the professional theater so that it doesn't further set back students financially, understanding that the socioeconomic status of a lot of Latinx and students of color is already sort of difficult and challenging, but we see a really great opportunity for students to be involved directly with professional companies as part of their education. Thank you. Our group is community and dialogue. I guess to preface, one thing that came out was, it was not clear to a lot of people in our group what benefit they could receive from the LTC. So I just wanna say that. Una cosa que salió del grupo, no quedaba claro cuál es el beneficio de participar en este Latinx Theater Commons. Hablando de acciones, I'll go straight to actions. Hablamos de la cuestión de por qué no vinieron más personas por falta de una invitación personal. We talked about why a lot of people didn't come and the lack of a personal invitation. It's not the same thing to get a cold email among hundreds and then expect people to come. Que no es lo mismo recibir un correo electrónico entre cientos de correos que uno recibe y esperar que la gente llegue. So we talked about a personal pick up the phone call and personally invite someone else of your community to this kind of circle. So hablamos de, I called it a phone tree. Hablamos de llamar personalmente a una persona de tu comunidad. Y es más, dijimos anda a tomar un café de 10 minutos ahí parado en la esquina y avisar, mira, esto pasó la semana pasada, queremos que tu grupo participe. So even more, have a standing cup of coffee. I mean the Cuban coffee is this big, 10 minutes. I mean, so where you personally, you give people a feeling of your excitement and invite them. And then we talked about how people in the room knew other people. So for example, Luis, he said there's no one here from Calle Ocho and the theaters in Little Havana, but he often works there. So if he had a cafecito, personally invited someone to come, maybe it would be a more direct connection. And Loli is a teacher, so she can invite other docents. So that kind of direct personal, kind of within your network. Hablamos a invitar personalmente como Luis, trabajan Calle Ocho y dijimos donde está la gente de la pequeña Habana y los grupos de teatro y los actores. Y él trabaja ahí, o sea, una invitación, tal vez no a todo el grupo, pero a una persona. Y Loli que es profesora que invite otro profesor de otra región, otra escuela. So that was the phone idea. The other action item was, create the Southwest Regional Latinx Theater Commons working group. It came out of here. Otra acción era crear, empezando el día de hoy, la región sudoeste, ya, sureste del Latinx Theater Commons, un trabajo de grupo, y primera tarea crear un registro. Me imagino de todos los grupos de teatro, todos los actores, todos los directores, todos los diseñadores, todos los dramaturgos. And task number one for this newly created Southwest Regional Latinx Theater Commons working group, or whatever it is to be named, is a registry. And I imagine the registry would include all theater groups, all playwrights, all directors, all actors, all designers. And was there another action item? Did I forget anything? I think those were the main things. And then I think we, as the Latinx Theater Commons body can help to clarify what, as you guys talk, what is it that this space offers you, individually, in your community? Y podemos aclarar como un cuerpo que es lo que ofrecemos a esta comunidad y ustedes también pueden empezar a desarrollar esa idea, qué beneficios pueden sacar de este espacio. Thank you. I do want to add something. As we were thinking about the programming of this weekend, it was a really huge priority for me to feel that the people from Peking, Havana, were welcomed and invited to this. And every time I hear certain feedback, it, I don't even know what the right word is, but my aunt drove me around and I personally went to each theater. And I spoke to people and I talked about LTC, I talked about the weekend, I talked about how awesome it would be for them to be here. I talked to the director who was doing, who was in the middle of, he was about to open a show. I asked him to please tell the actors in the show. Like I did that outreach. I am one person. So the phone tree would have been amazing and I did ask people to help with that, but people get busy. But when I hear that feedback, it does sadden me because I don't want people to think that that was not done. Because there was a really huge, huge effort to make sure that everyone felt welcome and invited into this space. And I just wanted to put that out there. I testified to that, because Adriana texted me, phoned me, met with me for a few hours, she met me, texted me, she was positive about me. I had a show, I had a theater that ran, I promised in Lita, Havana, and I had a lot of actors too, who were informed. So I'm a witness and I back that story 300% and I saw her do it. So witness. Not at all. So I think it was very important, from the moment a doubt arises of why people are not here, to have clarified that. And that you present is a problem that had to be discussed here more deeply. Because then I don't think it's a matter of my perception, that it's a matter of being busy. It seems to me that behind that there are other deeper things that had to be discussed here as problems of the community. So that the community and now those who decide if they want to form a committee that I think is great, and that it would be a success to culminate this convening that these local communities are formed in a working group. They know how to get closer to them and how to break that barrier of indifference, of prepotence, because I also see it that way, because many of them are the groups that are already established here that can think, we don't need this because we already have our audience, we have our funds, so that we can go there. It's an opportunity because this is the beginning. It's an opportunity because this is the beginning. I'm going to do it in Spanish because I think that's one of the reasons why... But can you hear me? Yes. You can't hear me? Okay, now. Okay. Well, I just moved here to Florida, Devremont. I don't know many people, I don't know many groups, but I've been working with micro-theatre and I have connections with the walkers and I work on the trail. Now, what I see from them is that most of them are from Venezuela, or from Cuba, or they are American Cubans and they don't speak English or they don't care to speak English. And as most of what I saw in the emails, most of them looked more in English and more English, because they don't... There's no gancho, there's no hook for them to come here. And sometimes it's something so simple, like saying, look, we have this fantastic restaurant that's going to have this food and we're going to have this night to socialize so that people come. The other thing is that I thought I was going to speak a little more in Spanish because I think that's what unites us because as someone said, it's Latin mix but here there's no one from Brazil that would be the other Latin