RVA Mag

Richmond, VA Culture & Politics Since 2005

Menu

Deadly Greed

|

Topics: , , , , , , , , , , ,

In Farmville, at the immigrant detention center with the nation’s worst COVID outbreak, company higher-ups lead a “double life,” affecting good citizenship while monetizing the abuse of Virginia’s most vulnerable.

Since their relationship began in 2010, Edwin García Rogel had loved María Mayorquín’s four children from a previous marriage as if they were his own. He drove them to school, bought presents for their birthdays, and dressed up like Santa Claus for the family on Christmas day. When Mayorquín’s health deteriorated in 2013, García cared for and supported her, driving her to appointments with her specialist and picking up the slack around the house. Until the early February morning when an ICE Officer entered Mayorquín and García’s Alexandria home and took García away, Mayorquín told me, her husband had always been there for her. Now, however, he is awaiting deportation in ICA-Farmville — an immigrant prison with the highest rates of COVID-19 in the country — and Mayorquín feels powerless to help him.

“He’s experienced fever, vomiting, fainting,” Mayorquín said of her husband, who has tested positive for COVID-19 in a facility where 90 percent of detainees are COVID-positive, and one man with coronavirus recently died. “The guards don’t do anything. All they do is say, ‘Go back to sleep and everything will be fine.'”

Edwin García Rogel and María Mayorquín. Photo via Devuelvanme Edwin/Facebook

“The worst place he’d ever been”

Though Immigration Centers of America’s (ICA) checkered history begins far earlier, the story of ICA-Farmville’s staggeringly poor pandemic response starts in late March, when a detained man with asthma and diabetes first exhibited symptoms of COVID-19. As symptoms spread, over 100 prisoners went on hunger strike to protest the lack of personal protective equipment (PPE), testing, and adequate medical care. ICA responded by placing the strike’s organizers in “administrative segregation.” Then, on June 2, ICE transferred 74 people to ICA from hotspot detention facilities in Florida and Arizona, and all hell broke loose.

Throughout June, the virus spread rapidly through the facility. It took until July 2 for staff to test all of ICA’s 366 detainees, and when results were in, only 19 tests came back negative. 22 guards tested positive and a handful of ICA detainees were hospitalized. One of them, an elderly Canadian named James Hill, died in ICA custody on August 6 after testing positive for COVID-19. As a non-violent felon, Hill had spent 14 years in a federal prison, but he told his daughter Verity Hill that ICA-Farmville was “the worst place he’d ever been.”

“I just can’t believe they didn’t isolate the sick people,” Verity Hill told The Vancouver Courier. “I think they just think some people deserve to die.”

Four plaintiffs in an ongoing lawsuit say their requests for medical assistance at ICA have fallen on deaf ears. ICA staff waited days to test the plaintiffs even though all were experiencing common COVID-19 symptoms, including fever, aches, coughing, and difficulty breathing, according to a court declaration filed by the prosecution. Staff also denied the plaintiffs medical care for days on end. One of them, Perez Garcia, was quarantined in an isolation unit because of his severe symptoms. The others were only given Tylenol as treatment.

“Many folks have expressed fear because they don’t receive care,” said Danny Cendejas from the immigrant rights group La ColectiVA. “Instead, if people are sick and confirmed, they would be placed in the hole, in isolation, which is also psychological violence.”

Court evidence and reports from advocates also suggest an ongoing disregard for COVID-19 precautions and basic sanitation in the facility. Detained individuals eat in dining areas that do not easily accommodate physical distancing, sleep close together in crowded rooms full of stacked bunks, and are sometimes served expired or bug-infested food. When they resist staff, their protests are sometimes met with blasts of pepper spray. One detainee described watching people clean up their own vomit and diarrhea to prevent the stench from lingering in the dormitories.

“It’s amazing to me that this would not have been done in a facility, which, because of the large inmate population, should have been on clear notice that you’ve got to have people distanced in order to prevent spread of the virus,” said Judge Leonie Brinkema during a recent court hearing.

The community cost of criminalizing immigrants

About six years ago, Maria Mayorquín’s health began deteriorating. Her platelet levels dropped, her hands changed color, and it became difficult to breathe. While hospitalized in Alexandria, she underwent a splenectomy and a blood transfusion — “15 bags of blood,” Mayorquín told me. Around three years later, a doctor diagnosed Mayorquín with Lupus, an autoimmune illness that causes the body to attack its own organs. She was unable to work with her condition, making García the breadwinner for the family. Six months into his incarceration, Mayorquín’s anger and grief are compounded by her ever-growing debts.

