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"What a Riot!" Response - Noah Cott

I really enjoyed this read--Mady Schutzman’s writing is eloquent, poignant, and explorative rather than definitive. I kept finding myself inspired by quotes and writing them down to peek at later or use for a later project. However, along with the joy I felt reading this, I also felt a sort of skepticism as I read it, though never fully formed. I felt defensive knowing that the project, which honed in on specific events which have monumental reverberations within the black community, featured no black ensemble members. I was skeptical of the philosophy which allowed the adults’ voices and politics to have a prevailing voice through the vessel of the youth, and I sometimes had a suspicion that maybe her priorities were askew. In a way, the fact that this skepticism has such a spotlight on it in my mind is a sign of my privilege--the privilege of not having to be skeptical about these things--and I am grateful for that check. I haven’t come to a prevailing conclusion about any of these things, but all of those things were embedded into my experience reading this beautiful piece of writing.
Strategies Mady Employed:
-Having the group offer historical figures they were curious about/wanted to celebrate
-using the joker system to include many perspectives; “mutability of identity”
-Including “the young people’s experience learning about the characters they were to portray; their reactions and questions to the often brutal and terrifying events in the characters’ lives”
-Listening to the desire of the group: “I don’t to play poor latinos anymore”
-“Brechtian distance” from violence as an opportunity to critique
-Utilizing popular culture in the form of the Wheel of Fortune parody to “assume a common language associated with fun and entertainment within which to stage more probing questions of social politics”
-“Community and human relations prioritized over professional training”

Strategies That Resonate:
-Using the joker system to include many perspectives
-Including “the young people’s experience learning about the characters they were to portray; their reactions and questions to the often brutal and terrifying events in the characters’ lives”
-Listening to the desire of the group: “I don’t to play poor latinos anymore”

Relevance to Community:
-These students grew up in the immediate wake of the rodney king news phenomenon and riots, which heavily impacted what it meant to grow up in Los Angeles
-Choosing Claudette, who was 15 when she performed her act of courage, provides an immediate relevance to the group, whose ages ranged from 13-17
-Listening to the desire of the group: “I don’t to play poor latinos anymore”

Questions for Mady:
-What was the thought process behind displaying triggering images like full KKK regalia in a theatre piece featuring only minors? Was that a decision everybody came to together?
-You quoted donald amerson saying, “this rage is not a one-color thing either,” and I really agree, but how did you navigate writing a piece about an oppressed group with an ensemble which doesn’t include anyone inside of that oppressed group?

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