Using improv to teach people their rights

S1: Welcome in San Diego , it's Jade Hindman. On today's show , Voices United and Uprise Theatre intersect art with activism and education around Ice raids. This is KPBS Midday Edition. Connecting our communities through conversation. As immigration raids on homes and workplaces continue , it's become more important than ever to know your rights. In fact , two local groups are using the art of performance to help educate the community. Annie Rios is the executive director of Uprise Theater. She's also an experienced human rights attorney and legal advocate. Annie , it's great to have you back on the show. Hi.

S2: Hi. Nice to talk to you again.

S1: Nice to talk to you as well. Also with us is Guillermo Mendez. He's an organizer with Voces Unidas or Voices United.

S3: Thank you for having me.

S1: So tell us a bit more about uprise and what you focus on as a theater group. Annie , I'll start with you.

S2: Yeah , sure. Thank you. Uprise theater is a nonprofit organization here it is rooted and run out of southeast San Diego in particular. We use art and activist lawyering to disrupt systems of oppression and reclaim power with the people. And that's a really fancy way of saying that we use a lot of different creative and artistic techniques to educate and empower folks about their constitutional legal rights , especially as it pertains to law enforcement.

S1:

S3: And it's rooted in the Mexican community and Mexican working people , but it addresses working class problems in general. Our problems. We are the majority working class people , but our problems are not. Are not set forth. People don't know what they are. Our job in theater is to put it on stage. The tears , the sweat , the blood , the death , the laughter , all the things that go on in the working class community , all our struggles put it on the stage. But in this also how we can figure out how to use theater , improvisation and teaching and working with the community , how to address this particular moment , how to address this fascism that's in our community.

S1: Now , you both led your first ever Know Your Rights improv workshop in late June.

S2: And it just so happened that Gladwell said , hey , guess what ? I was thinking about the same thing. What if we were to band together and try to make something happen for the community ? So it was really exciting that we were from the start , initially on the same page , and that we were both looking to use activism , but also art to really try and touch on these subjects that our communities are facing right now.

S1: Guillermo , I want to talk a bit more about that improv aspect.

S3: How these masked men , you don't we don't even know who they are. Unidentified. Coming in like criminals , raiding , grabbing people. And so what we did with what the improvisations is it get as much information as we can in terms of exactly what the details that are going on , the responses by the community in general , bystanders , people with phones recording , people who speak English , people who don't speak English , property owners , they're going in the car wash. So we try to figure out as many details as we can about that. And then working with Annie and with other lawyers , figuring out exactly what is it that we need to convey. What is the best approach to to respond to this and emotionally , the theater , what it creates. When you have professional actors , people who work in this is the audience just gets into it right away. The they're almost looking at a real situation now. That's a piece of it. The other piece of it is to be able to convey , stop those moments and convey those moments of education. What is it that we need to understand about this , but also how to get the audience involved ? And once you get the audience involved , there it goes. It's just something that comes together between the people on stage and the people in the audience. That allows the education to really flow.

S1: I mean , these can be really difficult , scary situations to jump into. Like you said , these people are these agents we think are masked , unmarked vehicles , plain clothes. In some cases , a person who's getting snatched up doesn't know if they're being detained by Ice or kidnapped.

S3: Well , imagine that for a moment. A lot of us come from when I was young. I was involved in criminal activity. So we understand all that , that what could have happened. Imagine right now for some criminals , not just the federal ones , but just regular criminals , if they said yes or kidnapped some young women. How would we know who's who ? So that's a key issue. So what we need to do with this is how to figure out to create these these training , these workshops in a way where people really not only get as much information as possible and retain that information. People retain information when they see something strong and it's humorous , it's violent. Whatever it is that sticks in your head. And mantras. Little mantras that you know I need. I need to see your identification. I have the right to this. I have the right to that. All these little details that stick in people's brains when they collectively address a problem. So we had about 80 to 90 people at Central La Raza on the 27th of June , Friday. And that was a good start. I think we can do a lot more.

S1: You know , how did you encourage people to to feel more comfortable and get involved in a scene.

S3: In light of the struggle that they were addressing ? Humor is a key thing. Satire. I understand that we have to laugh at the situation we're in. Laugh at ourselves. Laugh at our enemy , laugh at life in the process of of delivering information in that way and relating to people in English and Spanish. One big problem that we've had in the past with a lot of these kinds of events is they're done in English. A lot of most of the people dealing with this only speak Spanish. How can we mix the languages ? And once you mix the languages and connect with the audience , with humor , with drama , in a moment where somebody sees somebody crying. We had a couple scenes where it was like , hey , listen , good cop , hey , I can help you. If you allow me to help you , I won't deport you. But if you don't tell me what I need you to tell me that kind of stuff. And when you see somebody , a victim addressing this in their eyes , in their face , and. And the audience sees that something happens. Yeah.

