2007 Fellows
TANYA SARACHO
Institute/Goodman Theatre Fall 2007 Fellow
Tanya Saracho is co-Founder and co-Artistic Director of Teatro Luna, Chicago's All-Latina Theater Ensemble, which recently won two Non-Equity Jeff Awards for its production of Machos. Saracho is also a Resident Playwright at Chicago Dramatists and founder of the Latina Theatre Lab. She was born in Sinaloa, Mexico and moved to Texas in the late 80's. Her writing has been featured in most of Teatro Luna's ensemble-built works including Generic Latina, Dejame Contarte, The Maria Chronicles, SOLO Latinas, S-E-X-Oh! and Lunatic(a)s. Saracho's play Kita y Fernanda received a full production at Teatro Luna in early 2003, along with a reading at Repertorio Español. Other awards include: The Ofner Prize; finalist for the Christopher B. Wolk Award, Abingdon Theatre, New York; nominee for the Wasserstein Prize; and winner of the Khan Award. Her solo play Quita Mitos received a world premiere with Teatro Luna in November of 2006 and has toured colleges and festivals, including the International Hispanic Theatre Festival and the Goodman Theatre’s Latino Theatre Festival. Saracho’s acting credits include: Migdalia Cruz in Another Part of the House with Teatro Vista; Living Out with American Theatre Co./Teatro Vista; Electricidad at the Goodman Theatre; and Angels in America and La Casa De Bernarda Alba with Aguijon Theater. Saracho’s voice can be heard around the country in radio and television commercials.
Project
During her Fellowship, Tanya Saracho developed, 27, an interview-based project to be constructed from interviews with women from the Latin Diaspora. The title refers to the 27 Latin American and Iberian countries that comprise the disparate nations of origin that exist in the U.S. under the umbrella term "Latino/a," or "Hispanic." Saracho’s work is an important step in exploring the huge variety of experience among these women given the fact that this single characterization is given to millions of people arriving here from areas of the world as different as the Andes and Andalusia. And perhaps, seen through the eyes of women, her work can help track a migration pattern to this continent with a look to the personal and to the individual. A public reading of the 27 is planned for Fall 2009 at the Goodman Theatre.
New Developments
During Spring 2008, Saracho directed and co-wrote Solo Tu with Teatro Luna, a four-monologue play on the prospect of motherhood, which premiered at Teatro Luna in March 2008. Saracho also appeared in Neil Labute's tragicomedy Fat Pig with Renaissance Theatreworks in Milwaukee. Saracho is slated to have four of her written plays produced in the coming year: Kita y Fernanda at 16th Street Theatre, directed by Ann Filmer; Jarred (A Hoodoo Comedy) co-directed by Belinda Cervantes and Saracho with Teatro Luna; Our Lady of the Underpass directed by Sandra Marquez for Teatro Vista at Victory Gardens; and an adaptation of The House on Mango Street for Steppenwolf Theatre directed by Hallie Gordon, slated to open in Fall 2009. This season, Saracho has the privilege of being recognized as the most produced local playwright, woman playwright, and/or playwright of color in the city of Chicago.
K. BRADFORD
Summer 2007 Faculty Fellow
K. Bradford (aka Johnny T.) is a poet, performer and cultural worker living in Chicago. Bradford teaches literature and poetry in the English Department of Columbia College Chicago and is on staff as the college’s Coordinator of the LGBTQ Office of Culture & Community. As a queer cultural worker using various art forms to incite social thought and community, Bradford has co-founded Gender Fusions, an annual queer spectacle at the College; The Lola Project, a full length drag and burlesque show; The Raw Works, a poetry & performance program for queer and trans youth in Chicago, and Kings N Things, a drag king troupe in Austin, Texas. In 2001, Bradford premiered the one-person show The Tales of a Gypsy Cowboy in Austin. Bradford has performed poetry and drag in the U.S. and internationally. Bradford's poems have been published in journals such as Gulf Coast, Borderlands: Texas Poetry Review and Web Del Sol's In Posse Review, and she has received poetry scholarships from the Bread Loaf Writers Conference and the Tin House Writers Workshop. Most recently, Bradford was awarded a fellowship for a poetry residency at the Virginia Center for the Creative Arts.
Project
K. Bradford’s Fellowship was at its root an exploration of artistic practice. Though there are the tangibles of craft—creative work made and still being conjured as a result of the Fellowship—the resources of time and space allowed Bradford to mine daily rituals, processes, and practices that helped lead to finished work. Stepping back from the gristmill of “producing” on multiple fronts, Bradford explored concepts and threads of new solo work for the page and the stage, usually along the themes of difference, otherness and belonging. With research supported by the Fellowship, Bradford also explored the "myth of America" as a cultural, political landscape and studied the Boston Tea Party as a revealing and formative moment in “white America.”
