Art As Protest on The Show Up from Patreon

We all know art can be a powerful tool. Check our Friday’s 10am show surrounding the theme of “art as protest,” on The Show Up from Patreon:

The role of art in confronting important political and social issues is a long standing tradition. From Stonewall to Black Lives Matter, artists have long used their craft to push for change. Join us this Friday, June 26th at 10am PT as we connect with EbonyJanice and Thea Monyee´, Taina Asili and Kesha Bruce of Spirit House Art — all artists who use their vision today to fight for a better world tomorrow.

The Show Up is free and open to all, so invite your friends, sign up today and show up on Friday to meet these awesome creators who are pushing our world forward.

Petition for BIPOC Critics in New York Times's Theater/Culture Staff

Representation and voice in theater, and theater reviews, matter. Click here to sign this petition for the New York Times to include in their roster of theater critics representation of black, Indigenous and people of color.

“For many years, The New York Times has failed to add BIPOC theater critics to its staff. Works by BIPOC artists have been subjected to the white critical gaze that often fails to bring even a cursory understanding of the experiences that inform the works of BIPOC artists. As a result, any attempt to stray from white-centered narratives are either labeled as ‘radical,’ or dismissed as amateur attempts by yet unformed aesthetic practices. This critical gaslighting of BIPOC artists has shaped the choices of many theaters and institutions only too eager to please the tastes of The Times's critics. Many works by BIPOC theater artists have been prematurely killed by biased and racially insensitive reviews from white critics.

”The New York Times must have its own critical awakening. We live in a city where BIPOC artists have been working even before the Times first ran its presses. Its stubborn insistence in maintaining a roster of white critics denies BIPOC artists the right to be carefully considered and understood. “

~Ralph Pena

Juneteenth: In Solidarity - Black Lives Matter

Today is Juneteenth, freedom day, marking the ending of the crime of slavery in the United States on June 19, 1985. This is the date when Union solders landed in Texas with news that the war had ended and those who had been enslaved were no longer (note that this is over 2 years after President Lincoln’s Emancipation Proclamation).

“Juneteenth has never been a celebration of victory, or an acceptance of the way things are. It's a celebration of progress. It's an affirmation that despite the most painful parts of our history, change is possible––and there is still so much work to do.” - President Barack Obama

Both professionally and personally, I stand in solidarity with black women, men, children and people of color against overt, covert, systemic and all forms of racism in the country and world. I continue to evaluate my own assumptions, listen, learn and support. A notice from PBS recently said that our [USA] “country finds itself in a period of education and reckoning of the racism embedded in its birth.” What a painful, vile atrocity to have embedded in the birth of your nation—and to see unfolded in sickening unjust ways for hundreds of more years. How could there not be anger, hurt, turmoil, righteous indignation when this is felt or understood? But let us stay committed now, and always, to reckon with that history and its effects, and to create a strong shift from this history. Changes can occur on various levels through large movements as well as small interactions. This will go beyond our lifetime, but I think to the verse in Galatians 6:9 which I memorized as a child, “Let us not become weary in doing good, for at the proper time we will reap a harvest if we do not give up." Do not give up. Black Lives Matter.

February 2020 Newsletter: Monologues about love, one-act play (kind of) about love, and performance of "The Best Marriage Advice"

Check out my February 2020 Newsletter, featuring monologues about love, a one-act play (kind of) about love, and Katherine Voskressensky's performance of "The Best Marriage Advice", a monologue from my dark comedy/absurd play, Black and White and Red All Over.