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Things I Am Not

Author: LegalAliens Theatre

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Ten audio-stories, written and performed by female artists who have migrated to the UK from ten different countries. What are the “things” people associate with migrant womxn? We certainly know what we are NOT. Recognising the stereotypes often projected on migrant womxn, LegalAliens Theatre asked 10 artists to respond to the theme THINGS I AM NOT, picking a style that truly represents them.
16 Episodes
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LegalAliens’ Lara Parmiani,  Becka McFadden and Emmanuela Lia, creator of Things I Am Not, sit for a chat with Roxana Silbert, Artistic Director of Hampstead Theatre.Roxana is one of very few women born outside the UK who currently hold leadership roles at producing theatres with their own buildings. We discuss how her childhood journey from Argentina to England led her to a career in theatre, why international accents are still taboo on British stages, Brexit, and the challenges of producing innovative, ‘outsider’ theatre. Roxana Silbert is the Artistic Director of Hampstead Theatre. She has previously served as Artistic Director of Birmingham REP and Artistic Director of Paines Plough. She has been Associate Director at the RSC, Literary Director of the Traverse Theatre, and Associate Director at the Royal Court Theatre.https://www.hampsteadtheatre.com/Producing Artistic Director: Lara ParmianiConcept: Emmanuela LiaDirector: Becka McFadden & Lara ParmianiWebsite design: Daiva DominykaSocial media: Catharina ConteOriginal Music: Angelina Rud & Martin BakeroHas this conversation resonated with you? Please send us your responses via www.thingsiamnot.com/responses Over the coming weeks and months, our interactive website will gradually morph into a digital gallery featuring audience responses. You can also reach us via email info@legalaliens.org, on Instagram at @legalalienstheatre or on Twitter and Facebook at @LegalAliensITC 
Theatre doesn’t exist in a vacuum and the attitudes, cliches, and prejudices we see on stage and in creative practices simply mirror our society. In this episode, we invite back two Things I Am Not artists - Yasmeen Ghrawi and Lanna Joffrey - for a conversation with Zrinka Bralo, CEO of Migrants Organise. Topics include attitudes towards refugee women, the difference between solidarity and charity, and the need to create space in society and the arts for mutual listening#bonusepisode #refugeewomen #migrantsorganise #solidarity #refugeeswelcome Zrinka Bralo was born in Bosnia-Herzegovina, where she worked as a journalist and came to the UK as a refugee. She is now CEO of Migrants Organise, an award-winning, grassroots organising platform for dignity, justice, and welcome for all migrants and refugees. Under the banner of Solidarity Knows No Borders, Migrants Organise is leading the grassroots coalition building the Fair Immigration Reform Movement for systemic change of the UK’s current hostile environment immigration policy. Zrinka is a refugee from Sarajevo, where she was a journalist during the siege in the1990s. She is a founder of the Women on the Move Awards that celebrates the achievements of migrant and refugee women and the winner of the 2011 Voices of Courage Award by the Women’s Refugee Commission in New York.  Find Yasmeen’s and Lanna’s bios and monologues on https://thingsiamnot.com/Producing Artistic Director: Lara ParmianiConcept: Emmanuela LiaDirector: Becka McFadden & Lara ParmianiWebsite design: Daiva DominykaSocial media: Catharina ConteOriginal Music: Angelina Rud & Martin BakeroHas this conversation resonated with you? Please send us your responses via www.thingsiamnot.com/responses Over the coming weeks and months, our interactive website will gradually morph into a digital gallery featuring audience responses. You can also reach us via email info@legalaliens.org, on Instagram at @legalalienstheatre or on Twitter and Facebook at @LegalAliensITC 
