landscape
Cast: 8
landscape is a group ensemble play about masculinity’s effect on a sport and the Sapphic transit that takes place when femmes take off their skirts for the first time. Set in both 1908 Scotland and a climbing gym in 2019 Boystown Chicago, we see the Ladies Scottish Climbing Club come up against the same issues of marginalization as the queer and mostly-femme rock climbers at the Boystown Climbing Club. As they approach the summit, both groups must confront the white colonialist patriarchy, environmental racism, and the real cost of their view at the top.
Production History
Wrights of Spring Supported Workshop at The Theatre School at DePaul University, May 2020
Directed by Regina Victor
2019 Cast: Arti Ishak, Theo Germaine, Tina El-Gamal, Evelyn Gaynor, Shaina Schrooten
1908 Cast: Shariba Rivers, Kayla Raelle Holder, Liz Sharpe
Resources
landscape is about creating space for women, femmes, and gender queer folks. If you enjoyed the play and/or would like to support these communities please consider donating to Brave Space Alliance. Brave Space Alliance is the first Black-led, trans-led LGBTQ Center located on the South Side of Chicago.
For rock climbers and mountain lovers in the US, it is important to recognize that we are climbing on stolen land. To decolonize climbing means that we need to learn about indigenous history and present day relationships with the areas that we climb. It is also important to support indigenous lead organizations. If you are interested in environmentalism, decolonization, and supporting spaces for women and BIPOC in the climbing community, the following is a list of organizations that are committed to this work.
Mission: To inspire and raise the voices of Native Women in the Outdoor Realm. To encourage a healthy lifestyle grounded in the Wilderness. To educate Natives and non-Natives on the rich beauty and heritage of the Ancestral Lands beneath our feet.
COVID-19: The Navajo Nation is struggling with an astonishingly high COVID-19 infection rate. In response, Native Women’s Wilderness Gives Back program is stepping in to provide support to our NWW ambassador’s impoverished communities. Donate here.
To learn more about the history of the Ladies Scottish Climbing Club: https://www.edinburghlive.co.uk/news/edinburgh-news/badass-edinburgh-photo-shows-two-15914541
Other femme-forward climbing clubs include: Brown Girls Climb, Indigenous Womxn Climb, Women’s Climbing Collective