Ten Percent: Sexual Orientation and Homophobia in the Workplace
With an estimated ten percent of the population identifying as other than heterosexual, sexual orientation, homophobia, and heterosexism are increasingly significant issues of workplace diversity. The Greater St. Louis Federal Executive Board recognizes this fact, commissioning Uppity to create a performance piece addressing these topics for their annual Gateway to Diversity Conference. The result? “Ten Percent”, a 40-minute theatrical training piece that uses humor, physical comedy, scenes, and monologues to explore myriad GLBTQ issues.
The Greater St. Louis Federal Executive Board represents a conglomerate of 82 federal agencies and is one of the original ten Executive Boards established by a Presidential Memorandum of November 10, 1961 by President John F. Kennedy. The mission of the Board is to sustain a federal community environment that promotes the administrative goals, workforce development, and community outreach in the Greater St. Louis Bi-State area.
Executive Director, Susanne Franza Valdez, contacted Lipkin in Fall 2005 about developing a new piece. Valdez had invited Uppity’s DisAbility Project to perform at the conference last year and remarked that their performance was a highlight for many in attendance. She was interested in having the company return again this year, designing a performance that was more specifically related to another aspect of diversity—sexual and affectational orientation.
Uppity Director, Joan Lipkin, and Assistant Director, Sarah Shimchick, convened with Franza-Valdez and members of a programming committee throughout the winter and spring of 2006 to discuss various issues of significance that were being raised in their individual agencies. Committee members included: Garr Brown from the VA Medical Center; Yim Loo and Robin Greeley from the Department of Defense, National Geospatial Intelligence Agency; and Ermelinda Rodriguez-Heffner from Department of Air Force. The topic presented numerous challenges. How might this theme be explored in a way that encouraged active listening and increased appreciation for diversity? The audience would include a very mixed crowd, including people with strong moral or religious objections to the topic. Committee members offered invaluable insight on script content throughout the piece’s development.
Working with cast members Kendra Elliott, Greg Matzker, Ashley Nanney, Charles Spearman and Uppity Administrative Assistant Pteri Plotnick, “Ten Percent” was conceived. An informative, innovative, and entertaining way to explore the issue of sexual orientation within corporate and federal settings, “Ten Percent” debunks myths; explores historical GLBTQ achievers and role models from the worlds of philosophy, athletics, writing, visual arts, music, politics, and pop culture; offers personal narratives including monologues about lesbian, gay and transgendered experiences, and provides definitions of varied identities and appropriate workplace etiquette.
“Ten Percent” debuted with two performances at the Diversity conference, reaching a combined total of 250-300 people. Uppity is now accepting requests to perform this original piece at other locations.
Participant Bios
Kendra Elliott
Kendra is a special education teacher for adolescents with social/emotional needs. She also conducts workshops, writes training curriculum, and acts as a behavioral consultant in areas of disability. Kendra graduated from Southern Illinois University Edwardsville, and has since worked to challenge societies’ “boxes” and biases regarding gender/gender expression. Kendra is a writer, activist, dancer, and athlete. Kendra became involved with That Uppity Theatre Company through a gender exploration piece for their “Women’s Bodies, Women’s Lives” performance piece. Since then, she has been a performer, stage manager, and artistic associate for the DisAbility Project. Kendra is currently writing, directing, and performing in Project Illumination, a theatre project working to shed light on sexual violence against people with disabilities.
Joan Lipkin
Joan is the Founder and Producing Artistic Director of That Uppity Theatre Company in St. Louis. A strong proponent of collaboration, Joan specializes in creating works with socially relevant themes and underserved populations. Her company has received numerous commissions from various organizations to develop site-specific pieces, including the Greater St. Louis Federal Executive Board, the ACLU of Eastern Missouri, SSM Healthcare, the Susan G. Komen Foundation, and the Foster Care Coalition of Greater St. Louis, among others. She has worked extensively with people with disabilities, women with cancer, GLBTQ youth, and gay men. A playwright, director, activist, educator, and social critic, her award-winning work has been published in Ireland, Europe, Australia, and Asia. She has been featured on network television, National Public Radio, the BBC, the Associated Press, and in a number of theatrical journals.
