New WORLD Theater

New WORLD Theater (1979–2009, originally Third World Theater) was a nationally-recognized company in-residence in the Fine Arts Center at the University of Massachusetts Amherst. Founded in 1979 by Roberta Uno, New WORLD Theater was dedicated to producing, presenting, and supporting works by artists of color. In addition to this artistic focus, New WORLD Theater's programming involved community engagement, scholarship, and education outreach.

Leadership, mission, and initiatives

New WORLD Theater has had three Artistic Directors: Roberta Uno (1979–2002), Talvin Wilks (2002–2004), and Andrea Assaf (2004–09). The most recent mission of New WORLD Theater was to promote cultural equity and a social justice vision of a "new world" – one that embraced diverse cultural backgrounds, interdisciplinary approaches, and widespread geographic roots. Core values included equity, innovation, critical theory, and civic engagement. In residence at the University of Massachusetts Amherst's Fine Arts Center, New WORLD Theater engaged the intersection of professional and community theater, incorporated arts and scholarship, and was nationally recognized for its work with emergent and established artists.

New WORLD Theater's programming included original productions and presented plays. The company also hosted performance residencies wherein artists created new works, made classroom and community appearances, provided classes, gave lectures and demonstrations, lead workshops, and hosted post-show talk-backs. Many of New WORLD Theater's signature projects involved professional artists and processes of extended community engagement.

Original play development

In 1996, New WORLD Theater launched "New Works for a New World," a summer rehearsal residency focused on developing original and in-progress works by playwrights of color. Past summer playlab artists include Guillermo Gomez Pena, Roberto Sifuentes, lê thi diem thúy, Chitra Divakaruni, Laurie Carlos, Marc Bamuthi Joseph, Dawn Akemi Saito, Coatlicue Colorado/the Colorado Sisters, Marlies Yearby, Sekou Sundiata, Alberto "Beto" Araiza, Aisha Rahman, Suheir Hammad, Rha Goddess, Rokafella, Kwikstep, D'Lo, Jorge Ignacio Cortiñas, Alice Tuan, Mildred Ruiz-Sapp, and Steven Sapp.

1996 (co-produced with the Department of Theater at the University of Massachusetts Amherst)

Chicomoztoc-Mimixcoa/Cloud Serpent, by Hortensia and Elvira Colorado/Coatlicue Las Colorado

1997 (co-produced with the Department of Theater at the University of Massachusetts Amherst)

1998 (co-produced with the Department of Theater at the University of Massachusetts Amherst)

1999 (co-produced with the Department of Theater at the University of Massachusetts and Ko Theater Works)

2000 (co-produced with Ko Theater Works)

2001

2002

2003

2004

2005

2006

2007

2008

2009

Project 2050

Inaugurated in July 2000, Project 2050 was a multi-year youth arts initiative built on the demographic projection that people of color would become the majority in the United States by 2050. The program brought together professional artists, youth communities from Western Massachusetts, scholars, and community activists to engage civic dialogue and create original performances based on selected themes. Over the course of a two-week period, youth participated in a series of daily workshops led by artists that include playwrighting, poetry, breakdancing, drumming, beatboxing, lyricism, singing, songwriting, stepping, and visual art. Youth also attended daily "Knowledge for Power" sessions with scholars, and the program culminated in a performance. Artist participants included Universes, Jorge Ignacio Cortiñas, Willie Perdomo, Regie Cabico, Rokafella and Kwikstep, Dipankar Mukherjee, Baba Israel, Rha Goddess, Kamilah Forbes, Magdalena Gomez, Alice Tuan, and Garland Farwell. Scholar/activist participants included Vijay Prashad, Khatharya Um, Frances Crowe, James Loewen, Augstin Lao Montes, Daniel Banks, and Jacqui Alexander.

Uno Asian and Asian American Playwrights Archive

Since 1993, the W. E. B. Du Bois Library at the University of Massachusetts Amherst has been home to the Uno Asian and Asian American Women Playwrights Archive. Housed on the 25th floor in the library's Special Collections, the archive currently contains more than 200 plays written by Asian-American women from the 1920s to the present. In addition to play manuscripts, the archive includes production histories, biographies, reviews, articles, and interviews. The archive is composed of work by Bren da Wong Aoki, Jeannie Barroga, Marina Feleo Gonzales, Jessica Hagedorn, Velina Hasu Houston, Ling-Ai Li, Nobuko Miyamoto, Bina Shrif, Diana Son, and Wakako Yamauchi, among others.

Conferences and convenings

Begun in 1998, Intersection was a biennial conference and festival that showcases new work by artists of color and involves a gathering of artists, educators, organizers, activists, practitioners, and presenters. The last conference took place in 2008.

Suspension of operations/Archive initiative

In July 2009, the Fine Arts Center suspended New WORLD Theater's operations, citing economic challenges, although new grants were in place from the Nathan Cummings, Ford, and Surdna Foundations. Following a period of community protests and the absence of a planning process, the Nathan Cummings and Surdna Foundations grants were recalled. Remaining Ford Foundation funding was used to archive the theater's thirty-year history. New WORLD Theater's material archives are currently housed at the W.E.B. Du Bois Library at the University of Massachusetts Amherst.

In October 2010, the Nathan Cummings Foundation gathered many of NWT's former staff, artists, arts administrators, partners, and others in New York for a brainstorming session. The focus of the gathering was to preserve and activate New WORLD Theater's history. the major outcome is a two-year project between UMass Fine Arts Center and the Hemispheric Institute of Performance and Politics at New York University (HEMI) that will: 1) historically preserve and make publicly accessible a curated selection of significant videos from NWT through the Hemispheric Institute Digital Video Library (HIDVL), 2) digitize images, programs, ephemera, and other relevant materials to be permanently available online in a trilingual NWT Online Profile on HI's website.[1]

1979–89

Spring 1979 – Fall 1980

Spring 1981 – Fall 1982

Spring 1983 – Fall 1984

Spring 1985– Fall 1986

Spring 1987 – Fall 1988

Fall 1988 – Fall 1989

1990 – 2000

Spring 1990 to Fall 1991

Spring 1992 – Fall 1993

Spring 1994 – Fall 1995

Spring 1996 – Fall 1997

Spring 1998 – Fall 1999

2000 – 2009

Spring 2000 – Fall 2001

Spring 2002 – Fall 2003

Spring 2004 – Fall 2005

Spring 2006 – Fall 2007

Spring 2008 – Fall 2009

  1. ↑ http://hemisphericinstitute.org/hemi/
This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.