Directing: Where is Home
Where is Home? A Digital Living Newspaper was inspired by the living newspapers of the depression-era Federal Theatre Project and addressed and exposed historic and current housing inequity in Portland. This performance piece was conceived and built collaboratively by Dr. Lezlie Cross and a team of student actors, researchers, stage managers, and designers. Adapting the basic tenets of devised theatre to a digital environment, this innovative documentary production guided audiences through the issues, a discussion and, we hope, action in their own communities. This digital production was presented In association with the University of Portland’s Public Research Fellow program.
Lezlie was honored with a KCACTF Meritorious Achievement Award for her work on this production.
"During Where is Home, Dr. Cross put in many hours of research and brainstorming outside of rehearsal to provide our cast with helpful and meaningful resources to build our devised script. She worked diligently to ensure we could collaborate and strengthen our connections, even in the midst of the pandemic lockdown. The cast and crew felt incredibly bonded by the end of the production, and were proud to put on such a meaningful performance, even through all the added obstacles of a Zoom production." ~Hannah Kelly
Director’s Note
This summer, as the nation once again confronted our shared history of racial injustice, I faced some hard truths about myself and about Portland, as my home and a city I love. The thing about love is that it can blind you to the ugly parts of a person or a place. As an Oregonian, I knew about the state’s historically despicable treatment of Black Americans – I had seen the pictures of the Ku Klux Klan proudly marching down the streets of Ashland, Oregon – but it had seemed like a thing of the past. Until this summer.
As a historian, I began in research: I read about redlining and the toxic legacy of housing choices made at the turn of the 20th century and in the 1930s. I read about eviction and the inescapable cycle of poverty it creates. I read about the native peoples of the Willamette Valley and how the government took their lands in the 1950s to open them up to logging and industry. I read about gentrification and displacement in Portland, learning that 32,000 Portlanders spend more than 50% of their paychecks on rent and as of January 2019 15,876 Oregonians experienced some form of homelessness, with 5,000 of those experiencing chronic homelessness.[1] And I felt helpless. “What,” I asked, “is a theatre professor supposed to do in the face of all of this?”
And then I realized: a theatre professor makes art that addresses all of this.
Theatre can humanize inhuman statistics. Theatre can bring emotions to data. Theatre can show the impact of policy on real people. Theatre can spur action.
I recalled the living newspapers of the Federal Theatre Project (FTP) and how those plays took current events and dramatized them to create needed social change. The FTP play One Third of the Nation, which addressed the dire living conditions endured by one third of Americans, spurred the passage of legislation in 1939 that lead to the Seattle Housing Authority. That inspiration was the beginning of Where is Home?.
I am incredibly grateful for this incredible group of student collaborators, who bravely jumped into the breach of the unknown to create the show you will experience tonight. Not only did they confront the truths of themselves and their cities and country to literally embody the lived experience of people facing discrimination and eviction, but they did it all over Zoom. We never once got to actually see each other during this process. Their bravery, sensitivity, and intelligence is inspiring. I am grateful for the support of my faculty, who said “yes” to all of my ambitious schemes, and to the Public Research Fellows program who provided support for the project. I am grateful for Maddie and Haley, my research fellows, who will continue digging into this project with me all year. Finally, I am grateful for you, our audience, who will experience the stories we created and – we hope – move into your community with more knowledge and with the impetus to action. Housing reform is a local issue; one in which we can all make a difference. I hope this show inspires you to create positive change.