S N R E T T A P OF
D N I W k
or w d e s i v e d a new
CREATED BY
Arianne Banda, Caila Katz, Claire Gardner, Jayna Shoda Meyer, Julia Hertzberg, Katie McRae, Nderitu Gatere, Raymond Vasco, Ty Defoe, Siobhan Growing Elm Brown, Katherine Freer, Dayna Cousins, Sierra Hoss, Sienna Siciliano
CONCEIVED BY
Ty Defoe and Katherine Freer
DIRECTED BY
Ty Defoe, Siobhan Growing Elm Brown, Dayna Cousins, Katherine Freer
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A NOTE FROM THE DEAN
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ollaboratively created, multivocal, and anchored in the now, devised theatre is a dynamic and potent form of art-making. Theatre has the potential to create social change. It is here where we encounter perspectives that differ from our own. It is here where new forms of sociality—which reject the prejudices and biases of the past—can be imagined and rehearsed. I am thankful for the Patterns of Wind team for their artistry and their invitation to join them in co-envisioning the future. - Harvey Young Dean, College of Fine Arts
BU COLLEGE OF FINE ARTS Harvey Young • Dean, College of Fine Arts Dana Clancy • Director, School of Visual Arts Gregory Melchor-Barz • Director, School of Music Susan Mickey • Director, School of Theatre
S N R E PATT OF
D N I W
December 2 - 5, 2021 Joan & Edgar Booth Theatre
As a part of the Indigenous Voices in the Americas series, funded in part by the Boston University Arts Initiative, CFA School of Theatre presents a Booth production world premiere of this new devised work.
CONCEIVED BY
Ty Defoe & Katherine Freer
CREATED BY Arianne Banda, Caila Katz, Claire Gardner, Jayna Shoda Meyer, Julia Hertzberg, Katie McRae, Nderitu Gatere, Raymond Vasco, Ty Defoe, Siobhan Growing Elm Brown, Katherine Freer, Dayna Cousins, Sierra Hoss, Sienna Siciliano -1-
COMING UP THIS YEAR AT BOOTH THEATRE
If I Were You
Music by Jake Heggie Libretto by Gene Scheer
February 24 - 27, 2022
Shakespeare in Love April 30 - May 8, 2022
Learn more about the Joan & Edgar Booth Theatre at bu.edu/booth, and find upcoming production information at bu.edu/cfa/season -2-
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A NOTE FROM THE SCHOOL OF THEATRE DIRECTOR
he School of Theatre is honored to have welcomed all of the Guest Artists and community members involved in the education, development, and sharing of this work-in-progress this semester. Our time in this process has been like no other; our students, faculty, and staff have engaged in a way of working that we hope will help us move forward with more thoughtful, inclusive, and intentional practices. As theatremakers and storytellers, we have become very steeped in old traditions and ways of making work. As artists, it is our duty to always examine, investigate, and change the paradigms in order to shape the future. Devising Patterns of Wind helped us with that process. The members of this team have discovered new vocabulary and new ways of working together as this piece grew to fruition. In the rehearsal reports each day, I started to notice the word “braiding.” The word was used to describe the way this piece was assembled by the team. It is a beautiful metaphor for exactly how this project will envelope us as we experience it. At this time of year, especially, we look toward heritage, history, identity, and family. The sharing of this work brings all of those elements to the fore. - Susan Mickey
Director, School of Theatre -3-
PRODUCTION TEAM DIRECTORS
Ty Defoe Siobhan Growing Elm Brown Dayna Cousins Katherine Freer
PRODUCTION MANAGER
Annie Kao
ASSOCIATE PRODUCTION MANAGER
Hannah Eckert
STAGE MANAGER ASSISTANT STAGE MANAGER PRODUCTION ASSISTANTS
Sierra Hoss Sienna Siciliano Caleb Dean Lena Broach
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DESIGN & TECHNICAL TEAM SCENIC DESIGNERS COSTUME DESIGNER ASSISTANT COSTUME DESIGNER LIGHTING DESIGNER SOUND DESIGNER ASSISTANT SOUND DESIGNER
Alyssa Jewell Marc Andrea Vento Danielle Bazan Daniel Vigil Eduardo Ramírez Kortright Mackenzie Adamick Patrick Meade
PROJECTION DESIGNER
Katherine Freer
ASSISTANT PROJECTION DESIGNER
McKenna Ebert
PROPS MASTER PRODUCTION ELECTRICIAN ASSISTANT PRODUCTION ELECTRICIAN
Sarah Lloyd John Holmes Celeste Delgadillo
TECHNICAL DIRECTOR
Jonathan Utter
ASSISTANT TECHNICAL DIRECTOR
Jackson Hamman
SCENE PAINTERS FACULTY PROJECT ADVISOR
Brenda Dziadzio, Lydia Anderson, Guthrie Morgan, Noah Dunlap David Remedios -5-
