Public Workshop: Masculinity and #Metoo
Saturday, March 31
1pm-4pm
$10-$20 suggested donation
(at the door, cash only)
Theatre of the Oppressed NYC
758 8th Ave Suite 300, New York, NY 10036
The other side of the equation: Women know how sexual assault works and they're speaking out. Now it's time for men--and people of all genders--to recognize the sexual violence that's woven into mainstream masculinity, and divest.
This March, Man Question hosts a workshop for people of all genders* on the #metoo movement, masculinity, and the revolutionary potential of the moment.
With a twist! Dialogue on social change can be stuffy and miserable...or terrifying...but since 2011, Man Question has been using our playful, theatre-based approach to peek up the skirt of masculinity. This workshop is your platform to drop-kick violent masculinity, with joy.
On an international stage. What's more, the British media outlet The Guardian is covering the workshop, as part of their video reporting about responses to #metoo. What you share could reach a global audience.
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*Yes, all genders. Women's experiences aren't all the same and neither are men's, and a lot of people in the Man Question community take pleasure in subverting the male/female binary. We'll be asking you to reflect on how you engage with masculinity in your life.
Registration
What to Expect from a Man Question Workshop
In our workshops, we invite you to peek up the skirt of masculinity. That can be a bit awkward. With this in mind, we start the workshop by releasing the butterflies--the hopes and fears--that everyone feels about the question. We then connect around power, which is a major axis of masculinity, using tools from artist and activist Augusto Boal's Theatre of the Oppressed.
What comes next depends on the unique group in which we are working. With a group of men that came together to meet in Brooklyn's DUMBO neighborhood, we focused on debates about how masculinity came to be and challenges in expressing emotions and finding closeness. With a group of incarcerated men at a maximum security prison outside the city, we focused on similar questions but with more intense focus on power, and we also supported the group in developing seeds of scenes that they are now crafting into an original piece of theatre. As we work, we alternate between action and discussion, spiraling towards an essential question and project that will unite and culminate the group's work.
photography by Hannah Mello
Designed in dialogue
Together we design custom-tailored workshops for your organization.
In past workshops and residencies, we have addressed:
- Love and intimacy
- Freedom of expression in the arts
- Meanings of manhood in gay men’s communities
- Undoing gender binaries: fluid and trans explorations of masculinity
- Sexual violence and codes of masculinity
- Feminist me? Men’s roles in achieving gender equity
- Incarceration and masculinity: taking on racism and the school-to-prison pipeline
- New memorials and manhood: commemorating community and vulnerability
We create a culminating performance to sharpen and articulate the discoveries and questions arising in the workshop. In the past, we have culminated with:
- A ritual we perform together to close the workshop
- A piece in a community variety show
- A piece shared as a part of a broader community dialogue—for example, in 2014 we presented a piece in an evening about sexual violence for activists, artists, and care providers in Brooklyn.
- A piece performed at the New Masculinities Festival
photography by Hannah Mello