Beloit College 2015
Conceived and Directed by John Kaufmann and Rebekah Evans
Click here for "Beloit Buzz" coverage of Race Replays
Beloit College experienced significant racial tensions in the spring of 2015. Inspired by participation in Sustained Dialogue groups and a forum theatre workshop with Julian Boal at the 2015 Theatre/Pedagogy of the Oppressed Conference in Chicago, we created Race Replays to address campus issues head on. Race Replays was presented in October of 2015 as an #blacklivesmatterbeloit event and again in May of 2016 as part of #makingequityrealatBC.
Race Replays is a workshop/performance that uses theatre as a tool to facilitate positive conversations about race. Developed by Beloit student Rebekah Evans and Theatre Professor John Kaufmann, Race Replays uses structured play, improvisation and audience interaction to get people thinking, talking and acting in new ways. Actors present short scenes involving race that one might overhear on a college campus. As you can imagine, things can get awkward, frustrating and offensive. But since it’s theatre, we can stop time, examine intentions and even replay scenes to explore different outcomes. In Race Replays, it’s up to the audience to guide the action to a more positive place. Augusto Boal called theatre “a rehearsal for the revolution,” but we won’t have a revolution if we can’t even talk about race. Race Replays offers a rehearsal space for the honest conversations that lead to understanding and change.