New Developments
Bradford is currently developing the spine of a manuscript from recent poems, and a new one-person show. In January 2008, an excerpt of “Little Miss Tea Party.” a work-in-progress, was performed at Links Hall as part of the “Method to Madness” series curated by Kate Sheehy. This past summer, Bradford participated in an intensive performance workshop with Tim Miller at Links Hall, further generating performance work for the one-person show in progress.
JULES ROSSKAM
Summer 2007 Fellow
Jules Rosskam is the founder of MamSir Productions and has worked in video production and post-production for 7 years. From 2002-2005, Rosskam acted as the Executive Producer and Senior Editor for Dyke TV and has worked for numerous production companies including Richter Productions, Curious Pictures and PBS, and has independently made several short and documentary films, including the recent transparent, and against a trans narrative. Rosskam has also worked with such artists as Martha Rosler and Beat Strueli. In November 2004, Curve magazine featured Rosskam as one of ten emerging filmmakers to look out for, and Rosskam's work as a filmmaker was highlighted in Velvet Park magazine, After Ellen.com, TransNation, Village Voice, The Advocate, and other feature publications. In 2008, Rosskam received a MFA in Film, Video and New Media from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago. He currently teaches in the Communications Department at Indiana University-Purdue, Fort Wayne.
Project
During his Fellowship period at the Institute, Rosskam embarked upon the production of his latest film entitled, against a trans narrative. The film functions as a dialogue between friends, cultures, and generations addressing issues of representation, identity-formation, and the various forces that act together to build (or dismantle) communities. Specifically, the film analyzes the construction of the dominant trans-masculine “narrative” and how this influences and potentially hinders people’s conceptions of themselves. What forms of regulation, self or otherwise, must we partake in to be part of a community, and at what cost? The goal of this video is to instigate conversations among feminists, queers, transfolks, and anyone else invested in radically shifting the ways in which we construct personal and historical narratives.
New Developments
Through his Institute partnership, Rosskam’s award-winning film transparent had its television premiere on Chicago’s WTTW-Channel 11 in June 2008, and also screened at the Queens Museum of Art. His latest feature film, against a trans narrative had a sneak preview hosted by the Institute at Columbia College in November 2008. Rosskam has also been invited to screen the film at Parsons School for Design in New York and the University of North Carolina in 2009. He has recently started production on a new documentary with Sam Feder and Taylor Casey, tentatively titled trans-feminism, about trans women of color fighting for social and economic justice. Rosskam's film against a trans narrative will screen at film festivals both nationally and internationally throughout the summer of 2009.
For more information visit: www.againstatransnarrative.com
Jules has been awarded a Research Associateship with Five College's Women Studies Department for the upcoming school year.
JESS WEIDA
Summer 2007 Fellow
Jess Weida is a graphic designer by trade and a stage performer. Weida has been involved in the drag performance scene for a number of years, performing in Chicago, around the U.S., and abroad as “JR Stranger.” Among the original members of the Austin, TX drag troupe Kings n Things, Weida created the graphic identity and publicity for the group during their inaugural year, and four years later, designed all of the conference print materials for IDKE8 (International Drag King Extravaganza) hosted that year by Austin's drag community. Also in 2006 Weida played the part of “Jos. R. Stranger III,” one of the ten feisty characters traversing early-twentieth century Chicago in The Lola Project. Weida was also part of the production team behind the show, a full-length drag and burlesque production. Since 2001 Weida has operated under J. Weida Design, conducting print design, web design, identity development, illustration, and project management for a range of clients.
Project
Jess Weida utilized the opportunities of the Fellowship to hone and investigate her ongoing practice of visual art, design and creative problem-solving inside of the demands of daily professional work--and as applied in unexpected ways beyond that. Weida began to explore incorporating motion graphics and animation—a natural extension of her professional 2-D design—with her drag and performance work.
New Developments
In 2008 Weida joined the Obama for America Campaign based in Chicago, working on design and brand execution for Barack Obama’s historic presidential campaign. In 2008 Weida won a Chicago Design Archive award from The Society of Typographic Arts. Besides collaborating on a “very scary” animation short, Weida is currently conducting research for a personal graphic narrative. Rooted in family lore and personal history, and set in blue-collar, rural Pennsylvania, Weida will investigate upbringing and self- determination in the face of familial roles and attitudes surrounding gender expression, while documenting and exploring generational mental illness and a matrilineal abuse legacy.