“What am I supposed to do without him?” she asked, her voice breaking. “I am not going to be able to live without him in this country, paying so many bills, paying so much rent. I won’t be able to pay all of it. I want them to give me my husband back. Please, I am begging ICE to free my husband.”

Mayorquín, a US citizen, does not know what she will do if her husband is deported to El Salvador. She fears the violence there — violence seeded by U.S. foreign policy — and doubts she will find the medical care she needs if she moves abroad. In the meantime, she has started a Facebook campaign to free her husband called Devuelvánme Edwin.

Rev. Arismendi at a protest in Northern Virginia. Photo via NIJC

According to Reverend Leonina Arismendi Zarkovic, a co-founder and organizer for Santos en Virginia, stories like Mayorquín’s are heartbreakingly common. “It leaves you in a space of utter desperation,” said Arismendi, whose partner was incarcerated for a non-immigration-related offense for three years.

As people watch their neighbors taken away, fear spreads through immigrant communities. “[People] are afraid to go to work, they’re afraid to go to the doctor,” said Arismendi, who also has lived experience as an undocumented person. “There have been times in my life where I didn’t call the police when I was having domestic abuse being done to me by my ex-husband. Because I knew that if the police came, they will put me in handcuffs quicker than him, because I didn’t have papers.”

A Long History of Abuse

Most of ICA’s failures in response to the pandemic did not begin with the coronavirus. As ICE reports recently acquired by the Advancement Project corroborate, ICA has a long history of medical neglect and abuse. In 2011, a staff person was crushed to death by guards during a training simulation. Later that same year, a detained man died after nurses failed to take his vital signs. In addition, the recently released reports describe several incidents where guards used pepper-spray or restrained prisoners without justification, including an incident where a guard pepper-sprayed a detainee in the face “while he was in full restraints and confined to a medical isolation cell.”

When I emailed ICE to ask about current and past issues at ICA, Acting Field Office Director Matthew Munroe replied with a statement: “The agency provides comprehensive medical care to all individuals in ICE custody and uses a multi-layered inspections and oversight program to ensure its facilities meet a threshold of care, in addition to abiding by standards set forth in the National Detention Standards and the Performance-Based National Detention Standards,” it read, in part. “ICA Farmville has never failed an inspection.”

But according to Jesse Franzblau from the National Immigrant Justice Center (NIJC), ICE reports are highly unreliable. An NIJC analysis of 2017 data found that every ICE jail and prison has passed every inspection since 2012, “even at facilities where multiple people had died, some as a result of medical neglect.” A 2018 Inspector General report, informatively titled “ICE’s Inspections and Monitoring of Detention Facilities Do Not Lead to Sustained Compliance or Systemic Improvements,” confirms that ICE inspections more often serve to obscure and perpetuate abuse than to address it. By ICE employees’ own admission, inspections were “useless” and “very, very, very difficult to fail.”

The sign at ICA-Farmville’s front entrance. Photo via ICA-Farmville.com

The immigrant-detention complex

Though most people associate the for-profit detention boom with state and federal prisons, immigrant prisons are a fast-growing sector of the country’s private-prison market. Currently, around 70 percent of ICE detention centers are operated by for-profit companies like ICA. Many ICE-operated detention centers also have concerning infection rates, but of the ICE facilities with over 150 COVID cases, every single one is privately operated.

Like other for-profit prison enterprises, Immigration Centers of America targets economically struggling communities for possible detention centers. In 2008, when ICA opened for business, the company promised to bring jobs to Farmville, a community left reeling by the recession and a decline in manufacturing jobs. In the decade that followed, ICA created over 100 local jobs and brought in around $200,000 in yearly income for the town.

Through their contract with ICE, ICA and the Town of Farmville profit handsomely — together they billed ICE for around $24 million dollars in 2019, according to Franzblau — but a number of sub-contractors, lobbyists, and sympathetic politicians also get their share of the pie. In the twelve years since the company started, ICA and its subcontractors have invested considerable sums of money in candidates and lobbying consultants on both sides of the aisle. Former Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli received thousands of dollars directly from both ICA and its current CEO. Democratic state delegate Alfonso Lopez received wages from ICA from 2013 to 2016, and Armor Correctional Health Services, an ICA subcontractor, contributed $25,000 to Governor Ralph Northam’s Inaugural Committee in 2018.

Until recently, it seems, Farmville residents and elected officials have mostly been content to watch ICA and its subcontractors make a killing while the Town collects its share through its agreement with ICE and ICA. “It’s been a quiet place out on the outskirts of Farmville that you really don’t hear much about,” Town Councilperson Greg Cole said.

