The Love Booth and Six Companion Plays

Tara Goldstein; Jenny Salisbury; benjamin lee hicks; Bishop Owis; Kael Reid

doi:10.26443/mje/rsem.v59i1.10237

Authors

Tara Goldstein University of Toronto
Jenny Salisbury University of Toronto
benjamin lee hicks University of Toronto
Bishop Owis Saint Mary’s University
Kael Reid York University

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.26443/mje/rsem.v59i1.10237

Keywords:

verbatim theatre, queer, trans, activism, QTBIPOC, care, ethics

Abstract

This article describes and reports on findings from a project called The Love Booth and Six Companion Plays (2021–2023). The overall goal of the project was to conduct archival research on moments of activism and care that have challenged cis-heteronormativity and racism and then share these moments through verbatim theatre scripts and performances. Working with an ethic of community care, and a lens that examines the intersections of cis-heteronormativity with other forms of structural discrimination (such as anti-Asian racism, anti-Black racism, anti-Indigenous racism, and settler colonialism), the project asked and answered the following research question: What kinds of activism and care in the 1970s and 1980s challenged cis-heteronormativity and racism in North America?

Author Biographies

Tara Goldstein, University of Toronto

(she/her) is a professor in the Department of Curriculum, Teaching & Learning at the Ontario Institute for Studies in Education (OISE) of the University of Toronto. Her current teaching and research program focuses on gender, sexuality and schooling, and verbatim theatre research. The findings from Tara’s research project “The Experiences of LGBTQ Families in Ontario Schools,” funded by the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council from 2016 to 2020, are shared in her books Teaching Gender and Sexuality at School: Letters to Teachers and Our Children Are Your Students: LGBTQ Students Speak Out. The Love Booth and Six Companion Plays is Tara’s latest verbatim theatre project. tara.goldstein@utoronto.ca

Jenny Salisbury, University of Toronto

is a co-founder and associate director of the Centre for Spectatorship and Audience Research with a PhD from the Centre for Drama, Theatre & Performance Studies at the University of Toronto. Jenny is currently teaching in the Child Study & Education Master of Arts Program at the Ontario Institute for Studies in Education (OISE) of the University of Toronto. jenny.salisbury@utoronto.ca

benjamin lee hicks, University of Toronto

(they/them) is a visual artist, elementary school teacher, and teacher educator. In recent years, they have been a postdoctoral fellow in the Department of Health and Society at the University of Toronto Scarborough and a sessional lecturer for P/J/I Art Education in the Master of Teaching program at the Ontario Institute for Studies in Education (OISE) of the University of Toronto. Having received their PhD in Curriculum & Pedagogy from OISE in June 2022, benjamin can currently be found in their preferred habitat: teaching Grade 4 in a Toronto District School Board (TDSB) classroom. blh@benjaminleehicks.com

Bishop Owis, Saint Mary’s University

(they/them) is a writer, interdisciplinary scholar, and assistant professor of Women, Gender and Sexuality Studies at Saint Mary’s University. Bishop’s research critically examines a praxis of care at the intersections of disability, gender, sexuality, race, and settler colonialism in educational institutions. Bishop’s work is interdisciplinary in nature, blending and expanding academic disciplines to explore the nuances of care through art-making and storytelling. Their work is informed by a sense of collective imagination by disabled, queer, trans Black, Indigenous, and/or people of colour (QTBIPOC), one that strives for world-building, futurity, and justice. bishop.owis@smu.ca

Kael Reid, York University

(they/them) is an assistant professor in the Faculty of Liberal Arts & Professional Studies at York University, where they teach core and elective courses in the Children, Childhood and Youth program. Kael weaves together their backgrounds in music, performance, research, and teaching by conducting research with system-affected young people and adults using collaborative songwriting, storytelling, singing, and recording. kaelreid@yorku.ca

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The Love Booth and Six Companion Plays

Authors

DOI:

Keywords:

Abstract

Author Biographies

Tara Goldstein, University of Toronto

Jenny Salisbury, University of Toronto

benjamin lee hicks, University of Toronto

Bishop Owis, Saint Mary’s University

Kael Reid, York University

References

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