Toreros stay woke with theater
The Vassiliadis Family Black Box Theatre presents an evening of theatrical one-acts
Vayunamu Bawa | Contributor | USD Vista
Students in the theatre and community courses at the University of San Diego worked all semester on a series of one-acts that they performed last week at the Vassiliadis Family Black Box Theatre on campus. WOKE Theatre was the product of joint efforts between USD’s theater students and Access, a local non-profit organization in the Linda Vista community that provides undocumented women, survivors of domestic violence, and other community members with pro bono legal and other services.
USD students worked with community partners from Access to create and perform personal and shared narratives. The wide range of topics covered sexual assault, immigration, domestic violence, police violence, love, and faith, all tied together by the strength of storytelling.
Third-year Zach Farber explained his reason for attendance.
“I decided to attend to support my friends who performed and to enjoy tasteful theatre,” Farber said. “I feel hopeful for the dismantling of the capitalist system that creates the environments responsible for the hardships depicted in the acts. My favorite parts were all of Alanah Winston, Alanna Bledman, and Deja Butler’s performances. The voices of women of color need to be at the forefront of dismantling that system.”
The best part of this process for first-year performer Alanah Winston was getting to work with her best friends on something she cared about, which was also the hardest part.
“A connection can be made when one consumes news and social media about police violence, but acting and feeling the weight of losing someone in that way is more powerful,” Winston said.
In the act titled “Disposable,” Winston lost her friend in a police situation. What she wants everyone to take away from WOKE Theatre is that “Black lives matter.”
Second-year Alanna Bledman directed this act and performed as well.
“It was a loaded experience, to say the least,” Bledman said. “It felt so crazy to be able to write something that means so much to me and the people I associate it. And then for that to get shown on stage. And for me to be the one directing it and be in it; I pulled a whole Issa Rae!”
Bledman hoped the audience listened to every second of her piece, from the different depictions of views held by Black youth on protesting to the different personalities of the characters as activists.
Evelyn Cruz, professor in USD’s Department of Theatre and artistic director of WOKE Theatre, taught the class. Cruz talked about the one-act “Marion’s Story” as an example of the power theater has in forming connections.
“The best part is seeing the way people come together around these issues,” Cruz said. “You can give people statistics and lectures but when you have an embodied soul on the stage, that moves a person tremendously to start thinking, ‘Wow, this affects a real person.’”
Cruz explained that the acts were much more powerful than what someone would see on TV.
“The exchange of energies that happened during the show as second-year student Marion Chavarria Rivera shared her immigration story does not happen by watching the news or listening to a lecture,” Cruz said. “I want folks to wake up. These are issues affecting all of us. I am trying to increase empathy across communities and provoke more conversation.”
After the one-acts, an open mic followed where audience members performed their own acts of poetry or dance. The open mic was an avenue for both performers and audience members to share whatever was on their minds and hearts in an environment that was full of love and support.
“We are engaging in serious issues but we also need a release from all of it,” Cruz said.
Intentional provision of platforms like WOKE Theatre to highlight salient issues is vital to the sustenance of relationships among members of the USD community.