OUR HISTORY
The Conciliation Project (TCP) has facilitated difficult conversations around Race and Racism through the use of theatre since 2001. As Richmond, Virginia’s social justice theatre company, TCP partners with organizations and communities to engage in the long process of healing our nation’s historic past. The Conciliation Project exists with its own history, pulling from energy developed in Seattle, Washington in 2001. The entity that eventually grew into a theatre company started as an interdisciplinary theatre class at Seattle Central Community College. Founder and Artistic Director Dr. Tawnya Pettiford-Wates was exploring a deconstruction of the archetype Uncle Tom from Harriet Beecher Stowe’s controversial novel “Uncle Tom’s Cabin.” When faced with presenting a play representing the deconstruction of racial biases so endemic to our society, certain details seemed problematic. Although Seattle Central Community College is an urban institution with a very diverse faculty, administration and student population, the class consisted of white, Latino, and Asian students only. There were no class members who were African-American or of African decent. How could a story so undeniably entwined with the stereotypes of Blacks in America be staged with no Black people present? And, how would it be taken as seriously as intended without African-American actors participating?
To a playwright and director as adept as Dr. Pettiford-Wates (Dr. T. to all who have worked with her) the answer was simple. The entire play would be done as a minstrel show. But this minstrel show would not only employ traditional minstrelsy using black face to imitate and represent Black people; this minstrelsy would also include white face to represent and imitate White people as well. The ensemble was so stunning and provocative due to the stark replication of the minstrel style and the full costume and make-up of the minstrel characters that the audience was impelled to respond. As a part of the performance, the company of actors took off their make-up right in front of the audience as a part of the play’s epilogue. The process was called de-masking and it always astounded the audience that none of the performers were Black. There were actors of color playing White people and White actors playing Black. How could they (the audience) have believed so completely in the authenticity of what they had just seen and then have to reconcile that they had been pulled into the stereotypes and caricatures of a race of people as true representations?
The un-told history of our nation’s racial past compelled audiences to question their own education and knowledge of history. In presenting these minstrel characters the company had struck a chord in the deeply held belief systems and un-realized prejudices that were fundamental to our nation’s racial divide. Something so dynamic and thought provoking must be un-packed. People wanted to talk. They were impelled to speak out and reveal their “feelings” no matter how uncomfortable they were in doing it. It became clear that the production could not exist on its own as merely a play or theatrical performance; it needed to function as the catalyst for a conversation with the audience - a dialogue about the long held feelings surrounding discrimination that would surely arise from a very immediate and very intensely personal response to this topic. Additionally, the associated feelings of guilt that may result from people not accustomed to facing the simple fact that Racism in America is systemic, institutionalized, and current.
The reaction was astounding. Through sold-out performances, generous audience participation and a great deal of community support, pressure was building for this concept to go beyond one production, and to certainly go well beyond a class. A theatre company, The Conciliation Project, was born. The name was chosen very carefully. Often described as the reconciliation project, TCP members and the founder Dr. T. are quick to point out that something must first be “conciled” in order to be “reconciled.” In considering our nation’s racial history and the former clearly never having been achieved, we are left with the concept of conciliation.
The Conciliation Project hopes to inspire the process of conciliation through the recognition and understanding of privilege, difference, and struggle, inclusive of everyone. Below is a link to read our original Declaration of Purpose written by Dr. T and it gives an idea of the original vision for The Conciliation Project.
While growing in Seattle, TCP visited universities nationwide, developed diversity training for area corporations and attended countless conferences across America presenting our work. It was there that our mission was developed, one that currently stands as a guiding light and foundation for the work we do and the continued vision for organizational practice and principle. Students at Seattle Central Community College, along with local professional artists, educators, and activists laid a strong foundation that provided TCP the support to move from the West Coast to the East Coast. The guidance provided by those members that came before us has been essential to our success and offers a perfect re-examination point.
After five successful years in Seattle, the company moved to Richmond, Virginia in 2005 shortly after Founder and Artistic Director, Dr. Tawnya Pettiford-Wates joined the Performance faculty in the Theatre Department at Virginia Commonwealth University. Adjusting to the transition from coast to coast, we re-examined our clients and collaborators, re-focusing our efforts. We have continued to grow the company and have made our home base in Richmond, Virginia. In the greater metropolitan area, we have established new community partnerships and engagement along with a diverse pool of artists/activists dedicated to the mission. After completion of our last five-year strategic plan we are poised to begin the next with the goal of establishing a permanent space for community conciliation around race, gender and issues of social justice.
Finally, The Conciliation Project is dedicated and committed as a company and as individual members to courageously embrace our nation’s past in order to build a future together that dreams of the immeasurable possibility of what true and un-compromised CONCILIATION would add to the quality of ALL of our lives. We acknowledge the enormous capacity we have as people, citizens, and artists to transform lives through a common-unity of purpose.