Coronavirus fears, however, may have disturbed this equilibrium. Jacqueline James Hamlette, a Cumberland County resident who lives 20 minutes from the prison, told me her humanitarian concerns are compounded by her fears of employees spreading COVID in the community. She no longer drives into Farmville to shop, she said, because she worries about her immuno-compromised son. “I would like for the Center to be held accountable for their actions and to stop downplaying that severity of this,” said Hamlette. “That’s extremely important to me.”

At a recent City Council meting, Cole expressed similar frustrations, and said he feared for the safety of residents at The Woodland, a local retirement home at which he is President and CEO. ICA-Farmville’s Director Jeffrey Crawford tried to calm such fears, telling the Council that recent media accounts were overblown.”We understand the claims of the detainees on their face seem horrible,” he said, “but I can tell you that I have been present at the facility through the entire ordeal, and it was not a dire situation.”

Free Them All protesters outside Ken Newsome’s house, July 31. Photo by Alex Matzke

Pharisees of the first order

Since its inception, a series of prominent Richmond-area businesspeople have rotated through leadership positions at ICA. Many of these individuals are involved in the philanthropic or faith community in central Virginia. Current CEO Russell Harper lives in Henrico and serves on the boards of various local non-profits, while Warren Coleman — former CFO and current CEO of an ICA transportation subcontractor — is President and CEO of the JMU Foundation. Jeffrey Crawford, ICA’s Director, is a pastor and podcast contributor for All Peoples Church in Lynchburg. On All Peoples’ biweekly podcast, you can hear the man who described ICA’s 90% infection as “not dire” discussing “The Love of God.”

“They’re at church listening to the same sermon and the same scriptures that here at Santos we heard,” Arismendi said of ICA’s investors. “And Jesus said, ‘We have to set the captives free, we have to bring good news to the poor, we have to bind the brokenhearted.'”

On Tuesday morning, two local activists groups, Free Them All Virginia and Drop The Charges RVA, launched a social media campaign asking people to contact organizations affiliated with major ICA investors. The campaign’s targets are Harper, Coleman, and original ICA minority investor Ken Newsome, who allegedly divested his shares of the company in January.

“These are people in our community that are living a double life,” Arismendi said of ICA executives like Coleman and Harper. “You seen their homes? They nice. They’re comfortable. They don’t have to give a second thought about people eating food with maggots in it, or choking to death because they can’t breathe. They just go home and they extract themselves from that with the luxury that this for-profit flesh machine has created.”

From the quaint downtown of Farmville, with its town clock and prim red-brick storefronts, to the scenic luxury of Harper and Newsome’s million-dollar waterfront vacation homes overlooking the mouth of the Rappahanock River in White Stone, the double-life Arismendi is describing is hard to fathom. It feels like something out of a David Lynch film, where grotesque violence and cheery suburban affluence live side by side. In White Stone, VA, the Chesapeake Bay glistens, deep and green, along the shore where the Harpers and the Newsomes pose for photo-ops. Meanwhile, María Mayorquín and thousands like her don’t know if they will ever see their loved ones again.

RVA Mag reached out to the Farmville Town Manager for comment but was informed by the Town’s communications office that he was on vacation. We contacted ICA and were referred to ICE’s media spokesperson.

Top Photo via CAIR Coalition April Lawsuit

Drive Up For Groceries At The Viva! RVA Food Drive

|

Topics: , , , , , , , ,

Coordinating public events during a pandemic is a challenge, but Diversity Richmond’s Raul Cantu is up for it. This Tuesday, he’s bringing back Diversity’s Viva! RVA as a food drive to benefit Hispanic families in the Richmond area.

You may remember Diversity Richmond’s Viva! RVA celebration, a food truck-filled festival which took place last September in recognition of Hispanic Heritage month. This year, Diversity Richmond is celebrating a little early, with a pandemic-appropriate alternative: a food drive. 

Raul Cantu, founder of the recently closed but much beloved Nacho Mama’s in Carytown and longtime President of the Carytown Merchants Association, organized the event in his role as Diversity Richmond’s new Event Coordinator, a role he’s been thriving in since the beginning of the pandemic.

“We decided to do it a little earlier than September obviously, because people are in need of groceries for their families now,” said Cantu.

The U.S. hospitality industry is disproportionately represented by Latinx workers, and when the pandemic hit, many Latinx families were out of work and struggling to feed their families. Cantu has first-hand experience with this, as a Latino man and restaurant owner himself.

