Proud Theater was a natural and very appropriate fit for Our Lives‘ September “Who’s Who in Queer Art’ issue. The feature talks about our 20-year history and where we’re heading for our next 20 years, and was written by our Digital Content Manager and Art & Soul Innovations Board Vice President Grace Novie Stolen. Below is the full article as published.
More Than Merely Players
Proud Theater celebrates 20 years of innovative theater that empowers and shares the stories of LGBTQ youth in chapters across the state.
I HAVE BEEN WORKING with Proud Theater since 2015, first joining as a youth in Proud Theater-Madison when I was a junior in high school. While I couldn’t come back my senior year, I made sure to stay involved, helping program and operate sound for that season’s show, Fearlessly Queer. I also joined the board and started doing digital communications.
After high school. I moved to Wausau for college, where I’ve directed Proud Theater-Wausau for the last two years. Even after graduating and moving to Menomonie to work on my bachelor’s degree, I’m still finding ways to be involved.
When I was asked by our team to write about our 20th anniversary for Our Lives, I was excited for the opportunity to share our story. Proud Theater saved my life, and I don’t say that lightly. Navigating life as a queer and trans person can be very difficult without support and community. Proud Theater provided those things for me in a difficult time, and it provides them for so many other young people as well.
ONE KID’S DREAM
Proud Theater is an organization with a rich past and a colorful, exciting future. From a rag-tag group performing “amidst drag-shows and beer tents at Madison’s annual MAGIC Picnic” at Brittingham Park in 2000, to a statewide organization and national leader in the queer youth theater movement, our story is constantly evolving. We will keep writing it until our pens runs out of ink.
While many know our story, some might not. We do so much work that sometimes we forget to tell the community at-large what we do. Depending on how long you’ve known us, you might not know where we’ve been or where we’re going.
Proud Theater started in 1999 when local queer activist Sunshine Jones called up Callen Harty, who was working with OutReach at the time. Sunshine’s daughter, Sol, was looking to start a theater group for queer and allied youth. While Harty hadn’t met either Sol or Sunshine, he agreed to meet to talk about the idea.
Sol and her moms, Jo Kelley and Sunshine, and Callen and his partner, Brian Wild, all put in countless hours in our early years to build something with momentum that could sustain itself when they stepped away.
EMPOWERMENT ON-STAGE AND OFF
Now in our 20th year, the youth voice remains as central as it was in our founding. Each of our chapters (what we call our theater companies) features a youth artistic committee. This youth-elected group meets regularly with chapter staff to maintain communication and ensure that youth voices are heard and needs are met. Depending on the size of a chapter in a given season, they may also have a youth artistic director. This is another way to give youth leadership opportunities and hone their skills as artists and leaders.
The way that leadership opportunities and training are built into the organization on every level is different from many other organizations. Making sure we listen to youth helps challenge ageism and adultism. It also lets youth learn by doing and gives them confidence to know that they will succeed. When we say we empower LGBTQ+ leaders, we know that they are already capable of doing amazing things. What we do is help them to realize their potential.
[Proud Theater] saved my life by giving me purpose and believing in me, and trained me to be a much better leader.
Grace Novie Stolen
For those that don’t seek a leadership position, there are still other ways that Proud Theater empowers young leaders. Each end-of-year show is presented as an anthology of work that youth write collaboratively throughout the year. Starting from small group conversations, mentors and directors guide the youth toward common themes expressed in those conversations. Youth share ideas on how to transform those themes into a performance, and collaboratively improvise to write a piece. This is what gives our work and our process the power that they have; every voice is valued and expressed as art.
Personally, I know I would not be as effective in my roles with Proud or as a professional without Proud Theater. The organization saved my life by giving me purpose and believing in me, and trained me to be a much better leader.
ROOTS AND BRANCHES
Our roots may be in Madison, but we have since branched out to serve other communities as well. We launched a chapter in Wausau in 2011, in Milwaukee in 2013, in Sun Prairie in 2015, and in Green Bay just last year. And while Proud Theater chapters are for youth ages 13–18, we launched Proud Theater Beyond in Madison in 2016 for young adults ages 18–24.
Using the process developed in the early years in Madison as a framework, chapters tell their community’s story. Chapters also innovate to respond to community needs beyond rehearsals and shows. Just last season, Proud Theater-Wausau held workshops open to all queer youth in the community (regardless of whether they were in Proud Theater’s weekly rehearsals or not) on the topics of queer sex ed, trans health, and mental health.
We aren’t just a leader in Wisconsin. Proud Theater was a founding member of the Pride Youth Theater Alliance, a national collective of queer youth theater organizations. Leaders from Proud Theater have received awards for their contributions to the field, and two Proud Theater directors serve on the board for the Alliance (I am proud to be one of them). Our commitment to intergenerational leadership and dialogue has been looked to nationally as a model.
BRIDGING GAPS
Being intergenerational and breaking down generational divides is critical to our work. There are few spaces that intentionally bridge generational gaps, and the divide between generations in the queer community can be large. Younger generations are denied the right to learn their history due to erasure in schools, and the community at-large doesn’t see their stories portrayed in media. We work to counter the divides that are artificially constructed by agism, adultism, and cis and straight institutions, by sharing stories and recognizing that people of all ages have stories to tell and stories to learn.
Our work is also intersectional. We know that in order to create meaningful work that reflects the diversity of our identities and community, we need to bring our full selves to the table. That means that while our work is centered on the queer community, we cover a wide range of other issues and identities. We do not live single-issue lives.
To live out our commitment to the elimination of generational divides, we are intentional in both our leadership structure and our programming. Our intergenerational board and youth leadership in chapters makes sure we hear voices of all ages. We also hold Connections, a communal storytelling event, each year in Madison. Using the Proud Theater process of devising theater based on common stories, groups connect and present performance art to event attendees.
From a young person’s dream to operating in five cities around the state, we have grown and changed a lot in the past 20 years. We are excited to see where we can go in the next 20, too.
As a nonprofit organization, there are many ways for supporters to get involved. We would greatly appreciate it if you considered volunteering with us, joining our board, or donating to us to secure our next two decades. We welcome you to celebrate with us this 20th season. See you at an upcoming show!