LegalAliens’ Lara Parmiani and Becka McFadden sit down for a chat with Tamara Rojo, artistic director of the English National Ballet. We ask how migration and artistry intersect in a field dominated by the expressivity and technical ability of the dancing body. What acts of translation might still be necessary? And what’s it like to lead a national company in a country you arrived to as a foreigner? This discussion is part of an interview series with migrant women in leadership positions in the UK. Tamara Rojo was born in Spain and trained as a dancer in Madrid. In 2012 she was appointed Artistic Director of English National Ballet in 2012. She combines this role with her dancing career, performing as Lead Principal with the Company.She won a Gold Medal at the Paris International Dance Competition and a Special Jury Award unanimously given by a judging panel led by Natalia Makarova, Vladimir Vasiliev and Galina Samsova, who asked her to join Scottish Ballet.Within six months of joining English National Ballet, Tamara was promoted to Principal, and went on to dance the full range of the Company’s principal roles. Derek Deane created the roles of Juliet (Romeo & Juliet) and Clara (The Nutcracker) for her. Her performances as Clara broke all box office records at the London Coliseum and The Times named her “Dance Revelation of the Year.”Tamara joined The Royal Ballet as a Principal at the invitation of Sir Anthony Dowell shortly after her highly acclaimed Guest Artist debut with the Company in Sir Peter Wright’s Giselle, and danced there for 12 years.She is a member of the Board of Creative England and Creative Industries Federation, the Anglo-Spanish Society, a Patron of the Ipswich-based DanceEast Academy, Patron of the Flamingo Chicks and Adviser to Spain’s Superior Council of Artistic Studies.Find out more about Tamara here: https://m.facebook.com/profile.php?id=660961344https://www.tamara-rojo.com/#bonusepisode #migration #womeninthearts #ballet #englishnationalballet #tamararojoProducing Artistic Director: Lara ParmianiConcept: Emmanuela LiaDirector: Becka McFadden & Lara ParmianiWebsite design: Daiva DominykaSocial media: Catharina ConteOriginal Music: Angelina Rud & Martin BakeroDo you like Things I Am Not? Please SUPPORT US! Go to https://thingsiamnot.com/support-us/ to send us a donation. It will help us carry on!You can also reach us via email info@legalaliens.org, on Instagram at @legalalienstheatre or on Twitter and Facebook at @LegalAliensITC
We Zoom in for a chat with Nastazja Domaradzka, director, theatremaker and force of nature. We ask Nastazja how her migrant experience and the theatre she grew up watching in Poland have shaped her practice today and delve into British theatre’s seeming pursuit of apoliticality. Unpicking this political allergy, we ask Nastazja to help us imagine a better and more engaged future for the work we all love. And - of course - we ask Nastazja to share some things she’s not. Follow Nastazja on Twitter @NastazjaDomGuest: Nastazja Domaradzka in conversation with LegalAliens’ Lara Parmiani and Becka McFadden.#bonusepisode #migration #womenintheatre #politicaltheatre #easterneurope Producing Artistic Director: Lara ParmianiConcept: Emmanuela LiaDirector: Becka McFadden & Lara ParmianiWebsite design: Daiva DominykaSocial media: Catharina ConteOriginal Music: Angelina Rud & Martin BakeroHas this conversation resonated with you? Please send us your responses via www.thingsiamnot.com/responses Over the coming weeks and months, our interactive website will gradually morph into a digital gallery featuring audience responses. You can also reach us via email info@legalaliens.org, on Instagram at @legalalienstheatre or on Twitter and Facebook at @LegalAliensITC 
10 weeks, 10 voices, 10 stories. Now that all 10 episodes of Things I Am Not have been released, the creative team behind the podcast gets together to talk about what’s surprised us, what’s stayed with us and where we might be going next. This episode is the first in our series of bonus discussion episodes inspired by themes emerging from Episodes 1-10 of Things I Am Not. Guests: Catharina Conte, Daiva Dominyka, Emmanuela Lia, Becka McFadden & Lara ParmianiProducing Artistic Director: Lara ParmianiConcept: Emmanuela LiaDirector: Becka McFadden & Lara ParmianiWebsite design: Daiva DominykaSocial media: Catharina ConteOriginal Music: Angelina Rud & Martin BakeroHas this conversation resonated with you? Please send us your responses via www.thingsiamnot.com/responses Over the coming weeks and months, our interactive website will gradually morph into a digital gallery featuring audience responses. You can also reach us via email info@legalaliens.org, on Instagram at @legalalienstheatre or on Twitter and Facebook at @LegalAliensITC 
Way To Becoming

