{"id":7584,"date":"2019-03-18T08:30:55","date_gmt":"2019-03-18T06:30:55","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/processworkhub.gr\/blog\/?p=7584"},"modified":"2019-03-18T08:31:02","modified_gmt":"2019-03-18T06:31:02","slug":"the-august-wilson-red-door-project-pushes-boundaries-with-a-purpose","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/processworkhub.gr\/blog\/the-august-wilson-red-door-project-pushes-boundaries-with-a-purpose\/","title":{"rendered":"The August Wilson Red Door Project Pushes Boundaries with a Purpose"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>\u0395\u03bc\u03c0\u03bd\u03b5\u03c5\u03c3\u03c4\u03b9\u03ba\u03ac \u03c0\u03c1\u03ac\u03b3\u03bc\u03b1\u03c4\u03b1 \u03b1\u03c0\u03cc \u03c4\u03b7\u03bd \u03ac\u03bb\u03bb\u03b7 \u03bc\u03b5\u03c1\u03b9\u03ac \u03c4\u03bf\u03c5 \u03c9\u03ba\u03b5\u03b1\u03bd\u03bf\u03cd&#8230;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u03a0\u03b7\u03b3\u03ae: <a rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" aria-label=\"Portland Mercury (opens in a new tab)\" href=\"https:\/\/www.portlandmercury.com\/spring-arts-2019\/2019\/03\/14\/26148785\/the-august-wilson-red-door-project-pushes-boundaries-with-a-purpose?fbclid=IwAR2Z3CkEUdIKGs2C1dM9nnzEw_enM3m_Thb73M3t3okASNq92EP4xkQTPU4\" target=\"_blank\">Portland Mercury<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image is-resized\"><img data-recalc-dims=\"1\" loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/processworkhub.gr\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/reddoor-nanna-32.jpg?resize=525%2C358\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-7585\" width=\"525\" height=\"358\" srcset=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/processworkhub.gr\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/reddoor-nanna-32.jpg?w=700&amp;ssl=1 700w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/processworkhub.gr\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/reddoor-nanna-32.jpg?resize=300%2C204&amp;ssl=1 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 525px) 100vw, 525px\" \/><figcaption> <br>The Red Door Project \/ Top Row, Left To Right: Kevin Jones, Lesli Mones,  Christopher Hirsh. Second Row: Victoria Alvarez-Chacon, William Gebo,  Jasmine Cottrell, Jonathan Thompson.\u00a0 Bottom Row: La\u2019tevin Alexander,  Julana Torres, Joseph Gibson, Tyharra Cozier.                                    photo by Meg Nanna <\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cPushing boundaries\u201d is a goal shared  by many in the arts community\u2014though achieving that goal, along with  attracting audiences and financial resources, is an eternal struggle.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Portland\u2019s August Wilson Red Door Project is becoming \nwidely recognized for creating powerful and deeply complicated \ntheatrical experiences that attract sold-out audiences and lots of \nattention. And they\u2019ve accomplished this feat with little to no \nmarketing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Helmed by co-founders Kevin Jones and Lesli Mones, the \nRed Door Project set out to \u201cchange the racial ecology of Portland \nthrough the arts,\u201d with performances that represent and encourage those \noften ignored by the city\u2019s theater scene\u2014and in their latest, most \nchallenging project yet, their goal is to create a path of \naccountability and healing for people of color and the police.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator\"\/>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong><em>Hands Up<\/em><\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p>In 2016, Red Door brought <em>Hands Up: 7 Playwrights, 7 Testaments<\/em>\u2014a show originally developed by New York City\u2019s New Black Fest\u2014to Portland. <em>Hands Up<\/em>\n features seven powerful, emotionally charged monologues about racial \nprofiling, all written by African American playwrights in the wake of \nthe police shootings of Ferguson\u2019s Mike Brown and Beavercreek, Ohio\u2019s \nJohn Crawford III.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cWe were originally only going to produce five or six \nshows,\u201d Jones says, \u201cbut more and more people came until we had to turn \nsome of them away.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Thanks to the vision and support of local funders, the Red Door was able to add more shows, eventually performing <em>Hands Up<\/em> 67 times for more than 12,000 Portlanders. Even more impressive, the show was promoted almost entirely by word of mouth.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cWe didn\u2019t do any marketing [for <em>Hands Up<\/em>], and \nit wasn\u2019t reviewed,\u201d Jones continues. \u201cWe wanted to make it available to\n the general public and let them decide whether or not people should see\n this show.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><em>Hands Up<\/em> was exactly what audiences wanted: a \nthought-provoking show that elicited strong, often conflicting emotions.\n According to Jones and Mones, the regular post-show Q&amp;As (or \ntalkbacks) were \u201crich, emotional, and complex to facilitate.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>It was this same strong reaction that put Red Door on \nits current path, embarking on their most profound and controversial \nwork to date: <em>Cop Out<\/em>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator\"\/>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong><em>Cop Out<\/em><\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p>It started the day a police officer attended <em>Hands Up<\/em>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>An audience member\u2014convinced that members of the police\n should see this show\u2014contacted Officer Michael Crebs, an assistant \nchief at the time, who, in turn, reached out to Jones. The two conversed\n over coffee for an hour-and-a-half.