current workshops, presentations and performances
Gloria Anzaldua listening to flower.
Workshops and presentations, 2011-2012
Frida, Gloria and Harriet's Lineage: A Writing Workshop for Disabled and Chronically Ill Queer and Trans People of Color and Two Spirit folks
As queer/trans people of color and Two Spirit folks with disabilities and chronic illnesss, we come from a fierce lineage of badass Black, Native and Brown sick and crip warriors! And we are those warriors- at our fiercest, and at our most fiercely vulnerable. What do our bodies and lives have to say? What do we have to offer to our commuities and movements that nobody else can? What are we creating and leaving for sick and disabled queer folks of color to be?
In this workshop, come have a mind-blowingly amazing time writing and sharing stories with other disabled and chronically ill queer and trans people of color and Two Spirit folks. No writing experience necessary! Snacks and drinks available (please email with food needs). We will also read and share some awesome writing by other disabled queer/trans POC and Two Spirit writers.
A note: Wondering if you're disabled? I like Sins Invalid's definition of disability: "We define disability broadly to include people with physical impairments, people who belong to a sensory minority, people with emotional disabilities, people with cognitive challenges, and those with chronic/severe illness. We understand the experience of disability to occur within any and all walks of life, with deeply felt connections to all communities impacted by the medicalization of their bodies, including trans, gender variant and intersex people, and others whose bodies do not conform to our culture(s)' notions of "normal" or "functional."
The Revolution Starts At Home: Confronting Intimate Violence in Activist Communities
“Amazing.”- Andrea Smith, author, Conquest.
"Like [This Bridge Called My Back], the editors of The Revolution Starts at Home have provided a landmark resource....For anyone who believes that the personal is deeply political in social justice circles, The Revolution Starts at Home is a must-read."—Ms Magazine Blog
Long demanded and urgently needed, The Revolution Starts at Home: Confronting Intimate Violence Within Activist Communities finally breaks the dangerous silence surrounding the “secret” of intimate violence within social justice circles. This watershed collection of stories and strategies tackles the multiple forms of violence encountered right where we live, love, and work for social change—and delves into the nitty-gritty on how we might create safety from abuse without relying on the state. Drawing on over a decade of community accountability work, along with its many hard lessons and unanswered questions, The Revolution Starts at Home offers potentially life-saving alternatives for creating survivor safety while building a movement where no one is left behind. In this interactive workshop based on the book, we'll talk about the nitty-gritty issues of partner abuse and sexual assault within our communities and discuss community accountability and transformative justice strategies that can help us walk towards building accountability, justice and violence free zones in our lives.
Note: this workshop may be offered solo or in conjunction with co-editors Ching-In Chen and Jai Dulani, depending on availability.
The Art and Practice of Disability Justice
In this interactive presentation and workshop, Leah will share excepts of innovative performance art by queer and trans disabled people of color artist. Tracing legacies from the freak show to medical stripping, exploring what sick and disabled artists have to share about self-determination, sustainability, vulnerability and difference. This workshop is a great jumping off point for people interested in disability justice, and will include writing and performance activities exploring what our bodies have to say.
Warrior Poets: Queer and trans poets of color writing survival
How do we write about trauma when we freeze every time we try? What’s the line between writing for therapy and writing for performance? How do we risk telling complicated stories of violence and survival within our communities that we worry will be misunderstood? And how do we do all of this without everyone, including ourselves, getting triggered? In this workshop, we'll talk about ways to create safety to write and speak, look at examples of diverse ways queer and trans writers of color have chosen to share vulnerable stories, and do some writing and performance exercises.
Performance:
Love Cake (Spoken word and prose)
In Love Cake, Leah Lakshmi Piepzna-Samarasinha explores how queer people of colour resist and transform violence through love and desire. Refusing to forget the traumas of post 9/11 Islamophobia, and Sri Lanka's civil war, Love Cake documents the persistence of survival and beauty—especially the dangerous beauty found in queer people of colour's lives. Piepzna-Samarasinha maps the complicated, luscious joy of reclaiming the body and sexuality after abuse, examines a family history of violence with compassion and celebrates the beautiful resistance of queer of color love and home making. In this 45 60-minute set, Leah will share selections from her spoken word repetoire, as well as share multimedia theatrical performance and prose.
Technical requirements:
One microphone (wireless if possible) and microphone stand
Music stand
Chair/ stool
Optional: Digital projector and projection surface
Grown Woman Show (One woman show)
Grown Woman Show is a fearless, sexy and powerful one-woman show about being a long-term incest survivor and a queer woman of color negotiating love, family and heartbreak. In Grown Woman Show, Leah traces one year in her life as she leaves her long-term white partner and returns to finding love and trouble in a series of new lovers of color- while simultaneously attempting to reconnect with the family she hasn't talked to in a decade. Blending hilarious and heartbreaking storytelling, performance poetry and South Asian ritual, Grown Woman Show explores the ways in which we heal from sexual abuse and transform legacies of violence in our lives, and the ways in which queer people of color love at high stakes. In the tradition of Dorothy Allison's Two or Three Things I Know For Sure, Grown Woman Show asks: What do we do with the violence we've survived once we're grown?