PERFORMERS & DEVISORS Arianne Banda Claire Gardner Caila Katz Jayna Shoda Meyer Julia Hertzberg Katie McRae Nderitu Gatere Raymond Vasco
Indigenous Voices in the Americas Series continues in Spring 2022! For more information on programs and partners, please visit
bu.edu/arts/IVA
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PRODUCTION CREW ASSISTANT DIRECTOR WARDROBE
FOLLOW SPOT OPERATORS
LIGHT BOARD OPERATOR SOUND BOARD OPERATOR
Timothy Blaufuss Sofia Schreiber Zachary Connell India Silverman Alexa Connors Theodore Doyle Lydia Grosswendt Grant Powicki Irene Wang
VIDEO OPERATOR
Lexi Balduzzi
FRONT OF HOUSE
Lucas Connor Zachary Kautter Mia Bregman Brandon Nnoli Jack Essner Chloe Kolbenheyer Haley Lynch Imayah Hakwins
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patterns ofWIND wind PATTERNS OF
Alyssa Jewell (she/her) is a secondyear MFA Scenic Design student. Hailing from Portland, Oregon, she completed her BA at Portland State University where she explored visual and performance art. Gearing her passions toward social justice in art, this piece has been a joy for her to be a collaborator on diving into vulnerability, identity, and decolonization.
New Hampshire, they embrace their mixed identity and indigenous heritage of the Plains Cree and Métis community in Canada.
Annie Kao (they/them) is a second-year MFA production Management student. Originally growing up in Thailand, they joined BU last year after spending a year at the American Conservatory Theater as their Production Management Fellow. Annie-kao.com.
Danielle Bazan (she/her) is a Costume Designer in her senior year. She has been very excited to work on this process devising diverse work, exploring new identities, and collaborating with passionate artists.
Celeste Delgadillo (she/her) is a secondyear BFA Lighting Design student. She is from the small, quaint town of Los Angeles, California. She is the Assistant Production Electrician and is super excited to work on this project!
Daniel Vigil (he/him) is a proud young Latino man from San Francisco, California. Arianne Banda (she/her) is an His love for clothing and fashion stems from interdisciplinary artist who strives to create his background in acting and dance, as well art that is healing. When we heal, we change, as his family’s influences. He is proud to be and art is pure change. Her art exists as a attending Boston University as the first in his part of herself, not simply as a product to family to attend college. sell. We are all we have, and she consistently thinks about the importance of community Dayna Cousins (she/her) is a third-year MFA student. She is very grateful to have in her life and art. She will be graduating in collaborated with these beautiful and the spring. talented artists. Favorite BU acting credits Caila Katz (she/they) is a multidisciplinary include Sunny Jacobs, The Exonerated artist and performer. She is a senior in the and Soccer Mom, The Wolves. Dayna also School of Theatre, who devises through the recently directed The Half-Life of Marie mediums of movement, dance, visual art, Curie, and thanks the cast and crew for voice, and theatre. Caila is also a writer, with being so tremendous. She’d also like to a new play in the works, In the Wake of it All, thank her family, her husband Chris, and her which will be open to audiences in late April/ dog Gnocchi for their support and love. To early May. Come talk to them after the show glimpse more of her work, visit: for more info! daynacousins.com. Caleb Dean (he/him) is a first-year student Eduardo M. Ramírez Kortright (he/him) in the School of Theatre studying Design and is a first-year grad student at BU’s School of Production with a hopeful concentration Theatre. He was born and raised in Puerto in Technical Production. Hailing from the Rico, obtained his undergraduate degree middle of nowhere Pennsylvania, he hopes to at Loyola University New Orleans, where bring handyman skills and a rural touch to the he spent a great portion of his professional city of Boston. career doing Lighting Design and Technical Claire Soleil Gardner (they/them) is a second-year Theatre Arts major pursuing their BFA. Claire identifies as an interdisciplinary artist and is passionate about theater, playwriting, film making, painting, and music. Originally from central
Direction at various theaters in and around the city.
