Safe Space to Play

07/28/2020

“New beginnings are often disguised as painful endings. This is an opportunity to make something even better before.”

This Medium posts follows the hurdles one black improviser out of Chicago had thrown in front of her by iO. So much of it echos so many peoples' experiences with Vancouver TheatreSports, and with improv in the City Of Vancouver, B.C, Canada in general.

Tonight is the second of two town halls facilitated by VTS on the topic of holding the theatre accountable and making inclusivity a priority. If you can make it, go. Your voice deserves to be heard! We are fighting for a better community!

I remember the first time I went to iO like it was yesterday. It was for a 3peat show. My friend Gabby had been hyping them up for a while…

07/22/2020

"I'm an actor, I happen to be black, and I should be able to play what I want to play."

This is a roundtable discussion featuring Black actors from Vancouver, discussing the industry and their treatment within it. They talk about having to fight to be seen as an equal, and resist stereotyping themselves in order to take on fulfilling roles and projects.
That is all any artist wants. The ability to do what speaks to you, free of any perceptions that put you in a box. We need to listen to the BIPOC/BAME community to learn how to be BETTER.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aW7vvl9OB-Y&fbclid=IwAR12P9zkyxgljO9xWrA2cvQuQG6FXyRi_T54FYN62qYfZQR95tYWz6lHp2M&feature=youtu.be&app=desktop

Please, sign our petition to hold Vancouver TheatreSports accountable for their racist and tokenizing behaviour. Things must change.

City of Vancouver - Local Government Tourism BC Granville Island

Featuring (Left to Right): Sabrina Furminger (Moderator) Murry Peeters Rukiya Bernard Omari Newton Catherine Lough Haggquist Adrian Holmes Angela Moore Alvin...

07/15/2020

"But Johnson’s reaction to racism is fascinating. He didn’t freak out after TSN rescinded a job offer. He didn’t lose his cool when the director raised client concerns about telegraphing an in*******al relationship. He just got obsessed with bringing people together."

Thank you, Hal Johnson, for pushing forward despite systemic racism holding you back. But in an anti-racist society, actions like this will not be necessary. In an anti-racist society, we will hold companies like TSN and Vancouver TheatreSports accountable when they do wrong.

Help us hold Vancouver TheatreSports accountable today - sign out petition. Fight for an anti-racist society.

https://www.thestar.com/entertainment/opinion/2020/06/17/why-hal-johnsons-bodybreak-was-a-trojan-horse-in-the-war-on-racism-in-canada.html

Granville Island Tourism BC City of Vancouver - Local Government

It existed inside an antiseptic parallel universe where race and s*x did not exist

07/10/2020

Companies around the city are putting the effort to make positive changes. Vancouver TheatreSports, we urge you to do the same.

https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/british-columbia/diversity-consultants-see-flood-of-calls-in-wake-of-anti-racism-movements-1.5637526?fbclid=IwAR2XxQEttmpupO60htHbR--EtmatCQBiwmul9Lun0ncTjU0vLyMfuDYR0t4

Please, sign and share our petition to hold VTSL accountable.

City Of Vancouver - City Hall Granville Island Tourism BC

Belgard Kitchen and Denise Elliott Studios are just two Vancouver-area businesses trying to restore their image after being called out on social media by former employees and customers.

07/09/2020

"The structural conditions affecting Black communities in the present go similarly under-recognized. In 2016, to little media fanfare, the United Nations’ Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights confirmed that anti-Black racism in Canada is systemic. The committee highlighted enormous racial inequities with respect to income, housing, child welfare rates, access to quality education and healthcare and the application of drug laws."

Read that again. The UN confirmed that anti-Black racism in Canada is SYSTEMIC. This is not an American problem. This is our problem, Canadians, one we cannot keep ignoring and one that we should all be ashamed of.

Please, sign the petition to hold Vancouver TheatreSports accountable. We demand equal representation, accountability for your wrongdoings, and a safe space to play for all.

https://www.change.org/p/vancouver-theatresports-hold-vancouver-theatresports-accountable?utm_content=cl_sharecopy_23282824_en-CA%3A0&recruiter=1128387500&recruited_by_id=43995ab0-bf3f-11ea-b6d6-1f52b51173f1&utm_source=share_petition&utm_medium=copylink&utm_campaign=psf_combo_share_abi&utm_term=share_petition

https://roarmag.org/essays/the-struggle-against-anti-blackness-in-canada/

Granville Island Tourism BC City of Vancouver - Local Government

Hold Vancouver Theatresports Accountable

07/06/2020

Updates About Vancouver TheatreSports:
Let's Hold Them Accountable, Sign the Petition: http://chng.it/D9Qbh6BQsj

Vancouver TheatreSports
Granville Island
Tourism BC
City of Vancouver - Local Government
International Theatresports Institute

07/05/2020

Another great piece of writing about The BIPOC improvisor experience and “the norm” we’re up against in the Vancouver Improv Community. Written by the BRILLIANT Curt Da Silva. He has a PhD. in mathematics and we’re giving him an honourary doctorate in being a standup guy and true ally.

July 5, 2020So you're feeling weird about your all-white comedy groupA collection of three or more white guys together in a room is called an improv showSo you’ve just realized that Black Lives Matter, People of Colour have been having a rough go of it this whole time, or your comedy group is whit...