a collaborative video project
ATB will begin our season embarking on a year-long volunteer project, combining the shared missions of several incredible organizations as we work together to normalize conversations about sexual assault and healthy and unhealthy relationships through education and action-oriented projects for people of all ages. Participants will create short videos imagining what healthy conversation and practice about difficult topics actually can look like, tackling themes ranging from sexual assault to getting consent to getting rejected. We will kick off our season creating 10 videos geared towards adults, and spend the year working with a group of youth to create a dozen more videos geared at teenagers, with screenings of both video series to follow in the winter and spring!
We are honored to work with The Uncomfortable Conversation, One Love, and Company One Theatre’s Stage One program on this exciting project.
See below to learn how YOU can get involved!
The Project
Artists’ Theater of Boston is committed to ending relationship-based, gendered, and sexual violence. We are committing to the year-long pursuit of a project in an effort to work towards this goal, and we hope you will join us in this fight.
We will begin our 19/20 season with a volunteer project, combining the shared missions of several incredible organizations as we work together to normalize conversations about sexual assault and healthy and unhealthy relationships through education and action-oriented projects for people of all ages. ATB will be working in collaboration with The Uncomfortable Conversation, Inc. to produce these videos.
In addition to collaborating with the Uncomfortable Conversation, we are honored to be supporting One Love’s mission to educate people about the difference between healthy & unhealthy relationships, empowering the next generation to love better and put a stop to relationship abuse. We are also thrilled to be collaborating with Company One Theatre’s Stage One program for our youth-devised component of this action, filmed in March 2020.
Get Involved
We want to reiterate that this is an intentional volunteer project. ATB recognizes that ending systemic issues of oppression necessitates the community involvement of many people from the ground up. This does make this project explicitly different than a regular “gig” for those involved. To that end, we have intentionally entered into this action hoping to engage as many of our community members as possible in various stages of this effort, acknowledging that not all people who are artists may feel that a volunteer action is right for them in the current stage of their career. There will be later opportunities for screenings in schools and other community spaces, so folks should feel free to join in whatever way is most right for them.
This fall, we will be producing our first 10 videos and we need many folks to work with us for two separate components of this action:
Writers, Activists, Improv Creators, & All Interested Folks:
- Friday, September 13th, 7-11pm
- Write & create the scripts for 10 videos addressing topics of consent, setting boundaries, rejection, and more.
Actors & Production Helpers:
- Saturday, September 28th, between 9am-11pm
- Help film this video series!
- Actors may stay anywhere between 2 hours to the full day of filming, understanding that staying for longer means acting in more pieces.
Breakdown of dates:
Writers, improv creators, etc: Friday, September 13th, 7-11pm
Actors, production assistants: Saturday, September 28th, 9am-11pm (actors can choose the length of their day)
How to Apply / Contact
If you are interested in participating in either or both parts of this process, email us at info@artiststheater.org with your resume and short description of a) why you are interested in being part of this action and b) if you have a specific idea for a video you’d like for us to consider! Writers, actors, and production assistants will all be provided meals & snacks during both the writer’s session and filming day.
About Our Partners
The Uncomfortable Conversation
The Uncomfortable Conversation grew out of the response to Sarah Beaulieu’s TEDx talk in 2016. Since then, she logged hundreds of hours talking to men on the topic of sexual violence and immersing herself in what makes sexual violence such a polarizing and uncomfortable topic.
The most interesting discovery throughout this journey has been the realization that men and women alike have little idea how to talk about sexual violence, a startling prospect given how unfortunately prevalent sexual violence is in our society today.
This void led to The Uncomfortable Conversation, dedicated to normalizing these conversations, especially for young men. The Uncomfortable Conversation, Inc. has produced more than 50 short-form videos that illustrate these conversations in educational, engaging, and often, humorous ways.
Over the next several months, The Uncomfortable Conversation will be distributing this content and conducting outreach to ensure it reaches those who need it the most, starting with college campuses and ultimately expanding to K-12 schools and employers.
Company One Theatre’s Stage One
In 1999, Stage One, Company One Theatre’s education program, began a summer camp at an independent site in the Boston area. Two years later the summer program was invited to be a resident at the Coolidge Corner Theatre, where the curriculum began to evolve into a more intensive training. In 2006, Stage One took up its home at the Boston Center for the Arts where, along with Company One Theatre’s mainstage productions, it continues to thrive. In 2012, Company One Theatre, in collaboration with the City of Boston and the Department of Youth Engagement and Employment, began its Apprentice Program, which works with Boston teens to offer positive, pre-professional work experience. Around the same time, the company introduced its Professional Development for Actors Class, which provides Boston actors with challenging character development, technique, and audition training. As part of Stage One: In-School, Company One Theatre has established teaching artist residencies within elementary, middle, and high school campuses in the Boston Public School system to introduce foundational elements of performing arts, theatre production, and artistic engagement to Boston’s youth.
One Love
One Love educates young people about the difference between healthy and unhealthy relationships, empowering the next generation to put an end to violence and abuse.
Love is the most important thing in our lives, yet we are taught very little about it. One Love is on a mission to change that. We educate young people about healthy and unhealthy relationships, empowering them to identify and avoid abuse and learn how to love better.
We engage young people with powerful films and honest conversation. Through our workshops and peer-to-peer discussions, One Love offers a framework that helps students spread our message online and in their communities.
Many Thanks
to Our Collaborators!
Jasmine Brooks (Director)
Pascal Florestol (Director)