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cThen he came to the show, out of uniform,\u201d Jones \nremembers. \u201cAt the end, he spoke at the talk back, saying, \u2018This has \nbeen a very powerful experience for me. To be honest, I never really \nthought about what it must feel like to be pulled out of my car with a \ngun pointed at my head.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Crebs invited one of the actors, who had experienced several negative encounters with police officers, out to coffee.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cThe two talked, and [Crebs] really had a transformative experience,\u201d Jones says. \u201cIt was incredibly healing for both of them.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>This communication inspired Crebs to share his \nexperiences with Deputy Chief Bob Day, who, at the time, was captain of \nthe bureau\u2019s training division. While he wouldn\u2019t initially commit to \nseeing <em>Hands Up<\/em>, Day agreed to sit down with Jones and Mones. Day was cautious at first.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>According to Jones, Day said something to the effect \nof, \u201cIf you\u2019re gonna start talking about how cops are racist and all \nthat stuff, you\u2019re not going to get the police to listen to you.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Jones responded, \u201cSay more about that. We want to understand your experience as well&#8230; and actually, I was hoping I could tell <em>your<\/em> story, the story of the police.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cThat\u2019s when it shifted for [Day],\u201d Jones says.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>While Day was open to the idea of a show that would \nspotlight cops and their daily struggles, Jones and Mones felt it was \nimportant for Day and others in the training division to see <em>Hands Up<\/em>\u2014to fully experience Red Door\u2019s vision of a multiplicity of perspectives. It took almost a year for <em>Hands Up<\/em>\n to be performed in front of a group of officers (along with a post-show\n talkback)\u2014primarily because of reticence from both police and actors.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cEverybody was scared,\u201d says Jones. \u201cIt was like, \u2018Whoa\n man, that\u2019s a little too far out there.\u2019 But it was a great day, and we\n had a great, hard discussion. Eventually we were able to build a \nfoundation of trust.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>After the police agreed to the idea, Red Door hired a \nsquad of nationally recognized playwrights to write the eight monologues\n that eventually became 2018\u2019s <em>Cop Out<\/em>, which were based on actual officer interviews, most of whom were African American. <em>Cop Out<\/em> enjoyed a run of successful performances, and as with <em>Hands Up<\/em>, the subsequent talk backs provided lots of feedback, both positive and negative.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator\"\/>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>Both Sides<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p>Some\n of this negative feedback centered around the idea of equivalency\u2014in \nthis case, presenting both sides of a story in which one subject (the \ncops) inherently possesses more power than the other\u2014which has caused \nconfusion among certain audiences, some of whom have questioned Red \nDoor\u2019s intentions. Jones and Mones say they recognize how an audience \ncould come to this conclusion of imbalance, especially in Portland, \nwhere progressive-minded people are more inclined to take sides&#8230; \nespecially against the police.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cThis situation is very complex, because you\u2019re asking \npeople to hold two conflicting ideas in their head at the same time,\u201d \nJones says. \u201c[Producing <em>Cop Out<\/em>] wasn\u2019t about leveling the \nplaying field or facilitating a conflict on two sides. It\u2019s not a binary\n conversation, because most of our monologues were from Black cops, who \nhave experienced racism.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cFrom a social power perspective,\u201d Mones adds, \u201cyou \ncan\u2019t compare the experiences of the two groups of people. But from a \nshared human perspective, the feeling of being unseen, depersonalized, \nand stereotyped is something both groups can relate to. It\u2019s in the DNA \nof Red Door to honor a multiplicity of viewpoints, because we know it\u2019s \nimperative in producing a healthy racial ecology for the community.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cIn all complex social issues, a diversity of \nviewpoints must be represented,\u201d Mones continues. \u201cIn this model [of an \necology], all the different dimensions of an ecosystem are essential\u2014for\n example, a healthy garden requires flowers, worms, water, and \nsunshine\u2014in order to thrive and produce bounty. Similarly, the \nmultiplicity and complexity of all the different voices around these \nissues of the police and the community must be expressed and listened \nto, in order to create sustainable social change.