By Audrey Anderson
Hometown Weekly Reporter
There was a heavy downpour on June 17, but participants at Hale were fortunate to observe the Juneteenth holiday in the spacious, warm, and dry Powissett Lodge building. As people arrived, the event began with a delicious soul food buffet by Food for the Soul and music by DJ Derrick Night. After, an interactive performance by the Playback Theater Experience and a discussion led by Westwood High School’s Let’s Talk About Race, Culture, and Ethnicity group (LTARCE) brought participants’ experiences to light and helped them to share their thoughts on Freedom.
A playback theater group listens intently to audience members’ stories, one at a time, and then improvises a performance that relays and honors the story. This experience helps the audience to understand an experience that may be similar to or very different from their own.
Will “Will C” Chalmus (Hale’s Director of Creative Inclusion and Lead Faculty Member and Curriculum Design Director, Perrone-Sizer Center for Creative Leadership) warmed up the crowd to the Playback Theater program with the simple question of “How do you feel?” The Playback Theater group illustrated the answers of “Good” and “Great because I just had ice cream” with attention-grabbing performances illustrating happy feelings.
Then Will C asked the audience to “Describe a time when you felt free or didn’t feel free.” Audience stories included complex events that required bravery and brought up conflicting feelings. One person’s story was about defying a court order requiring him to live with his father in order to move in with his mother, and how his school principal intervened to help him. Another participant’s story was about her feelings as a young girl overhearing a teacher’s comment that she might not be able to participate in a “Fashion Through the Ages” presentation, since “there weren’t any people of her color in the old days.” These experiences and others were illustrated by the Playback Theater immediately and with talent, compassion, and empathy, causing those present to think deeply about how being in each situation would feel.
Next, the Westwood High School’s Let’s Talk About Race, Culture, and Ethnicity group, divided the audience into smaller groups for discussion. They suggested that the groups think about such questions as “What does it mean to be free?” and “How we can help people to be free?” Each group discussed these questions, and some individuals chose to share their answers with the larger group. The students were confident leaders and comfortable with helping people discuss important topics.
Juneteenth celebrates the historical event when the last of the enslaved people were informed of their freedom. Hale brought the meaning of this holiday to the current generations by thoughtfully examining what we can do today to extend true freedom to everyone.