“They’re the backbone of most of the restaurants, no matter what cuisine you are eating,” he said. “Chinese, Mexican, Asian fusion, there’s gonna be a Latino working in that kitchen. And with COVID-19 hitting hard on the restaurant and hospitality industry, they haven’t been working.”

A scene from times past: Viva! RVA 2019. Photo via Diversity Richmond

Using the funds reserved for this year’s Viva! RVA celebration as well as $5,000 raised in donations, Diversity Richmond will provide over 500 families with a week’s worth of groceries. The grocery bags, filled by volunteers, are to be plopped into car trunks assembly line style on the morning of Tuesday, July 28. Diversity Richmond purchased the groceries at cost, or at wholesale price, from Diaz Foods, for just under $13 per family.

Within Richmond’s Latino population, which is on the rise, no two families are alike. Cantu took this into consideration when designing the menu.  

“I asked around, because in the Latino community, everything’s different,” he explained. “Not everybody has the same staple. Puerto Ricans, for example, like their black beans. The Hispanics and Tex-Mex people like their pinto beans.” For the grocery bags, Cantu went with black beans.

Cantu also took inspiration from his childhood, having grown up a migrant worker from South Texas. His family’s staples were refried beans, rice, and tomato sauce. “Let me tell you, I can cook you some mean Mexican food, just from watching my grandma cook as a kid growing up,” he said.

Thanks to his grandma, Cantu never cooked with recipes, a habit ingrained in him that would later pose a problem when opening Nacho Mama’s. “It was tough, because we had to be consistent with our food,” he said. “It was a little challenging, but we got it together and the restaurant was successful.”

However, after 22 years of restaurant ownership, Cantu was burned out. He and his partner sold Nacho Mama’s in 2018 and spent eight months traveling all over the world, planning to eventually settle in Florida for some much-needed easy living. To keep busy until then, Cantu served as a board member for Diversity Richmond, filling in between event coordinators.

“They liked what I was doing so much that they offered me the job,” said Cantu. “And then when COVID-19 hit, we decided not to move, because we didn’t want to start anything new during this pandemic. So I accepted the job!”

Diversity Richmond’s Drive-In Drag Show. Photo via Raul Cantu/Diversity Richmond

Event Coordinator is a position that comes naturally to Cantu. “Event planning to me is like planning a party. I could do it with my eyes closed,” he said. Recalling restaurant ownership, Cantu continued, “I even had a catering company where I planned events, weddings, quinceaneras, you name it. Coming here to work is just so fun, because you get to be creative.”

While the pandemic poses a new challenge, so far he’s only helping Diversity Richmond grow. With the infectious, positive attitude of a salesman, everything becomes an opportunity to Cantu.  He’s even started renting out Diversity Richmond’s parking spaces to delivery drivers for a little extra cash.

“That’s my job, makin’ money!” he laughed.

Diversity Richmond has been less than quiet during the pandemic. In addition to hosting free COVID-19 testing, government press conferences, and the Stonewall Rising rally, their Drive-in Drag event is one of the most enticing uses of Diversity Richmond’s large parking lot thus far.

“We had heard that a lot of the entertainers weren’t making any money. A lot of the drag queens, drag kings and people that normally would work at clubs weren’t working because of the pandemic,” said Cantu. Learning that, he and Diversity Richmond board member Michael-Birch Pierce worked on a solution.

What they created was the Drive-In Drag Show, hosted in Diversity Richmond’s parking lot. For $10 a ticket, attendees enjoy a security-protected, DJ’d event featuring drag queens like Melanin Monroe and Sweet Pickles. The most recent event, held this past weekend, sold out despite the heat.

But how did they handle tips? Cantu had a solution. “We had two handsome young men walking around with fishing nets with six feet poles… we got some really cute ones that were pink and green and blue,” said Cantu. At the end of the night, the money was sprayed with disinfectant and distributed equally. 

Fishing for tips at Diversity Richmond’s Drive-In Drag Show. Photo via Raul Cantu

Event coordinating isn’t all fun and games. Cantu also answers all of the phone calls and emails, is the person you talk to if you’re looking to reserve a room, and sets up venues before events. He has one assistant, but the bulk of the work is on Cantu’s shoulders. 

“It’s very time consuming, trust me. I spend three or four full days just on [emails], and I go home and work at night,” he explained. “But it’s fun because I get to know them, they get to know me.”

When Cantu isn’t responding to emails, he’s out on the town, visiting other nonprofits and comparing notes with friends.

“I try to keep Diversity on the map, so to speak. I let them know that we’re here for many reasons – to give out to the community, for event space, for our thrift store,” he said.

