Adapting to the impossibility of in-person theater right now, BAPF 2020 has gone digital, bringing this year’s festival entirely online over two weekends of performances and panel discussions streamed to Vimeo through the live production software vMix. Two of these works are by Black playwrights bringing their unique voices and stories to the virtual stage: Mingus by Tyler English-Beckwith and Babes in Ho-lland by Deneen Reynolds-Knott.
English-Beckwith is a graduate of the Dramatic Writing MFA program at New York University and received the 2018 KCACTF Paula Vogel Playwriting Award (awarded to an outstanding student play that explores issues of gender, diversity, and sexual orientation) for Mingus. The play, which takes place in a Black Studies department, was influenced and inspired by different professors and different ideologies English-Beckwith observed while in higher learning institutions.
The director of Mingus, Bay Area actor and director Margo Hall praised the work: “Sometimes, as Black artists, we think we have to write stories for the white gaze that have to educate the white audience. I think this is a story of two educated Black individuals who are coming together to talk about their relationship outside of the white gaze.”
Reynolds-Knott is a member of Clubbed Thumb’s 2019-2020 Early Career Writers’ Group and holds an MFA in film from Columbia University. She described Babes in Holland as “an unabashed love story,” a sentiment shared by Babes in Ho-lland director Dawn Monique Williams and dramaturg Leigh Rondon-Davis.
“How refreshing, in this moment, to have a story that’s about Black women coming into themselves, and coming of age, and going off to college, and experiencing the world anew,” said Williams, a freelance director and Associate Artistic Director of Aurora Theatre Company in Berkeley. Rondon-Davis — a Bay Area performer, director, and dramaturg — remembers reading Babes in Ho-lland and being personally struck by it. “I saw so much of myself in this piece as a young, queer, Black femme who went to a predominantly white college,” they said.
Although they’re vastly different works, music ties both of the plays together. With a titular nod to renowned jazz multi-instrumentalist Charles Mingus, English-Beckwith mentioned her excitement in talking with experts including Bay Area jazz pianist and vocalist Tammy L. Hall. For Babes in Ho-lland, Rondon-Davis created a curated playlist of empowering 90s R&B/hip-hop and 90s grunge/riot grrrl songs. The punk rock group Babes in Toyland, whose music is featured in Reynolds-Knott’s play, was influential to many performers who participated in the riot grrrl movement.
While in the process of revising the script before rehearsals, Reynolds-Knott stated her appreciation for the ability to talk to many BAPF affiliates, including the readers, and her collaborators’ willingness to make time to talk. Reynolds-Knott said she likes to “gossip about the characters” and talk at length about the story.
Williams noted that the virtual process has allowed for conversations with Reynolds-Knott to take on a more personal quality. “We talk about our kids, talk about our hopes for the American theater, and then we come back to talk about the play,” said Williams. “We compare notes on what the weather is, what life was like when we graduated high school, and how our college experiences were.”
These discussions are no less a part of the theater making process. Reynolds-Knott explained about her work at large: “I tend to think a lot about the ways in which [policies]…either promote connection or stand in the way of connection and people’s relationships with one another.” When it came to Babes in Ho-lland, she wanted to explore “what it would mean for these two young women to seek sanctuary in each other, but also in this dorm room space on a predominantly white college campus.”
As dramaturg for Babes in Ho-lland, Rondon-Davis noted that their duties have been much less research-based and more about supporting Reynolds-Knott’s realization of the story. “Deneen [Reynolds-Knott] holds so much of what this world is in her head,” said Rondon-Davis, which included lists of class schedules and courses the characters were taking as well as a rich musical world for a play not exclusively centered around music.
Set during “a sunless Pittsburgh winter in 1996,” discussions of Babes in Ho-lland have notably included the effect of the lack of sun in the play and how it affects the characters and their mental health. Reynolds-Knott talked about the translation to a digital space as physically and narratively exposing, often not affording the flexibility and comfort of the stage. “There’s nowhere for my play to hide in a digital space,” she said.
However, both directors said that their initial approaches to a work presented virtually is fundamentally unchanged. Williams sees the virtual new play development process as similar to the traditional process and being a lot like tablework: Reading the play, sharing thoughts, and being open with collaborators. Hall agreed that the story and script will always come first: “What doesn’t change is the focus on the play. The play’s the thing, as far as I’m concerned. It’s not as much about production and all the fancy stuff you can do with vMix. My job is to make sure we find a balance.”
Digital theater poses some immediate benefits, especially the accessibility of the online space that entirely bypasses the concept of in-person theater. English-Beckwith pointed out that it provides those who otherwise wouldn’t have been able to attend with the opportunity to see her work. “I haven’t had the experience to have all of my family see some of my work because I’ll be working in all different parts of the country,” said English-Beckwith. She noted that it’s also helpful career-wise, as artistic directors and literary managers have increased access to her work when presented online.
Excited by the prospect of working with BAPF but never previously able due to scheduling, this year’s digital BAPF actually made it possible for Williams to participate. She has experience coaching actors via video, but not strictly directing or rehearsing. “There is a texture to knowing the whole process is going to be digital that has allowed these conversations to be framed a little bit differently,” said Williams. “It’s also felt like not just business. It’s felt a little social, getting to know each other, because our social lives are also happening in digital spaces. The lines are a little more blurred.”
