Journal Series

This is a series of four reports written by Porsche McGovern over the course of five years, looking at who directs and designs set, costume, lighting, sound, and projections in US LORT theatres by gender.

From slavery to stolen land, African Americans and Indigenous peoples have been harmed by settler colonialism from pre-revolutionary times to today. Their histories are unique and intertwined, with examples of distrust and violence as much as solidarity and alignment. At ArtsEmerson, our leadership is Black (David Howse) and Indigenous (Ronee Penoi, Laguna Pueblo/Cherokee)—a rare occurrence in a major arts institution. We see our shared leadership as a unique opportunity to imagine a better, liberated future together for Black and Indigenous peoples and, by extension, all peoples. As part of a year-long Black and Indigenous Initiative, we are collaborating with our colleagues at HowlRound on the Black and Indigenous Futures Convening and on this series that reflects on Black and Indigenous shared leadership, solidarity, kinship, identity, and artistic practice.

Parallel Tracks 2.0 gathers diverse voices of Canadian theatre artists and producers to explore the ways in which anti-oppressive approaches are part of our creative work, in live spaces as well as digital ones. Originally commissioned by and presented in partnership with Toronto's Undercurrent Creations, conversations about care, community engagement, and consent take centre stage in this series. From navigating ethics in contracting, to intergenerational storytelling, this series reflects on ways of gathering and collaborating in online creative spaces. This series is in part supported by the Canada Council for the Arts.

The intimacy industry is under pressure. While many creatives and artistic leaders see the benefits of intimacy direction and coordination as specific care and technical support for actors, the industry itself has not yet created an equitable and inclusive training process for marginalized people. In this series, Ann James, founder of Intimacy Coordinators of Color (ICOC), interviews eight queer and global majority intimacy specialists about the joys and challenges they face in the industry. What emerges from this series of interviews is a complex, multifaceted range of approaches, training models, and innovations for the future of intimacy that actively decenter whiteness, colonization, and appropriation.

There is a long history of performance entwining with environmental activism in Brazil. This series builds upon the HowlRound series and convening, Theatre in the Age of Climate Change, to highlight some of these Brazillan performances, research, and training initiatives. These works of eco-performance and ecopoetic theatre model creative paths forward for the reparative processes necessary to face climate change.

This week-long series of essays and conversations uplifts approaches to theatremaking that find confluence with the framework of the commons. Curated by Jamie Gahlon and Matthew Glassman, with members of the Arts, Culture, and Commoning working group, this week-long series amplifies artists and culture workers who activate collectivism, interdependence, and the role of imagination to catalyze systems change. These artists parse the ways their work opens up possibilities for theatre—and culture more broadly—to turn away from the market economy and toward collective liberation.

Puppetry is an ongoing negotiation between human and nonhuman. Puppets play out the way things are, but also the way things can be; and in that regard, they allow us to see our positionality and imagine worlds beyond ourselves. This series showcases myriad shapes and styles and the ways in which these puppets, whether representational or abstract, can form solidarities among humans.