IFA BAYEZA
Institute/Goodman Theatre
Spring/Summer 2007 Fellow
Ifa Bayeza is an award-winning playwright, producer and conceptual artist. Ms. Bayeza has received numerous honors for her latest work as a playwright, The Ballad of Emmett Till, including: selection for the 2005 Juneteenth Festival of New Plays at Actors Theatre in Louisville; a 2005-2006 artist-in-residence fellowship from Brown University’s Rites & Reasons Theatre and Providence Black Repertory Theatre; a Eugene O’Neill 2007 Playwrights Conference fellowship; and the inaugural artist residency at the SonEdna Literary Foundation, in Charleston, Mississippi. Bayeza’s other works for the stage include Amistad Voices, Club Harlem, and Homer G & the Rhapsodies, for which she received a Kennedy Center Fund for New American Plays fellowship. Her work has been performed at The Goodman Theatre, Chicago Shakespeare Theater, New Federal Theatre, Lorraine Hansberry Theatre, Crossroads Theatre, National Black Arts Festival and BRAVA Women’s Center for the Arts. Bayeza also served as the original dramturg and set designer for her sister Ntozake Shange’s landmark production of for colored girls who considered suicide when the rainbow is enuf at New Federal Theatre and The Public Theatre. She and Shange are collaborating on a new novel, Some Sing, Some Cry, which will be published by St. Martin's Press.
Bayeza is co-founder of DBA Studios, an independent production company, creating innovative theatre-based work that encourages dialogue among races, cultures and people. Her hip-hop musical, Kid Zero, designed to give children new tools to understand math, launched the company in 2005 and, to date, has been seen by over 10,000 Chicago Public School students. A graduate of Harvard University, Bayeza is a member of the Dramatists Guild of America and the founding board member of the SonEdna Literary Foundation.
Project
The Institute-Goodman Theatre Fellowship supported the development of Ifa Bayeza’s play, The Ballad of Emmett Till. The focus of her Fellowship was primarily archival research and interviews in Chicago and New York, and further research and interviews in Mississippi. She conducted the work in the spring and summer of 2007. Till received its world premiere at The Goodman Theatre in May 2008. The play received outstanding reviews and feature articles in several media publications including: Chicago Sun-Times; Chicago magazine; Chicago Tribune magazine; Essence; Ebony; Windy City Times; New City; and Variety. The play was hailed as “riveting and triumphant,” “emotionally gripping,” ”a masterful look at history,” and “brilliant.” Till was the cover story of American Theatre, September 2008 issue in an article entitled “I thought I Saw Emmett Till” by noted writer and play scholar Carl Handcock Rux. The play is scheduled to be the centerpiece in a special 2008 Emmett Till edition of Southern Review in an article penned by the periodical’s editor, Professor Philip Kolin.
New Developments
Ms Bayeza is currently preparing The Ballad of Emmett Till for publication. The interdisciplinary edition will include some of Bayeza’s artwork and photography.
Bayeza recenlty won the Mystery Writers of America 2009 Edgar Award for Best Play for her drama The Ballad of Emmett Till.
SAM FEDER
Spring 2007 Fellow
Sam Feder is a media producer, activist, and educator, who has been working on film documentaries for political and social justice since 1999. She is founder of Moving Train Media. Her first project brought her to Cuba for four months, where she worked alongside renowned Cuban filmmakers to produce Versus, a film about U.S. Cuba policy. Feder was the Associate Producer for the film Beyond Good & Evil: Media Children and Violent Times, which explored the ways that media representation of the war in Iraq has affected children both in the U.S. and abroad. She produced and edited the short narrative F. Scott Fitzgerald Slept Here, which won the Frameline Completion Fund. Boy I Am, an award-winning documentary, was her first feature film and is currently in world-wide distribution. Feder received a BA in Anthropology from Skidmore College in 1997 and a MA in Media Studies from the New School University, with concentrations in media criticism and documentary production. Born and raised in New York City and after extensive travel/living/working in Europe, West Africa, Mexico, and Cuba, she currently teaches documentary production in Chicago and is an editor for filmmaker Michelle Mahoney.
Project
With the support of the Institute Fellowship, Feder began pre-production on her second documentary film about transfeminism with the working title, The Empire Strikes Back: Exploring the Exclusion of Transwomen within the Dyke Community. The feature-length film will explore the resistance within the dyke community towards the exclusion of transwomen. The documentary is targeted towards the queer community, but will be accessible to a larger audience. The Fellowship enabled Feder to continue research on the project and travel conduct interviews across the country with transwomen about this issue.
New Developments
Currently, Sam Feder is focusing on fundraising for the production of The Empire Strikes Back: Exploring the Exclusion of Transwomen within the Dyke Community and plans to have a rough cut completed by Summer 2009. A screening of the film upon completion is planned to include a hosted weekend of project critiques and discussion with all the women featured in the film, in addition to a networking and mentoring project for local trans youth. Feder was also recently awarded the Astraea Lesbian Foundation for Justice U.S. Fund Panel Grant for her project, which allowed her to hire an additional director for the film. She is currently conducting interviews around the country. Feder recently joined the faculty of Columbia College Chicago and teaches a course on “Culture, Race and Media.” Future courses next term include “Documenting Social Injustice” and “Production and Editing.” Feder also teaches several Media courses at the Illinois Institute of Art.
