21 Black Futures - Beyere, In conversation with the director, Lisa Karen Cox

Lisa Karen Cox speaks to us about the creation of Beyere—a story centered around the preservation of culture and heritage through language, specifically in ASL, and her experience being a part of 21 Black Futures.

BY: MALIKA DAYA

Photo via CBC

“What is the future of Blackness?” Obsidian Theatre’s artistic director Mumbi Tindyebwa Otu asks as she develops programming in the wake of a global pandemic and amidst the global fight against anti-Black racism. Isolated from her community and mourning the continuous police brutality and murder of Black people, she found herself in need of connection. She writes, “I wondered how other Black artists across the country were doing. Especially when around the world, the gaze of institutions, individuals, and even politicians had turned sharply toward us.” 

She began to ask herself how she could respond and support the Black creative community from her institutional capacity as an artistic director. Mumbi began to imagine ways to create communal art, art that is unapologetically Black and centers Blackness. It is her “radical offering in unprecedented times.”  

In her leadership role at Obsidian Theatre, a theatre with a 20-year-old legacy of championing Black artists and their stories, Mumbi was intrigued by creating art that is by the Black community. In imagining the future, she wanted to discover new words and new languages that were created by Black writers and thinkers in Canada. 

From this vision, 21 Black Futures was born and 63+ Black creatives came together to tell the stories about the future of Blackness in a series of 21 short monodramas, that are online, free, and accessible at any time on CBC Gem. The 3 part anthology brings together 21 Black playwrights, 21 Black directors, and 21 Black actors who have developed aesthetic and thought-provoking art that asks meaningful questions about society in the past, present, and future while celebrating Blackness. 

Photo via CBC

The photo above is of the monodrama Beyere from season one. Beyere is set in 2080, Aodri, played by Natasha “Courage” Bacchus, receives a diagnosis about her terminal illness. In a conversation with her young daughter, Bena, she discusses the importance of language as the key to the survival of their culture. Both Aodri and Bena are members of the deaf community and are the last living members of the Ebanu community, who were African descendants that resisted transatlantic slavery. Aodri uses American Sign Language and gestures to teach her daughter traditional vernacular, from the Ebanu community, in an attempt to keep alive their culture and the legacy of their ancestry. 

Beyere is a brilliant artistic masterpiece written by Shauntay Grant that speaks to the complexities and urgent need to preserve cultural roots and identities as we move into the future. In my opinion, it is a reminder that our histories are potent forces in our present and futures, as they are at the root of who we are and from where we build. 

I had the privilege to talk with Lisa Karen Cox, the director of Beyere, and ask her more about her experience as an artist and woman of colour working on this revolutionary anthology. 

What is at the heart of 21 Black Futures and Beyere for you? 

Really selfishly, I’ve never had an opportunity to work in an all-Black production, and so I wanted that. I wanted that experience, I wanted to be a part of something that truly centered and celebrated the Black community in Canada, explicitly. I felt really strongly about Beyere because for me it speaks to the truth and reality that the black community is not a monolith even though we are often treated as if we are.

From Courage’s lived experience as a member of the BIPOC Deaf community, to Shauntay’s experience being a Black woman in Nova Scotia, which is a different experience than my own in Toronto, we were all coming to the work from different places and different intersectional experiences. But everyone in the room down to the ASL interpreters were all Black women, it was extremely powerful to be free to be brave and safe in a room in a different kind of way, it was so fulfilling and something that I will always carry with me. 

What is also great about 21 Black Futures is that it is not all trauma porn, which is also a part of why it feels like we are not centering Whiteness. Generally, when White artistic directors go to program particularly BIPOC stories, they are looking for pain and trauma and they think that is what is powerful. But any of our fucking stories are powerful actually. Any of our stories are powerful. 

What was your process of directing a show in American Sign Language (ASL) like? 

Beyere is translated like any other show translated from a different language. You have to build in time for that and interpretation. There were two interpreters in the room at all times which is something I felt very strongly about, I felt it was really important that both of us could speak in our first languages so that we could express ourselves with the nuance and depth that was necessary or required. There were moments where I would sign because I like to speak directly to the people I am working with and I had already had some ASL prior to this process because of other works I had done. I also picked up private classes again to brush up as much as I could. Also because I wanted to know what my performer was saying and so that I could talk to her directly. 

Photo via CBC

What did your collaborations with Shauntay and Courage look like? 

Shauntay is amazing, she originally just wrote the piece as a hearing person in English, it had some African-American vernacular in it and standard English, and then from there, it was suggested to her from Obsidian that Courage would be the actor representing this character. Originally it was supposed to be a hearing mom speaking to her deaf daughter. When I was brought on, my response was why is Courage playing a hearing woman when she is deaf? It changes the play to give it that context, it is a Deaf woman talking to her Deaf child, there is a different lineage that is being passed on in relation to language. 

In my conversations with Courage, we wanted to layer that into the character. Language is something to be celebrated and be proud of, and there is no shame attached to it. Just like we want for our Blackness, you know, that thing that makes you unique, different, or othered is actually a beautiful, wonderful, powerful thing, not something to feel any shame around. 

