Talking Back – Season 2

Talking Back – Season 2

Talking Back: Season 2

A three-part web series that reveals the growing movement for justice in the theatre field.
About Talking Back: Season Two

Hosted by artEquity founder and executive director, Carmen Morgan, the first series filmed in 2019 brought artEquity’s practice of facilitating hard and necessary conversations to a broader audience. The curtain was pulled back, and viewers gained insight into the activism and progress achieved by theatre practitioners across the field. This next three-part web series, Talking Back Season 2, will be no different.

The summer of 2020 caused unrest and deep sadness, not only with the pandemic but with the brutal murders of Black people. There seemed to be no hope. But during conversations with Black creatives, playwrights, and the community, we were reminded of the ways in which Black folks, in particular, have a way of converting trauma into other things. This was the inspiration for a series focused on the Black experience.

Three years after the public lynching of George Floyd, where are we now?

How have the global events of 2020 informed Black creative work? What have the institutional responses been to anti-Blackness?

What does Black liberation look like, now and in the future?

Through engagement with Black creatives including playwrights, founding artistic directors, newly appointed leaders, and activists who have operated at all levels of leadership in arts organizations across the United States, we learn what it takes to transform, not just anti-Black institutions, but an anti-Black field.

This series was created and produced by Sharifa Johka.

Funding for the project was provided by Meyer Memorial Trust and the Oregon Shakespeare Festival.

For more information, please see our press release.

Talking Back: Season Two

Select an episode from playlist to view.

Or see details below!

Playlist

3 Videos
Episode One

Black playwrights discuss how the summer of 2020 affected their creative work and how they have navigated the challenges of returning to theatre. These writers speak about their unique position in the field cultivating spaces for Black voices and the forms their activism has taken. They also share what it takes to sustain themselves and their communities, and their hopes to shift and expand the paradigm of what it means to be successful.

S2: Episodes
FEATURING:
Dominque Morisseau
FEATURING:
Josh Wilder
FEATURING:
Carmen Morgan
FEATURING:
Aleshea Harris
FEATURING:
A. Zell Williams

Click name to see bio.

Episode Two

Black leaders and founding artistic directors discuss the REAL institutional response to anti-Blackness from the perspective of those who work from inside and outside of predominantly white institutions. Through a candid discussion, this episode reveals how institutions continue to undermine Black leadership and where Black leaders turn for support and community. While holding nothing back, these leaders share what it means to challenge these institutions, where they draw the line, and what it means to divest and walk away.

S2: Episodes
FEATURING:
Kevin Dinkins, Jr
FEATURING:
Lauren Turner Hines
FEATURING:
Carmen Morgan
FEATURING:
Mica Cole
FEATURING:
Ken-Matt Martin

Click name to see bio.

Episode Three

Black creatives discuss the post-2020 world they are dreaming into and creating. They discuss what Black Joy actually is and how Black Joy can coexist in a world entrenched in violent anti-Blackness. The conversation reveals the deep ancestral roots and history at the core of their work. Through the sharing of their own practices, they unpack the nuances of Black expression, and the peace and groundedness that comes with being unapologetically Black.

S2: Episodes
FEATURING:
Nissy Aya
FEATURING:
Nicole Brewer
FEATURING:
Cloteal Horne
FEATURING:
Carmen Morgan
FEATURING:
Ken-Matt Martin

Click name to see bio.

Talking Back: Season One

Did you miss the first season? Catch up.

Season One

Credits:

An artEquity Production.
This web series was produced with the support of Meyer Memorial Trust and the Oregon Shakespeare Festival.

Executive Producer artEquity

Created & Produced by Sharifa Johka

Recorded & Edited by DVR Productions

Consulting Producer Carmen Morgan

Host Carmen Morgan

Participants
Nissy Aya – Ep. 3
Nicole Brewer – Ep. 3
Mica Cole – Ep. 2
Kelvin Dinkins, Jr. – Ep. 2
Aleshea Harris – Ep. 1
Cloteal L. Horne – Ep. 3
Ken-Matt Martin – Ep. 2 + 3
Dominique Morisseau – Ep. 1
Lauren Turner Hines – Ep. 2
Josh Wilder – Ep. 1
A. Zell Williams – Ep. 1

Editors
Sean Daniels
Pauline Dyer
Melvin Graham

Sound Editing & Mixing Matt Brandseth

Funding Provided by
Mellon Foundation
National Endowment for the Arts

Camera Operators
Kesha Daniels
Sean Daniels
Sihonn Dixon
Pauline Dyer
Melvin Graham
Vincent Madero

Production Manager Mara Hsia-Palma

Production Coordinator Michael Roberston

Production Assistants
Telana Courseau
Sami Hansen

Deparmtent Head Makeup Mecca Dickerson

Hair for Carmen Morgan
Rayna Brooks Lott
Sekai Natural Hair Gallery

artEquity Staff
Jose “Jojo” Abaoag
Alexis Green
Kendra Hale
Carmen Morgan
Mara Hsieh Palma
Michael Robertson
Margaret Toomey

Graphics
Olivia George
Vivian Holtzman (Phosphene)
Henery Willette (Phosphene)

Closed Captioning Rev.com

Special Thanks
Shania Simmons
Carolyn Reneé Morris

See All Programs
Thank You to Our Supporters

artEquity provides the tools, resources, and training to support the intersection of art and activism. Our work is made possible in part by the California Arts Council, the Dramatists Guild Fund, the Ford Foundation, the Getty Foundation, Barbara and Amos Hostetter, the Howard Gilman Foundation, the JKW Foundation, the Mellon Foundation, the National Endowment for the Arts, the Shubert Foundation, Venturous Theatre Fund of the Tides Foundation, and a growing community of individuals and organizations across the globe.