The Benefits of Community Art on the Fringe

Audience member Hannah Rose Tellez Michels clutching copy of Fringe Benefits manual "Cootie Shots: Theatrical Inoculations Against Bigotry for Kids, Parents and Teachers." Photo by Norma Bowles

Fringe Benefits is a nonprofit educational theater company based in Los Angeles that does diversity work in schools and community centers throughout the country. In 2001, TCG Publications published "Cootie Shots: Theatrical Inoculations Against Bigotry for Kids, Parents and Teachers ," a manual for doing this work by FB founder Norma Bowles and her colleague Mark E. Rosenthal. Here (in part) is what I said about it that year in a CAN book review:

To say "Cootie Shots" is a collection of plays, songs and poems for young audiences from kindergarten through sixth grade is such an understatement. This is at least a feast, a circus, an alternative art theme park, a night with The Simpsons and a stroll through West Hollywood. Absolutely bursting with color and illustrations on every page, your choices hip-hop from a double-page spread of poems by kids about their families ("My dad is not part of my family/My dad is dark black/And looks like a car/And walks and sounds like a killer elephant") to photos of Susan B. Anthony, Cesar Chavez, Rosa Parks and Harvey Milk to a play called "What Color Is Your Mama?" to a reproduction of Norman Rockwell's "The Golden Rule" to the musical scores for five songs, including "In Mommy's High Heels" by Paul Selig ("Let them say I'm like a girl!/What's wrong with being like a girl?!/And let them jump and jeer and whirl/They are the swine, I am the pearl.").

In their introduction, the editors call it a book about words, "powerful words that can both hurt and heal." They acknowledge that the issues presented in the book may be difficult to discuss, even taboo, but unavoidable. "Studies show that the effects of discrimination begin to negatively affect children as early as the first grade. ... Children who are the subject of name-calling and the object of alienation are at a higher risk than others for drug abuse, running away, dropping out, family violence and suicide." They explain the way many pieces in the book were developed: "born of a group of people in a room, collaborating to turn painful stories into theater that heals that pain, or, better still, prevents future injuries."

In the Fall 2003 Fringe Benefits newsletter, there were some intriguing tales by four of the artists, organizers and educators who are using "Cootie Shots" and FB's "Theatre for Social Justice" techniques in L.A. and all over the country. We thought you'd like to hear firsthand what it's like on the front lines of diversity work these days.

—Linda Burnham

Theatre for Social Justice

by Natalya Brusilovsky

Natalya Brusilovsky, Debra Wilson and Alex Casillas in Fringe Benefits' Theatre for Social Justice residency at Animo Leadership Charter High School in Inglewood , Calif. Photo by Norma Bowles

Alejandra Casillas and I were practically glowing as we left our first meeting with this year's Theatre for Social Justice Residency students at Animo Leadership Charter High School in Inglewood. After two-and-a-half hours of discussion about discrimination, challenging trust games and image-driven improv games, we had already begun to create one short play, an examination of bullying, from wild rumors and scared teachers, all the way to suicide. The students came up with characters that embodied many mature and provocative complexities. There was a silent, shared recognition that the residency was going to be a profound experience for all of us!

This FB residency was initially inspired by the "Cootie Shots" Four Heroes play, which celebrates the contributions of Susan B. Anthony, Rosa Parks, Cesar Chavez and Harvey Milk. This fall, we're exploring the civil-rights movements in which these heroes participated, and highlighting the role of the arts in the movements. While learning about these historical movements, the students are also examining social injustices affecting their communities today, and preparing to create their own performances.

We began our socio-historical exploration with the Women's Movement, by seeking to define, through statistics, documents and theater games, what it means to be a "man" or a "woman." The students compared images they'd created of power and powerlessness to their images of "man" and "woman." The group then created two short plays about the gender roles they are expected to play at home. In one of the improvisations, "Maria" complained to her mother, "I don't even know how to make tortillas!" as she was dragged from watching a football game with her brothers. In the "free-write" at the end of that workshop, Craig, age 15, wrote, "A piece of me changed."

