Celebrating 10 Years OUT LOUD
“As we prepare to celebrate 10 years of OUT LOUD, we are truly invested in internalizing everything we have learned throughout the course of our history, including what the challenges of the pandemic have revealed and taught us, and how we can bring those lessons forward through solid and systemic changes, holistically and logistically. We are passionate about establishing a culture of holistic care rooted in Awareness, Connection, & Trust through its many forms: Mind, Body, Space, and Spirit alike - for every member of our community. This has always been an internal priority, but the extent in which OUT LOUD is striving to create pathways and support systems is exponentially more expansive in its scope and intention because of the time we took to simply exist and discover. It remains incredibly important to our ensemble that we took the time that we needed to investigate every element of our collaborative process and make the conscious and deliberate effort to mindfully and intentionally evolve. This was one of the central elements and driving forces in our decision to focus inward since 2020. We have spent years now shifting the way the ensemble operates through an intensive "inward facing" model, examining and crafting our collaborative steps forward piece by piece with empathy and care. Through this experience, our collective has discovered an overall flexibility and fluidity that has proven to not only be ideal to our creative process, but necessary for our growing community.
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"We are passionate about establishing a culture of holistic care rooted in Awareness, Connection, & Trust through its many forms: Mind, Body, Space, and Spirit alike - for every member of our community."
We strive to unapologetically center the humanity of all people in the room - putting accessibility, capacity, and autonomy over product - always, and without exception. An example of this is our fully flexible "tap in when you can and tap out when you need to" model, which allows for our ensemble to hold space for one another and openly communicate our given circumstances on a day to day, week to week, and month to month basis. We are constantly checking in, setting realistic goals for ourselves to prevent burn out, centering mental, physical, and emotional health, and holding space for the unforeseen. No one person has to hold everything on their own, there are creative lifelines in place to hold one another up when we all inevitably need to tap out - no matter the circumstances.
This is one example of how we are a community above all else and that remains our top priority when assessing our relationship to generating and presenting productions and in-development work. The structure of a given creation now allows for varying levels of involvement as it evolves from conceptualizing, to creating, to experiencing the work. I'm exceptionally grateful to our incredible ensemble who have infused their time, talents, and collaborative spirits into making this community a proven reality. It's an empowering experience to actively work to establish sustainable pathways that embrace and embody this mindset - that we are all people first, and collaborators second."
- Kira Hawkridge, Founding Artistic Director (she/her/hers)
This is one example of how we are a community above all else and that remains our top priority when assessing our relationship to generating and presenting productions and in-development work. The structure of a given creation now allows for varying levels of involvement as it evolves from conceptualizing, to creating, to experiencing the work. I'm exceptionally grateful to our incredible ensemble who have infused their time, talents, and collaborative spirits into making this community a proven reality. It's an empowering experience to actively work to establish sustainable pathways that embrace and embody this mindset - that we are all people first, and collaborators second."
- Kira Hawkridge, Founding Artistic Director (she/her/hers)
"We don't need to tell you all we've done over the past three years. Here it is: our hearts and minds on the page."
"Why do we go to the theatre? For me, it's the feeling I get afterwards - the adrenaline pumping through my veins, the feeling of having experienced something with my whole body. I want to see the sweat, feel the breath, hear the effort. I want to be a part of it, to be uncomfortable, to be challenged. I go to the theatre to have an experience that I cannot have elsewhere. After years of sitting on my couch staring at screens, I want to feel something more than just mild entertainment. I want to share the art with the artists."
"Season 10 is stretching what it means to create and rehearse. It's breaking down the walls of a traditional process, and not building them back up. It's wearing your heart on your sleeve and then throwing your shirt on the floor. It's trusting that that shirt will be there when you need it. It's letting go of the product. It's listening and absorbing and writing and researching and working and breathing. It's believing in your voice and making space for it. It's collaboration in its purest and most immersive form.
