“THINGS I AM NOT” is an interactive podcast produced by LegalAliens Theatre, an ensemble of artists who have migrated to the United Kingdom from different countries.
by Lara Parmiani
Looking for a way to keep creative in lockdown and inspired by an idea by Greek actor Emmanuela Lia, artistic director Lara Parmiani and associate AD Becka McFadden, have decided to produce ten original 10-15-minute-long audio stories, written, and performed by female migrant artists all starting with the provocation “Things I Am Not”.
Recognising the stereotypes often projected onto migrant women, ranging from ‘exotic seductress’ to ‘benefit scrounger’, artists have been invited to respond to the theme from a first-person point of view, but free to combine personal experience with fiction, drama, and comedy, in a style that truly represents them. The monologues begin with a “negative” but develop into an opportunity for self-affirmation, a moment for migrant women to take space and talk about the things that truly matter to them.
The ten stories aren’t about the big tragedies populating the news but focus rather on the mundane side of the migrant experience.”
At turns heartfelt, searching or laugh-out-loud funny, Things I Am Not offers an unfiltered reflection on the daily experience of life at the intersection of womanhood and migration.
The ten stories aren’t about the big tragedies populating the news but focus rather on the mundane side of the migrant experience: the microaggressions faced every day; the casual xenophobic comments; the hell that is bureaucracy and border control; the panic of not being able to understand a doctor speaking too fast on the phone….
The voices featured in the monologues are strong and powerful. Some have a foreign accent, some don’t, having been forced to migrate as children and having with time assumed the accent of their new country. Some are from countries commonly associated with the word migrant, some aren’t, some are from the Global South and have experienced racism as well as xenophobia, some aren’t.
The beauty of Things I Am Not is that monologue after monologue, a commonality of experience becomes evident, a thread linking all these women no matter how different they seem at a first glance. And “this” thread, this experience which is very seldom talked about, is what sits at the core of the project.
The beauty of Things I Am Not is that monologue after monologue, a commonality of experience becomes evident, a thread linking all these women no matter how different they seem at a first glance.
But it’s not all. As a theatre company with community engagement at its core, LegalAliens has made the podcast interactive, and listeners are invited to submit their own responses to the monologues on the project’s website. Whether it’s a short poem, a photo, a drawing, a collage, or a video, audiences will have the chance to have their contributions featured in an e-gallery.
To listen and download, go to Thingsiamnot.com or search for Things I Am Not on your podcast app.
Producing Artistic Director: Lara Parmiani
Concept: Emmanuela Lia
Director: Becka McFadden
Visual Art: Laura Rouzet
Website Design: Daiva Dominyka
Social Media: Catharina Conte
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