Aspiring party planners who still want to have fun during the pandemic: here’s what Cantu recommends.

“Number one is, you gotta do something you love. If you love to entertain, it’s gonna be easy,” he said. “As far as planning a party, you wanna make sure that you’re looking primarily for safety. Don’t lose your guard, make sure that people are keeping their social distance, and make sure they’re wearing their masks.”

“Number two is to be creative! Don’t let the pandemic make you think it’s over,” he said. “Look around your surroundings and see what else you could do. If you’re a club owner, maybe open up your club for meetings, if you have the space for social distancing.”

Even in retirement, Cantu will be throwing parties. “I was planning to, maybe down the road, open up a little beach taco margarita stand somewhere. So that’s still on my horizon, if I get bored,” he said. “Outside a beautiful condominium complex, [I’ll] hang out with all of my friends, close up and go home and open up the next day. Gives me something to do.”

It’s nice to think about. 

This Tuesday’s Viva! RVA food drive will be held in the parking lot at Diversity Richmond, located at 1407 Sherwood Ave, from 9-11 AM. Supplies are first come, first served. For more info, visit Viva! RVA on Facebook.

Photos courtesy Raul Cantu/Diversity Richmond

Dogtown Dance Theatre’s Virtual Dance Festival

|

Topics: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

With social distancing making gathering in one place for the annual Richmond Dance Festival an impossibility, the dances were instead hosted online, where a dozen performers responded to our current isolation with thought-provoking movement.

This May, Dogtown Dance Theatre hosted their annual Richmond Dance Festival (RDF) in a video format, since they cannot currently use their beautiful theatre due to social distancing requirements. The chosen theme, Isolation to Creation, prompted 12 different dancers from the region to explore and respond to the amount of space social distancing has required: “six feet.” The creative performances from the virtual festival premiered online on May 12, and I reviewed them in the order that I watched them on Vimeo.

Located in a beautiful old building just south of the James that looks like the school from Matilda, Dogtown Dance Theatre hosts a community dance school and is a professional performance center. It even makes a beautiful reception venue. In the Fall of 2019, the successful non-profit program presented an interpretive dance production set to Pink Floyd’s Dark Side of the Moon, which sold out for all three performances. Major productions help to fund year-round operations, which provide performing artists a beautiful space for continuing studies.

I feel sure the artists miss the community aspect of their festival. When I attended RDF at Dogtown Dance Theatre in 2019, I found myself in a casual, Socratic classroom setting where all feedback from friends and family were equally welcome. That day, I saw an amazing group made up of Hungarian women both young and old. With heads held high, balancing swords atop heads dressed in colorful turbans and sparkling coin headdresses, they beamed at us. Their dazzling performance contrasted with the more modern style utilized by most performers, who wore muted street-clothes costumes and performed solo. Some dancers incorporated spoken word, custom tracks, or documentary video.

Like last year, modern dance was the predominant style at 2020’s RDF, and dancers met the challenge of sharing screens and filming their own performances from home. Resident performer Kayla Xavier “looks forward to this festival every year,” and in her performance, made a “hilariously fun discovery of a small and unexpected location.”

Kayla Xavier, from “Toilet Humor”

“Toilet Humor” by Kayla Xavier: Count on Xavier to incorporate humor into her personal pieces. She brings levity to situations, like being in the bathroom, or being hung over, and chooses popular music for accompaniment. This performance is inspiring and fun. I’d aspire to devote this much energy to my morning routine. As a direct response to the coronavirus pandemic and social isolation, I think this dance is forward-looking and optimistic.

This video reflects modern social media culture in the way we communicate with our loved ones. We share pictures and videos of our private lives when we are apart. This fun, choreographed performance in the bathroom reminds me of TikTok videos that my middle-school-age neighbor likes to make at the park with friends. Xavier wants to inspire self-confidence in others with her work. Through her brightness, she wants to show people that even if you are in your underwear, when you are having fun and feeling good, it makes a lasting impression.

The dance is primarily meant to capture the way we, as a nation, have collectively laughed at our real fear in response to the prospect of toilet paper shortages. I liked the way the toilet paper rolled gracefully into the sink; I always cringe when my TP is at risk of getting water on it, so Xavier made me jump a little. Her dance is a little playful. Her horizontal arm movements and leg stretches complemented the geometry of the bathroom and she used the whole small space. I’d probably hurt myself if I tried to mimic her athleticism, and I know my shower curtain wouldn’t survive a handstand attempt. “My toilet paper!!!” “Let go of the toilet paper!” “Work that toilet paper!”