Way To Becoming

2021-05-1020:36

“When a Black African migrant woman is in a relationship with a white man, the organ on her body that society gives its highest attention to is her vagina. On the one hand, everytime me and my 'white lover' make love, I am not me and he is not him. I am Africa allowing itself to be taken by settler Europe.”Rich, complex and fearless, “Way To Becoming” by Sabrina Richmond deals with the black woman’s body as a site of pleasure and contestation. Charting the journey - physical, professional and personal - of a life lived in many countries and their attendant assumptions, Sabrina’s perceptive and deeply human work is an embodied investigation of what we lose, what we bring with us and how important it is to keep asserting - and embracing - the many things we are, not just for ourselves, but for the societies in which we live.  Find out more about Sabrina hereWritten and performed by: Sabrina RichmondProducing Artistic Director: Lara ParmianiConcept: Emmanuela LiaDirector: Becka McFaddenVisual Art: Laura RouzetWebsite design: Daiva DominykaSocial media: Catharina ConteOriginal Music: Angelina Rud & Martin Bakero
I'm Not Into Politics

I'm Not Into Politics

2021-05-0314:25

“I’m not into politics / naively I used to say / not realising that everything is political or - a better way to put it - politicised.”Intense and personal, “I’m Not Into Politics” by Mai Weisz navigates an uneasy terrain of geopolitics and interpersonal relations. Shot through with love and fear, the monologue contends with divisions and the quest to overcome them in a world increasingly invested in labels and categorisation. As individuals, can we swap seemingly intractable opposition for an alternative, more liminal space full of possibilities? Could London be a place that makes that possible? Find out more about Mai hereHas this story made you think, smile, cry or even smirk? Please send us your responses.  Over the coming weeks and months, our interactive website will gradually morph into a digital gallery featuring audience responses to thingsiamnot.com/responses. You can also reach us via email info@legalaliens.org, on Instagram at @legalalienstheatre or on Twitter and Facebook at @LegalAliensITC Written and performed by: Mai WeiszProducing Artistic Director: Lara ParmianiConcept: Emmanuela LiaDirector: Becka McFaddenVisual Art: Laura RouzetWebsite design: Daiva DominykaSocial media: Catharina ConteOriginal Music: Angelina Rud & Martin Bakero
I'm Not Ok

I'm Not Ok

2021-04-2612:34

“I miss my mom. I can’t sleep. I can feel my tears running down my cheeks.The English sentence I speak most frequently is ‘I’m sorry’. But you know what? I’m not sorry.It’s not my fault.”As migrant women, how often do we feel forced to pretend that we are fine when we are actually hurting inside?Inyoung Lee’s moving and ironic piece is both a quiet explosion of anger and a love letter to a country that, like a duplicitous lover, has first enticed and then rejected its protagonist. Her clear, simple prose goes straight to the heart, also touching on the stereotypes and racist assumptions specifically directed at East Asian women.Find out more about Inyoung hereHas this story made you think, smile, cry or even smirk? Please send us your responses.  Over the coming weeks and months, our interactive website will gradually morph into a digital gallery featuring audience responses to thingsiamnot.com/responses. You can also reach us via email info@legalaliens.org, on Instagram at @legalalienstheatre or on Twitter and Facebook at @LegalAliensITC Written and performed by: Inyoung LeeProducing Artistic Director: Lara ParmianiConcept: Emmanuela LiaDirector: Becka McFaddenVisual Art: Laura RouzetWebsite design: Daiva DominykaSocial media: Catharina ConteOriginal Music: Angelina Rud & Martin BakeroThings I’m Not is funded by Arts Council England.
Strategy of Rupture