Lipkin and Uppity have received numerous awards including: a Focus St. Louis “What’s Right with the Region” Award for Improving Racial Equality and Social Justice, a Missouri Governor’s Council on Disability Community Enhancement Award, a Missouri Arts Council Missouri Arts Award, a John Van Voris Award for Community Service, an Arts for Life Special Lifetime Achievement Award, a Human Rights Campaign Organizational Equality Award, a Distinguished Alumni Award from Webster University, a Woman of Worth Award, and a Visionary Award from Grand Center, Inc.
Greg Matzker
Greg has been involved in theatre for 20 years and has performed in over 150 shows. In that time, he has performed with the Muny, New Jewish Theatre, and The Goldenrod Showboat, among others. He also spent ten years singing with the St. Louis Symphony Chorus. Greg recently founded "Marble Stage Theatre," a new theatre company in St. Louis, where they performed "Fiddler On the Roof" last summer. They will be presenting "Way Back on Broadway" this summer. Greg works full time in the arts, directing and choreographing for theatre companies in the St. Louis area as well as teaching private vocal and instrumental lessons.
Ashley Nanney
Ashley started performing at the age of two and has enjoyed many facets of theatre including performance, stage management, writing, direction, and choreography. Originally from North Carolina, Ashley toured with the Focus Theatre Company as an improvisational actress, performing open ended pieces focused on issues teenagers face, followed by peer discussions. Ashley has appeared in many theatre productions including: Quilters; Stop the World, I Want to Get Off!; Godspell; The Odd Couple; as well as contact and contemporary dance productions.
A graduate of Maryville University, Ashley has worked with That Uppity Theatre Company for five years. She is a performer, stage manager, and Assistant Director with the DisAbility Project, she was a chief organizer, director and performer with Peace Out, and helped to direct pieces in Women’s Bodies, Women’s Lives. She also facilitates a number of workshops, including those focused on movement and theatre. Currently, Ashley is in the process of writing, directing and performing in a theatre project to shed light on sexual violence against people with disabilities know as Project Illumination.
Sarah Shimchick
Sarah received her B.A. in Psychology from Smith College and her MSW from the George Warren Brown School of Social Work at Washington University in St. Louis. She believes in the use of theatre as an educational tool and as a therapeutic intervention, with a specific focus on humor as an awareness-raising mechanism. Sarah was an intern with That Uppity Theatre Company for one year before being hired as an Administrative Assistant and Artistic Associate. She is now the company’s Assistant Director. Sarah has worked closely with Joan on a number of projects including the DisAbility Project, Peace Out!, As American as Apple Pie, Diverse Works, VSA arts Playwright Discovery Program, and Creativity Workshops for the Missouri School for the Blind, among others.
C. Everette Spearman
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Everette has worked as an information technology project manager for several firms including MasterCard International, IBM Corporation, and SBC Communications. He is now employed by a not-for-profit as an Administrative Manager. Everette recently joined Uppity to entrench himself in a love of acting that stems from his days as a graduate of Cardinal Ritter College Preparatory High School. He performed in Godspeed, Grease, and Raisin in the Sun. A St. Louis native, Everette received a Bachelor of Science in Communications from St. Louis University in 1995 and a Master of Management degree from Fontbonne University in 1999. Everette has a special love of television and film acting.
Ten Percent: Sexual Orientation and Homophobia in the Workplace was commissioned by the Greater St. Louis Federal ExecutiveBoard
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That Uppity Theatre
Company (TUTC) fosters awareness of issues, appreciation for thearts,
andencourages community dialogue through the development and production
of socially relevant theatrical work and related cultural activities.
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