FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
CAATA MEDIA CONTACT
Ariel Estrada, Virtual Line Producer
Consortium of Asian American Theaters and Artists
[email protected] | 347.581.3047
HOWLROUND MEDIA CONTACT
Shannon Knapp, Communications Manager
[email protected] | 814.715.2769
The ninth and last episode of CAATA’s online series Return to the Source will feature the history of discrimination and and bias against AAPI people, along with trauma-informed psychological responses to hate and violence presented by therapist and clinical counselor, Ginger Klee. The episode will also introduce its new ongoing series Healing Over Hate.
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Thursday, April 8, 2021 (New York, NY): Consortium of Asian American Theaters and Artists (CAATA) announces speakers for the ninth episode of its ongoing monthly ConFest Virtual Series, “Healing Over Hate: Responding to the Rise of Anti-Asian Violence” on Monday, April 12 at 1PM HT, 3PM AKT, 4PM PT, 5PM MT, 6PM CT, and 7PM ET. The episode will be co-hosted by Leslie Ishii (Artistic Director, Perseverance Theatre; Board President, Consortium of Asian American Theaters and Artists (CAATA), kt shorb (Producing Artistic Director, Generic Ensemble Company; Board Vice President, CAATA; and ConFest Steering Committee Co-Chair, CAATA Board Member, Haili’ōpua Baker (Associate Professor of Theatre, Hawaiian Theatre Program Director, University of Hawai’i at Mānoa)
“Healing Over Hate: Responding to the Rise of Anti-Asian Violence” will serve as the last episode of CAATA ConFest’s Virtual Series Return to the Source and the introduction to Healing Over Hate, a new series that will address the dramatic surge of anti-Asian violence that continues to increase during the COVID-19 pandemic. The open-ended series will center the needs of the AAPI community in this uncertain and frightening time, and provide resources and actionable strategies for healing, safety, and activism. The series is part of a multi-pronged crisis response by CAATA, sparked by the Atlanta massacre on March 16th which claimed the lives of eight people, six of them Asian women. CAATA’s responses include an initial statement that gathered scores of AAPI artists and organizations as signatories; the PSA “Strong Together. Stronger Than Ever,” produced with support from Theatre Communications Group, that gathered together AAPI luminaries and leaders from theatre and film; and the #HadABadDay social media campaign. As the violence continues to rise nationwide, more CAATA actions are forthcoming as part of its response.
This episode will include a historical overview of anti-Asian bias in the U.S. presented by shorb. The event will also feature guest Ginger Klee, a Licensed Marriage & Family Therapist and Professional Clinical Counselor. Klee will present on Asian American mental health in the wake of the Atlanta massacre on March 16th, which claimed the lives of six Asian women. Klee’s discussion will define and provide examples of trauma-informed psychological response to hate and violence that can promote healing and solace.
“Healing Over Hate: Responding to the Rise of Anti-Asian Violence”, is the ninth and last episode of CAATA ConFest’s Virtual Series exploring the theme of the upcoming 7th Asian American Theater Festival & Conference (ConFest) Kuʻu ʻĀina, Kuʻu Piko, Kuʻu Kahua – Return to the Source in Honolulu, Hawaiʻi, May 20-29, 2022. The in-person ConFest will center the voices of Native Hawaiian and Pacific Islander theater practitioners, and feature the thriving theater community of Hawaiʻi, where Native Hawaiian, Pacific Islander and Asian American faces on stage are the norm, not the exception. Ku‘u ‘Āina, Ku‘u Piko, Ku‘u Kahua – Return to the Source is a call to all theatre artists to reconnect with their foundations and their sources of knowledge: their land, their family, their center. The online series and its presentation of the wide diaspora of Pan-Asian, Pacific Islander, Middle East North African, and Native & Indigenous American stories will be a vehicle through which both the audience and artists can ground themselves in their cultural knowledge and the many identities that we bring to our communities.
This episode will also serve as the introduction to Healing Over Hate, a new series that will address the dramatic rise in anti-Asian hate, bias, and discrimination during the pandemic. The series will center the needs of the AAPI community, providing them resources and actionable strategies for healing, safety, and activism. Future episodes of the series will feature upstander/bystander and de-escalation trainings; strategies for safety and self-defense; coalition building between Black, Latinx, Native/Indigenous and Pan-Asian, Pacific Islander, Middle Eastern, North African, Native/Indigenous communities; and how the lack of Asian representation in the theatre and film industry helps to fuel anti-Asian bias; and how we, as a community can work to transmute our collective rage, fear, and erasure into action, compassion, visibility, solidarity, and justice.
Return to the Source and Healing Over Hate are being produced in partnership with HowlRound Theatre Commons in Boston, MA, a nonprofit organization that operates as part of Emerson Collegeʻs Office of the Arts. HowlRound provides a free and open platform for theatre-makers worldwide that amplifies progressive, disruptive ideas about the art form and facilitates connection between diverse practitioners. Like Return to the Source, Healing Over Hate will be presented on HowlRound TV, HowlRoundʻs global, commons-based peer produced, open access live streaming and video archive project.
Maximiliano Urruzmendi-Mele will be the series Technical Director, and CAATA staff member Ariel Estrada will be the series Line Producer. A full schedule of broadcast dates for Healing Over Hate can be found on CAATAʻs website at www.caata.net.
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