Strategy of Rupture

2021-04-1914:16

“This is the ultimate act of compassion and our bravest encounter. To be and bear witness to our being.” Yasmeen’s monologue isn’t for the faint-hearted. Her raw, honest, and fierce prose evokes a painful and shocking journey - real and metaphorical - into the darkness and beyond. A young woman’s encounter with the violence of war, and a refugee’s encounter with daily stupidity, xenophobia and bigotry, in search of a place to breathe. ***TRIGGER WARNING: Contains noise of explosions, bombing and sexual references.Written and performed by: Yasmeen Audisho Ghrawi. You can find out more about Yasmeen here. Has this story made you think, smile, cry or even smirk? Please send us your responses.  Over the coming weeks and months, our interactive website will gradually morph into a digital gallery featuring audience responses to thingsiamnot.com/responses. You can also reach us via email info@legalaliens.org, on Instagram at @legalalienstheatre or on Twitter and Facebook at @LegalAliensITC Producing Artistic Director: Lara ParmianiConcept: Emmanuela LiaDirector: Becka McFaddenVisual Art: Laura RouzetWebsite design: Daiva DominykaSocial media: Catharina ConteOriginal Music: Angelina Rud & Martin BakeroThings I’m Not is funded by Arts Council England.
Shapeshifting

Shapeshifting

2021-04-1215:21

“Somebody once told me people who migrate are like tortoises, struggling under the weight of that home they take with them everywhere they move to. I’m not sure it’s right. I think we leave bits of home along the way, we shed them like skin, scatter them and in the end, we just have a skeleton left. Bones. Random bits, mixed with new bits we have picked en route without noticing. And one of those bits we shed is words.”Language shapes us from the moment we’re born, offering us concepts and tools for articulating who we are and what kind of future we’ll have. What happens, though, when the bond between native language and speaker loosens enough to let another language in?  Passionate and frank, Lara Parmiani’s “Shapeshifting” explores the freedom and fragmentation of a life lived in a state of limbo, where one is never fully here nor there. Find out more about Lara hereHas this story made you think, smile, cry or even smirk? Please send us your responses.  Over the coming weeks and months, our interactive website will gradually morph into a digital gallery featuring audience responses to thingsiamnot.com/responses. You can also reach us via email info@legalaliens.org, on Instagram at @legalalienstheatre or on Twitter and Facebook at @LegalAliensITC Written and performed by: Lara ParmianiProducing Artistic Director: Lara ParmianiConcept: Emmanuela LiaDirector: Becka McFaddenVisual Art: Laura RouzetWebsite design: Daiva DominykaSocial media: Catharina ConteOriginal Music: Angelina Rud & Martin BakeroThings I Am Not is funded by Arts Council England.
Uncensored

Uncensored

2021-04-0512:37

“Apologising is an excellent survival strategy on this side of the ocean. You can do anything you want, say sorry, and you’ll be okay. Starting wars in distant nations, stealing Islands on the Argentinian coast, financing slave plantations in the Caribbean, just say sorry and guess what? Consequences? You don’t have to live with them.”A series of disastrous “romantic” encounters offer insights into the way migrant women’s bodies are exoticised, sexualised and even targeted as easy prey by random passersby. How do relationships and power dynamics between countries and cultures shape our responses to one another and find their way into the bedroom? In “Uncensored”, Gaël Le Cornec offers a darkly witty glimpse into the challenges of seeking intimacy while foreign. ***WARNING: Contains swearing and scenes of sexual natureFind out more about Gaël hereHas this story made you think, smile, cry or even smirk? Please send us your responses.  Over the coming weeks and months, our interactive website will gradually morph into a digital gallery featuring audience responses to thingsiamnot.com/responses. You can also reach us via email info@legalaliens.org, on Instagram at @legalalienstheatre or on Twitter and Facebook at @LegalAliensITC Written and performed by: Gaël Le CornecProducing Artistic Director: Lara ParmianiConcept: Emmanuela LiaDirector: Becka McFaddenVisual Art: Laura RouzetWebsite design: Daiva DominykaSocial media: Catharina ConteOriginal Music: Angelina Rud & Martin BakeroThings I’m Not is funded by Arts Council England.
Both/And

