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About Street roots. (Portland, OR) 1998-current | View Entire Issue (Oct. 16, 2015)
Street Roots • Oct. 16-22, 2015 News &W, and I think anybody laughing is improving their lives. g We also do programs. Hie AB Jane Comedy Festival is one of our outreach programs to help women in comedy have more opportunity to be seen and encouraged and inspired. We also use improv with senior citizens, with kids to to Febn Se“iOrs dementia, and m February, we will be starting a program with the police. We are building a training to recreating certain events. We’re starting with mental illness, and we’re going to g «create events where officers have had a challenging time in the past and things m*i t go as well as they could have. The officers will go through that same exact scenario and then have to respond in the moment We will have clinicians who are gomg to coach us ahead of time. It’s pretty amazing. preuy S.Z.: It’s fantastic. And again, here is this common thread: improvisational thinking S.H.: When you think about what a police officer is domg, they have to be able to thmkon their feet and have a clarity of mind and know what their options are in a situation that can be very threatening and scary to them. It’s a hard thing to know how to do well unless you have practiced in a heightened situation. So that’s what we’re helping to do. S.Z.: Oct. 1, the community in Roseburg suffered tragedy after a public mass murder of nine people at Umpqua Community College. What the hell is happening in our society? S.H.: Ugh. Wow. That is a huge question. I think people are scared - and uneducated. We are taught to be afraid of one another instead of friendly toward one another. I was in Canada, and they are so different than us and they are just to the north. I was in a park on the phone and a man walked by with his son, who was probably like 3 or 4 years old. He was holding this little kid’s hand. The man said, “Hello!’’ and I was like, “Oh, hello. How are you?’’ And we had this really nice exchange. And the son said, “Do you know that person?” and the father said, “No. But you never know who could be your next friend, or your best friend even.” I was like, “That’s not. how we (Americans) think.” We aren’t raised to think that any person we might run into could potentially be our next best friend. We are taught to be very afraid and very guarded with one another. Aside from all the issues with acceptability of guns and lack of mental « illness care in this country, there is also a pervading sense of animosity between people unless we get to know each other and start from a place of good will towards other people. S.Z.: You curate the freshly renamed All Jane Comedy Festival. I liked the .old title -All Jane No Dick. I thought it was funny, but I get it. S.H.: Right That’s the thing. I had to weigh the cost If I erred on the side of Page 9 S.H.: The biggest surprise will be how diverse the festival actually is. Even though it is all women, we curate for the most unique styles and points of view and perspective that we can find. It ends up being one of the most diverse festivals anyone has been a part of despite the fact that everybody is a woman. You can expect all different kinds of comedians who are all hilarious. This year is pretty cool. We’ve got Paige Horowitz, who is the producer of “Last Comic Standing,” coming. And she’s bringing a bunch of the finalists from the show with her. We do a show called “Minority Retort” - you guys actually did a story on it One of our headlining shows is all comics of color. We ended up having a lot of women of color this year, so we are doing a Minority Retort (during the All Jane Comedy Festival). There are so many great women who will be performing during the festival. You may not have heard of these women yet, but this time next year, you’ll know. That’s something else I love about the festival - you’re going ft see ah kinds of talent that is about to break out into the world. S.Z.: We say that laughter is the best medicine. Can you attest to the healing power of comedy? S.H.: Definitely. The biggest example I . have ever witnessed was when we were doing improv with Alzheimer's patients. We went in for just an hour a day, once a week for 10 weeks. We worked with a group of about 10 Alzheimer’s patients. They couldn’t stand. They were sitting the whole time. We j • . - , „ . . „ PHOTO COURTESY OF STACEY HALLAL would play (comedy) games with them. They Comedy is powerful, said Hallal. “When you are sad or stressed out, how do you relieve were so much fun, and they had a great tension? You can scream. You can cry. Or you can laugh.” time. By the end of that 10 weeks, the activity director - who was very skeptical of us at being too safe with the name, well, it’s less first - couldn’t say enough about how much parts of yourself that used to be the things funny than it used to be. But if I err on the she saw the patients change. They were that people would pick on you for. The side of the safety of the funniness of the happier. They were easier to work with. things that make you unique and different name, then there could be somebody who and stand out are the things that make your They would recall and talk about the wants to apply to the festival and doesn’t voice unique and distinct and awesome. (sessions) we had with them earlier in the feel welcome because she is a trans woman. Typically, people only put one woman on day, and it would cheer them up later in the I just couldn’t let that happen. a show. They’re still resistant .to have two on day. one show. We (female comedians) are Living in a state of trying to remember is S.Z.: Curating a show composed of people hungry to meet each other and talk to each very annoying. If you think about a time who all identify as female must be fun. I don’t other and get to be on shows together. when you were like, “What’s that name of know about you - and this may be my cynical Last year, we had Subhah Agarwal and that thing? Oh! It’s going to drive me crazy.” America upbringing - but when lam in a Aparna Nancherla, and they’re both Indian Having Alzheimer’s, you are constantly room of all women, I have two thoughts women comics. We put them one right after living in that state. Physically, the patients running through my head: “I am part of the the other because Aparna is dry and wonderment of womanhood” and “Where are intellectual, and Subhah is high energy. We became more mobile. Because they would weren’t even thinking about them both the emergency exits in case things get weird?” move more because they were having a being Indian women. Subhah came out and good time and laughing. So the physical S.H.: It has been amazing. We have not was like, “Two Indian woman comics in a therapists said that they were moving with had an issue with All Jane. At all. row? This has never happened in my entire much more fluidity and range of motion at We’re all standups and improvisors, so life.” the end of the 10 weeks from just playing we’re all women who have been in male- simple improv games. dominated environments. We’re comfortable S.Z.: You welcome all genders as viewers So if that’s what is happening for a adapting to different situations... and we’re though, yes? patient with Alzheimer’s, what effect is it all weirdos. You don’t get into comedy as a S.H.: Totally. And any gender will enjoy it having on all of us? woman unless you’re a weirdo in some way as well. It is not catered to a female or another. Comedy is powerful. When you are sad or audience. Our audiences have been split Everybody seems to love and appreciate stressed out, how do you relieve tension? fairly evenly between men and women, and each other for our differences. We’re all You can scream. You can cry. Or you can it has been equally enjoyed every year. different That’s what I love about Curious laugh. (Comedy Theater) in general, is comedy is S.Z.: For people who haven’t been to the If I have to choose between those three the place where you get to celebrate those festival, what can they expect? things, I’ll pick laughter every time.