Grant Powicki (he/him) is a first-year Design and Production student from Western Massachusetts hoping to concentrate on Lighting Design. He is so thankful for the cast
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and crew of this production and all their hard with a local high school theatre group, worked work! at the Northern Marianas Humanities Council, and learned how to sail traditional Chamorro Haley Chey Lynch (she/her) is so excited to be a part of this production and be a part canoes. Jayna’s fire is lit by staying rooted in of long-awaited theatre again! Special thanks Chamorro culture, creating art, and constantly learning more about active decolonization. to the entire Boston University College of Fine Arts, cast, and crew of Patterns of Wind. Instagram: @jaynashodameyer.
John Holmes (he/him) is a third-year Lighting Designer at Boston University. Along with this project, he has worked on a musical called John & Jen, and recent credits include Proof and Reimagining Utopia. When John isn’t working on a show, he can be found on a run along the Charles River, painting a landscape, or blending India Silverman (she/her) is a BFA up a smoothie. In addition to his lighting student in the first-year theatre design and degree, John is pursuing coursework and a production track. Originally from Seattle, minor in Education, with plans to become a Washington, she has come to Boston this theatre educator in public secondary school. year to further her education and looks Follow @johnholmesdesign for updates forward to the next four years of working on on Instagram, and check out his website at BU stages. johnholmesdesign.com. Irene Wang (she/her) is a first-year BFA John Utter (he/him) is a second-year Design & Production student. Hailing from graduate student in the Technical Production the small town of Wilmington, MA, she has program at Boston University. After receiving come to Boston University to pursue theatre his undergraduate degree from the University tech and make a few friends along the way. of Minnesota, he spent a number of years working as a freelance carpenter, welder, Jack Essner (he/him) is a first-year Performance Core student. Born and raised and fabricator for a variety of entertainment in Los Angeles, Jack is grateful to be working industries across the country. You can see a portfolio and find out more at john.utter. on such a special piece of theatre and is scenic.com. so appreciative to be able to witness live performances again. Julia Hertzberg (she/her) is a senior Theatre Arts major and is excited to be back Jackson Hamman (he/him) is a junior in performing in-person at BU. She is an actor the School of Theatre from Minneapolis, and writer who hopes to infuse all her work Minnesota. He is the assistant technical director of this project and is very excited for with passion project energy. everyone to see the show! Katherine Freer (she/her) is a multimedia artist, filmmaker, organizer, and educator. Jayna Shoda Meyer (she/her) is a junior Her artistic practice lives at the intersection studying Theatre Arts. She identifies as a of story, technology, and civic engagement. diasporic Chamorro (indigenous to the It is rooted in joy, curiosity, mutual learning, Mariana Islands) of mixed race, born and and the pursuit of justice for all living beings. raised in California. Her artistic practice includes acting, directing, singing, movement, She is a core collaborator in All My Relations Collective, Projections Design Instructor at and writing. Prior to this production, Jayna University of the Arts (Philadelphia), and a spent 8 months in Saipan on a personal Teaching Artist with Roundabout Education. journey to water her roots. She volunteered Enjoy the show!
Hannah Eckert (she/her) is a first-year MFA Production Management student from the Hudson Valley in New York. She also has a BFA from Purchase College SUNY. She is excited for this to be her second production here at Boston University.
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PATTERNS OF WIND ...She is a proud member of Wingspace Theatrical Design and United Scenic Artists Local 829. Learn more: katherinefreer.com.
Midsummer Nights’ Dream Pod Project. She is excited to continue exploring new avenues of artistic expression in her final year at BU!
Katie McRae (she/her) is a junior Acting major whose past productions include Othello and The Penelopiad. She enjoys baking, acting, and painting her nightmares.
