Stories Are Everywhere
by Jenni Lamb
Dear Reader,
We hope you enjoyed reading the short plays and essays that represent just a sample of what we’ve written over a decade of creating site-specific performance. No matter the project, our work has been driven by the vision, community, tenacity, and hearts of our collaborators. Our process has allowed us to create performances that include multiple stories, while showcasing each writer’s voice and identity. It has allowed us to bring performances to audiences in the communities where they live and work; and for non-theatre artists to collaborate, including local business owners, makeup artists, and museum curators. And we’ve made lots of friends along the way.
As Damon put so beautifully in the introduction: “Every audience member brings a different set of connections and memories to a site. Every site has its own spirits.” It has been our absolute pleasure to invite audience members to be more than passive observers: we’ve invited them to make choices in how they engage with our work based in their own experiences. By creating new work outside of a traditional theatre, we hope to make performances more accessible. By blurring the lines between artist and audience, we hope to show that art and creativity is available to everyone. Stories happen all around us: in church basements, museums, salons, and in our own homes. Whether you consider yourself an artist or not, everyone has a story to tell. And you don’t always need a fancy stage and a curtain to make that happen.
“Stories happen all around us: in church basements, museums, salons, and in our own homes.”
Second Site was created in part to further the wonderful site-based work and community of Living Room Playmakers. And while we’re living in a time of enormous change, our intention is for our storytelling, creative processes, and collective to adapt in a way that is inclusive, innovative, and future-focused. Once a Chicago-based collective of playwrights, we now span the country and include artists working in multiple mediums, including audio, film, and tech. We are all about NEW stories in NEW spaces, and we hope you’ll follow us through the door and into the future!
With appreciation,
Jenni Lamb, Community Director, Second Site
Jenni Lamb is a writer, producer, and mom of a teenager originally from the Detroit-area, currently living in Chicago.
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