There is also ferocity that comes out when you are working and surrounded by other black people, you don’t have to explain everything to your creative team, they are entirely Black. You can just say your thing, no one questions you, no one asks you about it, you are not reminded of Whiteness. 

Beyere speaks to a powerful truth that because of colonization cultures are being lost. Acknowledging that the Black community is not monolithic, how can BIPOC youth and young adults strive to keep their roots alive, in the present and future?

Well, first of all, I think the youth should decide that. I am a big believer in those of us who are not youth, should listen. We need to do far more listening than preaching. 

I am really interested in Canada carving out a theatre lineage that is deeply multicultural, in an authentic and real way that is rooted in or inspired by indigenous ways of being, in space and life, and how to interact and treat people. And also by being deeply multilingual. Why do we only have to have one language in a show? When I am on the subway or walking down the street in Toronto, I am hearing different languages all the time. Why not invent that in our theatrical practices and our theatre work? If we are really going to live up to the desire and self-promotion of being multicultural, let’s do that. Let’s actually do it and embed it in our work, through the representation of different languages and different cultures. 

What do you think needs to be uprooted in society NOW and what new roots do you think we need to collectively plant and nurture?

I’m going to say something controversial, I fundamentally think that Whiteness is like a dandelion, in that it spreads and it is everywhere. Right now it is spreading and it is everywhere, it is the air we breathe, it is the water we drink, it is just everywhere. The dandelion, which we think of as a weed, is rampant. But there are also good things about the dandelion. It just needs to not be the only thing in my garden. I feel like Whiteness is like that. Blackness is a thing because of Whiteness and because of the history of slavery, we have a common experience of anti-Blackness that we have bonding us together. 

Whiteness is really just rooted in power. So many White people hold onto Whiteness because they don’t know much about their culture and haven’t gone deep into their personal roots. Are you Scottish, are you Irish—what does that mean? Maybe you need to connect with your roots so you have an understanding of who you are and what your part of history is. And so you can’t just wipe your hands from slavery. If you have that Dutch lineage in you, you and your family are directly responsible for the world today. 

So what is your accountability as the next generation, to right the wrongs of your past and your family’s past? It is personal for all of us. The plague of racism is personal for all of us, it feels personal, especially for those of us of colour, because we are impacted by it daily. But if White people took the time to understand where they came from, they would understand that it is their responsibility too. 

Photo via Obsidian Theatre

What are some seeds of thoughts that you hope Beyere plants in the audience's mind? 

I want our BIPOC deaf audience members to feel celebrated and honored and seen. 

I would like White Deaf audiences to recognize that racism exists within their community too, it is equally as complicated as the hearing experience in regards to race and the same hierarchies are in place. 

I want hearing non-Black audiences to see the complexity of the Black community and the beauty of the Black community and the tenderness of the Black community. We have children too.

And I would like members of the Black community to understand how complex and diverse we are and to open their arms to those who are not exactly like us and who don’t have the exact same experience. Because they are experiencing the same if not more levels of oppression at times.

What are some key learnings you are taking with you after this process as a story-teller and human-being? 

A key take-away is to keep exploring and to stay playful. I am so deeply interested in this hybrid space because theatre as we currently do it is not accessible for a whole variety of reasons, for language reasons, for physical barrier reasons… it stops so many people from enjoying it, consuming art, and being a part of the conversations that come along with art. This hybrid space is a very accessible way for people to experience art and theatre. 

I am also feeling really honored to be in dialogue with Courage in such a deep way. I have so much privilege, language privilege, socio-economic privilege, education privilege, and it's good to be reminded of your privilege. I feel like, particularly as a woman of colour, it’s good for me to be reminded of how much privilege I have and to not take that for granted. To be invited into someone else’s community is such a huge gift. And you always want to honor and celebrate that.

As a theatre-maker, as a woman of colour, as a BIPOC artist, what do you want the future of Blackness to look like?

I feel like I want the future of Blackness to not be impeded anymore. We already have the skills, the abilities, the brilliance within our community—the future of Blackness is just being given the space to shine. We are already seeing it in 21 Black Futures, we are starting to see the seeds of it sprout, now it's just about everybody getting on board to water it and give it the space to grow. 

Do you want to say anything to the UofT community and in particular, the young Black artists in our community?

First of all, we are all family. You need something, reach out. The impulse can be to implode inwards in a moment of trial and challenge, reach out, work against that impulse, and reach out as much as you can. Reach out to me, reach out to any of us because we are family, we are all family.

Secondly, just shine, focus on the work and just shine, do what your gut tells you is the right artistic impulse. Often we dull it down or explain it or shame it or squash it in an attempt to appease the masses, which are White people. Let’s all stop doing that because the sooner we do, the sooner White people are not at the centre, and the sooner we will all get to just express ourselves to the fullest ability of our expression. Without needing to translate, without needing to apologize, without needing to explain. There also has to be space for us to fail and be sloppy and get it wrong because other communities get that, so we need to extend and make space for that too. Let’s just shine and be the brilliance that we are, that is it. And we don’t have to do anything more than that—just be.

A special thank you to Lisa Karen Cox, for so generously offering her time for this interview. Check out the 21 Black Futures anthology on CBC Gem. 

Read more about the personalities behind 21 Black Futures - Beyere here