Mia Sydney (she/her) is a first-year Performance Core student from Encinitas, California with the hopes of going down the Acting track. Mia is excited to be a part of Lena Broach (she/her) is a first-year Design such a unique piece, and of course, to be back in live theatre! and Production undergraduate student from North Aurora, IL. She thinks she’ll be Nderitu Gatere (he/him) is humbled focusing on Lighting come next year, but and honored to be part of Patterns of she’s very proud of all the work that has Wind. Nderitu is a young actor who enjoys gone into this show, and can’t wait to see the storytelling, existing, inhaling oxygen, and result! having random thoughts. He is grateful for everyone who has allowed him to grow into Lexi Balduzzi (she/her) is a sophomore Theatre Arts student concentrating in Scenic the man he is. His mother, his father, his sister, and his close friends have all played an Design. She is a first-year SOT student who influential role in who he is today. just transferred into CFA last semester. Lydia Grosswendt (she/her) is a sophomore BFA Acting major at Boston University. In 2019, she was a finalist in the English-Speaking Union’s National Shakespeare Monologue Competition. She is from Providence, RI. You can follow Lydia on Instagram @lydiagrosswendt to hear about what she is up to next.
Patrick Meade (he/him) is an undergraduate Sound Design major at Boston University. Patrick has done a variety of projects from musicals, to plays, to cabarets and is excited for this opportunity to work on this piece.
McKenna Ebert (she/her) is a senior Lighting Design and English dual-degree student. Her recent work at BU includes designing The Infinite Energy of Ada Lovelace (Booth), Laure (Studio 352), and the A
BFA Stage Management major. Most recently she served as the Stage Manager for Proof and A Midsummer Night’s Dream at BU, as well as an Assistant Stage Manager for Romeo and Juliet at Apollinaire Theatre
Raymond Vasco (he/him) is a secondgeneration Filipino-American actor, writer, Mackenzie Adamick (she/they) is a first- and theatre artist. Originally from Irvine, California, he transplanted himself into year MFA Sound Design student. Having worked in sound for music, film, and theatre, Boston in order to pursue a BFA degree in Mackenzie is grateful for the opportunity to Acting at Boston University. He is currently apply their skills to the theatrical stage here a fourth-year student. His artistic work is rooted in the intersection of joy, community, at BU. They proudly hail from Raleigh, NC. social justice, and Asian identity. Learn more: Marc Andrea Vento (he/him) is a raymondvasco.com. senior BFA Scenic Design major at Boston University. He began his studies at BU as an Sarah Lloyd (she/her) is a sophomore Art History major before transferring to the Scenic Design student from New Orleans. School of Theatre to pursue his interests Sienna Siciliano (she/her) is a sophomore in design. Previously, Marc has worked on BFA Stage Management major. She is a A Dream Play, Walking the Tightrope, and transfer student from California and she is The Infinite Energy of Ada Lovelace. He has very excited to work on her first production enjoyed the challenges of working within a at BU. devised process. Sierra Hoss (she/her) is currently a junior
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Company. She is so excited to be working with such a great team of collaborators on this project and is very thankful to the amazing support she gets from her friends and family.
Siobhan Juanita Brown (Keesuty8ee Elm, Beaver Clan) is from Roxbury, MA and currently resides on her ancestral homelands of the Mashpee Wampanoag Tribe. Vonnie has a BFA in Performing Arts from Emerson College and is a graduate of the A.R.T., Institute for Advanced Theater Training at Harvard University. Performance credits include Suzan-Lori Parks’ The America Play at A.R.T., The Emancipation of Valet de Chambre at Cleveland Play House, Studs Terkel’s American Dreams: Lost and Found, Medea and Antony and Cleopatra for Actors’ Shakespeare Project, and Adrienne Kennedy’s Funnyhouse of A Negro with Brandeis Theatre Company. She has worked extensively in arts education as Associate Director of Education at The Wang Theatre and Director of School & Teacher Programs at Actors’ Shakespeare Project. With the Wôpanâak Language Reclamation Project, Siobhan is a member of the founding teaching team of Weetumuw Katnuhtôhtâkamuq, the Wôpanâak language and culture immersion school providing academic and Indigenous education using a Montessori pedagogy for decolonization and language reclamation.
