STATEMENT of POLITIC

SPW is unapologetically political. As a workshop space, SPW is proudly anti-racist and feminist.
This does not mean that your work must be about racism or sexism,
​but work made in this space must not forward white supremacist or patriarchal ideals.

WE OPERATE WITH SEVERAL PRINCIPLES

  • We only ever “punch up.” We cannot take a righteous stance, calling out oppression, while we are engaging in the oppression of others. For example: When we are telling a story about sexism in the workplace, we don’t lean on racist stereotypes.
  • We are not writing speeches or presentations. We are developing autobiographical solo shows. We are striving to make meaningful and entertaining art. We actively promote the sharing of political opinions as they are supported by personal stories.
  • We are not interested in giving room to political agendas that support white supremacy and patriarchy. We understand classism, homophobia, transphobia, xenophobia, anti-Semitism, Islamophobia, fatphobia, ableism, and other forms of oppression to be forms of white supremacy and patriarchy.
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​Maybe you're thinking:
Ok, sure. But, what does this mean? Like, can I just write a show about when my dad died?
Yes! You can write that show. You can wrestle out the story and the feelings and the meanings through scenes and dialogue and inventive surrealism. What is most important to you will be central to the development of the show and heartily supported by the facilitating director and your class peers. AND, you will be held in a creative space that listens for and addresses themes that promote – even if unintentionally – white supremacy and misogyny.
 
An example:
Let’s say you are telling the story of your father’s hospice experience and you describe one of the nurses as “Chinese.” You might be asked, “Why are you identifying her ethnicity?”
 
This is not an effort to erase race, nor is it promoting colorblindness. It is acknowledging that if we are going to talk about race, we are going to do it intentionally.
 
So, why is the Chinese nurse is the only person you have “raced”? Why haven’t we heard about the doctor or the hearse driver’s race? So very often a BI-POC person’s ethnicity becomes a character trait. Meanwhile a white person’s ethnicity is not noted because it is not “remarkable” (i.e. it is perceived as “the norm”).

​You might realize, the nurse’s ethnicity bears no meaning on the story. You might notice that identifying people’s ethnicity – especially when it is different than your own - is habit. You might notice it made you more or less comfortable that she was Chinese, or that the other nurses were white. It might be that when your father said “the Chinese nurse,” you felt a certain way. And here’s how this works – we can talk about all of this IN THE SHOW because it is just as much part of the story. We know this to be true, because you brought it up.
 
Now, you might decide to not include this part in your show. In fact, we are always faced with the predicament of what to cut because we always have more material than we have time. Sure, you don’t have to include all those wonderings and ah-has, but then you won’t name the nurse’s ethnicity either.
 
And while we’re here it’s worth mentioning: We don’t do accents that forward stereotypes. Accents are waaaaaaay less important than the tone people use. Or words people say. Or their body language.
 
The stance of challenging racism and sexism is not new to the SPW format. However, it is important to be explicit about this position and make plain SPW’s guiding principles, if only to be held all the more accountable in attending to them.
When all is said and done, SPW is committed to cultivating work that is meaningful to the performer, and therefore to the audience at large. And, SPW is equally committed to supporting work that is not elbowing people – groups or individuals – on the way to stage.
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