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New Episode: Defusing Queerphobia in the Classroom
In this episode, university arts educators share practical strategies for defusing homophobia and transphobia in the classroom while accounting for our increasingly polarized political realities across the U.S. Rather than combatting or fighting queerphobia, they present approaches they have used to keep students engaged in dialogue and promote inclusive, respectful classroom culture.
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Podcast Episode: Consent, Collaboration, and Queer Access Intimacy
Just released the latest episode of Gender Euphoria, the Podcast with HowlRound Theatre Commons! Making Space: Consent, Collaboration, and Queer Access Intimacy With Guests J.C. Pankratz and Emmett Podgorski This episode is a series of reflective conversations with playwright J.C. Pankratz and actor Emmett Podgorski on our production process for JC’s new play Seahorse. The…
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Director’s Talk. Exploring Queer-Trans Intimacy, Disability Aesthetics, and Community Care in JC Pankratz’s Seahorse
In this director’s talk, CWRU Humanities in Leadership Learning Series postdoctoral scholar Nicolas Shannon Savard describes how feminist performance practice, queer theory, disability aesthetics and principles of community-engaged art making informed their approach to the design and the collaborative process in this spring’s production of Seahorse. The talk offers behind-the-scenes insight into how the cast and…
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Beyond “The Surgery”: A Trans Storytelling and Creative Workshop
On November 5, I had the chance to lead a creative workshop as part of the 2022 Trans in the CLE Symposium, hosted by the LGBT Center of Greater Cleveland. THE WORKSHOP The main purpose of this storytelling workshop was to provide an opportunity for trans and nonbinary participants to connect with one another through…
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Navigating my queerness in the youth performance workshop space
Nicolas Shannon Savard April 23, 2019 Over the past two years, Be the Street has been a place where I’ve navigated across a wide spectrum of how “public” I am about my queer identity. Although in my first year as a facilitator I was “out” at the University, I was hesitant to make my transness…
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Devising Performance with a Community in Flux
Nicolas Shannon Savard April 23, 2019 In my time working with Be the Street at the Hilltop Library, I’ve gotten to know dozens of brilliant, generous, funny, creative, and courageous young people. Together we’ve told stories, built community, played countless theatre games, and have had a wonderful time doing it. That being said, devising performance…
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A Place for Us: Private and public expressions of self
Nicolas Shannon Savard April 23, 2019 Who is the Be the Street program for? Who are the workshops for? Who is the final performance for? Is Be the Street a public or a private space? These are the questions that are lingering with me as I reflect on the differences between the content of the…
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What is Be the Street?
Nicolas Shannon Savard, April 23, 2019 Be the Street is a community-based performance project based in the Hilltop neighborhood of Columbus, Ohio. The program was piloted in 2016 through an Ohio State University Arts and Humanities Discovery Themes Grant and was led by a team of faculty researchers including Ana Puga (Theatre/Spanish and Portuguese), Harmony…
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A Look into Performance Workshops at the Hilltop Library
Nicolas Shannon Savard March 1, 2019 **All participants have been given pseudonyms in the following workshop description. We had a relatively large group including some returners as well as some new faces. As usual, we began the session with our check-in “Bam, Pow!” Martin took the lead in explaining how the check-in worked to the…