Knowledge and Application of Theatrical Forms in the Culminating Project

This section outlines my culminating project and demonstrates my ability to apply theatre forms in its execution.

(The writing below is excerpted from the written narrative and all references are listed in the annotated bibliography on a separate page.)

Abstract

In this section, I outline my culminating project (CP) at its current stage of development and demonstrate my knowledge and understanding of theatrical forms, as well as my ability to apply them to this project. The outline is divided into nine areas: 1. CP Introduction, 2. Statement of the Problem, 3. Stance of the Researcher, 4. Site Selection, 5. Research Question(s), 6. Research Design, 7. Access Issues, 8. Ethical Issues, and 9. Importance to the Field.

CP Introduction

“One Stormé Night: Reclaiming Queer History Through Theatre and Culturally Responsive Teaching” is a mixed methods project that employs the techniques of quantitative research, historical research, ethnographic research, and arts-based research. The sum of this research will be used to develop and create three major deliverables: 1. An original work of Theatre for Young Audiences (TYA) detailing the history of the Stonewall Uprising. 2. Original unit/lesson plans and classroom resources, drawn from primary sources, that help educators teach queer history. 3. A set of best practices that help secondary school teachers and their students engage in conversations on stigmatized subjects. This project uses Stonewall and the teaching of queer history with an arts-based approach as a prototype for how an arts-based approach can be applied to other subjects that may be difficult to traverse with students such as, race, class, etc.

Statement of the Problem

“Queer people don’t grow up as ourselves, we grow up playing a version of ourselves that sacrifices authenticity to minimize humiliation & prejudice. The massive task of our adult lives is to unpick which parts of ourselves are truly us & which parts we’ve created to protect us” (Leon, 2020). I believe that this is because queerness, in all its forms, has been deemed taboo by western culture and, as a result, has been relegated to the shadows. According to Schwartz (2019), Illinois was slated to become the fourth state in the union to incorporate LGBTQIA+ history into their curriculum. This was to be implemented in the fall of 2020. The fact that only four states require the teaching of queer history painfully illustrates that queerness has been erased from its rightful place in history. The avoidance of discussing queerness (and other “taboo” subjects) harms our youth, and ultimately our society, in ways that impact mental and physical health. The Trevor Project (n.d.), citing data from the CDC, reports that queer youth contemplate suicide at a rate that is three times higher than their non-queer counterparts and are five times more likely to have attempted suicide. A lack of education and the denial of queerness has bred non-affirming households, hostile workspaces, and unsafe public spaces that are detrimental to queer folks’ health and rob us of our humanity. Though the world is slowly becoming a more welcoming and inclusive place, there is a need for resources that can speed the process through increased visibility (that is nuanced, realistic, and respectful) in the arts and entertainment, and through the development of accurate, affirming, and culturally responsive pedagogy in the secondary classroom and beyond.

The American theatre director, Anne Bogart, often remarks that if the theatre were a verb, it would be “to remember.” The goals of this project are: 1. To undo the erasure of queer history. 2. To make queer youth feel seen, valued, and connected to their history and culture. 3. To help teachers and students engage in dialogue about stigmatized subjects with nuance and care.

Stance of the Researcher

The LGBTQIA+ community has been robbed of its rich history. We have been divested of our cultural contributions and tucked away in the darkest corners of society where we have long resided, believing that we are monsters with little value. The pain that many queer folks carry is attributable to this relegation and our categorization as taboo which has made us feel isolated, unloved, and unwanted.

