AN OPPORTUNITY TO GET IT RIGHT: A CONVERSATION WITH ARTIST AND ACTIVIST MARK VALDEZ Interviewed by Joseph Whelan Syracuse Stage plans two residencies in the 2020/2021 season. Veteran actor and writer Stephan Wolfert (Mrs. Bennet in Pride and Prejudice) is scheduled to develop and perform an original work based on Shakespeare’s Richard III in the fall. In the spring, Los Angeles based artist and activist Mark Valdez is scheduled to arrive in Syracuse with Exiled in America, an original play developed in collaboration with four arts organizations in four cities. In addition to Syracuse Stage, the organizations are the Mixed Blood Theatre in Minneapolis, Minnesota, THEARC Theater in Washington, D.C., and the Japanese American Cultural and Community Center in Los Angeles, California. The project is inspired by the 2016 book Exiled in America: Life on the Margins in a Residential Motel by Christopher P. Dum, and aims to explore the possibility of using theatre as a tool for examining and developing public policy. JW: What interested you about the book Exiled in America? MV: What drew me in was the theatricality of the situation. The motels represented a liminal space that was home but temporary, that was motel and house, that was
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MARK VALDEZ.
in the city but on the outskirts, a space for those going to or coming out of homelessness. All that felt like it could be interesting theatre. Then on top of that was (is) a housing crisis that the nation is facing. Not only could it be good theatre, but the idea had the possibility to do some good, in the civic realm. JW: What do you think are the important revelations in the book? MV: In that past six months, the world has dramatically shifted
and we really are moving beyond the book. It inspired an idea but the stories and the housing contexts are different now, in large part because of COVID-19. We need to speak to the moment. JW: Why did you think it would make good theatre? MV: I think theatre thrives on compelling stories, on unexpected revelations, and singular aesthetics. Exiled in America touched on all these points. The reality of those facing home
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“I think theatre thrives on compelling stories, on unexpected revelations, and singular aesthetics. Exiled in America touched on all these points. ” - Mark Valdez insecurity is that they are our family members, our neighbors, our coworkers. They are all around us. The dominant narrative paints this community as troubled, or irresponsible… really they are working poor. We are all much closer to homelessness than we ever care to think about. The economic disparities before COVID, but especially since then, are more visible now. We’re seeing that many people were just barely getting by and now, they are behind with little prospect of catching up. We want to tell those stories, not to exploit people but to expose a system that makes it impossible to ever get ahead. I’m also excited about the aesthetic challenge that the piece demands. How do we tackle an aesthetic that doesn’t reinforce stereotypes or feed into larger, false narratives
but that also doesn’t shy away from tough subject matters or harsh realities? Part of this lies in telling honest, complex stories. Part of it comes from engaging with people who are themselves home insecure and hearing from them how they want their stories depicted. JW: Why are you working in four communities? How does that enhance the project? MV: The need for affordable housing is a national issue. Performing and creating in/with four different communities helps us make the point. To be clear, the problem looks different in each community and the politics in each city are different; but the problem remains: how do we provide safe, affordable housing to everyone? Bringing together a
BOOK COVER FOR EXILED IN AMERICA BY CHRISTOPHER P. DUM, 2016.
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“In this moment when we are shedding light on systemic racism, during this same moment when the pandemic will demand that we re-examine how our cities function and are financed, we have an opportunity to “get it right,” to tend to those on the margins. We hope our project can be a part of that work.” - Mark Valdez cohort from four different communities also lets us look for overlap on interests and solutions, we can share knowledge and practices, and we can amplify our voices. JW: This project aims to expand theatre beyond the stage to become a tool for addressing social issues. How would that work? MV: At the center of the project is a hypothesis: can we use the tools of art making (imagination, consensus building, co-creation, meaning making, etc.) and apply them within the civic sector to address pressing needs. For us, we are creating a development process that brings us together with housing activists, advocates, policy makers, government workers, and developers. We will meet with folks individually and in groups asking them to imagine solutions. Since we are making a play we get to decide
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the rules of the world so they are not beholden to any practical considerations when they imagine solutions. And once you can see a solution, then you can start to work towards it; and ideally, we have built trust and strengthened relationships with all these participants so that we can move towards solutions together. It’s an experiment. JW: You initiated this before COVID-19 and the murder of George Floyd. Have those events impacted your thinking about a) this particular project, and b) the ability of theatre to respond to and impact social issues. MV: The COVID pandemic, the civil uprising, they have made our work all the more urgent and timely. In this COVID moment, housing policies are changing weekly, everything from eviction and rent moratoriums to reusing public spaces to house the homeless. In many ways, much of what’s happening now are the things we’d advocate for. And even though these actions are temporary (and we are urging that they be made permanent) what they have demonstrated is that it’s possible to address homelessness and affordability, on a city-wide scale. We just have to have the will to do it. We’ve proven that it can be done. We just have to do more. The foundation of homeless-
ness and inequitable housing stems from racism. Redlining (historic and modern-day), the “urban development” that destroyed neighborhoods of color, years and years of disinvestment in urban centers, the decline of public housing, etc. etc. All of this is racism manifest. In this moment when we are shedding light on systemic racism, during this same moment when the pandemic will demand that we re-examine how our cities function and are financed, we have an opportunity to “get it right,” to tend to those on the margins. We hope our project can be a part of that work. JW: The theatre community itself has been called upon to address the inherent and systemic racism in the industry. What do you think is the way forward, especially for regional theatres like Syracuse Stage? MV: I don’t know. This moment calls on us to reach into our imaginations. We have to see things differently, approach the problems in new ways, ask ourselves really hard questions that will make us uncomfortable (about our practices and our very being). I wish I had answers or at least something useful to say on the subject. Short of that I offer a wish: for grace and generosity, for radical imagining, for accountability, and for beauty.
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