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator\"\/>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><em>\u201cFrom a social power perspective, you can\u2019t \ncompare the experiences of the two groups of people. But from a shared \nhuman perspective, the feeling of being unseen, depersonalized, and \nstereotyped is something both groups can relate to.\u201d <\/em><\/h3>\n\n\n\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator\"\/>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>Next Steps<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p>Following the success of <em>Hands Up<\/em> and <em>Cop Out<\/em>,\n Red Door is developing a pilot program involving community members and \nlaw enforcement officials from across the state\u2014police, prison guards, \nstate patrol, and probation officers\u2014with the idea of eventually \nintegrating these shows into law enforcement training.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cThe criminal justice system is going through huge \nchanges,\u201d says Jones. \u201cOur challenge is to convene them in \nconversations\u2014giving them an opportunity to talk with us, and more \nimportantly talk amongst themselves about how [seeing <em>Hands Up<\/em> and <em>Cop Out<\/em>] can help with the challenges they\u2019re facing right now.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Realizing a plan of this magnitude takes a lot of \nmoney. While Red Door recently received a $100,000 grant from \nphilanthropic women\u2019s collective Ninety-Nine Girlfriends, there\u2019s still \ninfrastructure, staffing, paying actors, travel, and more to take care \nof.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cKevin is really the visionary behind this project,\u201d \nMones says. \u201cAnd his vision is big and extremely exciting. We are a \nsmall, under-capitalized nonprofit, and we\u2019ve now begun to seek \ninvestors who are excited by the boldness and creativity of this \nvision.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>But for all the challenges a program like this can \nproduce, for the creative minds behind the Red Door, the end result is \nmore than worth it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cThere\u2019s something that happens when you\u2019re sitting in a\n theater,\u201d Jones says. \u201cYou\u2019re watching a story unfold, and you don\u2019t \nhave to agree, disagree, or engage with that person. You can just take \nthe story in and formulate your own conclusions and lessons learned from\n hearing someone tell their story.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cSo that\u2019s our goal,\u201d Mones adds. \u201cWe want to dig into \nconversations that we don\u2019t normally have, to create a relatively safe \nspace for people to have these conversations. We want to create a \nhealthier community with healthier cops, so people can live and work \ntogether.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><em>For more information on Red Door\u2019s<\/em> <em>pro- jects and investment opportunities, visit  <a href=\"http:\/\/reddoorproject.org\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" aria-label=\" (opens in a new tab)\">reddoorproject.org<\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>\u0395\u03bc\u03c0\u03bd\u03b5\u03c5\u03c3\u03c4\u03b9\u03ba\u03ac \u03c0\u03c1\u03ac\u03b3\u03bc\u03b1\u03c4\u03b1 \u03b1\u03c0\u03cc \u03c4\u03b7\u03bd \u03ac\u03bb\u03bb\u03b7 \u03bc\u03b5\u03c1\u03b9\u03ac \u03c4\u03bf\u03c5 \u03c9\u03ba\u03b5\u03b1\u03bd\u03bf\u03cd&#8230; \u03a0\u03b7\u03b3\u03ae: Portland Mercury \u201cPushing boundaries\u201d is a goal shared by many in the arts community\u2014though achieving that goal, along with attracting audiences and financial resources, is an eternal struggle. Portland\u2019s August Wilson Red Door Project is becoming widely recognized for creating powerful and deeply complicated theatrical experiences <a href='https:\/\/processworkhub.gr\/blog\/the-august-wilson-red-door-project-pushes-boundaries-with-a-purpose\/' class='excerpt-more'>[&#8230;]<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[63,12],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-7584","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-63","category-12","category-63-id","category-12-id","post-seq-1","post-parity-odd","meta-position-corners","fix"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p12hmI-1Yk","jetpack_likes_enabled":false,"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/processworkhub.gr\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7584","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/processworkhub.gr\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/processworkhub.gr\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/processworkhub.gr\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/processworkhub.gr\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=7584"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/processworkhub.gr\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7584\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":7587,"href":"https:\/\/processworkhub.gr\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7584\/revisions\/7587"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/processworkhub.gr\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=7584"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/processworkhub.gr\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=7584"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/processworkhub.gr\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=7584"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}