“As a Black theater artist, I have been a part of (and even led) many discussions in the last year about “the future of American theater.” We are in an extraordinary moment where in-person performances and productions are at a halt and many people have referred to it as theater being shut down. But what The Reclamation Project demonstrates is that there are many people, especially from marginalized communities, who are doing meaningful creative work right now.”

— Jordan Ealey, DC Theater Arts

Residency Artists work on their dramaturgical interventions

Billie Krishawn shares her artistic intervention

Temidayo Amay shares their artistic intervention

Temidayo presenting to the rest of the residency artists

Larry Lewis proposing his reinvention to the company

Residency Artists brainstorming interventions for proposed scripts

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After everyone shared their ideas, we spent the rest of the week exploring interventions to reclaim these works

Dylan Arredondo leads the company through a devising exercise

Residency artists participate in a mirroring exercise led by Dylan Arredondo

Residency Artists feeding back to Dylan Arredondo about the afternoon's exercises

Residency Artists explore the power of work and service

Temidayo Amay and Sam Sherman mid-performance of their "work gestures"

The Reclamation Project

Kennedy Center Page-to-Stage Residency, Spring 2021

Participants Tẹmídayọ Amay, Dylan Arredondo, Florence Babatunde, Renea Brown, Billie Krishawn, Larry Lewis, P. Vanessa Losada, Christopher Michael Richardson, Sam Sherman, Kara-Tameika Watkins

The Reclamation Project aims to address past harm in theatrical institutions, give space for healing in this moment, and imagine a path forward by centering the voices and needs of Black artists, Indigenous artists, artists of color, LGBTQIA+ artists, and disabled artists.

The photos above specifically highlight our Kennedy Center Residency which explored ways to reinterpret the Western Eurocentric Canon of Plays. Each artist was asked to respond to an existing piece of the canon of theatrical work, and discuss the ways they felt it missed or misrepresented their intersections. This lead to a series of presentations and exercises laying the groundwork for new pieces of theatre that recenter marginalized identities in existing plays.

Over the course of our residency we also held a series of “Dramaturgical Happy Hours” where artists shared scripts and raised questions about the erasure or misrepresentation of identity in these pieces.

Our Residency concluded with a community conversation in which we shared our discoveries and lingering questions from the week with the larger DC community via Zoom.

Photos by Christopher Michael Richardson