I grew up in extreme poverty as a “clockable,” effeminate, queer man in a small, conservative town in rural Oklahoma. We did not get cable television or internet until I was in high school (because we were so rural and it was not available), so access to the outside world was limited to what I learned in school and the occasional visit to the homes of friends or family members with access to those things (it is important to note that in the late 90’s and early 2000’s that the media portrayal of queer folks was not particularly positive and was very femme-phobic). I knew from a very young age that I was different. I felt scared. I felt like something was wrong with me. I felt alone. As a result, I carried a lot of shame and anger that I am still undoing today. Don Miguel Ruiz (1997) articulates this experience in his best-selling self-help book The Four Agreements: A Practical Guide to Personal Freedom (A Toltec Wisdom Book). He explains, “As little children, our true nature is to love and be happy, to explore and enjoy life; we are completely authentic. But then we learn to be what others think we ‘should’ be, and because it’s not okay for us to be what we are, we start pretending to be what we are not. By the time we are teenagers, we’ve learned to judge ourselves, punish ourselves, and reward ourselves according to agreements that we never even chose.” I remember that, shortly after I came out at the age of 17, my mother asked me what happened to the happy little boy I used to be. I responded, “I buried him so that I could survive.” I often wonder what my life would have been like had I learned queer history in school. What would it be like had I known that I was not alone in the world? What would it have been like had I grown up in a place that was loving and affirming? So, I endeavor with this project to prevent as many queer kids as possible from experiencing a childhood like mine — to prevent them from accepting other people’s baggage from which they will spend a lifetime freeing themselves.

Site Selection

This project is rooted in three areas of research: 1. The historical phenomenon of the Stonewall Uprising (a.k.a. Stonewall Rebellion, a.k.a. Stonewall Riots), 2. The theatre, 3. The secondary school classroom. The impetus for this project was the result of an LGBTQIA+ social studies and drama integration lesson that I created for the course “Drama Activities in the Elementary Classroom,” which drew on an original short story and techniques of Theatre of the Oppressed to engage students in the origins and history of Pride and its roots in the Stonewall Uprising. To use the colloquial, the professor and students in the class were “shook.” Following the lesson, Professor Rebecca Ashley suggested that I take the work I had generated and create a play. Since then, I have continued to expand the project in the courses “Understanding Diversity: Teaching Pluralism Through Theatre,” “Methods and Materials of Research in Educational Theatre,” “Approaches to Qualitative Inquiry,” and “Doctoral Proposal Seminar.”

The first site in this study is the Stonewall Uprising. Stonewall is a political idea, a historical event, and a brick-and-mortar location. I was sixteen when I first learned about Stonewall. I worked as a caterer at The University of Oklahoma. While working as a caterer, I made several friends within the college’s LGBTQIA+ student organization which, at the time, was called GLBTF (Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual, Transgender, and Friends). It was through those individuals that I was introduced to our community’s history and a set of philosophies called queer theory. The history and philosophies held so much mystique and power for me as a young queer person — for the first time in my life I felt truly connected to something. I visited the Stonewall for the first time with my best friend Karl in the spring of 2008 with a fake ID, which I am revealing to you here because the statute of limitations has long run out. For us, visiting the Stonewall was a pilgrimage.

In 2010, PBS released the documentary Stonewall Uprising as a part of their American Experience series, which I watched as it premiered on June 16, 2010. Four years later I worked with Heritage of Pride Inc. (a.k.a. NYC Pride) to present a public screening of the documentary at Saint John’s Church on Christopher Street. I was privileged to work closely with Stonewall veterans Martin Boyce and Danny Garvin on the project and was recognized for my part in the film screening, which led to the creation of OutFest (a now annual queer film festival in the Village). I went on to win the New York City Pride Award for my work in facilitating the 2014 Pride Rally. The rally annually kicks off each pride week by honoring the spirit and intention of the original political rally held in Central Park in 1969.

My desire to focus on the events of Stonewall is due to the following facts: 1. I feel as though the uprising is largely unknown outside of the queer community, and 2. I feel as though this event, which was led primarily by queer people of color (POC), has supplanted queer POC (particularly trans folks) experiences with a white cis-gendered male point of view. For example, Stormé Delarverie was a well-known Vaudevillian performer and queer, black woman believed by many to have thrown the first punch at Stonewall. Ms. Delarverie’s involvement is hotly debated by scholars, but she is nonetheless the self-proclaimed progenitor of the violent rebellion in the West Village that balmy night in 1969. Many people are unaware of Stormé and her contributions to our community. I did not have the pleasure of meeting Stormé before she passed away in 2014, but I attended her funeral to say thank you and pay my respects. With this project, I aim to center queer POC and provide an accurate and emotionally impactful representation of the phenomenon.

