COMMUNITY
PRODUCING
Community producing is a culturally competent, community-engaged approach to theatrical producing.
As a community producer, I am also a cultural organizer. I not only engage in all aspects of conventional artistic producing, including strategic, financial, and managerial tasks, but I also center practices that increase access to the arts and contribute to social justice and equity. This often involves building partnerships with schools, community and nonprofit organizations, small business owners, and local government offices to create unique opportunities for community participation in the arts. To-date, this practice has manifest in site-specific performances, community touring productions, free and sliding-scale productions, and scaffolded opportunities to participate in the arts for those with limited prior experience.
Black Orpheus:
una historia de amor
San Francisco and Berkeley
2016
The Vagina Monologues
San Francisco
2016
What To Send Up When It Goes Down
San Francisco
2015
Black Orpheus was a collaboration between the A.C.T. MFA acting program and Stage Coach, the participatory, community-based theatre program I built at A.C.T. As the community producer, I booked all tour locations, identified and hired local visual and performance artists to participate in various elements of the production, and coordinated community workshops throughout the rehearsal and performance process.
As the community producer for The Vagina Monologues, I helped cast the production with predominantly non-actors and helped build partnerships with local organizations that became beneficiaries of the almost $3,000 raised.
I first produced excerpts of What To Send Up When It Goes Down, by Aleshea Harris, at a monthly community festival in the Bayview district of San Francisco. I went on to produce the full show in the Tenderloin at A.C.T's Costume Shop Theater. Both performances involved audience engagement and connected to larger community projects happening in both neighborhoods. Read more here.
Will on Wheels
San Francisco
2015
After the T-Train
San Francisco
2014
Will on Wheels was a Shakespeare public school touring program of the A.C.T. MFA acting program. I expanded the program to include touring productions at local community centers and public spaces across San Francisco, providing free theatrical programming to seniors, adults, and families outside of schools.
After the T-Train was a pop-up gallery performance and workshop during SOMArts Cultural Center's "Wake Up the Walls" programming. The piece was inspired by local stories about the transformation of San Francisco's Bayview district after the arrival of the T-train MUNI metro line, and it took place during the Place/Displaced exhibition centering the rapid loss of shelter, space, and culture experienced by individuals and communities.
What To Send Up When It Goes Down in Bayview, SF
Playwright: Aleshea Harris
Video: Ariella Wolfe