Authenticity, Belonging, Community Michael Fosberg

Laura Schellhardt is a Chicago based playwright and adapter. Her original works include Air Guitar High, Auctioning the Ainsleys, The Apothecary's Daughter, The K of D, Courting Vampires, and Shapeshifters, among many others. Adaptations include The Phantom Tollbooth, The Outfit, and Creole Folktales. She is also the author of Screenwriting for Dummies. She’s a two-time Jeff Award nominee and recipient of the AATE Distinguished Play Award, the New Play Frontier’s residency, the TCG National Playwriting Residency, the Jerome Fellowship, the New Play Award from ACT in Seattle, and a Dramatist Guild Playwriting Fellowship. She has participated in the SoHo Rep Writer/Director Lab, the Women Playwrights Festival at SRC, the Kennedy Center's New Voices/New Visions Festival, the Bonderman TYA Symposium, the Ojai New Play Conference, the Denver Center New Play Summit, the Bay Area Theatre Festival, and the O'Neill National Playwright's Festival, among others. She received her graduate degree from Brown University, under Paula Vogel. She’s a former Victory Gardens Resident Playwright and current member of Walkabout Playwrights Collective and she oversees the undergraduate play Schellhardt oversees the undergraduate playwriting program in the Department of Theatre at Northwestern University.  

Key Takeaways


We all hold many identities and their salience changes with time and context


Privilege can be an obstacle when you’re not aware of it but it can be a tool to empower others


What you practice grows stronger, especially with how you talk to yourself and others


What and how you give your attention is one of your most powerful tools 


Effort > outcome and process > product


There’s a difference between safety and comfort and it is important to learn and grow in discomfort


Authenticity is a series of choices based on your values and intentions


Take yourself seriously but hold yourself lightly


Make connections not impressions





Guest’s Media Recommendations:


The Anti-Racist Writing Workshop: How To Decolonize the Creative Classroom by Felicia Rose Chavez (book)


Creative Acts for Curious People by Sarah Stein Greenberg (book)



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Find Guest’s work:


https://communication.northwestern.edu/faculty/laura-schellhardt.html



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For more of Michael’s work, visit our website www.incognitotheplay.com or follow us on Instagram @incognitotheplay

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Thanks to Ned Doheny for providing our podcast music! You can find him and his music on Spotify.

Editing and co-production of this podcast by Emma Yarger.

Email info@incognitotheplay.com with questions or comments about the show!

Shannon Watson is a communicator, strategist, thought leader, and civic thinker. Shannon has worked in policy public affairs roles for Majority in the Middle, Casper Corcoran, The Medical Alley Association, St. Paul Area Chamber, U.S. Bank, the Minnesota Senate and the National conference of State Legislatures. She has more than two decades of experience in electoral politics having worked on local and state-wide campaigns on both sides of the aisle in Kansas, Colorado and Minnesota. She holds a bachelor's degree in English, Theatre, and Psychology from Wichita State University and a master's degree in Advocacy and Political Leadership from the University of Minnesota-Duluth. She currently lives in Minneapolis with her dog, CJ. 

Key Takeaways


Unfortunately people often focus on differences first, how can we challenge ourselves to look past differences to see similarities


The more time and effort put into relationships makes people more comfortable with people who are different from them or with things they don’t understand


There’s no all or nothing — every group is varied and has diversity within it


Authenticity is about owning your successes and failures





Guest’s Media Recommendations: 


The Newsroom (TV series)



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Find Guest’s work:


https://www.majoritymiddle.com/shannon-watson



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For more of Michael’s work, visit our website www.incognitotheplay.com or follow us on Instagram @incognitotheplay

__

Thanks to Ned Doheny for providing our podcast music! You can find him and his music on Spotify.

Editing and co-production of this podcast by Emma Yarger.

Email info@incognitotheplay.com with questions or comments about the show!

Michael Rohd is a theatre-maker, educator, process designer, writer and facilitator. His research and creative practice is focused on civic imagination. He has a 30+ year history of projects across sectors bringing cultural activity to the work of public engagement, community planning and cross-sector coalition building. In 1992 in Washington DC he co-founded Hope Is Vital, an arts & public health program that, over 8 years, helped start up theatre-based public engagement/HIV prevention coalitions in over 80 communities around the US. In 1999, he co-founded Sojourn Theatre and served as artistic director for 20 years, co creating and directing nearly 30 devised often site specific and participatory theatre works. In 2012, he co-founded Center for Performance and Civic Practice, a collective of nine artists/facilitators who  work with organizations and agencies around the country on community research, transformational process and system change. He is currently Civic Collaborations Director for One Nation One Project, a national arts/municipality/public health project & research cohort in partnership with National League of Cities; he is co-designer/co-facilitator for Art-Train, a virtual national technical assistance program in partnership with Springboard for the Arts.  He recently founded the Co-Lab for Civic Imagination at the University of Montana, and he is author of the book Theatre for Community, Conflict and Dialogue.



Key Takeaways


Groups of people share something, whether that is space, time, values or goals


What is the harm of entering a space with the intention of persuading others at all costs?