country. Great job. Okay, but do you understand Spanish or English? Okay, because I also have another case that I don't see a lot of people here who saw the fantastic work of Jackie and she thought that at least they were going to see subtitles in English, which was the opposite. So everything was in Spanish and I couldn't really see all the words in the work. So here I have some friends from Puerto Rico and that's another situation, bringing people from the Caribbean and connecting them with the people from the mainland, as it says here, that they couldn't understand everything in detail because they weren't in black and white in Spanish and English. And yes, I know that it's an economic resource to bring a person to translate everything but I understand from what I've seen this weekend that here there are resources, that we are the resources to be able to do that. I still, as a person that this for me is new, I'm not sure what the concept is in addition to the fantastic things that they bring to the audience and to do networking. But from that, what is the organization that does, that I can help, because I'd love to be part of that region of the Southeast. Okay, super. I have the title, but what do I do? What am I going to do from now on? How am I, who has just arrived, to do this Spanglish, to do a hook for other groups and bring them here. Because I think it would be fantastic if not only, if it's achieved in Miami, with so much diversity of groups that there are, that tend to stay in their niches, the Venezuelans with the Venezuelans, the Cubans with the Cubans, the Puerto Ricans with the Puerto Ricans. It happens just like in New York. Si se puede romper eso en aquí en Miami, igual que en New York, entonces podríamos tener más unión y entonces hacer el breakthrough the mainstream English, so people can understand. Que la gente pueda understar, estoy ya en inglés en español. Que la gente pueda, aunque no entienda el idioma, se sientan atraídos a ir a ver un show como alguien mencionó la ópera, que eso fue lo que me vino en la mente. La gente va a ver ópera, es en italiano o en alemán, y les encanta y entienden lo que venga aunque no entienda el idioma. Yo creo que eso se puede lograr aquí. Espero que yo haya hecho algún sentido lo que estoy diciendo, porque ya perdí el idioma, gracias. Lo que me parece a mí es que hay una oportunidad para hacer de nuevo la imitación, ¿verdad? Hacer otro gathering. Si seguimos, podemos regresar a esta conversación, pero primero queremos grabar las acciones, ¿ya? Yeah, so that's a great segue to what can we do? So some of the action items very simple is see more theater. Ver más teatro aquí. Another action items is a database or a jobs board, un base de datos o una junta de empleados for us. I did, for the how round people, I did offer the world map as a suggestion, as a resource. We have also created a support system for each other, un sistema de apoyo. Offer mentorships or, oh, you know, I didn't mention that ours was an artistic exchange. Mentorship or apprenticeships, tutoría o aprendizajes, either with local or the diaspora, that's an opportunity. Also when we travel to be able to connect with the artists from the local community, so cuando viajamos, tener una manera de conectar con los artistas locales, thank you. We had the group on language. And yeah. Tenemos el grupo de lenguaje. And our cards focused on the areas of creating safe spaces and reducing shame, primarily. To create safe spaces and reduce shame. Particularly around not being fully fluent. And we'll just go through our action items here. One was to intentionally create artistic spaces for dialogue that openly invite different levels of fluency. Create artistic spaces. And intentionally invite different levels of fluency. And then another step is to acknowledge and encourage an intergenerational conversation. Sí, para reconocer un... Ay, estoy haciendo lo terrible, es horrible. Conversación intergeneracional, yeah? Conversación intergeneracional, that's my accent and it's back. Un intercambio internacional. Obrigado. See the attempt to speak Spanish or Portuguese with you as a sign of respect. Encourage predominantly English speaking organizations to use Spanish in their materials and hire bilingual candidates. You want to read it? Yeah. My handwriting. Sí. Para las organizaciones en español en inglés, que usen español en sus materiales y también materiales bilingües, ¿no? Y que contraten una persona que hable mismo idioma para que lo hace. Yes, be intentional about how language will be used from the beginning of shaping a production. Push ourselves not to apologize for speaking Spanish in a way that is not perfect. Push ourselves not to apologize for our identity and how it relates to how we speak Spanish. En que ayúdame, en que qué, por tu identidad, de lo que eres. No te puedes, exacto, aceptar lo que eres y embrace it. Exacto. Sorry. Abrazo. Blanca, blanca. Eso es lo que estoy haciendo, si yo sé si. Es la idea, es la idea. How you present language on your forward-facing materials like marketing and interviews and materials should be encouraged and it will also determine your audience. Si como presentas el idioma en ciertos materiales y presentaciones, te va a ser importante. Be fearless about a character's circumstances of how they speak their Spanish in place. Sí, no tener miedo de cómo el personaje va a hablar su idioma o a representarlo. Okay, so depending on where that character is from or perhaps when they were born or their exposure to either language, English or Spanish may determine how they're able to engage in either language. So as playwrights, as directors, as actors, part of our homework is to accept our idiolex, our dialects, our dialects of our immediate culture, our dialects of the culture at large and the influences on us and to allow for those variables to be living in the characters we portray on stage so they can live in us as well. Yeah. We said it in our group. See, okay, last one. Right, so this came from, this does need context. This came from an example of a theater company, theater company presenting plays in Spanish and all materials as Spanish is the first language but four English speaking audiences and either doing super titles or allowing for some translation material which led to our action item of putting Spanish first and then allowing English to be the translation underneath and finding when is that hopeful in making people feel that they have access. Aurora Theater and Lawrenceville with Anthony Rodríguez. Hacemos obras en español pero con el super title o los títulos, los super, super títulos en español. La mayoría de la gente o de la audiencia, verdad, era gente que hablaba inglés pero igual podían percibir la obra y a la misma vez entender el idioma. Pero realmente respetando el idioma en español. Completo, gracias. Thank you everybody. I'm really glad that we were able to unearth like something that felt like really true and urgent. We're gonna transition now into an activity that Adriana will lead us in around intentions and actions for the future. If I could ask for, well first.