Here are more of our interviews from the Occupy Wall Street movement, presenting interviews we’ve conducted with activists since the beginning at of it all at Zuccotti Park on September 17, 2011. We created an event at Joe’s Pub in NYC and invited theaters, schools, and other non-profits from around the country to join us in performing an Occupy anniversary show simultaneously the night of the 17th. Here are some performances from our show in NY, starting with our Associate Artist Colleen Werthmann back with more of Andrea Ciannevi discussing the trajectory of the movement. Next up is Associate Artist Maria Elena Ramirez who performs Sofia, a young protestor from Puerto Rico. To close this episode, we’re excited to have musical guests Sandra Velazquez and Maria Elena of the band Pistolera join us for their song "Cazador." Interviews for this podcast were conducted by Steven Cosson, Ian Daniel, Dan Domingues and the performances you just heard were directed by Mia Rovegno. Thanks for listening. Please subscribe, rate, and review!
Occupy Wall Street had its one-year anniversary on September 17, 2012. Civilians artists were out for that entire year conducting interviews with the protesters. We presented some of those interviews on September 17 at Joe's Pub, along with thirteen other colleges and theater groups from around the country, who also put on their own performances of Occupy interviews on the same day. This week's podcast episode, recorded at our live performance at Joe's Pub, kicks off with Dan Domingues as Billy in an interview conducted just before #S17. Next is an interview performed by Emily Rossell that was conducted after Zuccotti Park was shut down. This episode closes out with Caitlin Montclare, Alex Nolan, Amanda Ruzza, and Liz Kelly perform The Punk Prayer: the song that was performed by Pussy Riot in Russia that led to some of the members serving a two-year term in prison. Interviews for this podcast were conducted by Dan Domingues and Kelly McCreary, and the live performance at Joe's Pub was directed by Mia Rovegno. Thanks for listening - subscribe, rate, and review us!
For the one-year anniversary of Occupy Wall Street, which was on September 17, we put together a really special cabaret of interviews with Occupy protesters focused on how the movement had transformed from its early days and what it's future might look like. This week's episode features Colleen Werthmann as Andrea, a protester; Tony-nominee Kathleen Chalfant as an actress and demonstrator; and Brad Heberlee as an anti-war activist, environmentalist, and participant in the movement; and we close out with Jill Sobule, Alex Nolan, Amanda Ruzza and Liz Kelly performing Jill's song "We Want our America Back." Interviews were conducted by Dan Domingues, Jackie Sibblies Drury, and Rachel Jablin. The evening was directed by Mia Rovegno. Thanks for listening - subscribe, rate, and review us!
A lot happened this month! Paris Commune had its sold-out run at BAM, and we are so proud of the show and the incredible artists who made it happen. Here's our recap of media that we posted this month; enjoy!
Blog Featured Associate Artist: Marsha Stephanie Blake Meet the R&D - A post by R&D Group artist Mia Rovegno about her experience in the 2011-12 Group! Literary Corner: We Were There - A write-up about David Lawson's new piece of investigative theater that is based on interviews with veterans
Podcast Paris Commune: A Podcast Discussionfeaturing NYU professor Kristin Ross discussing the actual Paris Commune and its relationship to social space Occupy Your Mind, Part IIIThe third part of our performance at Judson Church, including an interview with Reverend Billy and the guy who invented the Occupy Bat Signal
Death, Part III- An incredible monologue from an interview with a woman incarcerated in the national Colombian women's prison who had a near death experience performed by Jeanine Serralles
A
special thanks to all of our participating artists, both in New York and across the country, as well as everyone who was
able to come out and see the show!
Monday night, we packed Joe’s Pub for Let Me Ascertain You: Occupy #S17- a
night of monologues, punk rock, and democracy in honor of the
Occupy Movement’s one year anniversary.
Jill Sobule, one of our musical guests, takes the stage to perform “We Want Our America Back”.
The show was a lively and moving part of our Occupy Your Mind program, which seeks to archive the living history
of the Occupy Movement. It tells the story of Occupy (thus far) through
monologues derived from interviews with activists, occupiers, and many other
people who have found themselves amid the Occupy Movement for one reason or
another.
But Monday night wasn’t just about our performance for #S17 - numerous other theatres and
performers joined in the festivities in their own homages to the one year
anniversary. Using the transcripts of interviews that we compiled, as well as their own original pieces, theatre groups and schools staged their own readings. Our participants were:
Kitchen Dog Theater in Dallas, TX
THE-TREE Institute in Portland, OR
HartBeat Ensemble in Hartford, CT
Theatre4 in New Haven, CT
Hartford Stage Company in Hartford, CT
Bated Breath Theatre Company in Hartford, CT
ARTFARM in Middletown, CT
Capital Classics Theatre Company in Hartford, CT
Jacques Lamarre in Hartford, CT
University of Cincinnati in Cincinnati, OH
Sarah Lawrence College in Bronxville, NY
Emerson College in Boston, MA
Company One/Boston Center for the Arts in Boston, MA
Here are some pics from their performances:
University of Cincinnati students Garrett, Roderick and Trey read the parts of Will, Ian and Cliff in an original piece about three peers who got arrested the previous fall during Occupy Cincinnati.