I believe audiences today are ready for this - they want connection, not distraction from their own life or the many horrors of our world. The past three years have been a period of intense creative introspection for our collective, and we have tapped into an extremely personal space, often pulling from childhood and early life experiences. And though it's personal and unique to all of us in the ensemble, we've found that it's precisely what makes this work accessible to others. We don't need to tell you all we've done over the past three years. Here it is: our hearts and minds on the page. We're ready to put it into our bodies and to continue to grow, and be challenged, right alongside you."
-Ottavia De Luca, Core Ensemble / Resident Artist / Season 10 Ensemble (she/her/hers)
I believe audiences today are ready for this - they want connection, not distraction from their own life or the many horrors of our world. The past three years have been a period of intense creative introspection for our collective, and we have tapped into an extremely personal space, often pulling from childhood and early life experiences. And though it's personal and unique to all of us in the ensemble, we've found that it's precisely what makes this work accessible to others. We don't need to tell you all we've done over the past three years. Here it is: our hearts and minds on the page. We're ready to put it into our bodies and to continue to grow, and be challenged, right alongside you."
-Ottavia De Luca, Core Ensemble / Resident Artist / Season 10 Ensemble (she/her/hers)
"With bare floorboards and a passion we explore the means and methods of storytelling. While our process is certainly non-traditional, you in no way have to be a non-traditional person to take part. If you come with an open heart and an open mind, you will be welcomed with open arms."
"In OUT LOUD there are no “stars”, we are a collective sun, working to help each other shine brighter. "
"OUT LOUD is a community driven ensemble; we put aside the traditional theatrical hierarchies and seek to create a space where everyone has an equal impact. In OUT LOUD there are no “stars”, we are a collective sun, working to help each other shine brighter. One of the benefits of working in an ensemble like this is the element of play. We are unrestricted in our source material, there is no meter to abide by, no words to remain faithful to, and in that way the nature of our work lends itself to exploration. Normally bound only by a couple of themes or a source text, we can examine performance at its roots and experiment with all different kinds of narrative. You’d be surprised what you can get across with an atmosphere and wooden blocks."
- Josh Raymo, Resident Artist / Season 10 Ensemble (he/him/his)
- Josh Raymo, Resident Artist / Season 10 Ensemble (he/him/his)
"The honest need for connection and vulnerability is something that is embraced so authentically at OUT LOUD. And I think every artist comes to a point in their lives where they just want more of it."
"The honest need for connection and vulnerability is something that is embraced so authentically at OUT LOUD. And I think every artist comes to a point in their lives where they just want more of it. Being on the spectrum has been so difficult for me, as a person and as an artist. I feel like I want too many things, or have unrealistic expectations of how I should feel during a rehearsal process. I seemed to be in a different world compared to my peers, speaking a completely different language. and any information shared about their thoughts on the process or story never seemed to satisfy me enough. I wanted to crawl into their brains and peak around inside, see how colors looked and food tasted. I wanted to explore so much more and know so much more, “Do you like the way this is being blocked? do you get along with your mom? Does the recording of Patti LaBelle’s 1989 encore performance of “If You Don’t Know Me By Now” at the Apollo also make you cry?” and granted, sometimes it’s just me being nosy. I’m Dominican. But isn’t that the way we all should be? Artists, that is. Not Dominicans. Just blood thirsty little creatives feasting on the vibrancy of life to feed our art? and then sharing that with each other?
"I will never be told that my creativity is too big or that my dreams are too wild ever again. I know now what happens when you tend to your soul."
We’ve carried such heavy things with us our whole lives and here is a space where it is not only safe to put it down, but where we set it down together. And we take a step back and examine it and create this process where we understand ourselves and each other in ways I was told were impossible or impractical or too time consuming to ever be useful or marketable. I think that sums up OUT LOUD and this season. Things take however long they take, product isn’t the goal, and we work and work until questions are answered and communicate until people feel safe, and we dream in a way that is almost jokingly absurd until someone comes in the next day with a floor plan on how to make those dreams a reality. I will never be told that my creativity is too big or that my dreams are too wild ever again. I know now what happens when you tend to your soul."
- Tabi Baez-Bradway, Resident Artist / Season 10 Ensemble (they/she - she/they)
- Tabi Baez-Bradway, Resident Artist / Season 10 Ensemble (they/she - she/they)
"So much of what we do goes beyond theater performance."
