Join in the Theater Offensive's 'Festival of Resistance'

Given the title of The Theatre Offensive's Queer [Re]Public Festival – a multimedia event taking place June 26 through June 29 that's described as a "Festival of Resistance" – you might think that it was a direct response to the election of Donald Trump this past November and his administration's prompt, unrelenting attacks on transgender Americans.

The truth is, TTO had planned the festival, and its various events, well before the election. Transphobia is not limited to periods of GOP reign in America, and TTO itself was founded more than three-and-a-half decades ago as a response to anti-queer rhetoric and policies. That focus has never changed, even if the current targeting of trans people makes it more essential than ever to stand in solidarity with (and in defense of) the T in the LGBTQ+ community.

As TTO Executive Director Giselle Byrd explains, TTO "began in '89 as this HIV/AIDS arts activist group, and now we're back in this space where we get to bring back that energy and that action and remind people what is at stake here. And it's not just queer and trans people telling you this; we're reminding you this is affecting everyone."

Byrd was appointed to her position at TTO just last year, but she sees her role – and that of TTO itself – as clear-cut and ties the organization's work today to the work it was doing when it was first formed.

"We think about the Out on the Edge Festival of the '90s that TTO used to do, and this is almost a second coming," she reflected. "I think that's the beauty of queer and trans life – that we have these movements, and they come in waves, and with those waves comes new artistry and new leadership. That's powerful, especially when being trans folks are actively being erased."

Not that such erasure is going to succeed. "We have always been here," Byrd notes firmly, "and we're not going anywhere. So, it is a blessing to me to be able to lead in a time like this, and to revive how TTO started."

The times are challenging for sure, especially for arts organizations – and especially for arts organizations with a queer focus. The NEA recently yanked a grant to TTO, but the organization didn't take it lying down; they fought back with the help of the ACLU.

The NEA's rescinding of the grant "violates the First and Fifth Amendment and the American Procedure Act," Byrd pointed out. Bad is it is, though, others have it worse.

"There are organizations throughout this country who have lost more and don't have that ability to actually say anything about it, because they may be in a red state that does not care if they live or breathe," Byrd said. "They may not have board support where folks go, 'Yeah, we should do this [sue the government].'"

"There are people in Augusta, Georgia or in rural parts of this country who are trans people wanting to create art, because that is what gives them liberation and life," Byrd added. "And they're now being told, 'This is not for the good of the American people.' I highly doubt that. Look at how our culture has been defined. It's been trans, non-binary and gender expansive people setting a lot of these milestones in arts and culture. Even in fashion, even in the way that we tell stories, it is embedded in the blueprint of American culture. So, we're not walking away silently."

The Festival promises to brim with dynamic cultural resonance. "From aerial dance storytelling to Afro-Indigenous music-infused readings, interactive workshops, and powerful artist conversations, this festival is about more than performance," Programs Manager Des Bennett (they/them) noted in a TTO release; "it's about amplifying the work of queer and trans BIPOC artists in all their intersectional brilliance."

In addition to the theatrical aspects of the Festival of Resistance – such as a "program of collaborative choreography," titled "In the Space Between," by Black queer choreographer Victoria Awkward and a new "play with music" called "The Messenger" by Black Indigenous playwright Cheyenne Wyzzard-Jones – there are communal experiences, as well. Community-building activist River Guidry will be leading workshops derived from their work in what they call "Theater of Union."

"So much of my work in Theater of Union is about contributing and committing to a life-sustaining, world-building project with the acknowledgement that the culture and systems we are functioning under is no longer sustainable. I use theater as a way to intentionally create community, where our stories become this connective tissue that holds us together so that we can re-form the way that we know each other, exist with each other, and relate to each other."

[Watch River Guidry talk about their "Theater of Union"]

Detailing their part of the Festival, Guidry described "a threefold offering: I'm doing a talk about Theater of Union as a cultural practice and pedagogy, and then there's a performance in the workshop. And the workshop is a short-term community building tool where, in 45 minutes, we look at how we create love between a group of strangers in a way that, when we enter with love, we are transformed by love, and we take this with us."

"The plan that I have is to create a space where we can honor our many griefs and grieve together," Guidry added, "and, for the performance, I'm working with a cohort of artists to devise a new performance. We are putting the practice and pedagogy [of Theater of Union] to work. What does the performance look like when we create with love, and when we are trying to commit to love through the performance? It is kind of this multi-layered piece, but the performance is an exploration on ancestry, where we put all of our ancestries in conversation with each other through dance, poetry, and song."

Though what Guidry describes might sound like a blend of community organizing and self-actualization, they told EDGE that, in the end, it all comes back to stagecraft.

"I'm a theater artist," they said. "That's how I see the world, and so the world exists for me through theater, and it exists through me as performance, as dramaturgy, as playwriting – as all these different hats. I really do see theater as this gathering where alchemy happens, and, with this broader definition, I think that's why I'm able to see Theater of Union exist in such a broad space. Okay?"

More than okay; indeed, what Guidry is talking about sounds perfect for the larger ongoing mission of The Theatre Offensive, itself as much about community as theater-making.

"What we are doing is, we are working to educate all of the people who are in fellowship with us on what is happening in this moment," Byrd told EDGE. "So, that's from getting 'Know Your Rights' trainings and self-defense classes to providing fellowship to folks who are having food insufficiency. With each offering we are providing, we tend to provide a meal of some sort but also access to other resources. If you're in need of counseling, or access to healthcare, putting you with those partners is so helpful."

Byrd provides an illustrative example. "We did a reading called 'The Best Part of Night is Black' in February, and it was about this Black queer couple who was going through a loss in the family, but the relationship was very much emotionally abusive. We partnered with The Network/La Red, which is an organization dedicated to helping folks remove themselves from domestic violence situations and giving them the tools and resources to go, 'Here's your way out, and here's how you can start.' And it's powerful. Some people were saying, 'I am in this right now, and to know that this play is based on a true story, but that there are resources for me to find, is so helpful.'"

"I think a lot of folks go to the theater and it's meant to just be an escape for two to three hours, but then you walk out and you're faced with the reality of what your life is," Byrd continued. "What I charge us to do at TTO is, 'Well, how do we make life a little bit better for you? Beyond artistry, how do we take care of you as a person?' And that also applies to our artists, making sure we pay you properly, making sure that we are setting you up for success to go to the next job. There is nothing that should prevent any theater in this country from doing the same thing. As someone who worked in talent management for nine years, we have a responsibility to take care of people."

The Theater Offensive's "Queer [Re]Public Festival" runs June 26 through 29.

For more details of these events, follow this link.