“Backyard Dance” by Joi Brown: This performance, set to the sound of birds and crackling leaves underfoot, cuts out and resumes at one point, giving the impression that it’s a free-flowing, continuous dance sequence. It emphasizes the process and practice of dance, perhaps showing how a quiet, natural setting can feed artistic expression. The repetition of a twisting, blooming hand motion originating from the abdominal region reminds me of holding an energy ball during Tai Chi. The dancer stretches her balance over her feet, and flows from one movement to the next, with archness and deftness. I’ve enjoyed my access to the outdoors during the coronavirus pandemic lockdown, and have been reminded of a psychological study that associates natural areas with mental health.

“New Light” by Cara Thomas: More storytelling elements and more creative cinematography in this piece. A dancer is shown in several different places practicing outside the studio: a cement square (maybe outside Dogtown Dance Theatre), on a brick floor in front of a mirror with lots of natural light, and in an empty domestic room with hardwood floors. Set to dramatic, meditative violin music, the dancer, along with other dancers who have smaller performances within the video, release their troubled minds with reaching, twisting, and leaping movements. My favorite camera angles were the shot of the primary dancer’s foot as she reached down to the floor with each stretched toe, and the way she almost looks like she is falling backwards with each step as she backs away from her square at the end of the performance. In “New Light,” dancers boldly face challenges.

“Burden” by Company E, Washington D.C.: This is a piece from an original stage production. It could depict a love triangle or new girlfriend joining a family. The male in the trio seems to be the center of conflict. The original score by Gavin Stewart is brooding and kind of dark. The faces are set and the dance is confrontational. It picks up momentum, and at the end, the dancers, who have been exchanging places and coming together on different sides of a coffee table posing in a sequence of conflicts, all find a position on different sides in a powerful triangle. Their coordinated movements and fierce eye contact made me forget about the table for a moment. I think “Burden” reflects current side effects of social distancing, specifically the amplification of domestic conflicts since there are fewer social outlets.

“lost and lonely” by Luisa Innisfree: Luxe, bright sounds from Swamp Dogg, a velvet chair, a Persian rug, and red wine. This dance is strong and a little funny, even though it starts with a worrisome kind of vulnerability – a girl drinking heavily, alone in the dark. Somehow the emphasis on her shoes make the dancer seem vulnerable. She performs burlesque moves and is somewhat transported to daylight and the outdoors. The end of the video shows a series of athletic dance moves that feels more like a workout or practice than an emotional release. I’d call the performance an exhibition of several elements of the artist’s inspiration.     

“Empty” by tedted Performance Group: This performer intends to transport viewers from their homes with their video art, which features hand and head movements choreographed to spoken word, as well as light and shadow art made with a projector (I think). The execution of the video was provoking and cool, and I think the speaker’s use of repetition worked well with their choreographed hand movements. Simple color scheme, egg and triangle shapes, and tricks with light remind me of French avant-garde silent movies. Dreams and self-perception are major elements.

Renay Aumiller, from “Release Me”

“Release Me” by Renay Aumiller: I really enjoyed this outspoken environmental video. The pop song choice and the presentation were simple and did not limit the audience. The skirt is striking and cool, and as the performance progressed, I was drawn to look at the labels on the artful white strip of bags: Hobby Lobby, Dominos, Target, Goodwill… At first, the performer looked like a conductor in a grand symphony, but her movements became more expressive and powerful as the song progressed. First I saw a person, then the skirt, then the dance. Finally, the skirt began to make noise and fluff and bundle, and I became aware of a specific statement about plastic bags and our environment.

Both Aumiller and Xavier express a possessive relationship with their consumables. Aumiller’s brief artist statement begins: “Plastic Ocean. Recycled dreams.” At times, the giant skirt seems to be limiting their movements. (Oh, “Harrison Bergeron!”) I’d certainly be afraid if I was trying to swim amidst all those bags. But a detectable vein of humor is present in this, as the performer jealously holds the bags close, even while “drowning” in them. The performer reminded me a little of my cat who used to go crazy for an open paper bag on the floor. “Release Me” made me remember one of the 2019 RVA Environmental Film Festival selections, “Drowning in Plastic,” and I watched it all the way through to the funny ending.

“Virtually Intertwined” by Dogwood Dance Project: I think this was my favorite performance as a direct response to the coronavirus pandemic and social isolation. The gentle music, the title, and even the name of the company all resonate, reminding me of springtime and delicate growth, making me feel calm. I liked the way my eye was drawn from screen to screen when all the company members were shown together, as if on a zoom chat screen. And I liked how at times, all the dancers were dancing with shadows of themselves. The many different settings on the screen at once — kitchens, yards, bedrooms etc. — didn’t overwhelm. I was reminded of home, safety, and how crisp, beautiful, and abundant nature is during springtime.   

