Irene (she/they, Sir/Mr.)Tldr: im a fkn chicken but we need more protest art, so... im putting on the audacity of a mediocre white dewd and doing the thing, fear of failure be damned [boosts & encouragement appreciated 🙏]
On top of my myriad other #protest projects, im now also writing a protest #musical:
"Our Girl" is a rock musical retelling of The Hunchback of Notre Dame, set in modern-day Santa Cruz, CA. Theodore "Feo" Allen, a man with Down Syndrome, becomes unlikely allies with Beatriz "Bea" Paz, a young mixed/Latina dancer, as they both contend with #ICE, the police, and the Machiavellian machinations of His Honor, President Cameron Campbell, an immigration judge and leader of a local Mormon congregation.
Ngl im fkn terrified to be writing this
Im terrified of being seen/known in the way that just writing this show could cause me to be
Im afraid of ICE, the church, and people who support both
Ive never written something this ambitious
Its been a long time since ive performed my original music, tho the reasons for that are poor at best (im scared even tho im good)
My impostor syndrome is trying to convince me that this is not important and that no one will want to participate or see it, that the risk of writing and producing it will be for nothing
If youre the sort of person who agrees/believes that protest art, esp of this kind, is still as important as it ever was, id very much apppreciate some words of affirmation or encouragement 🙏
Tell me that the only reason youre going to bang on my door and yell at me is to tell me not to fkn stop writing, and to make sure this thing gets produced bc its important for stories like this to be told, and that my devastatingly astute teenager was 100% correct when she said that, when it comes to #writing #music and #storytelling, i "know how to cook"
Noriwan