Unlike Williams, Hall recently directed in the virtual theater space with Genevieve Jessee’s The Rendering Cycle for PlayGround Zoom Fest. Now, Hall brings her experience to BAPF, having learned more about using Zoom’s digital features to enhance the theatrical experience without losing sight of the story: “I think that with Zoom, you have to get the actors to trust that what they’re doing is translating through the little box. A lot of that comes with doing the same in-depth character work that you do in a regular production.”
She discussed some of the difficulties that Zoom presents and the adjustment period required for going digital, such as needing to find inventive ways to give actors their cues and working through entrances and exits. “With [Mingus], there are elements of intimacy that we have to figure out. How do we create that on Zoom?” added Hall.
Having already worked on several projects in different capacities in the digital space, Rondon-Davis sees a “unique, exciting, but also limiting format” where theatermakers with many years of stage experience are on the same learning curve alongside younger theatermakers. “We’re so used to people using their whole bodies onstage. How can we tell a story from [their ribcage] up?” they asked. Rondon-Davis mentioned many other unique considerations that the virtual space offers and requires, such as virtual backgrounds, lighting, sound, or figuring out how to safely transport physical props and pieces to actors.
As Reynolds-Knott’s niece started her college search, it led her to think back to her own college experience: “I was already thinking about the concept of sanctuary and feeling that we were having a moment in very recent years of places that we think of sanctuaries being compromised, often by violent acts.” With the distinct lack of depth and physical space in a digital presentation, Reynolds-Knott’s play has the potential to take on a different quality. As dramaturg, one of Rondon-Davis’s primary questions has been, “How can we modify or shift this script so it helps us tell this story in this format?”
Working in a virtual arena, Rondon-Davis highlighted how theatermaking on Zoom and in a digital space has exposed many of the ways that white supremacy has affected work culture. They noted that it occurs frequently in theater, where values of urgency and perfectionism “[don’t] take care of the people in the work space and can create a lot of painful and harmful work practices.”
“It’s really interestingly intersecting with the conversations about how white supremacy has really shaped the way we make art,” said Rondon-Davis, citing this piece by Showing Up for Racial Justice (SURJ), a national network dedicated to engaging white and non-Black allies in accountability and actively anti-racist practices. “Now, we’re understanding a little more about how we can use Zoom and start to combat and undo some of these things to some degree,” they added, noting that some of the changes they’ve seen include shorter rehearsals to accommodate Zoom fatigue and openly acknowledging the limitations of tech and dealing with tech issues.
Rondon-Davis emphasized the changes in theater culture suggest a gradual shift away from a fixation on “the most beautiful, polished, final product” toward a process-oriented experience. “We’re starting to be able to accept [unexpected issues] and be proud of the story we’re telling,” said Rondon-Davis. “We’re on a journey, we’re working together, we’re telling a story. The people who are in this room or working together are the ones that matter. I have been moved to see that growth within our industry.”
Amidst the complexities of making theater in 2020, Rondon-Davis praised Williams and Reynolds-Knott as “artmakers with a lot of integrity.” The playwright herself is glad that Babes in Ho-lland is the piece she’s working on right now. “When you write a play, you could be with that play for years. What do I want to spend time with? What do I want to invite other people to collaborate with me on that’s not going to deplete me?” Reynolds-Knott asked. “It’s going to be something where there are moments of joy. I’m hoping that that energy can be felt by an audience, too.”
Rondon-Davis seconded this, saying, “Where I really struggle is with a lot of plays talking about Black experience or trying to convey a Black narrative really centering trauma, where [Babes in Ho-lland] is a love story. I felt like that was really powerful and very refreshing and much needed on our stages right now.”
Williams lauded BAPF for “[finding] a way to still advocate for [BAPF] playwrights” and “employing artists at a time when so many artists are really hurting, because [the] industry has really been shuttered.” Rondon-Davis added that a benefit of smaller scale digitally-platformed productions is that money isn’t going into a large set or complex production design; rather, “it’s going to the artists directly because we’re all really struggling and have been really affected by this pandemic.”
“What I notice about BAPF and everyone there is that they’re so supportive, and they’re so open to suggestions and what works specifically for the good of your play,” said English-Beckwith. The collaborators all describe BAPF as a space centering the growth of their respective playwright and what they’re interested in getting out of the new play development process.
Having participated in the festival for many years, Hall noted the BAPF space as one that’s particularly exciting for emerging playwrights. She reminisced on working with Marcus Gardley at BAPF and also with Katori Hall on The Mountaintop, which went to Broadway. For English-Beckwith, the success of The Mountaintop beyond the festival was an obvious indication that BAPF was a great place for Mingus.
Hall’s unwavering energy and belief in this year’s playwrights is just as strong. “I was with these young people when they were just starting out and trying to figure out what they were going to do to change the world,” Hall said. “To have that as part of my inspiration, to continue to nurture and mentor and be a part of this festival — it brings me a lot of joy. It helps me know that I’m making a difference.”
// Feature photo courtesy of BAPF of Tyler English-Beckwith. Check out the Playwrights Foundation here.
