Millennial Notes Lynne Alvarez Asks Youth to Fight Colorism & Privilege by Evelyn Arevalo In “Esperanza Rising” at Teatro Visión, playwright Lynne Alvarez shows how racism comes from early training—and how we even use that racist brainwashing against ourselves. Esperanza, a spoiled Mexican “princess” can only see the world from her privileged point of…
John Fisher’s Idyllic Bike Trip to Palo Alto Turns Serious by Robert M. Gardner & Barry David Horwitz In “The Farm,” Fisher’s romantic bicycle trip to the sun-drenched Stanford campus reveals a dark side of the famed university. For over a year, John Fisher’s 60+ weekly solo shows have featured his love for local…
Blank & Jensen Rejuvenate Health Workers’ Gifts by Patricia L. Morin “The Line” is a heartache to watch. This beautifully crafted docu-drama by Jessica Blank and Erik Jensen shows actors playing real-life Covid health workers giving emotional confessions. Blank and Jensen interview seven First Responders in New York City hospitals at the beginning of…
Lydia R. Diamond Refocuses US on Poverty & Racism by Patricia L. Morin & Barry David Horwitz In Lydia R. Diamond’s audio-drama of Toni Morrison’s first novel, The Bluest Eye (1970), disembodied voices tell the tragic story of an outcast little Black girl. That girl, rejected and despised, lives in backwoods Lorain, Ohio, Morrison’s…