The second area of focus for this study is the theatre, specifically the arena of Theatre for Young Audiences. I plan to translate the data I collect into an original TYA script that creates an accurate, engaging, and emotionally impactful representation of the Stonewall Uprising. The play will be a work of historical fiction that seeks to create an impressionist image of the phenomenon that is viewed through the eyes of an 11-year-old girl who witnesses the events as they unfold and change the lives of her neighbors, her friends, and her chosen family. Though I am using elements of ethnography in the research process, I have made the choice to pursue this artistic piece of the project as a work of TYA historical fiction, rather than as a work of ethnodrama, because of the breadth of the data. This particular genre will allow me to incorporate all of the information I want to include in an impressionistic way.

The third area of focus for this study is the secondary classroom. I have worked in the secondary school setting for nearly a decade, and I know that in many instances subjects of sexuality, gender, sexual health, race, and political oppression are skirted because they are not in the curriculum or, when they are in the curriculum, they make teachers uncomfortable. I plan to work with secondary school teachers to develop lesson plans that make teaching queer history easy and enjoyable. In this same vein, I will develop a set of best practices to help teachers engage with their students in conversations about stigmatized topics.

Research Question(s)

In this mixed methods project, I will investigate the overarching question “How can the arts, specifically theatre, be used as a tool to engage secondary school students and faculty in dialogue on stigmatized topics?” Possible sub-questions include the following: Why is it taboo to talk about things like sexual health, homosexuality, gender, race, and government sponsored oppression? How does the avoidance of the taboo contribute to the erasure of vital elements of queer history? In what ways and to what extent does observed and/or experienced oppression affect children/adolescents? What pedagogical best practices can be employed in the teaching of “taboo” subjects? What is the most effective way to employ the arts in this endeavor?

Research Design

This project will be a unique blend of mixed methods; one might call it the ultimate mixed methods study, which will include quantitative and historical data such as NYPD arrest records and court transcripts, a review of critical queer and feminist theories, scholarly historical texts, ethnographic interviews, and the translation of data into an original play using arts-based research techniques. The study will culminate in the creation of a historical fiction play targeting young audiences, as well as the publication of the play itself, an accompanying play study guide, ready-made, culturally responsive lesson plans for grades 6 and above, and a collection of best practices designed to aid teachers in engaging their students in dialogue on stigmatized topics.

In the first phase of my research, I will conduct a review of critical queer and feminist theories, existing scholarly writings covering the Stonewall Uprising, and existing artistic representations of the event, including theatre, film, television, literature, and visual art. This research will be the groundwork for my literature review and will be followed by an investigation of newspaper archives, police arrest records for common anti-LGBTQIA+ crimes, and historical statutes and other court documents from the late 1800s to now. This phase will end with the creation of the story board for the final product, a TYA play.

In the second phase of my research, I will conduct ethnographic interviews with the key stakeholders, which include veterans of the uprising from both sides of the rebellion, residents of the neighborhood at the time of the event, former and current homeless LGBTQIA+ youth, intersectional identifying persons that are transgender or non-binary folks who may also be persons of color (POC), members of the NYPD LGBTQIA+ affinity group, prominent members of the media at the time of the phenomenon, prominent members of the city and state government at the time, members of the Black Panthers, and members of the Young Lords. These interviews will explore the history of Stonewall and the queer revolution, as well as the stakeholders’ personal experience with their own identity and how they engage with the world as a result of it. In this phase, I will also engage the stakeholders in an arts-based participatory action research component in which I ask them to discuss how they wish the media, and the arts and entertainment industries, would depict the communities to which they belong. I will then ask them to read through the existing story structure of the play, which is currently a beat sheet that describes the action of each planned scene along with that scene’s location on the plot line of a well-made play (i.e., exposition, inciting incident, rising action, climax, falling action, resolution). I will also begin engaging secondary school teachers in a dialogue about their experience teaching stigmatized subject matters. This may include an anonymous survey.

In the third phase of my research, I will review the compiled data and search for common threads that will allow me to code, or categorize, the data. Once the data is coded, I will make revisions to the story and structure and will verify that the facts and themes are addressed in the plot of the play. I will then use the categories to create lesson plans that target each theme.

