Because You Are Here
I co-wrote and co-devised this show, which takes its title from the Barbara Dilley quote “Because you are here, I am different”, in my junior year at Whitman College. A devised work created from a series of interviews with community members, Because You Are Here worked to embody experiences of (im)migration, particularly as they intersect with and take place in the Walla Walla Valley, an agricultural region that relies heavily on the often-invisible labor of immigrants.
This show aimed to amplify voices from the immigrant community of Walla Walla, Washington, and focused on themes of visibility, belonging, community, and America. This show was created by the members of a Devised Theatre course at Whitman College in the fall of 2019, in collaboration with the Walla Walla Immigrant Rights Coalition and members of the community including, but not limited to, those we interviewed. In addition to the production itself, we created the Hear Here Walla Walla phone line and website, hosted a public lecture by Aaron Bobrow-Strain on the history of U.S. immigration policy (“So You Think Your Ancestors Came Here Legally?”), engaged in formal and informal talk-backs with audience members, and traveled to Washington State University in Pullman to give a presentation on our work.
Full performance available here. Photos by Johnny James and Cindy Gold Photography.