Animo High students Martin Martinez and Carey Avitia. Photo by Norma Bowles

Most recently, the amazing Debra Wilson of MAD TV led an inspiring improvisation workshop in which we played group energy games, participated in hilarious space and character improvisations, and sang in a majestic emotional orchestra. The students were amazed at their own accomplishments, creating intricate stories with surprise twists and sub-plots, and learning about theatrical presence and actor's flow. Our stomachs were rolling with laughter throughout the entire workshop! Afterward, Debra shared strategies for standing up to bigotry with dignity and humor. We're off to a great start! We still have three social movements to cover — to discover and to uncover. Then, the Animo Theatre for Social Justice team will gather all of this new knowledge and skill, and we'll take it to the stage!

Gender Trans/Dance

by Cynthia Ruffin

"Gender Trans/Dance," Fringe Benefits' most recent production, premiered at this year's Models of Pride (MOP) Conference at Occidental College on October 25, 2003. MOP is an annual conference dedicated to empowering and educating LGBTQ youth and their allies. "We need to recognize the "T" in LGBTQ," said Gail Rolf, co-organizer of the 11-year-old conference. "Transgendered and transsexual people remain the most marginalized group in our community and we need to find more ways to include them."

"Cootie Shots" contributing writers, artists in Los Angeles: (back row, l. to r.) Joseph Brouillette, Lynn Jeffries, Stacie Chaiken, Alice Tuan, Father Cris Rosales, Norma Bowles; (front row) John Belluso, Mark E. Rosenthal. Photo by Norma Bowles

About a month before MOP, Gail asked us if we could create a presentation for the conference to explode some of the myths and stereotypes about transgendered people and replace them with accurate, positive images. So, I wove together some history and facts about transgendered people with poems and plays from the past 12 years of Fringe Benefits' work, pieces such as "Billy Tipton," "What's with the Dress Jack?," "La Peluca de su Mama" and "Mariposas" from "Cootie Shots"; "Two Spirit/Berdache" from "People Who Live in Glass Houses..."; "Incognito/Incognita" from "Turn It Around!"; and "G.I. Joe," created and performed by Jeff Shevlovitz. Most of the pieces were written by transgendered youth and adults.

I enlisted a troupe of actors from the transgender community, from L.A. Women's Shakespeare Company and from past FB productions, as well as young participants from current FB workshops, such as Natalya Brusilovsky's "Theatre Think Tank." Youth from GLASS (Gay and Lesbian Adolescent Social Services) made up half of the cast. "Gender Trans/Dance," gave them a unique opportunity to be leaders in the community. "I had the image of butterflies coming out of my mouth," said GLASS resident "Jose," as he spoke about what it felt like to perform "Mariposas," a poem celebrating all-ness of who we are. Several of the GLASS youth who didn't feel ready to perform were eager to be a part of the project in other ways, welcoming the audience, ushering and working backstage.

The rewards were plentiful, from the warm and downright hearty ovation from our youthful LGBT audience, to the proud and radiant smiles of the youth on stage. On the other hand, one audience member told me she was concerned because we hadn't included more transgendered people in the cast, and that there had been pronunciation and pronoun mistakes. I'm looking forward to incorporating her input, polishing the script and enjoying a longer rehearsal period before our next presentation of "Gender Trans/Dance," because it's important to get it right! Meanwhile, I'm glad to have had the opportunity to work with this wonderful group of youth and adults to help bring transgender issues center stage. As 16-year-old GLASS resident "Ivy" said, when asked why she thought this type of play was important to do, "Everyone deserves to be heard and to feel safe."

Legislative Theatre with Augusto Boal

by Michael Mendoza

Youth Justice Coalition Legislative Theatre presentation at USC

Hey, my name's Michael Mendoza and I'm one of 38 people who came to the first meeting of the Youth Justice Coalition in March of 2002. I'm also a co-founder. I just want to say "wuzzup" to all the youngsters and to all the older people who are out there fighting the juvenile injustice system in L.A. The Youth Justice Coalition is a youth-led click composed of 55 organizations. We are a growing movement led by the youth L.A. has labeled as criminals, gangsters, thugs, hoodlums, cholos , pandilleros and so on. To society and most people, we are invisible and forgotten, locked away in dusty corners of L.A. County, behind barbed wire and concrete brick walls in juvenile halls, county jails, camps and youth authorities.

We've been pushed out of the schools system into continuation schools and probation centers where the teachers are overworked and under trained. Books and materials are in short supply and there are more probation officers than guidance counselors. We represent thousands of youngsters, some of us as young as eight years old. Almost all of us are poor and are people of color. We are not terrorists. All of us are not armed with bullet lead, but with pencil lead, a pad and the truth — with the intent 2 revolutionize the injustice we face.

