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Stories of Bravery: Improv theatre workshop

An all ages improv theatre workshop focused on community-building, leadership, and learning how to use theatre for social change.

Join Brave Practice Playback Theatre Collective for our 2023-24 season kickoff

• Sunday, October 15 from noon to 3 pm
• ASHHO Cultural Community & Job Training Center, 5757 Littlerock Rd SW #4, Tumwater, WA 98512
• FREE to the community with delicious food provided by ASHHO.

What does bravery mean to you? When have you practiced bravery in your everyday life, in big and small ways? How can you cultivate the vulnerability necessary to do hard things like lead, learn, make mistakes, and maintain integrity and community accountability? Whether you are looking to practice courage on-stage or off, we're excited to listen deeply, share true stories, lean into community wisdom, and take some brave risks with you!

No previous theatre experience is necessary to participate! "All-ages" is inclusive of community members who can actively participate and benefit from this experience in a community setting.

This is the first in a series of workshops we will offer with ASHHO supported by an Arts in Education grant from ArtsWA. Keep an eye out for upcoming dates with sessions throughout the school year for middle schoolers, high schoolers, young adults, and intergenerational groups.

Register!

If you are able, please register ahead of time so that we can determine how much food is needed. We welcome those who are able to make a contribution to support access-for-all community programming. Thank you!

Brave Practice Playback Theatre Collective (teaching artists pictured above - Hiroko Ishii Cassidy, Susana Bailén Acevedo, Ashlen Hodge, Laurie Porter O'Brien, and Meg Rosenberg) is a community resource for storytelling and deep listening. Founded in 2021 through Window Seat, we are a team of theatre artists who use Playback Theatre and other theatre-based techniques to foster connection, inclusion, and belonging locally. We serve a beautiful, diverse, intergenerational, and multicultural community within and connected to the South Sound region. With us, you'll practice empathy, express yourself, collaborate with others, and explore your own gifts and potential. In this workshop, you'll become familiar with techniques in Playback Theatre, a kind of improv theatre where people share true moments from their lives and others play them back artistically on the spot.

Partnership Highlight

Window Seat wrapped up Phase 1 of the Olympia Indie Music Project this summer with our research partner, Kelsey Smith of Lefty Copyrighting.

One of our strategic goals at Window Seat is to build capacity within our community to document and share its own stories through providing community workshops and cultural documentation services. This project beautifully modeled this goal in action! We trained 9 local musicians in oral history interviewing skills, who then went on to conduct interviews with 30 musicians. Eight community members spent hours transcribing these interviews so we have written versions of the audio interviews.

While Window Seat was tasked with facilitating the oral history portion of the project, Kelsey compiled a 84-page resource guide that includes a timeline of significant events between 1980 and the early 2000s, an inventory of significant community spaces, including punk houses, and a bibliography and suggestions for additional research. It's an impressive body of research that came largely from community members personal memories and archives!

It is gratifying to know that this project will continue on with the care and guidance of Kelsey and other project participants, and with continued financial support from the City of Olympia! We're excited to see how this project grows and engages with community in the coming years.

Thank you and congratulations to all who helped make this community research project possible!

From Our Community Archive

September 15th is the first day of Latinx/Hispanic/Latine Heritage Month. Today, we're highlighting an audio story we supported the creation of in partnership with CIELO back in 2021. It features two staff members at CIELO (pictured above), Kindra Galan and Cristian Salazar.

Listen

Food for Thought
stories, projects, events, and works we love

Window Seat is proud to co-sponsor APIC's Pathways to Success event again this year!

The Asian Pacific Islander Coalition of South Puget Sound always attracts the most inspiring panelists and speakers. Don't miss out!

Register

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