Grown Woman Show runs one hour with no intermission
Technical requirements:
One mic (wireless if possible)
Music stand
Chair/ stool
Small, raised stage
Digital projector and projection surface
Lighting/sound person available for rehearsal and to be present at night of show
Frida, Gloria and Harriet's Lineage: A Writing Workshop for Disabled and Chronically Ill Queer and Trans People of Color and Two Spirit folks
As queer/trans people of color and Two Spirit folks with disabilities and chronic illnesss, we come from a fierce lineage of badass Black, Native and Brown sick and crip warriors! And we are those warriors- at our fiercest, and at our most fiercely vulnerable. What do our bodies and lives have to say? What do we have to offer to our commuities and movements that nobody else can? What are we creating and leaving for sick and disabled queer folks of color to be?
In this workshop, come have a mind-blowingly amazing time writing and sharing stories with other disabled and chronically ill queer and trans people of color and Two Spirit folks. No writing experience necessary! Snacks and drinks available (please email with food needs). We will also read and share some awesome writing by other disabled queer/trans POC and Two Spirit writers.
A note: Wondering if you're disabled? I like Sins Invalid's definition of disability: "We define disability broadly to include people with physical impairments, people who belong to a sensory minority, people with emotional disabilities, people with cognitive challenges, and those with chronic/severe illness. We understand the experience of disability to occur within any and all walks of life, with deeply felt connections to all communities impacted by the medicalization of their bodies, including trans, gender variant and intersex people, and others whose bodies do not conform to our culture(s)' notions of "normal" or "functional."
The Revolution Starts At Home: Confronting Intimate Violence in Activist Communities
“Amazing.”- Andrea Smith, author, Conquest.
"Like [This Bridge Called My Back], the editors of The Revolution Starts at Home have provided a landmark resource....For anyone who believes that the personal is deeply political in social justice circles, The Revolution Starts at Home is a must-read."—Ms Magazine Blog
Long demanded and urgently needed, The Revolution Starts at Home: Confronting Intimate Violence Within Activist Communities finally breaks the dangerous silence surrounding the “secret” of intimate violence within social justice circles. This watershed collection of stories and strategies tackles the multiple forms of violence encountered right where we live, love, and work for social change—and delves into the nitty-gritty on how we might create safety from abuse without relying on the state. Drawing on over a decade of community accountability work, along with its many hard lessons and unanswered questions, The Revolution Starts at Home offers potentially life-saving alternatives for creating survivor safety while building a movement where no one is left behind. In this interactive workshop based on the book, we'll talk about the nitty-gritty issues of partner abuse and sexual assault within our communities and discuss community accountability and transformative justice strategies that can help us walk towards building accountability, justice and violence free zones in our lives.
Note: this workshop may be offered solo or in conjunction with co-editors Ching-In Chen and Jai Dulani, depending on availability.
The Art and Practice of Disability Justice
In this interactive presentation and workshop, Leah will share excepts of innovative performance art by queer and trans disabled people of color artist. Tracing legacies from the freak show to medical stripping, exploring what sick and disabled artists have to share about self-determination, sustainability, vulnerability and difference. This workshop is a great jumping off point for people interested in disability justice, and will include writing and performance activities exploring what our bodies have to say.
Warrior Poets: Queer and trans poets of color writing survival
How do we write about trauma when we freeze every time we try? What’s the line between writing for therapy and writing for performance? How do we risk telling complicated stories of violence and survival within our communities that we worry will be misunderstood? And how do we do all of this without everyone, including ourselves, getting triggered? In this workshop, we'll talk about ways to create safety to write and speak, look at examples of diverse ways queer and trans writers of color have chosen to share vulnerable stories, and do some writing and performance exercises.
Performance:
Love Cake (Spoken word and prose)
In Love Cake, Leah Lakshmi Piepzna-Samarasinha explores how queer people of colour resist and transform violence through love and desire. Refusing to forget the traumas of post 9/11 Islamophobia, and Sri Lanka's civil war, Love Cake documents the persistence of survival and beauty—especially the dangerous beauty found in queer people of colour's lives. Piepzna-Samarasinha maps the complicated, luscious joy of reclaiming the body and sexuality after abuse, examines a family history of violence with compassion and celebrates the beautiful resistance of queer of color love and home making. In this 45 60-minute set, Leah will share selections from her spoken word repetoire, as well as share multimedia theatrical performance and prose.
Technical requirements:
One microphone (wireless if possible) and microphone stand
Music stand
Chair/ stool
Optional: Digital projector and projection surface
Grown Woman Show (One woman show)
Grown Woman Show is a fearless, sexy and powerful one-woman show about being a long-term incest survivor and a queer woman of color negotiating love, family and heartbreak. In Grown Woman Show, Leah traces one year in her life as she leaves her long-term white partner and returns to finding love and trouble in a series of new lovers of color- while simultaneously attempting to reconnect with the family she hasn't talked to in a decade. Blending hilarious and heartbreaking storytelling, performance poetry and South Asian ritual, Grown Woman Show explores the ways in which we heal from sexual abuse and transform legacies of violence in our lives, and the ways in which queer people of color love at high stakes. In the tradition of Dorothy Allison's Two or Three Things I Know For Sure, Grown Woman Show asks: What do we do with the violence we've survived once we're grown?
Grown Woman Show runs one hour with no intermission
Technical requirements:
One mic (wireless if possible)
Music stand
Chair/ stool
Small, raised stage
Digital projector and projection surface
Lighting/sound person available for rehearsal and to be present at night of show