celebration in Cairo, Egypt; Ankara, Turkey, International Music Festival; and Festival of World Cultures in Dubai. Awards: Global Indigenous Heritage Festival Award, Jonathan Larson Award, Helen Merrill Playwriting Award 2021, and finalist at the Cordillera International Film Festival. Works created and authored: Trail and Tears (w/ Dawn Avery) River of Stone, Red Pine, The Way They Lived, Ajijaak on Turtle Island, Hear Me Say My Name, The Lesson (w/ Avi Amon and Nolan Doran), and Firebird Tattoo, among others. An artEquity facilitator, co-founder of Indigenous Direction (with Larissa FastHorse). Member of All My Relations Collective, GIZHIBAA GIIZHIG | Revolving Sky at Under the Radar’s Incoming, The Public Theater. Publications: Casting a Movement, Pitkin Review, Thorny Locust Magazine, Howl Round, and Routledge Press, The Methuen Drama Book of Trans Plays for the Stage. Degrees from CalArts, Goddard College, + NYU Tisch. Director: The Winer Bear (Perseverance Theater), Midsummer Night’s Dream (Arizona Shakespeare Company). Movement Direction: Mother Road, Dir. Bill Rauch (OSF), Manahatta, Dir. Laurie Woolery (OSF + Yale Rep), and Choreographer for Tracy Letts’ The Minutes (Broadway). Appeared on the Netflix show Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt, and Broadway debut in Young Jean Lee’s Straight White Men, Dir. Anna Shapiro. Lives in NYC + loves the color clear. He|We, Proud member of AEA, SDC, ASCAP, and the Dramatist Guild Council.www.allmyrelations.earth, tydefoe.com.
Sofia Schreiber (she/her) is a first-year student from Princeton, NJ in the Design and Production program. She hopes to major in scenic design next year. She would like to Zachary Connell (he/him) is a first-year Design and Production student from thank all of the Patterns of Wind team for Deerfield, Illinois and plans to pursue a putting on an amazing show! concentration in Lighting Design in the Timothy Blaufuss (he/him) is a sophomore following years. Zack is grateful for the cast Theater Arts major from Nashville, TN. and crew and the opportunity to be a part of Ty Defoe (Giizhig) is a citizen of the Oneida/ such a meaningful piece. Ojibwe Nations. A writer, interdisciplinary Zach Kautter (he/him) is a first-year BFA artist, and Grammy Award winner. Ty aspires Performance Core student. Originally from to an interweaving and glitterizing approach Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, he joined BU this to artistic projects with indiqueering, year after graduating from Pittsburgh Central environmentalism, and digital technology. Ty’s Catholic High School. • global cultural arts highlights: the Millennium
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patterns wind PATTERNS of OF WIND
n true Patterns of Wind form, this artist note comes from deep within our process. It was seeded in a session with Quita Sullivan (Montaukett/Shiniquak), director of the New England Foundation for the Arts National Theater Project. The ensemble was asked to respond to a series of prompts about the process in order to create a shared understanding of what it is that we are creating together and how to communicate that beyond the collective. What better way to explain this process than to share the words of the creators?
^ A cloud comprised of words generated by the ensemble that embody the Patterns of Wind devising process.
WHY PATTERNS OF WIND? Arianne: I needed a space like this to be able to fully express my ideas and radical thoughts with the trust of full support in actuality, not theory. Caila: Because our community is tired of harm and we demand the rebuilding of our theatre practice. Claire: Because my history, and that of many others, has been hidden purposefully and revealing it challenges the dominant narrative of what the past was and what the future can and should be. Taking theater out of its traditionally colonial structure has the ability to change the way theater is done and connect it back to the original practices of this land and of creation. We can stop the cycle and share our decolonization of self, life, and art. Jayna: Incorporating Indigeneity - original practice, acknowledgement, respect - into education feels crucial. That means active decolonization, looking at the structures we adhere to, how they function, how they hurt or benefit us, and our role in structures of power that exist. This process is showing me how to be aware of those structures and how to BREAK! THEM! DOWN! My art does not have to sacrifice my culture! I can stop the cycle of colonization and use my art to decolonize and indigenize my mind, body, and soul. My culture and values (and I believe they can go hand in hand) walk into every room with me. - 12 -
artist note
ARTIST NOTE
Julia: To challenge the rest of the School of Theatre season. To connect us to each other, the School of Theatre community, and community outside of Boston University. Katie: Indigenous oral practice is important. Devised work is important and deserves to be treated as such. Nderitu: To see what students can create as different people coming together as an ensemble and working together. Raymond: It is important for this school to be introduced to a form of theatre and a form of creating theatre that decenters harmful colonial and capitalist practices. That centers voices and methods that are often unheard and silenced - specifically original ways of the land and the Indigenous people of this land. This is a way to challenge this institution and for us to be heard.