"We're stringing up safety nets for each to take leaps of faith."
"Working with OUT LOUD means the gross, overhead lights will never be on and there's never a room you can't speak up in. There's no seniority, no designer's table, and rarely an exclusive production meeting. The ensemble are designers and the designers are in the ensemble.
Designing with OUT LOUD sparks a lot of "Why haven't we always been doing it like this?" moments. Which feels like it goes hand in hand with the "Because we've always done it like this" conversation seen in more conventional theater settings. Costume designing for Rocky Horror (during Season 7: Mortals & Monsters in 2019) was more about curation, pulling together, and sifting through materials, textures and silhouettes to tell a story. Elements felt purposeful and intimate to each actor. It was such a beautiful study on ensemble building and it was literally about sexy aliens.
So much of what we do goes beyond theater performance. Early pandemic times, we focused heavily on healing and learning with each other. We learned how to adapt our collaboration style to an online world, we learned how to support and create space for one another. So much of the self reflection and self exploration I've done and the growth I have experienced has been through OUT LOUD. We're stringing up safety nets for each to take leaps of faith. So far, I've done more writing exercises and movement exercises than "actual designing." I'm excited to share our thoughts and learnings with the community. I always look forward to discussions afterward, i.e. "Well, what do YOU think it meant?"
- Emma Impagliazzo, Resident Artist & Designer / Season 10 Ensemble (she/her/hers)
Designing with OUT LOUD sparks a lot of "Why haven't we always been doing it like this?" moments. Which feels like it goes hand in hand with the "Because we've always done it like this" conversation seen in more conventional theater settings. Costume designing for Rocky Horror (during Season 7: Mortals & Monsters in 2019) was more about curation, pulling together, and sifting through materials, textures and silhouettes to tell a story. Elements felt purposeful and intimate to each actor. It was such a beautiful study on ensemble building and it was literally about sexy aliens.
So much of what we do goes beyond theater performance. Early pandemic times, we focused heavily on healing and learning with each other. We learned how to adapt our collaboration style to an online world, we learned how to support and create space for one another. So much of the self reflection and self exploration I've done and the growth I have experienced has been through OUT LOUD. We're stringing up safety nets for each to take leaps of faith. So far, I've done more writing exercises and movement exercises than "actual designing." I'm excited to share our thoughts and learnings with the community. I always look forward to discussions afterward, i.e. "Well, what do YOU think it meant?"
- Emma Impagliazzo, Resident Artist & Designer / Season 10 Ensemble (she/her/hers)
"Collaborating with OUT LOUD is not just hearing, but LISTENING. Contribution. Adding to the full picture. Bringing yourself, your experience, and your journey with you every step of the way. Building each other up. Comfort."
"It's about breath: centering, connecting, sensing, feeling, awareness. It's about exploration: Starting over. Removing expectations. A fresh perspective. Discovering life anew. Absorbing. Discovery. Creating."
- JT Cunha, Resident Artist / Season 10 Ensemble (they/she/he)
- JT Cunha, Resident Artist / Season 10 Ensemble (they/she/he)
"OUT LOUD is an experience."
"OUT LOUD is an experience —
a collective of humans preparing story-telling not merely to be seen but experienced.
As an ensemble we breathe together and as more people come into the space,
a wall doesn’t suddenly appear —
one space, one breath, one mind, one hive. An experience where all are welcome."
- Audrey Lavin Crawley, Resident Artist / Season 10 Ensemble (she/her/hers)
a collective of humans preparing story-telling not merely to be seen but experienced.
As an ensemble we breathe together and as more people come into the space,
a wall doesn’t suddenly appear —
one space, one breath, one mind, one hive. An experience where all are welcome."
- Audrey Lavin Crawley, Resident Artist / Season 10 Ensemble (she/her/hers)
"Here, everyone's thoughts, feelings, and ideas are valued, welcomed, and utilized. Everyone gives a piece of themselves - there's a piece of everyone in our work."
