News

We continue to reflect on our work to lift up anti-racism practices in theater. We have crafted quarterly offerings for TTT's board, staff and artists to delve into on their own, as well as virtual gatherings to discuss what we learned from speakers, books, podcasts and films. We want to make our internal learning accessible to a wider audience. We are all on this journey together.

Centering BIPOC Voices: January – March 2021

Books:

  • Fiction: Children of Blood and Bone by Tomi Adeyemi; available locally at Moon Palace Books and Wild Rumpus (Please note that only the hardcover is currently available. Paperbook orders will not be available until 2023)
  • Non-Fiction: Are Prisons Obsolete? by Angela Davis; available locally at Moon Palace Books and Half Price Books

Podcast:

  • Intersectionality Matters by Kimberlé Crenshaw; available via SoundCloud; also available on other platforms

Event/Speaker:

  • Are Prisons Obsolete? A Conversation with Angela Davis; presented February 25, 2021 (a free virtual event offered through St. Catherine's University)
  • Anti-Rasicst Theater Workshop presented by Nicole Brewer; presented March 27 and April 3, 2021

Healing: April – June 2021

Books:

  • Non-Fiction: My Grandmother's Hands: Radicalized Trauma and the Pathway to Mending our Hearts and Bodies by Resmaa Menakem
    Available locally at: Moon Palace Books and Wild Rumpus
  • Non-Fiction: Braiding Sweetgrass: Indigenous Wisdom, Scientific Knowledge and the Teaching of Plants by Robin Wall Kimmerer
    Available locally at: Milkweed and Wild Rumpus

Event/Videos:

  • Learning the Grammar of Animacy: A virtual talk with Robin Wall Kimmerer (Author of Braiding Sweetgrass); Zoom presentation through Minneapolis Institute of Arts
  • Racism Unveiled - Flight, Fight and Flow: Self Healing: A TPT Original curated conversation with three health professionals: Rebeka Ndosi of Maji Ya Chai Land Sanctuary, Brandon Jones of Jegna Consulting and Aisha Mgeni of Therapeace Counseling.
  • Listen! Please! by JD Steele and Atomic K Productions: This short documentary showcases iconic civil rights veterans Mahmoud El Kati and Josie Johnson, grassroots notable Bill English, and Sallie Steele Birdsong, the matriarch of the famed Steeles family. “Now, more than ever, we must understand where we have been to understand where we are going,” JD Steele. Read the full interview with Minnesota Spokeman Recorder.

Songs/Albums for Healing:

  • Marvin Gaye's 1971 album What's Going On (share by JD Steele)
  • Lauren Hill's 1998 album The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill (shared by Nancy Waldoch)
  • Janelle Monáe’s 2019 song: Turntables from Amazon Original Movie All In:The Fight for Democracy (shared by Stephen Mohring)
  • Make Our Garden Grow from Candide by Leonard Bernstein performed by the Opera Theater of St. Louis Young Artists and the St. Louis Symphony Orchestra (shared by Peter Vitale)
  • Ani DiFranco’s 2020 song Revolutionary Love (shared by Mo Perry)

From Marcela Lorca:

Centering BIPOC History: July – September 2021

Books:

  • Non-Fiction: The Heartbeat of Wounded Knee: Native America from 1890 to the Present by David Treuer; available locally at Birchbark Books
  • Non-Fiction: STAMPED Racism, Antiracism and You by Jason Reynolds and Ibram X Kendi; available locally at: Moon Palace Books; Audiobook version read by author

Media (Videos, Podcasts, Speeches, Documentaries):

  • Dolores Huerta's Keynote Speech at Pitzer College: President and founder of the Dolores Huerta Foundation, Huerta's is a labor leader and community organizer and has worked in civil rights and social justice for 50+ years. In 1962, she and Cesar Chavez co-founded the United Farm Workers’ Union. She has received numerous honors including the Presidential Medal of Freedom from President Obama.
  • TEDxTC:  Winona LaDuke's MINOBIMAATISIIWIN- the good life 
  • TEDxTC:  Winona LaDuke's Seeds of Our Ancestors, Seeds of Life
  • Asian Americans: Five-part docuseries on the history of Asian Americans in the United States
  • Christian McBride's The Movement Revisited: Grammy-winning Christian McBride teamed with choral director JD Steele to compose this oratorio for big band, gospel choir, and speakers representing great figures of the Civil Rights Movement. Inspired by the written words and speeches of Rosa Parks, Malcolm X, Muhammad Ali, Martin Luther King, Jr. and President Barack Obama.

Activities:

  • The Science Museum of Minnesota's Race: Are we so different?
  • MIA's Migration Stories:  Connecting Past and Present (ended September 2021)

Addditional Reading (Children's Books/Short Reads):

  • When Everything Was Everything by Saymoukda Duangphouxay Vongsay and Cori Nakamura Lin; available locally at Moon Palace Books
  • A Different Pond by Bao Phi, illustrated by Thi Bui; available locally at Wild Rumpus
  • The Best We Can Do: An Illustrated Memoir by Thi Bui; available locally at Wild Rumpus
  • When Stars Are Scattered by Victoria Jamieson and Omar Mohamed; available locally at Black Garnet Books

Additional Suggested Resources for Investigation (Longer Reads):

  • Four Hundred Souls: A Community History of African America, 1619-2019 Editors Ibram X Kendi and Keisha N Blain: A chorus of extraordinary voices comes together to tell one of history's great epics: the four-hundred-year journey of African Americans from 1619 to the present. Edited by Ibram X. Kendi, author of How to Be an Antiracist and Keisha N. Blain, author of Set the World on Fire; available locally at: Black Garnet Books
  • A Black Woman's History of the United States by Daina Ramey Berry and Kali Nicole Gross: A vibrant and empowering history that emphasizes the perspectives and stories of African American women to show how they are - and have always been- instrumental in shaping our country; available locally at Moon Palace Books

Rooting Out White Privilege: October – December 2021

Written:

  • White Supremacy Culture by Tema Okun: “This list of characterics of white supremacy culture which show up in our organizations. Culture is powerful precisely because it is so present and at the same time so very difficult to name or identify.”
  • A Good Time for the Truth: Race in Minnesota edited by Sun Yung Shin: Essays that challenge, discomfort, disorient, galvanize, and inspire all of us to evolve now, for our shared future.

Heard:

  • Code Switch from NPR: "Fearless conversations about race that you've been waiting for. Hosted by journalists of color, our podcast tackles the subject of race with empathy and humor. We explore how race affects every part of society - from politics and pop culture to history, food and everything in between. This podcast makes all of us part of the conversation - because we're all part of the story."
  • Seeing White  from Scene On Radio: PRX Host and producer John Biewen with an array of leading scholars and regular guest Dr. Chenjerai Kumanyika, series editor Loretta Williams. Just what is going on with white people? Police shootings of unarmed African Americans, domestic terrorism, the renewed embrace of raw, undisguised white-identity politics. Some of this feels new, but in truth it’s an old story. Why? Where did the notion of “whiteness” come from? What does it mean? What is whiteness for?

Participate:

  • The Science Museum of Minnesota's Race: Are we so different? 
  • Handprints by Greta Oglesby, Screenplay by E.G. Bailey: A film collaboration by Ten Thousand Things and Freestyle Films; presented November 24–December 31

Anti-Racism and INTERSECTIONALITY from Indigenous/ Native Voices: January – March 2022

Media (Videos, Podcasts, Speeches, Documentaries):

Book and Video Discussion

Participate: