Artist Statement
Alan R. White, A.E.A, MFA
Theatre has always been more than performance for me. It is an escape, a means of discovery, an act of rebellion, an act of service, and a sacred ritual. Theatre is the voice that can answer history, challenge perception, and rewrite our shared story as a community.
My art is led by the inquiry “Who gets to say who’s human?”. The question of individual humanity is intertwined throughout history and is encoded in the public discourse of our current moment. I find it reverberating in all my artistic work, whether it be a production about desegregation of public schools in the 1950’s, A musical about a family trying to rescue their trapped sibling, or a short piece about artificial intelligence suing for citizenship, the tension between control and vulnerability, between personal identity and public narrative, is an ever present dimension to the reality of the story and the characters.
My personal experience of this tension fuels my artistic practice. I first engaged in performance to escape the circumstances I faced as a Black student growing up predominantly white communities. BIPOC representation was even less and every person in my surroundings felt the entitlement to overlay whatever story they preferred, no matter how demeaning, onto my lived experience. Theatre was the voice I used, one louder than my own words, to reshape that. If I could not impress on my community to see me, I could at least show stories I choose and not ones forced upon me. My acting practice has evolved over the years from an effort to exert absolute control over my instrument into a practice including fervent vulnerability. My work is entwined with the internal struggle between these two elements, and it is in this in-between place that I find my most authentic work and most sincere connection to character.
As an interdisciplinary artist, inquiry into individual humanity, and personal identity leads my work. As a director, I engage in collaboration and conversation with the cast and crew on this question of characters’ humanity. What it means, and who defines it and who is denied access to it. I direct with an eye to the relationships between the characters, and how they shape the world of the play. Interrogating questions of humanity in theatre must not be done without recognizing and honoring the humanity of the artistic collaborators with whom the director works. I’ve seen too many directors dehumanize a character they didn’t like, or worse allow or even participate in harassing the actor, outside of the container of a scene, under the pretense that they are targeting the character. My rehearsal and production approach emphasizes creating a culture of consent and a safe but brave space where actors and designers are empowered to contribute to the creative process.
My work as a dialect coach requires as much care and conversation. A person’s voice is more than the properties of sound. Our voice and accent are influenced by our family, geography, education, economic and social advantages or disadvantages. How one is heard, or silenced, reflects who is allowed to belong in community and who is locked out. These are realities not just for the characters but the cast and crew. My work is to coach the actor not to mimic the accent of another person, but craft a unique culturally aligned voice built from the character’s circumstance, in a process where both the actor and the character’s humanity is preserved.
When characters must change their words for swords inquiry, emphasis on safety and specificity guide my work as fight choreographer. The physical language of choregraphed violence needs to be crafted as an extension of the character as individual and unique as the character’s voice. As a fight choreographer I recognize that everyone’s body is different and hold space that supports actors to request modifications and make suggestions if they physically can’t perform a certain phrase.
In whatever position I serve on a play in production, I foster an environment that centers consent, equity and access. Our field needs to continue to evolve, not just with greater representation, but also with changed power structures and best practices. My work fosters a new aesthetic grounded in anti-oppressive practices, that achieves artistic excellence, in an environment where every member of the cast crew and audience can leave with their dignity intact.