5TO12 - Time to put words into action
During the first lockdown Toni Blackwell had the assignment to write an essay for her studies. Her first idea was to write an essay called: I have never read Hamlet (which she hasn't....) about how the Western Canon influences the accessibility to theatre. But when Corona happened, she felt that she couldn't invest all her time in an essay which didn't reflect the current situation somehow. At the same time she felt the urge to stick to her subject.
That's when she wrote her essay called: The epidemic of the "non-Western" theatre maker. Where she drew a parallel between how society deals with the Corona virus and how the theatre world "deals" with 'non-Western- theatre makers. To support this theory, she used examples from her experiences at school and in the working field. Quoting mentors, but also teachers that contributed to the isolated feeling that comes from institutional racism.
While she was writing her essay. Ahmad Aurberry was shot in cold blood. The weekend of her deadline, George Floyd was murdered. Fuelled by everything that was happening in the world and all the reactions to her essay Toni felt that it was time to put words into action. During one of her rants she reflected on the platform HALf6 at school and felt that we needed a platform which discusses necessary subjects currently going on in the world, the time is NOW to put into action: the time is 5to12. But also at school. What is happening behind the doors? In studios? How do students reflect on institutional racism at school? We can sometimes look at the world and react to it within our artistry, at the same time, we might be looking too much at what's going on outside of the building instead of looking inside.