The show addressed themes such as racism, stereotypes, domestic abuse and police brutality.
The project is an annual event inspired by Martin Luther King Jr.
Emergent Theatre will perform again 4 p.m. Jan. 23 in the Ivy Tech John Waldron Arts Center.
Director Nichelle Whitney said Emergent Theatre is an IU student organization in which the students write, produce and perform their own work.
The purpose of the group is to address social justice, self-identity and self-awareness through the theater arts, Whitney said.
“They put these things together with a message in mind,” Whitney said. “We tell them one thing — write about social justice. We spend 16 weeks together really exploring ourselves, exploring how we fit into different spaces and places and what our power is to make change in the community.”
The focus of Emergent Theatre is always on King because he talked about love and peace, Whitney said.
Whitney said King also talked about resistance, but he expressed it in a way that emphasized, “It’s not you versus us: It’s us versus a problem or a system.”
“It’s about always thinking — what message did he leave us with, and how can we carry on the legacy?” Whitney said.
The students are not told what they should create, and the result is an organic expression, Whitney said.
The group is like a family and they are invested in the love of the group, Whitney said.
Sophomore Jasmine Dennie, a singer, actor and dancer in the show, said her experience with Emergent Theatre has been life-changing.
“It gives us a platform that we might not always be promised,” Dennie said. “I don’t know where I would be, in a lot of different ways, if it hadn’t been for the group and my involvement.”
Dennie said she thinks Emergent Theatre is an important organization to have on campus.
The platform allows people of color to express their emotions and to ask questions, Dennie said.
“It helps us not feel so small on such a big campus,” Dennie said.
Dennie said Emergent Theatre shows real stories that many people might not understand or recognize.
Her involvement in the organization has allowed her to cancel out stereotypes, Dennie said.
“I see in here so many people’s stories,” Dennie said. “Sometimes people can pre-assume what people have been through based on different aspects of their appearance, but it’s an amazing thing how this has changed how I view a lot of people.”
Senior David Frew said he has enjoyed working with Emergent Theatre because it is an opportunity for students to share their narratives.
“I’d argue that Emergent Theatre creates a kind of creative safe space for students who otherwise might not have a voice on campus or feel that their narratives are unexplored,” Frew said. “It gives them a chance, in their own vision, to pursue that.”
Frew said the project is a collaborative form of theater, with every cast member involved in the production of the show.
No one is just an actor, Frew said.
“It’s challenging at times because you really deal with things that have to do with life,” Whitney said.
“Sometimes we cry. Sometimes we’re angry. Sometimes we try to shut ourselves off from the world. The beautiful thing about Emergent Theatre is that it’s a family, and in a family we deal with those things together.”