S1: Yeah.

S2: So that was just to answer sort of frequently asked questions , you know , do I have the right to remain silent ? Do I need to sign documents. What is required for someone to enter my home ? I touched on those very broad topics pretty quickly before we jumped into the improv event , and once in the improv event , I was an actor and we would freeze. So we would go through a particular scenario. We would freeze what we were doing , and then we would ask the audience for feedback. How did that feel ? Was there something that could have been done better ? What do you think ? How would you react ? And while that conversation was happening , I was able to integrate different legal topics while we were just conversing over what was going on.

S1:

S2: There were people that were engaged that were giving such great hypotheticals where it was it was actually working my brain a lot to think about the different scenarios that they were throwing out. Well , what if this happened ? Well , should we still be recording people's faces ? What if they tell me to move back and they keep pushing me further and further away. Right. These are these are such important questions with the times that we're dealing with right now , that I feel the response was overwhelmingly positive , and I could tell that it was creating thought provoking questions and just ideas that were brewing within the folks that were attending this.

S1: Talk to me a bit about how this works out in real time.

S2: Right ? The federal agents don't have to abide by the same law as local police officers. Local police officers do have to give you a name and a badge number. That is why they wear them on the front of their uniforms. They can't cover them. We have to be able to readily identify the officers that are , for instance , part of San Diego Police Department. Federal agents and officers are not required to give a name or a badge number , but they are required to identify what agency they're with. So before anybody takes me into custody , they should let me know where they are from and why they are taking me into custody. Unfortunately , we're seeing that that is not happening. People are not following the laws , but the more educated folks are. As Guillermo was saying , we're encouraging the audience to act as bystanders. So there was one portion of the evening where the audience is yelling at the actors that were portraying themselves as ice , saying , what agency are you from ? What agency are you from ? Just over and over again. And that was really powerful to see regular , everyday folks demanding that the law be followed. And that's precisely why we did this event , to empower folks and to reclaim that power that we are seeing every day being stripped from us.

S1: Guillermo , there's a long history of Chicano theater that uses a lot of different techniques to engage directly with the audience.

S3: Chicano theater is is working class. Theater comes from Teatro Campesino , United Farm Workers. And so the everyday problems , including how to deal with police , how to deal with Border Patrol , ice. All this thing is every day kind of a thing. So the the issue is how to create improvisations that are as real and can connect to people as possible. And we have actors who are working class everyday people , so they understand this beautifully. When we communicate with the audience , we try to get the scenarios details and there's a factor. Annie was able to bring in one of her colleagues who who's a counselor. Behavior. How to control ourselves. This is a fundamental piece of this. It's like boxing. You get hit , you can't get upset. You can't. You got to control yourself , figure out how to get out of that hole. So when we're dealing with this situation , it's very human to get upset. I know somebody grabs me. What ? That's not the smartest thing , necessarily. You got to figure out what is collectively the smartest thing to do. And what Andy was saying and what we pushed on that night , and the audience themselves pushed was as many people as possible. Peacefully. Legally. Recording. Understanding your rights. We take our traditions from the Black Panther Party of the 60s and 70s , who patrol neighborhoods to watch what police did legally. And the more people are out there doing this kind of thing every day , every day working people , the more it's difficult for these agents to do what they're doing because they know they're being looked at. And this is something that's very important. How do we break that intimidation that exists in our community ? Or we can't do that or we can't. Yes , we can. And collectively we can have some serious effects.

S1: Like all my life , I've been taught that if someone snatches me up and I don't know who they are to fight for my life. Yes , ma'am. Right. And people in the community have been taught to intervene. And so. Oh , and let's let's consider also stand your ground states where there's castle laws and so on and so forth. How do you how do you square that ? But , you know , telling everyone to , hey , be peaceful in this in the face of this , even though some of us have been taught something so different.

