In anticipation of the show, Elevate had the pleasure of sitting down with playwright ChelseaDee, to ask some questions about how 2020 has impacted her artistry, what inspired her to write this piece, and what she hopes the audience will learn. We hope you enjoy this brief, 10 minute interview!
ChelseaDee will be presenting a 30 minute excerpt of her play to ELEVATE the audience on November 19th as Part 1 of Elevate’s Winter Series.
Elevate: Can you tell us a little about the Fundshack and what inspired it?
ChelseaDee:
“The Fundshack” was inspired by two news articles that I read. The first one was written by Ema O’Connor. She was describing this scrappy little abortion fund in the deep South. They were doing a lot of on the ground to help people terminate their pregnancies, they were really just putting their lives on the line and really risking a lot. I thought it was so badass and I was like, these are a group of people who really give me hope at a time where you see our reproductive rights being scaled back… there’s this almost “resistance” happening on the ground that I really wanted to highlight.
Then the other article that I read from 2018, written by Linda Villarosa and it was published in the New York Times. It was about the Black Maternal Death Rate and why black mothers in America were dying at a rate that hasn’t been seen since slavery, possibly worse rates since slavery. And so I was shocked by this. This is America we have these medical innovations, we’re supposed to be the best and the most efficient and everything and yet, my community was seeing a lot of death.
These articles really made me believe “We have to talk about this. We have to name this.” We have to keep saying this is what is happening and it’s just another facet of this bigger conversation about reproductive rights in America.
So yeah, that’s what started it and then I just wanted to write something zany, something that could get at how absurd, and like, nightmarish and dreamy this whole moment is. Am I awake? Am I asleep? Is this a nightmare? Is this a dream? I don’t really know. And living in this between place, so I wanted to write something that captured all of that.
Elevate: Can you tell us a little about the feelings the audience should expect to leave the evening with?
ChelseaDee:
I really want them to walk away with a sense of hope! With a sense of there can be large-scale oppression, there can be very well coordinated attacks against your rights and yet… life finds a way. There’s people who are still creating, there’s people who are still resisting, and who are still moving towards liberation and freedom and autonomy, in the midst of everything.
Elevate: How has 2020 shaped the way you view your art? And the way you want your art to impact others in this current time?
ChelseaDee:
2020 has been… talk about clarifying vision. Talk about laying it all out there, naming it, and not turning away from the writing on the wall. Not turning away from the truth as it stands. My thing, I’m always saying is
“The truth don’t need defending”.
2020 has been a way for me to say “Alright, I’m going to turn and face what is happening, what this is, and I’m going to name it. And I’m not going to be scared to name it, and I’m not going to be ashamed to name it”. Because it’s the silence that has been letting this fester, and grow, and so 2020’s been a gift in the sense of clarifying. Clarifying the call to action.