[ad_1]
Bryan Alvarez-Terrazas, who grew up in Roaring Fork Valley, said they saw very little or visibility or shared queer stories from the LGBTQIA+ community. Today, Alvarez-Terrazas is one of a group of local queer artists changing that narrative.
Coming to the Willetts Arts Campus this weekend is the first-ever Queer Voices theatre project. Using action, live music, spoken word and other theatrical techniques, a group of queer performers will articulate their stories around the struggles and joys of being able to live their authentic, authentic selves.
The VOICES production titled “The Green Bird on the Orange Tree” will be staged at TACAW for three days, with screenings Friday and Saturday at 7:30pm and Sunday at 4pm. Each show will feature additional programming – including a Friday night post-show Q&A hosted by Aspen Public Radio’s Halle Zander, as well as Saturday’s post-party celebrations and Sunday’s pre-show events at Gay4Good and AspenOut.
In the months leading up to this weekend’s production and festivities, the cast and crew of The Green Bird on the Orange Tree have been working closely together to share their stories and turn these personal experiences into a show for stage. Orchestra member Alvarez-Terrazas would like to express his sincere thanks for this.
“I’m so grateful for this experience of sharing these stories that couldn’t really be expressed in the past,” said Alvarez-Terrazas. “So being able to take that space in the community — giving myself and all the other actors a voice and a platform to highlight our visibility and the power we have — will hopefully inspire others to do the same.”
Alvarez-Terrazas — head of the MANAUS Equity Action Project and co-creator and performer of The Roaring Divas Drag Queen — said it was their first time working in equipment theater storytelling, and their first Participate in sound projects.
Alvarez-Terrazas said the story they’ve been working on for the stage this weekend has been boiling for a while, explaining how their performance work calls out to and challenges the dichotomy between machismo and queerness in Mexican culture.
“This piece is really a letter and my stance against the masculinity that has permeated and permeated the entire Mexican culture,” said Alvarez-Terrazas. “It was really important for me to speak directly about what it means to grow up in a Mexican family that has so many very beautiful aspects, but also a lot of homophobia, transphobia and machismo.”
Alvarez-Terrazas’ work will take shape on stage through spoken monologues, accompanied by some of the actors’ body movements. Alvarez-Terrazas added that being able to speak their truth through this method of performance and this platform is in many ways heart-warming and open-minded.
“It was really inspiring to be able to delve into this device theater approach, to have a platform that VOICES owns and to do it at TACAW, and to tap into the different aspects of what I can do and what I can do as a performer,” Alvarez-Terrazas Say. “This process has taught me about my abilities, the abilities of each of our performers and the different ways in which stories are told.”
Co-directed by Cassidy Willey and Art Williams – who is also a member of the ensemble – “Green Bird on the Orange Tree” weaves together solo and group work expressed through a range of artistic disciplines. From spoken monologues, to more drama-based performances and live music, Queer VOICES works are “beautifully woven tapestries of personal stories,” as Wiley describes them.
“We started with this almost imaginative space that felt like a folk tale, felt accessible – very comfortable – and it invited the audience to join us on this journey,” Wiley said.
From there, the co-director says, the production is more of a “motivational and empowering work” that brings together all the artists, their backgrounds and how they identify. Willey mentions that Alvarez-Terrazas’ work “The Green Bird on the Orange Tree” also has some bilingual stories.
“Queer is so inclusive; in this small ensemble, we have people who identify with everything,” Wiley said. “As with any VOICES project, the themes are universal no matter who we’re at the center and which stories are at the center, and I think everyone can find some reflection of themselves on this stage, whether they’re part of a community or not in on the stage.”
Wiley – currently the project developer and lead teaching artist at VOICES – explained that while all previous VOICES theatre projects have had queer participants, this particular production is the first time the organization has featured a queer artist. center.
Throughout the rehearsal and when working with her co-director Williams, who considered her a part of the queer community, Willie said one thing in particular caught her eye. As someone who didn’t identify as part of the queer community, Willie didn’t realize there weren’t a lot of intentionally queer spaces in the valley with scenes that had nothing to do with happy hour or après-ski parties and drinking, she said.
“So creating a conscious queer space where queer people can come and be with other queer people — not drinking, not partying, but just connecting — is really special,” Wiley said. “It’s also part of the process that art and others involved in the process feel don’t necessarily exist in a lot of other venues, at least in the valley.”
From the connections made between the cast and crew behind the Queer Voices Theater project, to the connections sparked in TACAW’s storytelling this weekend, Wiley said she hopes “The Green Bird on the Orange Tree” evokes a deeper Feel empathy for people.
“I would say the audience will definitely feel challenged and enlightened,” Wiley said. “I want people to feel more connected to the human experience and realize that these stories are everyone’s stories.”
Tickets for any of the three shows this weekend are $25, with a “do what you can” option. The first 50 tickets sold will receive a free drink pass, and all Saturday night ticket holders will be invited to join the cast for TACAW’s party – hosted by AspenOut and featuring DJ Simon Klein or “The Guest” act.Tickets can be found at tacaw.org.
[ad_2]
Source link