In the fourth phase of my research, I will complete the first major draft of my play, the accompanying study guide, and the targeted lesson plans. I will produce a staged reading of the play to which all of the research participants will be invited to attend. Attendees will have the opportunity to give verbal and written feedback following the reading of the play and will also have the opportunity to review the study guide and lesson plans and give feedback on each as well.

In the fifth and final phase of my research, I will make revisions to the script, study guide, unit/lesson plans, and best practices based on the feedback received. I will then mount a full-scale production of the play, which will have daytime performances for NYC public schools, as well as evening performances that are open to the general public. Ideally the public-school performances will be free, but that will require major fundraising through grants and/or donors. The play, study guide, and educational resources will be published and made available for free for classroom use. I hope to publish and license the play for future productions around the world.

Access Issues

In an effort to make the fruit of this research accessible and desirable to a universal audience, I will engage with multiple historical sources and stakeholder groups. The participant groups I am targeting include veterans of the Stonewall Uprising from both the queer community and the NYPD, residents of the neighborhood at the time the event occurred, members of the transgender/non-binary community, intersectional individuals of the community who are queer and POC, key political figures of the time, prominent journalists of the time, members of the NYPD LGBTQIA+ affinity group, former and current homeless LBGTQIA+ youth, members of the Black Panthers, and members of the Young Lords.

Perhaps the most glaring access issues in pursuing this research topic is the fact that many of the individuals involved in the Stonewall Uprising no longer live in the NYC area, or they have passed away. While I have a strong connection to the community and relationships with a few veterans of the event, I will have to levy those existing relationships to locate participants and get them to agree to be interviewed. I will need to work quickly to engage with veterans who are still living. Additionally, I foresee the need to build trust with members of the NYPD and ensure them that I will be fair in the way in which I depict them.

In order to maximize the effectiveness of the classroom resources created as part of this project, I will need to engage with teachers and school administrators of varied and diverse political and socioeconomic backgrounds to truly develop best practices. I hope to engage with more conservative educators, but I recognize that they may not want to engage with me.

Ethical Issues

The potential ethical issues I foresee involve attempting to neutralize my own biases to provide a fair and honest depiction of the NYPD, as well as members of the straight, white, heterosexual, cis-gendered community in a way that does not rob them of any complexity or humanity, but still speaks to the injustices these communities have committed. I will endeavor to execute this in a manner that inspires honest reflection and respectful civic dialogue.

Additional ethical issues include making narrative choices for the play, which may offend certain stakeholders; there are major discrepancies about the historical events argued about by numerous scholars and veterans alike (i.e., centering Stormé DeLarverie). It is impossible to know the objective reality of this event, but I aim to get as close as possible. I will also need to address these discrepancies in the written materials that will accompany the play.

Finally, I will need to consider how participants will be remunerated for their participation. I will ensure that they are credited in every playbill for every production and that their names, and a brief description of the project, are included in every published copy of the script. I intend to share a portion of any profits I receive with key participants through a percentage dividend paid either to them, or the charity of their choice.

Importance to the Field

This project straddles the worlds of scholarly research, professional theatre, and public education.

There is a significant amount of existing research regarding queer history, but very little of that research is accessible to secondary school age students; very few teachers have been properly educated in queer history, and the subject matter is often omitted from college level history courses. Instead, it is often relegated to niche programs such as LGBTQIA+ studies and women and gender studies. Queer history does not appear in any of the national curriculum taught in the secondary school setting, and it is currently part of the state mandated curriculum for only four states. Queer history tends not to appear in major historical textbooks written for these settings. It is my belief that this is detrimental to our youth and the conscience of our nation as it further marginalizes an already at-risk population by refusing to acknowledge their contributions to society and their history. This project provides an important break-through in the teaching of queer history by removing it from niche college programs and making it accessible to mainstream youth education through arts engagement and ready-made, culturally responsive lessons that remove the burden of researching dense esoteric texts for public school teachers who are already overworked and underpaid. The development of best practices for engaging students in dialogue on stigmatized subjects will, I believe, remove many remaining hurdles.

Finally, theatrically speaking, the field of TYA — while improving significantly in production value and literary merit — sill has a long way to go. If done well, this play will become a heavy hitting part of the TYA canon that sets new standards for production value and writing.