Dispersed: The Womxn of Region Six

Dispersed: The Womxn of Region Six

What does it mean to Black and WomXn in this world? How do We, through story, express our Strength, Resilience, Power, and Process. Dispersed is a theatrical celebration of the diverse experiences and expressions as Womxn of the African Diaspora. Sustenance for the Soul in the face of colonization, integration, assimilation, intimidation and attempted extermination of the Black Femme Divine.

Dispersed: The Womxn of region six is a collaborative work which features music, dance, drum and community as we traverse the diverse existence and the commonalities of Black Womxn of the African Diaspora (Region Six of the African Union). In March 2023, the audience will be engaged as interactive participants encouraged to talk back, sing with, play with the performers. The stage will be percussive, and the costumes a rainbow of brown and melanin, the eternal spirits of life and death completing the circle as we cycle through into transformation. Griot Girlz and Langston Seattle partnered for a process that culminates in this theatrical experience. Februrary 20, 2021 we hosted an all day virtual convening of Black Womxn, 3 workshops, 9 performances and a panel with Roxane Gay and Ijeoma Oluo inspired participants to write thier perspectives and experiences as Black Womxn, those writings were submitted. The dramaturgy and writing phases took place summer 2021 and along with the writings from February convening were crafted into a script, with 9 original songs. A staged reading was filmed on the langston stage October 2021 and shared with a limited audience for feedback. This summer that script will be revised and devised with a dedicated group of Black womxn performing artists taking the words from the page to the stage and creating theatrical modalities and devices to be integrated into the world premier to be held at Langston, in Seattle, March 2023

Ase Theatre and Langston have partnered to facilitate the process that will culminate in this theatrical experience.

Dispersed: A Virtual Convening of Black Womxn: February 20, 2021

A one-day series of facilitated workshops, presentations and shared experiences that are designed to inspire personal responses from participants. There will be opening libation ritual followed by 3 workshops interspersed with performances and capped of with a panel of phenomenal womxn that are curated to touch on a range of issues. Each experience explores a topic that is relevant to the shared experience of being a Womxn of the African Diaspora. Participants responses of the poetic, songs, visual, movement based, or intellectual are submitted and are crafted into a Ritual play.

This process is based in a devised work methodology: Ritual Poetic Drama within the African Continuum (RPDWAC). RPDWAC is both a training methodology for actors as well as a method for, collaborative and individual, creation and expression of artistic content.

Ritual refers to facilitated experiences designed to foster participants entrance into an altered state of consciousness which manifests the Poetic which we define as “ The imagery and the music of the story. The poetic uses the infinite power of WORD imagery through rhythm rhyme and poetry of language with it’s multiple meanings and messages. It must be spoken with passion and with power” which we present as the Drama which as we use the word is “The essence of the story and it is the story itself. What we are looking for is revelation.” This methodology is rooted in The African Continuum grown on principles of communal and collaborative practices of the primary, first, original, source of human life and thereby of art.

It is in this methodology that the Dispersed will be a collaboratively created work, self-Identified Black Womxn come together virtually to experience each other, inform each other, share with one another to explore and celebrate the diversity of Black Womxn.

Dispersed: A ritual Play

This theater and cultural heritage project happens in four stages. This play and process celebrates the diversity of Black Womxn throughout the diaspora. It is through story that we reveal truth and tear down the stereotypes that continue to traumatize Black Womxn.

Stage One: The Ritual

• Black womxn convene to exchange energy and engage the process of ritual poetic drama in the African Continuum with the goal of revealing specific and individual truths of Black Womxn. Expression of song, story, dance and dialogue.

Stage Two: The playwright

• Olisa Enrico MFA, weaves together the writings, discussions and revelations that were brought forth through the phase one/ritual process with research to conceptualize, curate and craft the journey that is a script for Dispersed: the diversity of Black Womxn (working title).

Stage Three: The Staged Reading

• In the spirit of ritual poetic drama this “staged reading” will incorporate movement, music and monologue to move through this cyclic drama that demonstrates and celebrates the divinity and diversity of Black Womxn.

Stage Four: The first Production

• A full multimedia production that layers image, music and live theater that is built in cycles of life, death and transformation. A rainbow of Black Woman in and out of time

Stage Five: The cultural exchange

• the first production is shared with womxn of the African diaspora around the world with the hopes of an exchange. that the womxn of each continent will share a story a song a dance to be woven into the final draft of Dispersed: The Womxn of Region Six.