“I Dreamed of Solace” by Elsie Neilson: The performer wishes to express “the reality of being [a dancer] confined in an unconventional space.” I felt like this performance was most belonging on stage, at odds with its surroundings rather than embracing them. The dancer’s eyes were cast beyond the kitchen ceiling and row of decorative plates to the rafters over her imaginary stage and the big velvet curtains. And yet, certain movements, the rocking of arms and swaying back and forth, were enhanced by the delicate china plates and the baby gate (which could of course also be for a dog). I felt like she was one of the little porcelain ballerinas in a box in her childhood home as she turned deftly, without fear of striking the wall. Bravo!

“Post” by Kara Robertson of KARAR DANCE COMPANY, original score by Ryan Davis: Both artists meditate on isolation. The dance’s emphasis on feet, hands, and the ground reminds me of the idea that we are pared down to essential business and interactions. For this dancer, it seems like what she has are fundamentals. This is kind of what modern dance in general communicates to me. The setting, sunset in a field, and the music are both beautiful. The chosen title is simple and emotive. I like the way the ending of this video draws attention to the setting. The aerial shot of the grassy field with the dancer in white, a distant speck, looks beautiful. 

“Collective Disdancing” by RADAR Dance: I was very excited to recognize Portuguese music. It’s a light and relaxed song choice, but maybe wistful. RADAR Dance shifts from dancer to dancer, one domestic scene to another, sometimes by cutting, sometimes by handing off movements. Whether they dance in a garden, a laundry, while window-watching or in a triangular attic space, dancing in a jacuzzi, on the couch, on the stairs — these ladies are inspired during their isolation by making the most of their daily movements. Sometimes, solitary work can be thought-provoking, or heavy. In another direct response to isolation, these performers present themselves as sharing, and their actions and locations are made more complete when observed together. One of the movements they seem to be focusing on looks like a mortar and pestle grinding, or a robot arm on the assembly line, which could be an interesting comparison of cultural domestic labor. Thoughtful performance! 

“The Bunkbed Chronicles: Part 1” by Ash & Elm Dance Co.: The allure of bunkbeds. They are like playground equipment. The title of this piece had me thinking about the fictional Peter, Susan, Edmund, and Lucy, bored when they were stuck inside at their Uncle’s house, bunkered down during London aerial bombings. It also reminded me of the Hamm brothers, the twin American Olympians who began their careers swinging from the rafters together in their childhood barn. I thought the dance charmingly resembled child’s play the way the dancers balanced their movements, and sometimes mimicked each other, but were still focused on themselves and discovering on their own movements.  

You can see all of these performances for yourself by going to vimeo.com/dogtowndancetheatre.

Top Photo by Dave Parrish

It’s Discovery Season at Firehouse Theatre

|

Topics: , , , , , , ,

With COVID-19 having an extended impact on the way we live, Firehouse Theatre is making big changes to ensure they can keep bringing live theatre to Richmond.

As Virginia slowly reopens amidst the COVID-19 pandemic, businesses across the commonwealth are doing their best to maintain operation as the virus spreads. The complicated process of reopening has had an impact on many Richmond-area businesses, and it’s been no different for Richmond’s Firehouse Theatre, which has announced its 27th season of featured plays, taking place throughout 2020 and 2021. 

According to Firehouse Theatre’s Producing Artistic Director, Joel Bassin, the season, entitled “Season of Discovery,” is named for the ongoing process of adaptation each person across the world undergoes as they learn to live with the effects of COVID-19.

“In a moment of panic or inspiration, I thought, ‘We’re all gonna be discovering how to get through this as we go,’” said Bassin. “[And] I thought, that’s sort of what all theatre is about.”

The new season features six plays written by Virginian writers. Five of the six are world premieres. These include: The Picture of Dorian Gray, The Zombie Life, War in Pieces, A Single Prayer, Gabriel the Musical, and Krapp’s Last Tape. So far, none of these plays have specific dates listed on the website, but both Picture and Zombie Life are slated to premiere this summer.

The idea of one of Richmond’s most popular theatres reopening their doors to the public might excite an extroverted, impatient theatre buff, but those who are more hesitant to expose themselves to a possible COVID infection have valid concerns. The virus has certainly not disappeared in recent weeks, despite America’s reopening, and the often-packed rooms of a downtown theatre aren’t exactly the best place to practice social distancing. However, the Firehouse team has come up with a variety of solutions to address these concerns.