Kitchen Dog Theater in Dallas, TX performing Maddy
From the event in Hartford, CT Tweeted by @lnlbee
The event flier for the Occupy #S17 festivities and performances in Hartford Connecticut.
Not only were shows happening all over the country,
but we also had a live Twitter
stream going during the event. Here are some of the awesome Tweets that were going out, which included descriptions of the events, plus quotes from the monologues:
"you're telling me that I can't occupy the park that you are occupying" #S17Civs
From @hiiimeg (Tweeting for University of Cincinnati):
@civilians Had an audience member ask us to perform our pieces at Piatt Park: the park of Occupy Cincinnati!
Plus LOTS more!
But what really made the night a success wasn’t just
the awesome performers, or the killer bands- it was the sense of community and
empowerment that the night created for all who were involved. We were so glad that people came together across the country to bring attention to the many issues that the Occupy Movement is all about.
All of our performers hit the stage for one last song-Neil Diamond’s classic, “America”- and encouraged the audience to join in and rock out with them.
CCM Drama tweeted at the end of the night, “What an
amazing evening it was to be a part of #S17civs
@civilians and share stories that effect and inform. #occupy.”
And if you’re bummed that you miss the show- not to
worry! It will be up on The Civilians’ free podcast series Let
Me Ascertain You on iTunes.
Our Judson Church performance from earlier this year featured monologues about the Occupy movement. The interviews were conducted as part of our open-sourced investigative call to action, Occupy Your Mind. Mark Stetson from Arts Diaspora performs an Occupy Activist who participated in Occupy in New York, D.C., and Oakland, and who was around when things got very tough in Oakland. Aidan O'Shea, a member of Judson Church, performs the Pastor of Judson, Michael. Indika Senanayake performs Manissa, a member of the POC caucus, and an activist who interviewed Eliot Spitzer. She tells her now legendary story of blocking consensus at Zuccotti Park. Many thanks to those who conducted these interviews: Mark Stetson, Aidan O'Shea, and Jackie Sibblies Drury!
Check out the videos for these episodes and explore our Tumblr HERE!
Find out how to curate your own Occupy performance for #S17, the one-year anniversary of Occupy Wall Street on September 17, HERE!
TO SUBSCRIBE TO THE LET ME ASCERTAIN YOU PODCAST SERIES ON ITUNES, PLEASE CLICK HERE!
As I continue investigating Occupy Wall Street for The Civilians upcoming show at Joe’s Pub, Let Me Ascertain You: Occupy #S17, I am struck by how different the cultural landscape is post-Occupy. Before coming to The
Civilians, I helped start Occupy Santa Cruz in California, and acted as their first homeless liaison. This is a difficult job in Santa Cruz, a city with thousands of homeless folks from all kinds of backgrounds. I had to break up fights, negotiate with police, and even have people leave general assemblies, but the conversation around involving the homeless in Santa Cruz was always around inclusion and empowerment. The first night of OSC, I slept in San Lorenzo park with a group of fellow University of California students, community members, and yes- homeless people. We fed them dinner and gave them blankets and then shared stories from our lives until somewhere around two in the morning. We took turns through the night keeping an eye out for Santa Cruz police, who went on to evict the
campers in later months.
I didn’t know it then, but this was a part of a societal transformation happening
across the country, and around the world. The game was changing, and for the first time in a long time people were coming together for social and economic justice for the people - the now infamous ‘99%.’
Thousands have been trained in consensus decision making, and even more have moved their money to credit unions. The opportunity gap is now a common topic of conversation on the news, in The White House, and in living rooms all over the United States, and in July, activists helped defeat student loan interest rates from doubling to 6.8%. There has been a lot of criticism that Occupy ever accomplished anything, but I say people just aren’t paying close enough attention.
Here at The Civilians, I’ve interviewed union organizers, locked out Con Edison workers, students, librarians, and even a former Marine. Their common message: turn off the TV and get involved. I saw hope in all of them, and for a few months in late 2011, my entire generation dared to hope too. Occupy may be dwindling, but organizers continue to connect people online and in person, working towards what they
believe to be a more just society. Nobody knows what will happen on the one year anniversary of Occupy Wall Street, but I can tell you that something big is in the works.
At the OWS Library conducting interviews during the summer
- it was pretty warm in there!
On The Civilians front, we have an amazing show planned for September 17th. On top of the performance of interviews and songs from the movement, we are organizing theaters, schools, and activist groups from across the country to join us and curate their own night of Occupy performances simultaneously to ours. We already have schools and theaters signed up from Ohio, Colorado, New Mexico, and Oregon and the list expands every day. We hope you’ll spread
the word about this exciting new project and join us on the 17th!
Visit the Occupy Your Mind web page for more info about how to put your own performance together and email
me at Occupy@thecivilians.org for more info. And watch videos of past performances on our Tumblr HERE!
Get tickets to Let Me Ascertain You: Occupy #S17 by clicking HERE!