Bringing people together might require different tactics depending on their goals. Reflect and dialogue with community members before jumping in


Working with a co-facilitator makes for better processes and better outcomes


When things are off, be mindful. Pause and be transparent about what might be going wrong


We all need to build our capacity for listening





Guest’s Media Recommendations:


The Candy House by Jennifer Egan (book)


Can’t Drink Salt Water by Kendra Mylnechuk Potter (play)



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Find Guest’s work:


https://howlround.com/commons/michael-rohd



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For more of Michael’s work, visit our website www.incognitotheplay.com or follow us on Instagram @incognitotheplay

__

Thanks to Ned Doheny for providing our podcast music! You can find him and his music on Spotify.

Editing and co-production of this podcast by Emma Yarger.

Email info@incognitotheplay.com with questions or comments about the show!

Rhodes Perry is a bestselling author, award-winning entrepreneur, and an internationally sought-after keynoter. He helps senior executives and people leaders build belonging at work by establishing psychological safety and trust. Nationally recognized as a diversity, equity, inclusion, and belonging (DEIB) thought leader, he has over 20 years of leadership experience having worked at the White House, the Department of Justice, the City of New York and PFLAG National. Media Outlets like Forbes, The Wall Street Journal, and the Associated Press have featured his powerful work. Both of his books, Belonging at Work (2018) and Imagine Belonging (2022) debuted as #1 Amazon bestsellers and were published by Publish Your Purpose Press. He earned a BA from the University of Notre Dame, and a MPA from New York University. He currently serves on the National LGBTQ+ Chamber of Commerce’s Transgender Inclusion Task Force, and the Cascade AIDS Project’s Board of Directors.



Key Takeaways


When people share their identities and experiences with you, receive them with care


Standing up and advocating for yourself paves the way for others to do the same


Be aware of who you intentionally including and also who you might accidentally be discluding


Push yourself out of your comfort zone to engage with many communities and people who identify differently than you


When you notice that you’re uncomfortable, note where its happening in your body, and remember that learning happens just past the edge of your comfort zone


At work it's important for everyone to have the agency to show up as authentically as they choose


Pay attention to who’s speaking, whose ideas are considered and whose aren’t





Guest’s Media Recommendations:


Disclosure (Documentary)



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Find Guest’s work:


https://www.rhodesperry.com/



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For more of Michael’s work, visit our website www.incognitotheplay.com or follow us on Instagram @incognitotheplay

__

Thanks to Ned Doheny for providing our podcast music! You can find him and his music on Spotify.

Editing and co-production of this podcast by Emma Yarger.

Email info@incognitotheplay.com with questions or comments about the show!

Catherine Altman Morgan is an award-winning career transition expert and business consultant who has been coaching clients and colleagues through job and life transitions for more than 20 years. She is the founder of Point A to Point B Transitions Inc. and the author of This Isn't Working! Evolving the Way We Work to Decrease Stress, Anxiety, and Depression.

Key Takeaways


Be empathetic, use your experience and build trust


Intentionally set up a safe space by providing guidelines like



The details of what’s shared here stay here


No meanness, shaming or blaming


Its okay to get personal



Go into new situations with no expectations


Engage your curiosity


Authenticity is integration of all parts of yourself





Guest’s Media Recommendations:


Imagine Belonging by Rhodes Perry



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Find Guest’s work:


Catherine Altman Morgan | Official Publisher Page | Simon & Schuster



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For more of Michael’s work, visit our website www.incognitotheplay.com or follow us on Instagram @incognitotheplay

__

Thanks to Ned Doheny for providing our podcast music! You can find him and his music on Spotify.

Editing and co-production of this podcast by Emma Yarger.

Email info@incognitotheplay.com with questions or comments about the show!

Joe Davis is an award-winning spoken word artist and bestselling author who uses poetry to power possibility. Joe is a student and practitioner of Radical Joy, a deep-rooted wellspring of well-being that he cultivates in community through writing, music, theater, and dance. Based in Minneapolis, he tours internationally to join schools, faith spaces, and nonprofits to practice envisioning and embodying a world of collective liberation and human flourishing. Joe holds a Master of Arts degree in Theology of the Arts and also heads a multimedia production company, a soul funk band, and a racial justice education program.



Key Takeaways


Radical joy is getting to the root, depth and fullness of joy which includes the wholeness of human emotions


Art allows us to slow down and move at the pace of relationship


Lead with questions, invitations and vulnerability


The sooner we understand that race work is uncomfortable and that we’re going to mess up sometimes the sooner we can get to repair work


Find your freedom practice: a daily ritual that will help you feel more healed, whole and alive



Guest’s Media Recommendations:


Everything, Everywhere, All At Once (movie)



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Find Guest’s work:


www.JoeDavisPoetry.com


We Rise Higher: Poems and Prayers for Graduates | Sparkhousegher



__

For more of Michael’s work, visit our website www.incognitotheplay.com or follow us on Instagram @incognitotheplay

__

Thanks to Ned Doheny for providing our podcast music! You can find him and his music on Spotify.

Editing and co-production of this podcast by Emma Yarger.

Email info@incognitotheplay.com with questions or comments about the show!