Month: April 2019

Donde Amamos (Where We Love): Entrevistar a los refugiados y solicitantes de asilo LGBTQ+ para una obra teatral de Theatre Makers

English version

¿Eres un refugiado LGBTQ+? ¿O llegaste a los Estados Unidos como una persona LGBTQ+ en busca de asilo? El proyecto Theatre Makers está co-creando una obra llamada “Donde Amamos” (“Where We Love”) que cuenta las historias de refugiados y solicitantes de asilo LGBTQ+.

Resumen: si desea ser voluntario para ser entrevistado o ayudar a co-crear esta obra, envíe un correo electrónico a theatre-makers@ritualart.org con su nombre, número de teléfono, ciudad y los mejores horarios para contactarlo.

La obra es por y para la comunidad, para generar solidaridad e servir de inspiracion para los refugiados y solicitantes de asilo LGBTQ+, mientras informamos a las comunidades LGBTQ+ y al público en general de forma entretenida sobre la situación de los refugiados y solicitantes de asilo LGBTQ+, sobre la mejor manera de apoyarlos, y como mejorar en el proceso de inmigración.

Planeamos tener actuaciones en inglés y actuaciones en español.

Queremos entrevistar a la mayor cantidad posible de refugiados y solicitantes de asilo LGBTQ+ para que la obra presente un grupo inclusivo y diverso de personajes de todas las situaciones diferentes de todo el mundo. Las entrevistas son completamente confidenciales y, debido a que mezclaremos y uniremos los detalles de la historia de muchas personas, ninguna persona específica será identificable a partir de su historia en la obra.

Si se siente más cómodo, encontraremos un entrevistador que pueda entrevistarlo en su primer idioma, en lugar del inglés.

También estamos entrevistando al personal de varias organizaciones y voluntarios que trabajan con refugiados LGBTQ+ y solicitantes de asilo sobre sus experiencias para el obra.

Para inscribirse para una entrevista sobre su experiencia como refugiado o solicitante de asilo LGBTQ+ (o personal de una organización o trabajador), envíe un correo electrónico a theatre-makers@ritualart.org con su nombre, número de teléfono, ciudad y los mejores horarios para contactarlo.

Por favor comparta esta oportunidad con cualquier refugiado LGBTQ+ y solicitantes de asilo que conozca y con cualquier otra persona que quiera ayudar con el obra.

Nota: si lo desea, también puede participar en la creación y puesta en escena de la obra aquí en el Área de la Bahía de San Francisco: los creadores de teatro necesitarán un escritor en idioma español, actores, diseñadorees de vestuario, escenógrafos, pintores, fabricantes de utilería, equipo de transporte, equipo para el sonido y la illuminacion, director de escena, intérpretes de lenguaje de señas (ASL), financiadores, y otros voluntarios. Si conococes un espacio en donde podemos hacer la obra, dejame saber por favor. Para ser voluntario, envíe un correo electrónico a theatre-makers@ritualart.org con su nombre, número de teléfono, ciudad y los mejores horarios para contactarlo.

Para obtener más información sobre la obra, visite http://www.ritualart.org/wherewelove

Para obtener más información y para unirse a los fabricantes de teatro: https://www.ritualart.org/theatre-makers

“Muchachos” por Kuzma Sergeevich Petrov-Vodkin

Where We Love: Interviewing LGBTQ+ Refugees and Asylum Seekers for Theatre Makers Play

En español

Are you an LGBTQ+ refugee? Or did you come to the USA as an LGBTQ+ person seeking asylum? The Theatre Makers project is co-creating a play called “Where We Love” that tells the stories of LGBTQ+ refugees and asylum seekers.

Summary: if you want to volunteer to be interviewed or help co-create this play, please email theatre-makers@ritualart.org with your name, phone number, city, and the best times to contact you.

The play is by and for the community, to generate solidarity and inspire healing for LGBTQ+ refugees and asylum seekers, while informing the LGBTQ+ communities and the general public in an entertaining way about the situation of LGBTQ+ refugees and asylum seekers, how best to support them and advocate for improvements in the immigration process.

We plan to have performances in English and performances in Spanish.

We want to interview as many LGBTQ+ refugees and asylum seekers as possible so that the play presents an inclusive and diverse group of characters from all different situations all over the world. The interviews are completely confidential and, because we will mix and match story details from many people, no specific individual will be identifiable from their story in the play.

If you feel more comfortable, we will find an interviewer who can interview you in your first language, rather than English.

We are also interviewing organizational staff and volunteers who work with LGBTQ+ refugees and asylum seekers about their experiences for the play.

To sign up for an interview about your experience as an LGBTQ+ refugee or asylum seeker (or organizational staff or worker), please email theatre-makers@ritualart.org with your name, phone number, city, and the best times to contact you.

Please share this opportunity with any LGBTQ+ refugees and asylum seekers you know and with anyone else who might want to help with the play.

Bonus — If you like, you can also participate in creating and staging the play here in the San Francisco Bay Area: Theatre Makers will need a Spanish-language writer, actors, set designers, painters, prop master, wardrobe master, roadies, sound and light crew, a stage manager, funders, venues, sign-language interpreters (ASL), and other volunteers. To volunteer, please email theatre-makers@ritualart.org with your name, phone number, city, and the best times to contact you.

For more information about the play, see http://www.ritualart.org/wherewelove

For more information and to join Theatre Makers: https://www.ritualart.org/theatre-makers

“Boys” by Kuzma Sergeevich Petrov-Vodkin

The Importance of Theatre as a Place of Agitation and Dissent

“The institutions of art – theatre, film, video, and conceptual art, for instance – are among the rare spaces where one be permitted to depart from the law and social norms. I emphasize may because permission in these spaces is conditional upon social, political, psychological, economic, and legislative circumstances which widen or narrow the realm of possibility. To some extent, that permission remains broad and guaranteed under the laws of democratic states that respect their own legal systems and protect the freedom of their citizens. However, permission remains narrow and practically unobtainable in security states or totalitarian states, such as the one in which Saadallah Wannous lived.


“In modern democratic states, one can, through the world of art and its institutions, step outside the law for a few hours before going back to being a loyal citizen. Here lies the importance of theatre as a place of agitation and dissent. In the name of theatre, an actor or artist can commit acts that he or she cannot commit outside the theatre. He or she can talk about taboos and open debates on serious issues such as religion, sex, armies, war, treason, and so on – publicly, before an audience.”


— From an essay “What Has Slipped Away Is So Far, and What Is Yet to Come So Close” by Rabih Mroué, in “Doomed by Hope: Essays on Arab Theatre”.