"Cootie Shots" writers, actors in New York: (back row, l. to r.) Scott Killian, Carl Andress, Krista Schafer, Eldon Cline, Jayne Atkinson, Paul Selig; (back row) Mark E. Rosenthal, Stephen Allman, Azzam Ahmad, Ladena Soleil, Cristina Nava. Photo by Norma Bowles

This summer, we put on a play based on our experiences being labeled as gang members. It all started in a workshop that Fringe Benefits put together for us to work with Brent Blair, one of his students from USC and a lot of other theater people and activists. We tried to break down the realities about gang profiling by L.A.P.D. and county sheriffs. We performed the play when internationally famous theater activist Augusto Boal came to USC. (I played the "oppressed" character, to use Boal's language.) The play highlights the fact that youth in L.A. can get stereotyped as gang members and put on a state-wide, computerized gang file, without ever receiving any notification, without ever having a chance to appeal and without having a way to get off the file. This guarantees ongoing harassment by law enforcement and can lead to doing much more time if you ever are arrested.

After the play, Councilmember Martin Ludlow promised to help us change police policies. Since then, we've met with him, and shared the policy changes we want. In December, we're marching across L.A. County to meet with several elected officials to push for the changes. Hopefully something will come out of all of this! The next play we're working on has to do with the conditions youth face when they're locked up in adult jails and prisons.

Thanks to Brent Blair, Fringe Benefits, and the people with Center for Theatre of the Oppressed and Applied Theatre Arts, L.A., we're using our stories to develop guerilla theater as a regular part of our organizing. To find out more about the YJC, get back at us — freelanow@yahoo.com.

COOTIES in Pennsylvania Dutch Country

by Maria Beach

Two characters from a "Cootie Shots" play, "Student Teachers," at Kutztown U. Diversity Festival in Pennsylvania: Anjoum (Muslim) and Necie (Mormon). Photo by Maria Beach

Last spring I was approached by one of the coordinators of Kutztown University's Diversity Festival about directing a play. I decided to produce "Cootie Shots" because, as a newcomer to this part of Pennsylvania, I was surprised at how much bigotry existed in the area, particularly in nearby Reading, Pa., (where the Klan has an active presence and where a controversy erupted recently over the city's failure to provide bilingual ballots for Latino voters).

Since Kutztown has a strong education program, I felt "Cootie Shots" might be a positive influence on future teachers as well as local schoolchildren. We performed "Cootie Shots" in late September for K.U. students and first-through-third-graders from Glenside Elementary, an inner-city school in Reading.

When I welcomed the children to Kutztown and the show, I asked them how many had never seen a play before. Well over half of the students eagerly waved their hands. Feedback from the Glenside teachers indicated that the students were excited by the dual experience of visiting a college campus and seeing live theater. The Glenside audience members were especially enthusiastic about the energetic "Rapunzel" play that satirizes ways girls are conditioned to be "pretty, popular and perfect," and a humorous monologue about not catching "Cooties" performed in falsetto by Dante Bruno as a disinfectant-wielding, anti-diversity harridan in a housedress.

Since Kutztown University is in the heart of Pennsylvania Dutch farmland, I asked permission to recast a character in "The Golden Rule," a short play bout religious diversity and tolerance, as an Amish boy (the Amish and Old-order Mennonites are the most visible religious minorities in the region). Mike Kneeream, the actor who played the Amish character Caleb, was coached on the Pennsylvania Dutch dialect by Roberta Crisson, chair of my department and the creator and performer of original ethnographic performances about the Pennsylvania Dutch. " Cootie Shots" was a very good play for us to present at our Diversity Festival, and being allowed to make a change that reflected our community made it even better."

Natalya Brusilovsky is a performance artist, poet and teacher. She is also the co-leader of Fringe Benefits' Theatre Think Tank for Addressing LGBT Issues in Schools and FB's high-school-based Theatre for Social Justice Residency.
Cynthia Ruffin is an artist, filmmaker, director, writer and activist. She has worked with Fringe Benefits since 1998.
Michael Mendoza is a co-founder of the Youth Justice Coalition. He is 19.
Maria Beach is a theater professor at Kutztown University in Pennsylvania. She is also a member of the Association for Theatre in Higher Education.

For more information about Fringe Benefits, see their Web site, under construction at this writing. Contact Norma Bowles at normabowles@earthlink.net.

Original CAN/API publication: January 2004