Membership Spotlight – June 2025

I’m currently working on my dissertation, which brings white children ages 9-12 to see the new hip hop musical Young John Lewis currently performing at Atlanta’s Theatrical Outfit. I’m interviewing them before and after they see the production to explore how critical performing arts experiences help white children develop critical racial literacy. I’m also bringing them together in July for some artistic response activities using drawing, photo elicitation, and puppetry. As I talk to these kids, I feel like our future is in good hands. They know a lot more about race and racism than I did at their age.

Young John Lewis, written by Psalmayene 24, is a fantastic production – amazing music by Eugene H. Russell IV performed live, inspired performances, and a story that gives a platform for audiences to learn about more than just John Lewis – Ella Baker, Diane Nash, Bobby Kennedy, and Stokely Carmichael (aka Kwame Ture) are major characters. A play in tune with our times that I hope many families will attend and then talk about afterwards.

There is an 1845 pamphlet published by the New York division of the American Anti-Slavery Society called ‘The Constitution: a pro-slavery compact’ that I would love to make into a toy theatre puppet show. It goes line by line through the constitution to highlight the compromises the founders made to slaveholders in the founding documents; compromises that still echo today in our national racial conflicts.

Theatre can have such a powerful impact on young children’s development – from critical thinking to socialization to theory of mind. It also provides a space for families to share learning and bonding experiences. Some of the TYA being done for children and their  imprisoned parents is a great example of theatre bringing people together in a space of love.

I find joy serving both children and the elderly with my work. I produce a program created with performer Denise Arribas called ‘Unexpected Encores’ which brings therapeutic theatre to elders in memory care communities. Denise has one of the biggest hearts of anyone I know and she brings laughter and love to every meeting and performance.

Shout out and rest in peace Bobby Box, who directed and mentored me in my first few seasons out of college at the Center for Puppetry Arts. He showed me that working in the arts should and can be fun and stress-free.

Find info on my work and my contact at www.TheObjectGroup.org.

In May, Portland Ovations presented free school and public performances of our co-commission with Akomawt Educational Initiative, Wabanaki Stories, a performance celebrating the depth and breadth of Wabanaki Artistry featuring six artists from four Wabanaki nations. This presentation marked the culmination of a year-long effort to share the performance with Wabanaki communities. Ovations is primarily a presenter, Wabanaki Stories is one of the only shows we produce ourselves, and we’ve never toured a production outside of Portland, Maine before. This was entirely new territory for us! We’ve been working towards these performances since first producing Wabanaki Stories in 2023, both because it was important to our artists to share their work with their home communities, and because it was important to Ovations to resist extractive or exploitive practices in working with Wabanaki artists. It was so joyful to be in a room full of Passamaquoddy, Penobscot, Mi’kmaq, and Maliseet students experiencing this production for the first time.

I’ve spent the past year completely obsessed with Jake Blount and Mali Obomsawin’s collaborative album, “Symbiont”.  It’s a masterwork of musical symbolism. Blount and Obomsawin call it a “document of Black and Indigenous futurism.” Listening to it feels like an antidote. I’m still thinking about the experience of seeing them perform it live nearly a year later.

I am so excited about the next iteration of Ovations’ partnership with Chris Newell, my collaborator and the director of Wabanaki Stories. When we asked Chris what he dreamed was the next project for us, he described a sunrise concert he’d performed with Yo-Yo Ma on Schoodic Point in Acadia National Park – part of the Our Common Nature project. Chris dreamed about restaging that performance in a concert hall where a wider community could experience it. The idea has grown into We Are Water: A Northeast Celebration, featuring Yo-Yo Ma, Jeremy Dutcher, Mali Obomsawin, and Chris Newell, as well as Andri Snaer Magnason for a performance of songs and stories examining how the waters of the North connect us to each other and to our past, present, and future.

I love working in creative spaces that center imagination, joy, exploration, and play. I work in TYA because I truly enjoy working with and for young people – not just as a potential future audience, but as sophisticated, discerning art makers and art consumers right now. Young people need and deserve access to art that expands and deepens their experience of the world. I am so fortunate to be part of a field that approaches this work every day with fierce delight.

