Published Reflective Scholarship
“Negotiating Gender (in)Justice: The Politics of Visibility in the Performing Justice Project”
Co-authored with Megan Alrutz, Faith A. Hillis, and Jasmine Games. Published in Applied Theatre and Gender Justice edited by Lisa S. Brenner and Evelyn Diaz Cruz. (Routledge, 2024, upcoming)
While practitioners often tout applied theatre’s ability to illuminate the stories of people who have been misrepresented or dismissed by mainstream society, Megan Alrutz, Laura Epperson, Jasmine Games, and Faith Hillis note that visibility can result in danger, criminalization, or even death for youth of color and LGBTQIA+ youth. They discuss two case studies in an attempt to nuance the practices around visibility-making with and for youth populations. The first is an online workshop with the Performing Justice Project, wherein due to their lack of privacy, students felt reluctant to openly express their gender identity. They next reflect on negotiating the restrictions of a residential treatment center for young people living in foster care. This chapter invites applied theatre practitioners to reconsider the assumptions about centering youth agency regarding their visibility and to embrace a flexible approach.
“Doing Justice: Pushing Past Fear, Asking the Tough Questions”
Co-authored with Faith A. Hillis. Published in Devising Critically Engaged Theatre with Youth by Megan Alrutz and Lynn Hoare (Routledge, 2020)
Excerpt: “Before starting our Performing Justice Project (PJP) with a residential organization for young people living within the foster care system, the organization shared some of their “rules”—guidelines we quickly understood would impact our work. We—Laura and Faith--did not inquire further about the rules; it was our first PJP and we were not sure what we could, or should, ask of our community partners. Instead, we discussed how we planned to move through tricky moments with flexibility and integrity, knowing that such moments are often difficult to anticipate.”
