What About the Actors?
As a hip hop theater collective, we want to create programs for all of our members.
Some we have already done. We’ve started the writer residency program RAP, which is designed for playwrights, beat makers and MCs.
We have done productions such as last years’ My Father’s Daughter by Ursula Rucker, and the upcoming Sonny’s Song by Germono Toussaint. These productions use the talents of our producers and directors.
What we don’t have at the moment is a program to use our actor members to develop new work.
Since we want to use the talents of ALL of our members, what we have in mind is something along the lines of A Chorus Line. However, instead of dancers talking about the difficulties they face, our show would be about the experience of being black and the modern struggles that face our community, possibly told within the context of another storytelling or historical genre.
A Theater is a Place of Seeing
From the earliest time, theatre has been about ways of seeing other perspectives differently. The very word ‘theater’ is derived from the Greek word theatron, meaning the “place of seeing” – where the audience sits to see the narrative unfold onstage.
An audience gathers to see stories of fallible human beings, much like themselves, try to work out their struggles and succeed. They want to see people triumph, to be inspired, to have their faith in humanity restored, to understand and experience different human stories and live vicariously through them. Audiences want to be changed, because they were able to live a different life for a brief hour and a half.
What would you like to show onstage? What issues do you face? Whatever story it is, it can be told onstage, and explored in the hands of talented actors.
Our actor ensemble will determine what the work will ultimately be.
Are you ready to get down and create?
Are You An Actor?
To do this we need your help. If you are an actor and want to participate, let us know asap.
Sometime in the next few months we will make an announcement about the details on our social media. We plan on getting a rehearsal room ready, stocking it with food and beverages, and just let happen what happens.
Hopefully we will come out of the room with something really exciting.
Sound interesting? If you’re an actor and want to be a part of this, hit us up.
Soon.