What do an Iranian dancer, a Chili's waitress, an Arabic Jedi, a sweaty ballcap, a racially insensitive delivery man and a closeted Thai Buddhist have in common?
Audience members can find out by attending Heartland Theatre Company’s “Out of the Box: Diverse Stories of How We Think. Feel. Live.” on Friday, June 25 and Saturday, June 26.
Heartland’s first in-person performance since the COVID-19 pandemic struck centers the voices of BIPOC community members. Six speakers will share their experience with race through their own personal lens, telling their stories in a variety of mediums: monologues, poetry, song and dance, and more.
Len Childers and Connie Blick co-directed and produced “Out of the Box.” They also are among the performers. The performance is meant to be a celebration of each storyteller’s uniqueness, while also showing some of the through lines experienced by people of color.
Blick said the stories were developed through a series of “listening circles” where cast members were prompted with questions about their identity.
“Questions like: ‘When have you experienced or witnessed a micro-aggression? Is your identity in harmony with your ethnicity? What are some stories or traditions passed on to your family?’” Blick said. “We found so many similar threads and stories, but we also found that those threads resulted in a different kind of result on how comfortable we are in our own identity.”
The name of the piece, “Out of the Box,” refers to the race and ethnicity question on job applications, census forms and other documents. Blick, who is biracial — half Vietnamese, half white — said it’s a weighted question for many people of color.
“It takes me a minute to be like, ‘Okay, I have to check more than one? Do I check ‘other’?’ And there's people out there that have never thought twice about that. They've always checked just one box — and in an instant, never had to think twice,” Blick said.
Childers said this is an opportunity to learn more about how people who aren’t like you live — or for younger people of color grappling with their identity to hear about others’ journeys.
“When you're dealing with issues of race and some of the inequities that we've all experienced, there's a danger of making people feel guilty or maybe coming across as super angry or bitter or resentful. And while there is some of that in there, because that's part of inequity, I think we've tried really hard to find different levels and find some humor in it, but also the humanness of it all, and also just to give the audience a takeaway,” Childers said.
Childers has been acting for the better part of 35 years, noting this performance feels different and more vulnerable than others.
“I'm a lot more comfortable being another character and saying somebody else's words, because it's not me. I don't have to take as much responsibility for it. I'm not as out in the open,” Childers said. “If I were just doing a monologue from a play, it would be one thing, but every time I start the rehearsal, I get really super self conscious of myself, and I have to kind of force myself to start the piece. … It feels very uncomfortable, but the catharsis of it is palpable, too.”
“Out of the Box” is just one weekend. The co-directors said there’s work to do to ensure diverse storytelling happens on stages all the time.
“I think theater in general, it's really white dominated,” Blick said. “When you think of a specific character, you think of what you've seen in the movies, and that's maybe a white actor playing that character. You're not seeing a lot of diversity … As a community, we need to represent on stage what is real right here in our community--and that's diverse actors. That's educating ourselves on (how to) care for diverse actors, as well.”
Childers added the playwrights and productions theater companies choose to pursue matter, as well. He said the recruitment and audition process also needs to be revisited.
“If you call for people of color to audition, don't be surprised when you don't get a big response, because that's not something that we've been doing a lot of,” Childers said. “You might have to just stay the course and keep trying, instead of giving up and saying, ‘Well, that didn't work.’”
Audience members also need to open their minds to stories that don’t follow their own experiences, he said. “Out of the Box” is free to attend for anyone eager to learn more about their neighbors.
The show starts at 5 p.m. on June 25 and 26 on the lawn outside of the Heartland Theatre Company, 1110 Douglas St., Normal. Food from Uncle Tony’s FoodTruck and Carl's Ice Cream will be available before and afterwards.