WONDA WOMEN PROJECT
Spring 2007 Fellows
Ang13 (Angela Zone) is a legendary Hip-Hop artist and owner of Verseen Publishing based in Chicago. She has been a stage performer for more than 10 years, while also doing voice-over work for major products such as Bisquick (get with the Biz), Coca-Cola (always Coco-Cola), and BET.com (Woman Zone). She is one of the founding members of the Chicago Props awards, an organization that recognizes the city's best in the culture of Hip-Hop. Her work is part of the Museum of Science and Industry's Hip-Hop Floating Exhibit, currently in its seventh year. Ang13 participates in hip-hop culture panels across the U.S. at universities, colleges, and museums. Her work has been published in several magazines, books, and periodicals. She is the Founder and President of the Wonda Women Project.
Unmuvabo Vendetta (Tequilla Cooper) made her performing debut in Chicago’s hip-hop family in 2001. Her explosive energy, satirical lyrics, and charisma instantly drew attention. She has performed and recorded with local greats such as Blunt Crew, Pugslee Atomz, All Natural, Ang13, and many others, and at such venues as the Double Door, Sub-T, Blue Note, Elbo Room, Exodus, and Funky Buddha Lounge. A local Chicago emcee, mother and womanist, Unmuvabo Vendetta was formerly co-project coordinator of the Wonda Women Project. She is currently developing Black Boot Ink (BBI), a Public Administration firm linking artists, academics, organizations and philanthropy. Her primary goal is to assist these communities with project planning and development. In addition, she is creating alternative curricula for teens using urban writing forms. After the Wonda Women Project, Unmuvabo decided to pursue her PhD in Public Administration and explore her love for writing beyond music. Besides writing lyrics, she has challenged herself by writing a hip-hop theatrical production entitled, “The Chronicles of Unmuvabo Vendetta,” for which she was awarded a fellowship from Naivete Studios.
Project
The Wonda Women Project is a Chicago-based network of female hip-hop emcees working to empower women and promote a socially conscious message through hip-hop music. With the Institute Fellowship, in Summer 2007 the group traveled around the country as part of their "Zero Tolerance Tour" interviewing a wide range of hip-hop artists for a documentary film Enough is Enough. The Institute’s Fellowship provided key support for this tour and the development of the film-in-progress. It also enabled the group to further develop a vibrant network of progressive and political activists, while creating a cinematic conversation addressing gender issues in hip-hop. In October 2007, the Institute organized the premiere screening of the film-in-progress, followed by a discussion with Ang13, Unmuvabo Vendetta, and Invincible, a Detroit hip-hop artist and activist who also appears in the film. The panel was moderated by Natalie Moore (journalist and National Public Radio reporter, and co-author of Deconstructing Tyrone: A New Look at Black Masculinity in the Hip-Hop Generation). The Wonda Women continue to perform both locally and nationally.
MISTY DEBERRY
'J' Term Student 2007 Fellow
Misty DeBerry is a Chicago-based actress and playwright, currently completing an MFA in Interdisciplinary Arts and Media at Columbia College Chicago. After receiving her BFA in acting from North Carolina School of the Arts, she has received numerous fellowships, including: the Kennedy Center; New York Theatre Workshop; and the New Federal Theatre in New York City. She has worked with such esteemed theaters as the NYC Hip-Hop Theater Festival and the 78th Street Theater Lab, with whom she won the coveted best original production by an ensemble at The Edinburgh Fringe Festival for the Production of Boy Steals Train, which later aired on BBC Radio. Recently she spoke at Whisper, Laugh, Shout with the Black Women Playwrights' Group and was featured at the DuSable Museum for a reading of for colored girls who have considered suicide when the rainbow is enuf in honor of the legendary activist, Renae Ogletree. DeBerry recently joined the Serendipity Theater Collective’s 2nd Story, where she regularly performs new works as part of the collective’s public reading series.
Project
Misty DeBerry utilized the Institute Fellowship to develop Milkweed, a solo performance piece exploring the lingering effects of gender-based sexual violence. Milkweed focuses on the lives of five African-American women surviving the trauma of sexual violence, while spanning an intergenerational and socio-economic gap, with an intimate look into the politics of sexuality in the black community.
New Developments
Recently, DeBerry performed excerpts from Milkweed during WORDSFest and the national conference, Race, Sex, Power: New Methods in Black and Latina/o Sexualities at the University of Illinois-Chicago in April 2008. She also performed at Looptopia in 2008 with Core Project, a movement based interdisciplinary arts collective, with whom she is a company member. DeBerry and the Institute Executive Director will spend the next year creating intensive workshops with artists, scholars and creative thinkers to develop Milkweed into a full production for Spring 2009.