{"id":15096,"date":"2020-01-29T07:44:59","date_gmt":"2020-01-29T12:44:59","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/gregcookland.com\/wonderland\/?p=15096"},"modified":"2020-01-29T10:15:40","modified_gmt":"2020-01-29T15:15:40","slug":"night-in-planetarium","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/gregcookland.com\/wonderland\/2020\/01\/29\/night-in-planetarium\/","title":{"rendered":"From The Co-Founder Of Wee The People, A Puppet Show For Kids About Standing Up To Strongmen"},"content":{"rendered":"

\u201cKids don\u2019t get enough credit that they can understand what\u2019s going on. Racism isn\u2019t going to end until people start noticing it,\u201d says Tanya Nixon-Silberg, co-founder of Wee the People<\/a>, a Boston-based social justice project for kids. \u201cIf you can notice race, you can notice racism and how to fix it.\u201d<\/p>\n

In 2015, she and Francie Latour, both of them Black mothers, founded the project to offer \u201cfree, interactive workshops and events that explore activism, resistance, and social action\u201d through the arts. Programs include \u201cR is for Resistance,\u201d \u201cWho Gets to Make History? The Story of Monuments and Statues,\u201d \u201cBridges Not Walls\u201d (in which they literally tear down a wall of cardboard boxes), \u201cTutus for Batman\u201d (about gender diversity), and \u201cUntil Wee ALL Are Free: The Story of Women’s Suffrage.\u201d Nixon-Silberg says, \u201cWe also do workshops for adults that work with kids about how to talk with kids about race in the moment.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cIf kids can understand fairness,\u201d Nixon-Silberg says, \u201cthey can understand justice and how to move through life.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Knocking<\/a>
Knocking down the wall at Wee The People’s “Protestival,” July 8, 2017. (Greg Cook)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"Francie<\/a>
Francie Latour (left) of Wee The People helps kids stencil T-shirts at their “Protestival” at Boston’s Mozart Park, July 8, 2017. (Greg Cook)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Nixon-Silberg\u2019s latest project is \u201cMy Night in the Planetarium,\u201d a one-woman puppet performance that she premieres at Brookline\u2019s Puppet Showplace Theater<\/a>\u00a0on weekends from Feb. 1 to 16 and President’s Day, Feb. 17. It was developed through the theater’s incubator program and inspired by author and illustrator Innosanto Nagara\u2019s 2016 children\u2019s picture book of the same name. It’s staged in a pop-up book world created by Puppet Showplace\u2019s resident artist Sarah Nolen.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s about [Nagara\u2019s] time in Indonesia, at the time General Suharto came to power. To tell the story about his life and also tell the truth about what was going on at the time,\u201d Nixon-Silberg says. \u201cWe mesh well [with Nagara] because we tell the truth and we tell the whole truth to kids and then we find a way out of there.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cOnce you tell the truth it feels helpless,\u201d Nixon-Silberg notes. \u201cIt\u2019s also about what you can do.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Tanya<\/a>
Tanya Nixon-Silberg of Wee The People leads a social justice story time at the Frugal Bookstore in Roxbury, Dec. 16, 2017. (Greg Cook)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Wee the People\u2019s first public event was an interactive storytime, sign-making session and outdoor protest march in Jamaica Plain in May 2016. At the event, they read aloud Nagara\u2019s 2013 picture book \u201cA is for Activist.\u201d They posted photos on facebook and Nagara himself \u201cliked\u201d it.<\/p>\n

That led to them inviting the Indonesian-raised, Oakland-based creator to visit Boston when he was promoting his 2017 book \u201cThe Wedding Portrait.\u201d From there, he and Nixon-Silberg gave a presentation about how to use kids books to talk to children about racism at the 2018 \u201cFacing Race\u201d national conference. Then she asked to create this show based upon \u201cMy Night in the Planetarium\u201d and he agreed.<\/p>\n

\""My<\/a>
“My Night in the Planetarium” book by Innosanto Nagara.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The book talks about Nagara\u2019s father putting on a play in 1970s Indonesia criticizing corruption in the rule of Suarto, the strongman who dominated the country from 1967 to 1998. After the performance, his father snuck out of the theater to evade arrest. Meanwhile 7-year-old Nagara and his mother spent a night elsewhere in the building, in a planetarium.<\/p>\n

Nixon-Silberg\u2019s puppet show begins with a history of Indonesia (\u201cDutch colonization and what that means. It\u2019s represented by this big boot.\u201d), the nation\u2019s independent movement (the audience is invited to join in chanting: \u201cGo! Go!\u201d), and the rise of Suarto.<\/p>\n