Photograph of scrolls from the rehearsal room created by the collective
WHY THIS ENSEMBLE? Arianne: I have found us all to have a strong connection and similar values and wants. We are people on the outside inviting you to see our thinly covered depth. Caila: We are hope for the future. We are a group of artists that represent a subsection of theatrical collaborators of the next generation. We will take what we have each learned from this process into our works to come and help form safer spaces for the artists who follow. Claire: The intersections of our stories, the similarities and differences reflect the pain and beauty of humanity. Our connection and co-creation in the name of liberation and joy for all peoples is an example of the positive change we can all generate if we put in the effort to come together and create a space where that is accessible for everyone to bring their full selves into. Jayna: This ensemble has committed to the journey. We have - 13 -
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supported each other through the unknown and embraced the process. We have committed to continuing conversations and advocating for ourselves and each other. And within that, I’ve discovered the interconnectedness of many of our stories.
Katie: Sometimes I’m uncertain. I feel very disconnected from the land and from my lineage, and that story is worth telling. Nderitu: Our auditions and callbacks saw us as good candidates to create and perform a devised piece. And fate, the school, or coincidence… whatever you want to call it, had it that we will be creating this show and it is what it is. Raymond: We have cultivated a room full of diverse voices, stories, experiences, and perspectives, and I think we all have a bone to pick with how theatre (and society) functions and treats us. I think we are a group of people that have differences in opinion, but share a unity in the direction of where we want theatre and society to go. Inclusivity. Equity. Justice. And I think this room is a group of aspiring theatre students that actually care about what we are talking about in this process.
^ The Patterns of Wind devisors after our session with guest Quita Sullivan
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artist note
ARTIST NOTE WHY NOW?
Arianne: A reckoning of values has been a long time coming in the School of Theatre. Being in good relation to one another is critical. Reinvigorating the essence of change within the school. Feeling safe and expressing emotion in one’s own capacity without the social expectations of whiteness is freeing. Caila: Because it will help change and heal the harmful practices that have roamed these halls for far too long. Claire: Because I love my friends, my family, my community and want us to have the lives we deserve in the world we deserve in the school we deserve. Now because humanity is in crisis, the environment is in crisis, and the dominant racist, colonial, capitalist, patriarchal culture in America encourages stasis. It requires disconnection from self and the justification of harming others in order to profit for anyone to have their needs met. There has never been a world or a humanity more in need of hope and truth and justice than the one we exist in now. Now because I am not willing to give up on myself, those I love, or this earth. This school is also in a moment of transition making this an excellent opportunity to create lasting changes in the system and create cracks for future people to open. Jayna: This needs to happen yesterday, today, and tomorrow and tomorrow and tomorrow. All the time. Not the production, but the process and actions that this project has been infused with. I had been asking the universe: “How do I keep my culture alive when I am away from my community? How do I marry my identity and my art? How can I bring my art to my community? How do I feel connected in Boston again?” Not to say this process has magically answered all my questions, but it has most definitely led me to more directed questions. Questions that are more sustainable than a one time answer, questions that motivate me to keep asking and searching and learning and decolonizing and Indigenizing. So yes, this is needed now. Not just for me in my personal journey, but for everyone in this institution. And they might not all get it, but this process is giving this ensemble the tools to start doing something about it. Or seeing the work that can exist outside of the system. Julia: The ways in which we relate and interact in-person with each other should have changed since the pandemic. The extractive and exploitative way we are expected to relate to the land has not changed. We need to care for each other more. Katie: COVID-19 made room for change within our work, art, and life. Decolonizing the rehearsal space and university should start now since change gives way to more change. - 15 -
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Nderitu: Everything is always happening now. No past and no future, only the present. My initial thought is that this could only be happening now so that’s why it is happening now, because just like everything else, it can only happen in the present.
