mixed roots | Mixed Roots Stories

Playwright Sarah Rutherford Explores Mixed Families

Sarah Rutherford is a British playwright married to a Jamaican man and raising mixed children. Her new play Adult Supervision, a dramedy, was influenced by conversations she’s had with others about her children and husband (both alarming and encouraging). Adult Supervision explores what happens when a group of mothers gathers to celebrate President Obama’s election. Here’s a quote from the article on representing mixedness in theatre:

Do you think theatre has been shy addressing issues of multiculturalism?

I guess I’ve become very used to seeing certain issues addressed in relation to race: drugs, gangs, all that. Of course they’re more than valid subjects for drama, but what I don’t see on stage is people like me and my friends and family. When there was an outcry about Danny Boyle‘s depiction of a happy, educated, middle-class mixed-race family in the Olympic ceremony, I was aghast at the claims that such families don’t exist. We’re probably one of the fastest-growing demographics in the country; yet we’re pretty much invisible in the media and especially on stage.

A Mixed Roots Hero: Brendon Ayanbadejo

We were so happy to read THIS article about former NFL player and sports commentator Oladele Brendon Ayanbadejo. He has and openly discussed his parents’ interracial marriage in connection with his support for legalizing gay marriage – equating the immorality of anti-miscegenation laws (which would have made his own parents’ marriage illegal in 16 states prior to 19670) to laws like Proposition 8 in California prohibiting gay marriage.

Amma Asante’s Next Film: Mixed German Experience (?)

Amma Asante is the British director of the forthcoming film Belle (click HERE for Variety’s favorable review after the Toronto Film Festival screening). Belle explores the life of Dido Elizabeth Belle – the daughter of an African woman and a British Naval officer in the 18th Century, who is raised by British Aristocrats and faces challenges within her family and society for being mixed (the film is slated for its US release this summer). Asante is hoping her next project will be directing the film Where Hands Touch – a story of the romance between a mixed woman and a German SS officer in the 1940s. If you have the chance to see Belle, please head over to our Facebook page HERE and leave a comment letting us know what you think. We’ll be keeping tabs on Where Hands Touch and will let keep you posted on production information and release dates!

Looking for Guest Bloggers

We would like to reach out to the Mixed Roots community to invite people to participate as a Guest Blogger on MixedRootsStories.org. Our blog is dedicated to sharing stories of the mixed experience, and helping to spread the word about artists, writers and others whose work addresses this experience. Our Guest Bloggers will add 2-4 posts during their designated month. These posts might share personal stories, be a reflection on an aspect of society, or a discussion and/or analysis of racial identity, and more. Your posts should be submitted one week before the month your posts will begin. Once we’ve moderated it and ironed out logistics with you, we will then feature your posts on the MXRS website, Facebook page and Twitter.

If you would like to participate, please email us a bio, picture, topic ideas, and the number of times you wish to post (2, 3, or 4) to info@mixedrootsstories.org with Guest Blogger as the subject line. We will reply within a week to confirm when we can add you as a contributor on our site (please remember to add our email address to your safe list).

Looking forward to blogging with you!

Jude Narita

from JudeNarita.com

Jude Narita is a renowned solo performance artist whose plays address the Asian and Asian American experience. Her most famous play Coming Into Passion/Song for Sansei was awarded a number of important distinctions: The LA Drama Critics Award, a Drama-Logue Award, the James Wong Howe Award and the VESTA Award. Take a look at her website for more details on when she is performing (she also teaches!): http://www.judenarita.com/

Special Series on France’s Black Community

There are many Mixed Roots Stories to share on the topic of immigration. The headline of this story particularly caught my eye: In May 2013, France’s National Assembly successfully voted on a bill to remove the words ‘race’ and ‘racial’ from the country’s penal code. It introduces a special series on ‘Black France’ that delves into the question of whether politics will have a lasting effect on those who face the daily disparities caused by the belief that ‘race’ somehow makes us different from one another. Click the link for more: http://www.aljazeera.com/programmes/specialseries/2013/08/201382894144265709.html

Blood Type: Ragu

from bloodtyperagu.com

This looks like a great solo show on the Mixed immigrant experience – it won the 2012 and 2013 United Solo Festival Awards for Best Comedic Performance and Best Comedic Script.

Award winning writer/performer Frank Ingrasciotta gives a tour-de-force performance in this humorous and heart-warming one-man play. Blood Type: RAGU is a coming-of-age story exploring the first-generation American’s delicate dance between culture and identity.

Click the link for more info: http://www.bloodtyperagu.com/about/

Blog to Follow: The Fluidity

We love discovering blogs that address the Mixed experience! So many perspectives to ponder and such a wealth of stories told. Here’s a litte more about the author: …I am the daughter of a Black African father and White American mother. But I have found that my experience is similar to many different blends of Mixed-Race individuals, Transracial adoptees, second-generation Americans, and people involved in interracial families and relationships. The common experience is being neither and both, which may leave us wounded.

Here’s a link to the blog: http://neitherboth.wordpress.com/2013/10/19/the-fluidity/

Tumblr Roll Call: WeAreAllMixedUp

weareallmixedup.tumblr.com

Moderated by four women, the most recent posts feature photos of family members. From their ‘about’ blurb: This is a blog for those of us who are forgotten in the mainstream anti-racism movement. Those of us who are biracial, multiracial, and multiethnic and have struggled year after year with establishing our identities. This is a safe space for all mixed people of color.

Here’s the link: http://weareallmixedup.tumblr.com/

Scriptwriting: A Breakdown of What Works & Doesn’t in Hollywood

ffrom fastocreate.com

We’re guessing that issues of social justice are more important to you in your storytelling than what might sell in Hollywood, but we think it can’t hurt to know what topics are in the zeitgeist – as well as some things to avoid. This interactive graphic gives an overall view of many ‘problems’ a professional script reader found in recent script submissions. Take them with a grain of salt – and then get back to telling your story! Click HERE for the graphic and blog post.