TTO Queer [Re]public Residency Welcomes A New Cohort of Artists — The Theater Offensive

TTO Queer (Re)public Residency Welcomes A New Cohort of Artists

Innovative 22-month program provides queer and trans artists of color with guidance and tools for success

Boston, MA -- The Theater Offensive (TTO) announces a new cohort of artists to join its Queer (Re)public Emergent Artist Residency (QR EAR) Program. Originally piloted in July of 2021, the program is dedicated solely to queer and trans artists of color whose work demonstrates artistic vigor and inquisitive exploration of their personal queer aesthetics. TTO will actively support the cohort of three artists throughout their 22-month residency, helping them to discover and develop a deeper understanding of their personal aesthetic and grow their work. Residencies will be hosted in Boston starting September 2023. Artists work will be featured in Queer Republic festival slated for June 2025, with public community workshops and readings throughout the process.

“TTO values itself as an incubator for queer and trans artists of color. Our process seeks to affirm the nuances queer and trans people of color create from, as named in our Queer Aesthetics work. We believe our community deserves this intention.” said Jess Ernst, Director of Development, Communications and Capital Campaign.

Artists Joining the QR EAR Program

Cheyenne Wyzzard-Jones (they/she) comes from a political art background through her work as Director of Arts Programming of movement organization, In Solidarity. Their project “The Messenger” is a musical journey that shares an intimate “coming of age” story about a young femme, Zanyah, who has been chosen to become the next Messenger for her nation, The In-Between. As Zanyah goes on a spiritual journey with her elders, she meets people that each share a lesson about what Zanyah needs to know about her past, present, and future. The Messenger shares with the audience the complexities, sacredness, and love of what it means to take on the role of a Messenger within a community.

Over the course of Cheyenne’s Residency, they will work with a musical director to develop the musical score of the play, with mid-Residency work-in-progress readings, and a culminating multi-experienced listening session of the musical score on Noepe Land also known as Martha's Vineyard.

Originally from Massachusetts, Victoria L. Awkward (she/her/hers), trained at Impulse Dance Center by LuAnn Pagella and worked with Boston-based artists such as Karen Krolak. Her project “In the Space Between” (ITSB) follows a soloist as they inspire their community to delve into an infinite space between their reality and their wildest dreams. This infinite reality provides opportunity for freedom-seeking, exploration, and embodiment. ITSB showcases a dynamic fabric set by architectural firm, NADAAA, extravagant handmade costumes by Mitzi Eppley and our costume team, light design by Elmer Martinez, original music by Aaron Brown, and performance by VLA DANCE. ITSB originally premiered as a short work at Boston Center for the Arts and The Dance Complex.

Informed by feminist notions of “A Love Ethic” by bell hooks and “Knowing Together” by Allison Weir, Annalise Guidry (they/them/theirs) will work to introduce a thesis for a theater of union that emphasizes storytelling, deep listening, and understanding to build worlds of knowledge that bring people together. Their hopes are to contribute to life sustaining world-making projects with theater as the vehicle by exploring lineage, the self and lived experiences in storytelling. During their residency, they will interrogate the question “In what ways can our stories bring us together?” through the development and praxis of their thesis in community through playwriting and directing for True Colors Troupe.

We will engage several mission-aligned community partners in various ways throughout the term of the residency including Double Edge Theatre and Isabella Stewart Gardner Musem. “We are looking forward to helping each artist create deeper relationships with local and national communities through artist-led and industry-supported development.” said Tonasia Jones, (she/her) TTO Director of Programs.

ABOUT THE THEATER OFFENSIVE

The Theater Offensive (TTO) is a social change organization using theater and the performing arts as cultural organizing tools. We present liberating art by, for, and about queer and trans people of color (QTPOC) that transcends artistic boundaries, celebrates cultural abundance, and dismantles oppression. Building on a three-decade history of nationally recognized programming, TTO serves Boston’s QTPOC community and their allies, families, and friends with groundbreaking theater, arts education, and civic engagement offerings.