MP7: ALACI: Afro-Latinx, Latin American, Caribbean and Indigenous Performance
About
Highlighting diversity in performances from Spanish-speaking regions, our group explores theater as a tool to foster equity and social justice by analyzing existing works and creating and performing our original pieces to share across CNY institutions.
Active since: 2021
Open to New People
- Syracuse University
- Cornell University
- Colgate University
- Hobart & William Smith Colleges
Collaborative Goals
To explore Afro-Latinx, Latin American, Caribbean and Indigenous performance practices and to introduce diverse performances to the Central New York community.
Group Organizers
Debra Castillo
Stephen H. Weiss Presidential Fellow, Emerson Hinchliff Professor of Hispanic Studies, Cornell University
Activities
Microteatro
Feb. 11, 2022, 1 p.m.
PICS: Performing Identities Across Cultures "Recharging Home" Microteatro Performances
April 18, 2022, 10 a.m.
Group Outcomes
On February 11, 2022 a group of faculty and graduate students from Colgate University, Cornell University, Hobart and WIlliam Smith Colleges, Skidmore College, Syracuse University, University of Rochester, SUNY Oswego and the University at Albany attended a workshop on Zoom about Microteatro, a transnational theater network aimed at creating an intimate, comfortable environment in which original short performances are used to provoke discussion and critical reflection about challenging social issues.
Following this introduction, students and faculty from many of these universities (Colgate University, Cornell University, SUNY Oswego, Syracuse University, University of Rochester, and Onondaga Community College) contributed performance pieces to PICS. These performances took place live on the Syracuse University Quad and also virtually (displayed on the large screen in the Schine Student Center Atrium and on YouTube) on Monday, April 18, 2022. ALACI-PICS 2022 featured nineteen original performances. Over 100 spectators watched the live or virtual performances. This was the beginning of a CNY ALACI performance partnership.
We have received CNY Corridor Signature funding to continue this regional collaboration next year. Also, our group has been accepted to present the fruits of our project at the 2022 National Humanities Conference in Los Angeles, California. We are currently working on a journal article publication highlighting our ALACI-PICS project as a practice-based performance model to address social (in)justices and (in)equity.