Why does whiteness matter? Because it is the infrastructure of all systems of racial inequity, the assumed default category of human existence, and it haunts our culture in both overt and hidden ways. Whiteness perpetuates inequality by staying unexamined and unmarked. Curator Dr. Megan Lewis believes in “the power of performance – specifically theater – to create a space in which we can examine and interrogate the assumptions behind white, masculinized, heteronormative privilege and power.” Her research concerns the stakes of race and performance, particularly the ways in which whiteness and performance intersect.

Created in 2015, the Global Theatre Performance Series brings international artists to the Quick providing the opportunity to explore the liminal spaces between art, theatre, and performance. This year’s series is curated by Dr. Megan Lewis, theatre scholar at University of Massachusetts Amherst.

In an ever-dividing world where identity lines are drawn in broad strokes of “black” and “white,” this international curation brings together two powerful artistic voices from South Africa to explore race, sexuality, gender, and identity in our contemporary world.

United by their mutual passion for the frank, powerful medium of live performance, these featured artists—Mamela Nyamza and Iain “Ewok” Robinson – each offer up work that explores, questions, reclaims, or makes visible the complexities of identities, be they racial, gendered, sexual, or cultural.

Together, this series offers a productive space in which to engage with difference, to listen for the other, and to witness each other with keen compassion and considered insight through the compelling medium of live theatre and dance.

WHITE/BOYS/BLACK/GIRLS: What is race and how do we see it?

Panel discussion with Fairfield Professor’s Dr. Terry-Ann Jones, Dr. Kris Sealey, Iain “Ewok” Robinson, and Dr. Megan Lewis, introduced by Peter Van Heerden
Monday, September 26 | 6:30pm
Wien Experimental Theatre

Performing Whitely in the Postcolony: Afrikaners in South African Theatrical and Public Life

Pre-show discussion and book signing
Dr. Megan Lewis, author
Saturday, September 30 | 6:30pm
Wien Experimental Theatre

RSVP to attend free events by contacting the Quick Center Box Office at 203-254-4010 or by email at boxoffice@quickcenter.com.

As part of our continued mission to integrate the arts into curriculum based work at Fairfield University and schools in our community: Iain “Ewok” Robinson will also lead workshops with Fairfield University students and faculty, the Regional Center for the Arts High School in Trumbull, Cesar Batalla School in Bridgeport, and collaborative workshops with New Haven-based spoken word artist Aaron Jafferis, whose most recent piece was premiered at the International Festival of Arts & Ideas.