Shaping the 2020 ATHE Conference

2020, 2020, 2020 … a year, the times, this moment…. A year that has tested all of us in ways we would have never imagined and that has exposed the inequalities that persist in this country. In these times of pandemic and survival, where individuals seemed to be forced to protect their own in isolation, the thoughts of community and communal well-being seem to be put aside by most. I had the privilege to be among artists and theatre educators in a virtual space of resilience and rebellion, a space of new beginnings, as we led and charged the field during the 2020 ATHE conference. When I was first nominated for the position I questioned how this endeavor might help move our art form and our academic institutions forward. I was uncertain about the nomination, but when I heard that the conference was going to take place in Detroit, I accepted in a heartbeat. I have learned how Detroit has seen a steady resurgence from its economic collapse, primarily fueled by its diverse surrounding communities. The façade we see in downtown Detroit does not tell the whole story of its resilience. We wanted to lift up Detroit as an example of survival.

And then COVID—for months and counting.

And if the pandemic wasn't hard enough on all of the people and artists struggling to stay safe, and losing jobs and feeling lost, we also had to be exposed once again to the racist history, past and recent, of this country. While it has been heartening to see how people have rallied behind the BLM movement, sparking a transnational movement against anti-black racism around the world, it remains obvious that we have a ton of work to do. And that this work does not and should not depend solely on BIPOC (black, Indigenous, and people of color) communities to solve.

In the planning process, we felt that our conference theme gained new relevance. The theme shifted to Drive—a Drive toward connection, a Drive toward new beginnings, a Drive to uncover hidden histories, our Drive for the much-needed change. The word drive carries an implied movement with a determination to get to an alternative space. These newly found variables needed to be brought into context, fueled by the original theme on our conference call:

Combustion ⇔ Energy ⇔ Resilience ⇔ Drive ⇔ Resilience ⇔ Energy ⇔ Combustion

The original theme called for an interrogation of the cycles of reciprocity that take place in our scholarship, teaching, and creative work. It was an invitation to discuss how various technologies—theatrical, online, political—keep our work going, keep our field driving (somewhere). Or does it?

The Conference …

On May 25th, Theatre Communications Group (TCG) made changes to its annual meeting in direct response to the racial violence in the United States. The conference committee knew that ATHE had to do something as well. TCG is a major organization that serves most of the professional theatre industry, but academia and academic theatre also play an important role in countering anti-black racism. Therefore in partnership with the Black Theatre Association (BTA)—an ATHE focus group—we pivoted our conference and recentered the intention to be in service of all our communities, bringing to the forefront the reality as experienced by our BIPOC communities, in particular looking at the anti-blackness behaviors and actions in a moment that was and still is vital. ATHE needed to be a conduit for discussion and a space for an academic response in these times.

Our opening plenary came out of necessity. The conference committee saw a need within our field to listen and get onboard with antiracist practices as we look forward to our new future. Jamil Jude, artistic director of True Colors, and Nicole Brewer, founder of Conscientious Theatre Training, kick-started our conference from an experiential point of view, addressing what it means to grow up within a system that alienates BIPOC people. We wanted our membership to understand what is at stake at this juncture in time, which we purposely refrain from calling it just a "moment." In order to survive as an art form...