Both/And

2021-03-2912:45

“My relationship must be articulated through official language. My relationship must exist in an officially recognised structure. My feelings on these matters, like the private nature of my photos, my phone records, are irrelevant.” What happens when the third person in your relationship is UK Borders and Immigration? In “Both/And,” Becka McFadden addresses the disconnect between the complex nuances of identity and relationships and bureaucracy's blunt instruments. Ironic, moving and witty, this story asks if it’s possible to make space for “both/and” in a world designed for “either/or.” Find out more about Becka hereHas this story made you think, smile, cry or even smirk? Please send us your responses.  Over the coming weeks and months, our interactive website will gradually morph into a digital gallery featuring audience responses to thingsiamnot.com/responses. You can also reach us via email info@legalaliens.org, on Instagram at @legalalienstheatre or on Twitter and Facebook at @LegalAliensITC Written and performed by: Becka McFaddenProducing Artistic Director: Lara ParmianiConcept: Emmanuela LiaDirector: Lara ParmianiVisual Art: Laura RouzetWebsite design: Daiva DominykaSocial media: Catharina ConteOriginal Music: Angelina Rud & Martin BakeroThings I’m Not is funded by Arts Council England.For a transcript of this episode please go here
The Other

The Other

2021-03-2207:41

“I am a dichotomy / In botany that means a branch splitting into two equal parts / I hold memories of being whole.” In this spoken-word piece, Egyptian-born Miray Sidhom contemplates a life between two countries, two languages and two cultures. Does migrating as a child mean she’s destined to always be “other”? Poetic and thought-provoking, “The Other” asks where home is, and maybe even starts to build one. Find out more about Miray here Has this story made you think, smile, cry or even smirk? Please send us your responses.  Over the coming weeks and months, our interactive website will gradually morph into a digital gallery featuring audience responses to thingsiamnot.com/responses. You can also reach us via email info@legalaliens.org, on Instagram at @legalalienstheatre or on Twitter and Facebook at @LegalAliensITCWritten and performed by: Miray SidhomProducing Artistic Director: Lara ParmianiConcept: Emmanuela LiaDirector: Becka McFaddenVisual Art: Laura RouzetWebsite design: Daiva DominykaSocial media: Catharina ConteOriginal Music: Angelina Rud & Martin BakeroThings I’m Not is funded by Arts Council England.For a transcript of this episode please go here - TRANSCRIPT
How

How

2021-03-1514:38

“How strange/horrific to flee to the country that caused you to flee in the first place.” A casual dinner party question catalyses Lanna Joffrey’s exploration of how her personal history intersects with Iran’s. How is she here? The reply may not be the answer you’re expecting. Bold, witty, heartbreaking and raw, “How” is an unmissable piece about longing and loss. Find out more about Lanna here Written and performed by: Lanna JoffreyProducing Artistic Director: Lara ParmianiConcept: Emmanuela LiaDirector: Becka McFaddenVisual Art: Laura RouzetWebsite design: Daiva DominykaSocial media: Catharina ConteOriginal Music: Angelina Rud & Martin BakeroHas this story made you think, smile, cry or even smirk? Please send us your responses. Over the coming weeks and months, our interactive website will gradually morph into a digital gallery featuring audience responses to thingsiamnot.com/responses. You can also reach us via email info@legalaliens.org, on Instagram at @legalalienstheatre or on Twitter and Facebook at @LegalAliensITC Things I’m Not is funded by Arts Council England.gFor a transcript please go to https://www.buzzsprout.com/1666024/episodes/8141934
Things I Am Not

Things I Am Not

2021-03-0809:25

Things I am Not is the monologue that inspired our series and gave it its name. Written by Emmanuela Lia during the first pandemic lockdown in the spring of 2020, it is an ironic, gentle, heartfelt invitation to listen to the narrator as a woman with a unique and complex story, not just someone with a foreign accent. Find out more about Emmanuela here.Has this story made you think, smile, cry or even smirk? Please send us your responses.  Over the coming weeks and months, our interactive website will gradually morph into a digital gallery featuring audience responses to Things I Am Not. You can also reach us via email info@legalaliens.org or on social media INSTAGRAMTWITTER
What is the new LegalAliens project Things I Am Not?  Go behind the scenes with its creators.
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