Raymond: I think the pandemic has exacerbated the harmful effects of the status quo of how government, society, and industries work - mostly in that they are broken. There is a racial reckoning happening on this land, and it needs to be supported in all spheres of society - including theatre. This school (and this world) needs to challenge the systems in which theatre and entertainment function, and commit to enacting actual structural things to decolonize and decapitalize theatre and theatre practicum. In teachings. In how classes are run and pedagogies. In all of it. And right now, it needs to be shown what can be achieved if one does so.
^ Photograph of scrolls from the rehearsal room created by the collective
WHAT IS IT?
Arianne: A celebration of life and rebirth, a reverence to those who brought us into it, and a challenge to respect and accept the stories of the lives of others as truth. It is a beautifully defiant platform to break down colonialism and white supremacy in front of our audience and within the greater community. A gracious lesson. Bear witness. Caila: Finding universal through the personal. This is a connection, a piece of each contributing artist’s personal, and a piece of our individual lore. It is a result of our continuous journey of finding trust within one another. Claire: Patterns of Wind is a collaborative ensemble offering stories connecting us to the past and the future. It centers the collaboration and community over the product. It is deeply connected to nature, honoring the original practices of this land, and personal connections to ancestry. - 16 -
artist note
ARTIST NOTE
Jayna: Devised piece, story-telling, a project, personal truth, movement, sound, collaborative, explorative, literal and nonliteral, decolonized, rooted, respect for the earth we stand on, respect for the original peoples of the land we stand on, respect for the elements, respect for the four directions, embracing of spirituality, linear and nonlinear, circular, personal, generous, transformative, elastic. A collaborative devising project rooted in oral storytelling, lineage, and relationship with nature with an emphasis on decolonial creative process. About the connectedness of us all. Julia: Devised & personal exploration on relationship to past, present, future, land, and elements (space & time). Interwoven threads. Katie: Collective sharing. Lineage. Raymond: An on-going process. Stories from diverse voices and identities. A reclamation of the dignity all humans deserve. An act of justice for indigenous teachings to the land. A tracing of individual identity and ancestry. A direction for a better future. A gratitude for the land and history it holds.
^ Photograph of scrolls from the rehearsal room created by the collective
WHAT IS IT NOT? Arianne: It is not a “Native American” show. A display of ritual/ceremony. Spectacle of the lives of POC. Not only for entertainment. A “show.” A one time thing. Caila: This piece is not a space that embraces the colonized way of the institution, but a process that actively works to unwind the nails that have pinned colonialist ideals onto this land. We are about love, acknowledging harm and where it plays a role in theatre and restitution. Most importantly, we are a support system to inspire the continual growth in our peers and our institution. - 17 -
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Claire:It is not just entertainment, it doesn’t exist to just make people feel good and leave. It is not “the native american show they’re doing this year.” It is not like anything going on in the School of Theater or anything that has been done in the past. NOT an alibi.
Jayna: Religion, “a play,” “a Native American play,” adhering to western history, hierarchical, about the product, cultural appropriation, any specific representation of any one individual culture, frigid, limiting, representative of any one culture. Julia: Not one story. Should be no instances of non-indigenous people coopting indigenous stories or spirituality. Katie: A product. A frivolous tale. An ending. Raymond: A dream. A one-time deal. A production to fix everything. A show that is based in a fiction of the show’s world.
^Photograph of scrolls from the rehearsal room created by the collective
TO THE AUDIENCE Arianne: A world like this can exist for us all again. This is not fantasy, but a very real reality of joy and life. You can have this too. Be aware that you participate in harm and do something about it. Caila: This is not here for your entertainment, but provides the opportunity for you to connect with us, our ideas, and our passion for radical love and decolonial practice. - 18 -
artist note
ARTIST NOTE
Claire: This is not something to keep you comfortable or only challenge you in thought, it is to challenge you in practice, in action, in the physical reality we all share. It is something to make you move, take action, and call you to change yourself and our world in any and every way possible. Jayna: This is a process. Not a product. The value lies in the process. Leave your expectations (and colonized mind) at the door. Julia: Very slow and practiced. Leaving room for the whole individual. We are entering from all different levels of knowledge of both original practices and devising. Katie: The audience should know that this work/show is deeply personal and cared for. Nderitu: I want the audience to be open to seeing the bigger picture of what theatre can be. Raymond: This process is what we can create when we decolonize theatre and reintroduce ways before it.
