Getting Under Your Skin is a writing/performance project for communities in conflict. Individuals create monologues about their experience of their side of a an event. They then trade monologues with the “others” and perform those pieces for an audience made up of people from the affected communities.
“To those taking part in our writing group—it has been inspiring to watch such a diverse, vibrant group of people, who may never have otherwise met, forge deeply personal bonds through sharing individual stories. The creative work that this group has produced is a testament to how empowering our stories can be, in spreading awareness, spurring empathy, and giving often ignored voices the chance to be heard. All we need are more rooms like the one we have met in these past weeks, so that this kind of dynamic sharing can take place on an even larger scale. Stories overpower the fracturing limitations of our society’s social, economic, and racial disparity. The stories are within all of us, ready and waiting. With greater resources, we can open more doors to rooms in which groups like ours can flourish. Everyone should have access to rooms in which revolutionary sharing can take place. As we take our collective work to an audience for the first time, I’d like to thank our participants for their strength in sharing their most private stories. Out of isolation and otherness, we’ve created a rich, fertile collective whose voices will be heard. “
written to those I worked with at Laguardia Community College