Of course I have to shout out the incredible Chris Newell (Passamaquoddy), my collaborator on Wabanaki Stories. Chris has taught me so much about working with Native artists, and it is a joy dreaming and scheming with him. As a director, Chris demonstrates the power of stepping back—he provides a clear framework for the artists to work within and ensures each artist has complete autonomous creative control over their own performance. I also want to shout out the amazing artists we work with: Tania Morey (Tobique), an incredible singer-songwriter; Jennifer Pictou (Mi’kmaq), a master storyteller and owner of Bar Harbor Ghost Tours; Dwayne Tomah (Passamaquoddy), the youngest fluent speaker of Passamaquoddy and a tireless advocate for language and cultural preservation; Ashton Altvater aka Undeniable the Native (Passsamaquoddy), a fantastic Hip Hop artist and rapper; and Jason Brown aka Firefly (Passamaquoddy), a performance artist who does absolutely amazing things with light and sound and recently was the first Wabanaki artist to perform at the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame.

Kim Peter Kovac. He found me, a wide-eyed graduate student at an international conference for the first time, and joyfully guided me through showcase after showcase, sharing his love for TYA with such generosity. He gave me an internship that shaped the rest of my professional career. He demonstrated by his actions how to work in collaboration to create spaces for artists and for communities. He even shared his incredibly caffeinated coffee with me.

Check out www.portlandovations.org or reach out to me at eschildkret@portlandovations.org.

I produced the Young Playwright Showcase at the Coterie Theatre this past April with tremendous help from my colleagues! This year, we produced nine pieces of original work from eight young playwrights. The showcase concludes the year-long biweekly Young Playwright Roundtable with our 2024-25 cohort. I’m honored to witness this cohort’s growth in their writing and the creative community they’ve created.

Deborah Butterfield’s horse sculpture! I love how Butterfield so affectionately brings the things she loves into her creation, giving her work a unique liveliness and sense of wonder. Lindsay Genshaft (one of my favorite collaborators) and I recently created a TVY for the art museum series at the Denver Art Museum. We chose three Butterfield’s horse sculptures, “Willy, Argus, and Lucky,” for one of the episodes. At first glance, the sculptures are made of tree branches. At a closer look, you’ll realize that each horse is made of a distinctive type of tree, with unique natural patterns and textures. But if you look even closer and touch it with your hand (you’re allowed to touch this one!), you’ll finally discover that the sculptures are made of painted and patinated bronze! I remember one kid in the audience stared at the Lucky for a while and said with all seriousness to their adult, “This is not tree!”

I am excited about the new early childhood program for the 2025-2026 Season at the Coterie Theatre. It’s called “Coterie Sprouts”. We are devising a new Theatre for the Very Young piece and performing in various community venues. I hope this touring TVY piece will bring about a new way for us to build and strengthen connections with our communities. If you can catch a show in Spring 26, don’t forget to bring your favorite stuffie—it’s an adventure for two!

In January 2025, I saw a quote circulating on social media, “Dear artists, remember that the opposite of depression is not joy – it’s expression. So create, create, create. For it is the soul’s medicine.” I am drawn to the expression of Theatre for Young Audiences. It is woven with a sense of wonder, the gentleness of care, and the freshness of curiosity.  Working with young people is also a humbling experience, where I am challenged with honesty and open-endedness. TYA is always an evolving and expensive field because of the audience we are working for and with!

I want to shout out to my co-creators for Fishing for Stars, Megan Alrutz, Claire Derriennic, Renita James, and S. Elliott. I know we are more than one person. But we work as a collective! The journey of Fishing for Stars started more than three years ago and is still going! As the story is slowly brewing, so does our collaboration. The most inspiring part of this collaboration is our commitment to dance between plurality and collectivity, and to look for a new leadership structure for creating works for young audiences. I am honored and excited to continue being part of this experiment!

bell hooks! Her spirit and wisdom have been present throughout my grad school and beyond. I am re-reading All About Love recently. I found it to be a powerful anchor, reminding me where to root my practice in this time of great turbulence.

I am shy on social media, but I love good conversations and meeting new friends! Email me (s.xinyue.zhang@gmail.com), and I’d love to get to know you!