\"Tanya<\/a>
Tanya Nixon-Silberg holds the Suharto puppet from \u201cMy Night in the Planetarium.” (Tess Scheflan photo)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The performance moves on to Nagara\u2019s childhood Jakarta, where his father, Ikran Nagara, is preparing the play criticizing the dictator. \u201cIt says in the book he ruled Indonesia like an iron fist,\u201d Nixon-Silberg says. \u201cSo we said what if we use that word.\u201d Suarto becomes a (puppet) fist.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe learn Inno\u2019s dad is doing to go against the general. At this point we learn art is a way to protest,\u201d Nixon-Silberg says. \u201cWe go into the fact that this stuff can be scary and there are a lot of people who want change. \u2026 Am I going to do the show even though I know the general is after me? \u2026 It takes a lot of people being a little brave.\u201d<\/p>\n

Nixon-Silberg says, \u201cIn Wee the People and Innosanto there is joy always in a struggle, we just need to find it. That\u2019s a way I can stay optimistic. There always is some joy.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Puppet<\/a>
Puppet Showplace Theatre\u2019s resident artist Sarah Nolen demonstrates a shadow sequence during a preview of \u201cMy Night in the Planetarium” in November 2019. (Tess Scheflan photo)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The show presents a version of Nagara\u2019s dad\u2019s play \u201cSst\u201d (like \u201cShh\u201d or \u201cbe quiet\u201d) via shadow-puppetry\u2014heroes and soldiers defeat a bad king, but then they become bad kings themselves. Afterward, Nagara\u2019s father sneaks away to escape the dictator\u2019s soldiers and young Nagara spends the night in the safety of the planetarium.<\/p>\n

In an epilogue, Nixon-Silberg comes out to \u201ctalk about the history of movements and protest and how people have changed the world.\u201d She says, \u201cIt\u2019s meant to be galvanizing. There is not one way to protest what is going on.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen you do this work, you know it\u2019s going to take a lot of different people doing a lot of different things in order for it to be abated or go away,\u201d Nixon-Silberg says. \u201cAnd that\u2019s tough. But I am forever optimistic. \u2026 There\u2019s a way to do it that feels like there\u2019s a way out.\u201d<\/p>\n

Nixon-Silberg says, \u201cI don\u2019t like feeling hopeless, so I\u2019m always trying to problem solve to not feel that way and help others not feel that way.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n

If this is the kind of coverage of arts, cultures and activisms you appreciate, please support Wonderland by contributing to Wonderland on Patreon<\/a>. And sign up for our free, weekly newsletter<\/a> so that you don’t miss any of our reporting.<\/em><\/p>\n

\n
\"Tanya<\/a>
Tanya Nixon-Silberg performs a preview of \u201cMy Night in the Planetarium” in November 2019. (Tess Scheflan photo)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"\u201cMy<\/a>
\u201cMy Night in the Planetarium” creative team. From left, Sarah Nolen, Tanya Nixon-Silberg, Innosanto Nagara, and Roxanna Myhrum. (Tess Scheflan photo)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"Puppet<\/a>
Puppet Showplace Theatre\u2019s resident artist Sarah Nolen developing sets for \u201cMy Night in the Planetarium.” (Sarah Nolen photo)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"A<\/a>
A set for \u201cMy Night in the Planetarium” by Sarah Nolen. (Tess Scheflan photo)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

\u201cKids don\u2019t get enough credit that they can understand what\u2019s going on. Racism isn\u2019t going to end until people start noticing it,\u201d says Tanya Nixon-Silberg, co-founder of Wee the People, a Boston-based social justice project for kids. \u201cIf you can notice race, you can notice racism and how to fix it.\u201d In 2015, she and […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":15119,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[106,109,110],"tags":[220,685,316,686,684,161],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/gregcookland.com\/wonderland\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15096"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/gregcookland.com\/wonderland\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/gregcookland.com\/wonderland\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gregcookland.com\/wonderland\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gregcookland.com\/wonderland\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=15096"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/gregcookland.com\/wonderland\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15096\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":15122,"href":"https:\/\/gregcookland.com\/wonderland\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15096\/revisions\/15122"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gregcookland.com\/wonderland\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/15119"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/gregcookland.com\/wonderland\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=15096"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gregcookland.com\/wonderland\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=15096"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gregcookland.com\/wonderland\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=15096"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}