- Arianne Banda, Caila Katz, Claire Gardner, Jayna Shoda Meyer, Julia Hertzberg, Katie McRae, Nderitu Gatere, Raymond Vasco
SPECIAL THANKS American Repertory Theatre
Josh Higgason Krishna Lamichhane
Brenna Nicely David Weeden
Mashpee Wampanoag Tribal Clan Mothers
Ebony Tree Arrows Barkley
Michelle Cook
Gertrude “Kitty” Hendricks
Quita Sullivan
Jim Peters
Rachel Hicks - 19 -
BOSTON UNIVERSITY SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA, SYMPHONIC CHORUS, AND WIND ENSEMBLE at SYMPHONY HALL BOSTON Tuesday, April 5, 2022
WIND ENSEMBLE DAVID MARTINS, CONDUCTOR
SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA & SYMPHONIC CHORUS
'The Cowboys' from the motion picture The Cowboy and the Girl by John Williams
JAMES BURTON, CONDUCTOR
Our New Day Begun by Omar Thomas
German Requiem by Brahms
MARIAH WILSON, CHORAL DIRECTOR
FREE, registration required Reservations available soon at bu.edu/cfa/symphonyhall
December 2-12 | Tickets: BostonPlaywrights.org
B OSTON U NIVERSITY ART GALLERIES 2022 EXHIBITIONS + EVENTS BU.EDU/ART FOLLOW US FOR NEWS @BUARTGALLERIES Boston University Art Galleries
Boston University Art Galleries VERDI
La
Traviata ON E P ER FO R M A N CE O N LY Sunday, January 23, 2022 • 3pm Sanders Theatre at Harvard University BOSTON YOUTH SYMPHONY Federico Cortese, Conductor
Art Galleries
FEBRUARY 11 MARCH 6, 2022 VISIT WHEELOCKFAMILYTHEATRE.ORG FOR MORE INFO BU STUDENTS, FACULTY & STAFF RECEIVE: FREE TICKETS TO OPENING WEEKEND (CODE "BUOPEN") $10 STUDENT TICKETS (CODE "COLLEGE") 25% OFF FACULTY & STAFF TICKETS (CODE "BUSTAFF")
BOSTON UNIVERSITY JOAN & EDGAR BOOTH THEATRE Since its inaugural season in 2018, this bold, state-of-theart structure encourages innovation, conversation, and collaboration. The flexible design of Booth Theatre allows for the inventive evolution of performances and a deep engagement with audiences. Research is at the core of Boston University, and BU College of Fine Arts practices it every day in the form of creative experimentation. Booth Theatre and the adjacent CFA Production Center are laboratories for such research, and in every detail, they are purpose-built for discovery. Recent productions include Angels in America (Parts I and II), The Rake’s Progress, Mansfield Park, Dolores Claiborne, The Lathe of Heaven, The Exonerated, ...and Jesus Moonwalks the Mississippi, Antigone, The Infinite Energy of Ada Lovelace, Proving Up, and Colossal. Learn more at bu.edu/booth.
BOSTON UNIVERSITY COLLEGE OF FINE ARTS Established in 1954, Boston University College of Fine Arts (CFA) is a community of artist-scholars and scholar-artists who are passionate about the fine and performing arts, committed to diversity and inclusion, and determined to improve the lives of others through art. With programs in music, theatre, and visual arts, CFA prepares students for a meaningful creative life by developing their intellectual capacity to create art, shift perspective, think broadly, and master essential 21st-century skills. CFA offers a wide array of precollege, undergraduate, graduate, and doctoral programs, as well as a range of online degrees and certificates. Learn more at bu.edu/cfa.
BOSTON UNIVERSITY COLLEGE OF FINE ARTS SCHOOL OF THEATRE The School of Theatre at the College of Fine Arts at Boston University is a leading conservatory for the study of acting, stage management, design, production, and all aspects of the theatre profession. These programs of study are enriched by the School’s access to the greater liberal arts programs at Boston University. The School of Theatre values the notion of “the new conservatory” and seeks to provide students with opportunities for artistic growth through a rigorous curriculum, professional connections, and an emphasis on collaboration and new work.
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