Newsletter Nine: Surrendering to the Unexpected
On canceled flights, amazing colleagues, and fateful redirections
Photo credit: Joy Brunson. Fat Ham at The Old Globe.
American Airlines has not been good to me. First, they almost caused me to miss the Theorizing Black Miami—Histories, Movements and Ethics of Care. Less than a month later, this airline brought unexpected delays, theatrical cancellations, and less than preferred hotel rooms. In other words, AA had the nerve to cancel my flight—again. This time, I was on the way to an academic conference in London. Their routine cancellation was not a good recipe for my delicately planned summer travels across oceans and unfamiliar territories. I planned on beginning my summer with in-person attendance at the Performance Studies International #29 convening.
When I found out the news in Chicago, I also learned that the flight would be sold-out for the next day, and a possible new flight would include 9 more additional hours than the flight I originally booked. The realization that I probably would not make my talk, only to turn around and fly right back the next day, slowly crept in. It would have been my first time in London.
Around midnight, I called my mom to tell her I would be coming to Miami a little early. When I saw the van from my childhood riding up to greet me a few hours later, an overwhelming sense of peace hugged me as I learned to surrender. The grace of my redirection met me when I realized that my session could be hybrid. I Zoomed in from a small desk in my brother’s childhood room.
The Performance Studies International #29 ASSEMBLE conference, was hosted by Royal Central School of Speech and Drama at the University of London. Together with the brilliant Professors Jordan Ealey and Vanessa Macaulay we theorized our work on a panel titled “The Black Feminist Performance: Intimacies, Intersections, Interventions.”
Along with the wonderful Professor Leticia Ridley, we interpreted the call to conference’s assemble within this framing:
“Where and how do Black people assemble, gather, meet? Black space historically has been surveilled; take lantern laws as an example, where Black people were legally permitted from gathering. And yet, Black people still congregate.
We assemble in the hush harbors where enslaved African Americans would assemble in secret for spiritual renewal. We gather in juke joints after a long day of work. We meet in the ring shout, the literary salon, the club, the church, the mosque, the house party…Black people have been assembling, gathering, meeting across time in both private and public spaces despite threats of anti-Black violence and persecution.
This session is following in the legacy of these Black assemblages, The Black Feminist Performance: Intimacies, Intersections, Interventions will bring together Black feminist scholar-artists to inquire how assembly cultivates a space for radical Black feminist practice. We will collectively enact a Black feminist scenography designed to explore the possibilities of collective creation.”
I was absolutely blown away by Vanessa Macaulay's astounding artistry in “Between Stolen Breaths” (2021). Having already been familiar with her astute academic writing, it was a gift to witness her Black feminist praxis in a different medium.”
Vanessa Macaulay. Still. “Between Stolen Breaths” (2021).
As always, I was inspired by Jordan Ealey’s rigorous commitment to activating Black feminist theory in the world outside of academia. Presenting from a recent project, she is an impressive dramaturg with a genius depth of Black theatre. Check out their acclaimed podcast with Leticia Ridley— Daughters of Lorraine.
In the midst of these fateful redirections, I now find myself in Indianapolis, Indiana. I have the pleasure of working as dramaturg for a powerful new play called Riverside written by the dynamic ML Roberts with Indianapolis Shakespeare Company, Inc. Directed by the incomparable Rudi Goblen, this play chronicles the familial bond in the historically Black community of Riverside across three distinct periods of becoming. This is a dream of a play. More soon!
Art I Can’t Stop Thinking About:
FAT HAM by James Ijames! I saw Fat Ham at The Old Globe with the breathtaking Joy Brunson! Tian Richards was dynamite on and off the stage!