S2: During this evening , we also really gave honor to the rage and the anger and the fear that people are feeling. Because what you're saying is Correct. I am taught on. There's no second location. A lot of women are taught that , you know , don't ever let them take you to a second location , because whatever happens , there is going to be much worse than what could happen if they're just threatening you at that first location. So I completely hear what you are saying. And that evening we also heard comments from people saying , so we're just not supposed to get angry , or we're just not supposed to get in these officers faces , or we're just , you know , and these questions are real. And we spend a lot of time talking about the authenticity , the realness of folks reaction to what we are seeing. And I repeatedly would say that this evening is harm reduction. One , it's harm reduction. People are getting hurt. Families are getting separated. US citizens are being placed in immigration detention facilities. As abhorrent and ridiculous as that sounds , it is what is happening right now. And we also had conversations about risk assessment. There are some people that have more privilege than others , and it is for you to retain your autonomy and to make decisions for yourself as to what you are going to do if you are ever placed in any of these predicaments. If you are a bystander and a US citizen , I'm not sure what that looks like for you. Will you only record ? Will you form a human shield against somebody who is potentially being deported ? I don't know , but we really wanted to honor that. This evening was for education. It was for empowerment , but it was also to address that it is harm reduction and that you yourself are going to have to make the assessment of how much risk you are willing to place yourself in , for whatever personal reasons. And really respect everybody's boundaries , what they are willing to do and what they aren't willing to do. And this way , we have a plethora of options to choose from and not just one. One route to go down. Mm.

S1: Mm.

S3: Like strikes. Like community organizations. Like a general strike in this country. We hardly ever talk about that. The thing that we want to focus on and we did , people just naturally come to this conclusion is this is not just an attack on undocumented people. It's an attack on working people in general. Again , we are the vast majority of the population , and then they want to divide us. Today they're coming after the most vulnerable. Tomorrow they'll come after you. So the more we build unity across ethnic lines , I'm talking about brown , black , yellow , red , white. Build that unity. And we are the vast majority. I don't think I said that before. I'll say it again. Just 1% of the population owns 90% of the wealth. Health. Google it. And so we live in a Democracy now ! We live in a plutocracy. And so we have to start figuring out what do we do under these circumstances. How do we begin to build the unity. And we saw these demonstrations are beautiful. The know king's all over. It was , what , 5 or 6 million people across the country. On that day , the parade that so-and-so had over there in Washington , D.C. , you could hear the tanks roll down. You could hear the crickets. Right ? Even the military had their own way of protesting it. They were walking like they were walking to the bus stop. And so the question is , there is a lot of anger , like Gandhi says , and that anger , when it's when it's unified and when the most creative strategic , like you were saying , strategic approach wouldn't have the best results. So theatre forms part is critically a part of the struggle , because what it allows is for all of us to see a mirror of what's going on and then have an interaction. What do we do now ? So it's powerful. Yeah.

S1: Yeah.

S2: That is why Uprise Theatre was founded. That is why we are a legal organization based in the arts , because it makes it that much more powerful. As Gladwell said , it is a mirror. Theatre is a mirror to real life , to what we are experiencing and what we are going through. And if we can find a way to marry that mirror and that theatre and that art , with education , with legal empowerment , I think most people forget that as an attorney , as a litigator , I've been that. I was just talking about it for over 15 years now. It's a long time. I act every time I go into court. It is a performance of a sort. And it is important that people realize that sort of even though it's cliche , the whole world is a stage and that's what we're experiencing right now. And that's why we're utilizing art to the best of our ability to help. Yeah.

S1: Yeah.

S2: I have been in conversations about what we can do next , what that looks like. We are hopeful to go to North County and to spread the information there. That is one thing we're looking forward to , but we're also looking forward to making this more of a staple workshop that we can promote to youth and to immigrants , refugees , everyday people to take part in learning through improv , through theatre , through art. Um , that is always on the horizon for uprise.

S1: And I'll give you the final word here.

S3: And bosses Unidos Voices United. I'm getting ready to leave in terms of I'm almost 60 and , uh , we need to pass this on to the younger people. And unfortunately , this type of theater has been lost for a while. So we're doing this type of work with uprise , and we're looking to build with more organizations and more people. We're also. So this idea of workshops dealing with Ice raids , we're going to have a lot more of this throughout the summer. It's going to be a summer struggle. But also we've been doing for the last couple of years with City College , is doing workshops with students there on how to understand how to figure out how to perform , how to write , how to organize theatre , people's theater. And so , as Annie was saying , we did a performance there a few months ago , sold out on the issue of Palestine and the U.S. involvement in that and the relationship between Mexican people and Palestine in terms of being occupied and in terms of having military forces on their land. And it's powerful to see these young people just loving the idea of how to do this on stage , how to use Spanish , how to use English , how to connect with communities , how to perform everywhere from theaters to museums to schools to Still working class areas , corners , just putting the theater out in the street where people are at and having the confidence to be able to perform. People love it when they see that you're speaking truth on stage. They love it.

S1: I've been speaking with Annie Rios , the executive director of Uprise Theater , and Guillermo Mendez , an organizer with Voces Unidos , or Voices United. Thank you both.

S3: Thank you.

S2: Thank you for having us.

S1: That's our show for today. I'm your host , Jade Hindman. Thanks for tuning in to Midday Edition. Be sure to have a great day on purpose , everyone.