Paradigm

Paradigm focuses on the dynamics of intimacy, friendship, and conflict between women of different races. The piece wrestles with questions including: Is it possible to be fully and attentively present with and for each other? Are cross-racial encounters of persons genuinely possible? What is the role of racial self-awareness? Where do breakdowns occur? 

Intent and Process

Premiering at the New Ohio Ice Factory Festival in July of 2022, Paradigm invites the audience into the interpersonal rhythms, routines, and dramas of an American hospital suddenly upended by a racially charged incident. The piece explores the inner conscious responses and decisions of six main characters caught up in the event: Ms.K, the Chief of the hospital; Chaka, a young teen suffering from sickle cell anemia; Beth, Chaka’s attending nurse; Inaya, Chaka’s mother, Kungzan, a contemporary of Chaka’s whose father is gravely ill; Annalisa, a patient with a loose and creative grasp on reality; and Presence, a young, ghostly protagonist emotionally tied to the hospital and it’s characters.

The six TÉA Artists who perform Paradigm also came together to devise the play and to give life and depth to its characters. Thanks to support from the Archive Residency with IRT/New Ohio Theatre, TÉA Artistry gathered these multi-talented artists for a set of Insight Artistry Workshops in which they critically explored the personal, social, and institutional dynamics of the event at the center of the play. Delving deeply into their own inner conscious experience, they grappled creatively and collaboratively with the dramatic reality that while there are indeed stereotypical racial attitudes and actions, there are in fact no stereotypical people. There are only individuals who wrestle with their concerns and pursue their aspirations in the context of the social and familial roles that guide and direct – expand and contract – the way they use their minds and hearts.

Paradigm is the fruit of this creative exploration.