Compass
World Premiere at ASU Gammage, Tempe Arizona, April 2023. Touring 2024. 2025
COMPASS
A GATHERING. A CELEBRATION OF COLLECTIVE ACTION.
EMBODIED INTERVIEW BASED STORYTELLING THAT IMAGINES NEW MODELS OF ADVOCACY, LEADERSHIP AND INTERSECTIONAL FEMINISM.
What do systems of power in America today look like? How do those systems fail us? How can we envision them anew? Who are the voices of people paving the way for this new vision? These are just some of the questions Compass asks. After our World premiere at ASU Gammage’s Beyond Series in April 2023 we look forward to touring Compass nationally and internationally with ALC Management.
Compass centers the minds and bodies of those modeling leadership through empathy, listening and proactive community-based action. Each movement of the piece visualizes - through the lived experience of our interviewees and the systems each has battled with - the physical effort and action to envision the NEXT world. Through the stories of BIPOC womxn and other advocates not invited to the table of today's systems of power, the piece shines a light on the struggle for Indigenous Tribal Sovereignty, Climate action, Reproductive Freedom, and Gun Safety among many other issues, foregrounding the human strength (and personal cost) required to create change. Through devised physical scores, immersive projection and visceral, spoken narratives, the piece creates shared experiences to incite action to change the broken systems and broken leadership structures of our time.
Conceived and Directed by Rachel Dickstein
Lead Writer: Delanna Studi
Original score composed by Kamala Sankaram
Movement Direction by nicHi Douglas
Scenic and Co-projection Design by Anna Kiraly
Costume Design by Mika Eubanks
Lighting Design by Yuki Link Nakase
Co-Projection Design by Brian Freeland
Sound Design by Sam Kusnetz; Original Sound Design by Matt Stine
Contributing writers include: DeLanna Studi (Lead Writer), Aisha Zia, Rachel Dickstein, Alia Tejeda, and members of the ensemble. Text includes verbatim interviews conducted by the company, original monologues and found text from speeches and stories told by the activists’ themselves.
Co-Created by the Ensemble:
Elizabeth Cook: The Searcher (voicing Kim Jackson, Shirley Chisholm, Mauree Turner, self)
Miranda Hall Jiménez: The Activist (voicing Rigoberta Menchu, X Gonzalez, Alia Tejeda, Grace McClean, self)
Paula McGonagle: The Teacher (voicing Suzanne Simard, Mahayana Landowne, Lisa Jean Moore, Anonymous, self)
Emily Preis: The Changemaker (voicing Debbie Nez Manuel, Wilma Mankiller, DeLanna Studi, self)
Calliope Pina Parker: The Advocate (voicing Jessica Fleisher-Black, X Gonzalez, Anonymous, self)
Yasmin Sophia: Ensemble understudy
Production Stage Manager: Lisa McGinn Assistant Director: Milan Castro Production Manager: Brian Freeland
Producer: Amanda Cooper/ALC Management
World Premiere at ASU Gammage, Tempe Arizona, April 2023. Commissioned by ASU Cultural Affairs and its division of ASU Gammage, world premiere April, 2023.
Compass is supported by the Jerome Robbins Foundation, the New England Foundation for the Arts Theatre Touring Program, The New York State Council on the Arts, NYFA’s City Artist Corps and generous individual donors.
Photo by Tim Trumble, featuring (L-R) Paula McGonagle, Elizabeth Cook, Emily Preis, Calliope Pina Parker, Miranda Hall Jimenez
WHY NOW?
Compass advocates for marginalized voices through their own words, thoughts and dreams. Those are the stories that will bring us forward in the fight against the deeply ingrained gender bias in our country.
Ripe Time has focused for decades on stories of womxn’s lives, often through the lens of radical novels and stories adapted to the stage. Compass is inspired by the womxn (cisgender, trans and gender non-conforming folx) engaging in grass roots politics in America who have found a voice rallying for change in the face of gender discrimination, racial bias, and sexual harassment. How do we subvert biased assumptions about who can lead to re-discover other models of leadership for our future?
We position ourselves in the feminist movement as 1) amplifiers of the stories, perspectives, and call-to-action(s) of womxn 2) an intersectional cast and creative team that models social justice feminism. It’s no longer enough to simply expose the harm of the patriarchal waters we swim in. We need to model different possibilities for future power structures- ones that are regenerative, not transactional.
Our interviews questions are rooted in personal history. We ask: What is your earliest memory of a person in your life taking charge? What’s the angriest you’ve ever been and why? If you had one dream for this world, what would it look like? True advocates defy easy categorization, lead from the heart, and define their own rules. While the American electorate does not always champion these leaders, Compass does.
THE PEOPLE
As we tour this project, we will be adding voices local to each location. If you are interested in bringing the project to your city and know a kickass BIPOC leader (could be a person running for office, the head of a community board, your mom) tell us about them! Advocates lead from the heart, and define their own rules. So do the makers and the do-ers reading this page! Contact us here and at ALC Management to check out ways you can help share Compass with your community and help our grassroots effort.
Developed with the Civilians R & D group, the Watermill Center, the Drama League as part of the Impact Residency with LaGuardia Performing Arts Center, and Lumberyard.