"I feel like "ensemble" is often seen as a "bad word" in traditional settings. The undervalued background bodies who didn't make the cut for a "lead" role. I was told "no small parts, only small actors" which I can appreciate, but many people feel differently deep down, like they aren't valued - that they aren't "talented" enough - or at all. At OUT LOUD, we are one huge ENSEMBLE, we redefine the word and shatter those connotations. We come together, "many beings forming one being, equally valued, equal parts of a whole. Whether you have an opportunity to step out and have a moment by yourself or not, you are a crucial part of the work.
I think anyone looking to grow creatively, personally, spiritually would find a home here, especially if they are seeking a change from the traditional theatre process. Traditionally, that setting does not encourage a lot of collaboration or bringing new ideas into the mix. It can be very much "what the director says, goes". And while it can be beneficial to have a sense of order / organization it can also muzzle individuality and creative processes. Here, everyone's thoughts, feelings, and ideas are valued, welcomed, and utilized. Everyone gives a piece of themselves - there's a piece of everyone in our work. If you've ever felt like you could be doing or contributing more in your creative / performance setting, but felt like you couldn't speak up, OUT LOUD is the place for you."
- Ellis del Pino, Resident Artist / Season 10 Ensemble (she/they)
I think anyone looking to grow creatively, personally, spiritually would find a home here, especially if they are seeking a change from the traditional theatre process. Traditionally, that setting does not encourage a lot of collaboration or bringing new ideas into the mix. It can be very much "what the director says, goes". And while it can be beneficial to have a sense of order / organization it can also muzzle individuality and creative processes. Here, everyone's thoughts, feelings, and ideas are valued, welcomed, and utilized. Everyone gives a piece of themselves - there's a piece of everyone in our work. If you've ever felt like you could be doing or contributing more in your creative / performance setting, but felt like you couldn't speak up, OUT LOUD is the place for you."
- Ellis del Pino, Resident Artist / Season 10 Ensemble (she/they)
"We invite you to step into this journey with us and to feel free to immerse yourself."
"We have emerged from our collective and individual lockdowns stronger, clearer, and more than ever committed to inclusive, authentic and innovative storytelling. OUT LOUD is bursting through convention to bring you theatre from a fierce collaborative that purposely aims to trample the box. We invite you to step into this journey with us and to feel free to immerse yourself."
- Pat Hawkridge, Resident Artist / Ensemble 10 Ensemble (she/her/hers)
- Pat Hawkridge, Resident Artist / Ensemble 10 Ensemble (she/her/hers)
"We are finding new ways to breathe and move together, to share ideas and find inspiration, and to support each other as artists and as humans. Of course, we always do this - but it feels especially vital now."
- Beth Alianiello, Core Ensemble / Resident Artist / Season 10 Ensemble (she/her/hers)
"Never before had I experienced the freedom and innovation that I have with this ensemble."
"I had been acting for many years prior to my daughter forming OUT LOUD. Once I began to work with her excellent ensemble, I can honestly say that my experience has been most profound, rewarding and enjoyable. More than I have ever had onstage. Never before had I experienced the freedom and innovation that I have with this collective. It has been nothing short of life changing and has transformed me into the actor I always knew I could be. Playing KING LEAR was a performance of a lifetime. I look forward to the future experiences in store for me as a member of this extraordinary ensemble." - Alan Hawkridge, Resident Artist / Season 10 Ensemble (he/him/his)
"We have not been hibernating - we have been transforming. We are deliberately choosing to turn outward again, to open our doors and embrace this new phase, to share our metamorphosis with the world. We have evolved. Get ready."
"The shutdown in March 2020 was difficult for all of us, and posed a special challenge for artists who rely on being in an in-person community to create and share. I'm so proud of how we took this obstacle and turned it into a creative laboratory. We stayed connected virtually, we focused on creating and devising conceptually, we produced virtual experiences to remain connected with our audience and the wider community. We honed our skills in writing, research, and imagination. We made the conscious choice to turn inward toward each other, and that choice led to an expected wealth of strength, expression, and inspiration. We have not been hibernating - we have been transforming. We are deliberately choosing to turn outward again, to open our doors and embrace this new phase, to share our metamorphosis with the world. We have evolved. Get ready." - Siobhan LaPorte-Cauley (she/her/hers)