Carthage Theatre Presents:
Embedded Files
The Kenosha
Verbatim Project
A PLAY BY KENOSHA RESIDENTS AND OTHERS
ABOUT WHAT HAPPENED
AND WHAT HAPPENS NEXT
World Premiere Presented May 20, 2023 at 7:30pm at Carthage College
In the summer of 2020, Jacob Blake was shot seven times in the back by a Kenosha police officer, touching off a chain of events that led to protests and major incidents in downtown Kenosha, including major property damage and the killing of two protesters by teenager Kyle Rittenhouse. What has happened since then? How has Kenosha changed or not changed? How do people view their city since these incidents? How do we move ahead?
In the summer of 2023, Carthage Theatre faculty and students created a piece of reality-based verbatim theatre that examines how the people of our community have navigated the aftermath. Collecting material through interviews with community members as well as through researching contemporary news articles, the team created a script using the actual words of the people who experienced it.
Our goal is to use theatre and performance as a way to explore the issues and give voice to people without the ability to otherwise share their experience.
The Kenosha Verbatim Project is dedicated to Pastor Kara Baylor, who passed away on May 25, 2023, just five days after the world premiere of the play. Her fierce sense of justice was alloyed to a deep well of spiritual grace. Pastor Kara served the Carthage College community as well as the Kenosha and Racine areas for many years, becoming a friend and ally to countless people. She became a key figure in the national reckoning against police violence and structural racism in the summer of 2020, serving as an important voice for the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA) as well as Carthage. Her loss leaves a huge hole in our lives and our thoughts go out to her family and all those who knew her.
Carthage Pastor 2014-2023
Pastor, Mount Pleasant Lutheran Church, Racine 2000-2013
"There are days when I want to give up and then there are the rest of the days when I think no, if someone like me and my colleagues, if we stop talking, then a message of love and grace would not be in the world. And so once I get over being disgusted, then I remember: no, you have to speak up and you have to speak out because the words you put out into the world are important. And so I have to preach: love God and love neighbor, and I have to do that wherever I go. Right? And so keep talking."
--Pastor Kara Baylor
With the help of faculty members Nora Carrol and Martin McClendon, students Katie Layendecker '25 and Rayven Craft '23 interviewed twelve people, gathered almost 20 hours of testimony, and transcribed hundreds of pages of text. Then they picked the most compelling and informative excerpts and began to sort the stories according to theme and impact. Many hours of editing whittled the script down from 85 pages to 36, to create a 90-minute reading.
This production was part of World Premiere Wisconsin, a statewide festival celebrating new plays and musicals running March 1 – June 30, 2023, presented by the Ten Chimneys Foundation. To learn more visit:
www.worldpremierewisconsin.com.
The Kenosha Verbatim Project is supported by the Carthage Summer Undergraduate Research Experience (SURE) program and the Carthage Research Scholarship and Creativity Committee (RSCC)
Kenosha Verbatim Project In The News: click on the links to learn more:
WGTD Morning Show Interview with Gregory Berg
Project Coordinators/Facilitators
Nora Carroll
Nora Carroll is a theater artist/educator who believes in the transformative power of storytelling. Before receiving her MFA from the University of San Diego, she attended New York University’s Tisch School of the Arts. Nora has had the pleasure of storytelling in a variety of diverse spaces, including: Steppenwolf Theatre Company, Chicago Shakespeare Theatre, The Old Globe, The Public Theatre, Centinela Prison in San Diego, Metropolitan Detention Center in New York, and Armory Women’s Shelter in Manhattan. Nora is invested in creating artistic spaces that are transformative, gender expansive, and equitable.
Contact: noracarroll2@gmail.com
Martin McClendon
Professor McClendon has worked at Carthage for 16 years, directing plays and teaching acting, design, voice for the stage, and verbatim theatre. For the last 5 years, Martin has been teaching and using verbatim techniques to collaborate with students and other faculty to tell the unheard stories of military veterans, through the Carthage Veteran Night of the Arts as well as the plays "Afghanistan/Wisconsin," "Welcome Back?," and "Fighting For Home: Stories of Women Who Serve."
Previous to his work at Carthage, Martin was a professional actor and scene designer for 12 years, working in Los Angeles, Chicago, and around the midwest.
Contact: mmcclendon@carthage.edu
Rayven Craft: Student Playwright/Researcher
Rayven Craft is an actress, published playwright, recording artist, and producer. She is a proud graduate of Carthage College where she earned her degree in Music Theater and a Minor in Women and Gender Studies. The middle child of 12 beautifully diverse siblings, diversity, faith, and inclusivity are always at the heart of Rayven's art. Taking part in productions such as The Laramie Project, ENOUGH! Plays to End Gun Violence, and Carthage College's Fighting For Home: Stories of Women Who Serve, Rayven remains grounded in the power of arts activism.
Katherine Layendecker: Student Playwright/Researcher
Katie Layendecker is a second-year student at Carthage College, studying theatre and English. She is a growing playwright and is interested in learning more about her craft.
Poster design by Martin McClendon
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