PENGUIN PRODUCTIONS- Arts+Activism - PENGUIN PRODUCTIONS

Aaron Jin -Actor, Writer, Creator (any pronouns). Aaron makes art and helps with marketing in the local Seattle area. They love tell stories with their own voice and are still figuring out for themself what it means to be in community at this time - with and centering love.

Ayo is a Seattle based actor and activist with a passion for creating art for the stage and creating important change in an ever- shifting world. She has enjoyed working with many local theatres including Cafe Nordo, Living Voices, ACT, Intiman, Seattle Public Theatre, Seattle Shakespeare Cpmpany, Sound Theatre Company, Washington Ensemble Theatre, Seattle Repertory Theatre, The Seagull Project, and Book-It Repertory Theatre. Ayo dedicates a special thank you to all of the professors and people in her life who taught her to be forever wary of their evaluation of her worth, to the Seattle theatre community that has made her aware of the power of her voice, and to her circle of artistic friends and family who constantly inspire her.

izabel mar would love for you to call her izzy. pronouns are she/her. from seattle, wa, but she is currently living and loving in brooklyn. an actor, producer, writer, mover, shaker, and wannabe-intimacy-coordinator (it rhymes when you say it out loud). she is half chinese, and her birthstone is turquoise. find her on instagram @izzyetc.

Born and raised in Seattle, Donte is an artist and educator who serves on the boards of the Seattle Repertory Theater, Arts Corps, and Hugo House. He teaches dramatic writing to middle school children in one of the most diverse neighborhoods in the country. He earned his B.S. in Education from Grambling State University in Louisiana and his MFA in Creative Writing from Goddard College, where he studied Screenwriting with Neil Landau and Darrah Cloud. He has produced several short films and plays with his drama team and won the W.E.A. Humanitarian Award for his play dealing with race relations and school integration, “First Day" along with a 2019 Golden Apple Award for outstanding achievements in education. "Storytelling is all about passing information along to help your next generation survive."

Sara Porkalob (she/her) is an award winning artist-activist and creator of the DRAGON CYCLE based in Seattle but soon to be working all over the nation. She’s featured in Seattle Times “11 Movers and Shakers to Watch this Decade”, Seattle Magazine’s Most Influential People of 2018, and City Art’s 2017 Futures List. She is a co-founder of online journal of intersectional performance critique DeConstruct, and was a 2019 nominee for Americans for the Arts Johnson Fellowship for Artists Transforming Communities. She will be making her Broadway debut in 2021 playing Edward Rutledge in the official revival of the musical 1776. Her areas of expertise can be divided into three categories: self-produced original work, creative education and intersectional approach, and anti-oppressive institutional leadership. DRAGON CYCLE is a trilogy of plays about her family; one play for each generation built around a central female protagonist. The first in the cycle, Dragon Lady, is the recipient of three 2018 Gregory Awards for: Outstanding Sound/Music Design, Outstanding Actress in a Musical, and Outstanding Musical Production. The second in the cycle, Dragon Mama, premiered at American Repertory Theatre (ART) and won Best Original Script and Best Solo Performance for the 2019 Elliot Norton Awards. ART has commissioned the third in the cycle, Dragon Baby; it will premier on their stage in the near future. Last year, she collaborated with the City of Seattle and their Creative Strategies Initiative (CSI), a new City effort that uses arts- and culture-based approaches to build racial equity in non-arts policy areas like the environment, housing, workforce and community development. Earlier this year Cafe Nordo produced her Victorian revenge thriller, The Angel in the House and Artswest will produce her new play Alex & Alix this summer.

Sunday, August 16 || 6:00pm - 7:30pm
Hang out with an amazing panel of local artist activists, and learn how you can connect your passions for art and social justice!

how does social positioning help us understand how to center social justice as a practice?
how do we expand safe space into brave space?
what can you do right now to take action and make art?
what does it mean to create mindfully?

The workshop includes both interactive exercises and an informal Q&A, and culminates with a take-away prompt to keep you going.

Produced in Partnership with foundry10.
foundry10 is devoted to nontraditional styles of learning and is exploring the impact of using theater arts programming to encourage students to explore their identity, develop community, and express their creativity.