“We understand that different people have different comfort levels,” said Bassin. “Every audience member is going to be in their own little safe area that will be much more than six feet apart from any other audience member.”

Image via Firehouse Theatre/Facebook

But how is Firehouse going to fill as many seats as usual while still giving everybody that much space? The short answer: they aren’t. When it comes to audience attendance, at least for their first play, The Picture of Dorian Gray, attendance will be limited between two and eight people total. 

“We’re also going to be doing other CDC-recommended things,” said Bassin.

These things include: managing the flow of exits and entrances from the building, taking audience temperatures, requiring face masks, constant recleaning, and even assigning bathrooms to specific theatregoers. Luckily, Firehouse comes equipped with four bathrooms total, enough for each bathroom to share no more than two of the maximum eight visitors at any time.

Other showings of Dorian Gray will also be live-streamed over the internet, as another way of accommodating different comfort levels.

“I feel really strongly that unless you have a live component, it’s not theatre,” said Bassin. “So we’re going to be streaming about half [of Dorian Gray’s showings].”  

The streams will feature multiple camera angles, and serve as Firehouse’s way of making the experience slightly more authentic to a theatre.

Firehouse’s accommodation of different comfort levels extends beyond their audience, however. Staff members and actors have also been accommodated. For some plays, this is easy; Picture of Dorian Gray, for instance, is a one-man show. So apart from rehearsals taking place over video chat, nothing will change. As for plays with multiple cast members, Firehouse has made sure everyone involved is comfortable with the situation. Bassin says none of the plays require very much physical contact, but it is possible that the actors could transmit to each other. However, they will be too far away from the audience to bear any risk of infection.  

As the season’s title indicates, Bassin explains that Firehouse is “discovering” this whole process as they go. He admits that the next year will be an uncertain time both in general and in the world of theatre and performing arts, but is adamant that Firehouse is doing their best with the tools that they have to make sure everyone is safe and comfortable in whatever the current environment is.

“It’s hard to know anything [that will happen] very far out,” said Bassin. “The unknown is how long the impact of this experience is going to go on. I think by 2025 [if we have a vaccine], things will be back to business as usual.”

Top Photo via Firehouse Theatre/Facebook

Social Distancing with Fierceness, Drag Queens Get Creative During Coronavirus

|

Topics: , , , , , , , ,

Driveway drag shows are showcasing Richmond’s drag queens in a whole new light.

Every business has struggled to adapt to the new normal since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic. It has been no small feat for the businesses, restaurants, and entertainment venues of Richmond; from breweries to retail shops and everything in between, everybody is having to do their part to be safe and get creative when it comes to keeping the doors open, and Richmond’s drag queens are no exception.

Triple X Divas, the drag group that brings their nightlife show to Babes of Carytown each week, have had to think on their toes in order to continue entertaining the public. Instead of dancing for their patrons at 10 PM on Thursday nights, they’ve been forced to cancel shows and stay at home. But that didn’t stop them from wanting to bring a little bit of fierceness to the Richmond city area. Unlike restaurants and stores, which can still do takeaway and ordering online, the drag community has to get a little extra creative to continue doing business.

For Michelle Livigne, stopping drag shows didn’t seem like an option. She and her friends had to either come up with an alternative to their usual nightclub drag shows, or sit at home for months. Livigne, who started her drag queen journey over 12 years ago and is currently the director of entertainment for Triple X Divas, played around with the idea of a drag show that’s brought to the customer, instead of the customer coming to them.

“I was like, what if drag queens get together and get in a van on weekends and we go around to people’s houses and just start getting traction?” she said. “Like, we should totally do that.” While Livigne thought the idea would be a good one, she didn’t know the impact it would have until she quickly created a flyer and posted it on her Facebook page.

The flyer. Image via Driveway Drag Show/Facebook

“It was like, 4:30 on a Wednesday when I posted this,” she said. “By nine o’clock that night, so many people had commented, and took it so seriously. It was a wild 24 hours — I had booked my first show and then from there, in 72 hours I had like 40 homes booked.” By a week later, she had booked over a hundred homes for one of the first Driveway Drag Shows.

The opportunity to bring shows to those sitting at home gives people a chance to get outside and take a break from their screens for some fresh air and live entertainment. Meanwhile, for Livigne and friends, bringing the show to the public is a lot of work — with no pre-built stage or lighting available, that means taking the equipment with them to set up in all sizes of driveways. But they don’t have a problem with doing a little extra work.

“In a nutshell, we pull up with a curtain, do two numbers, [and] take a picture,” said Livigne. “As soon as the curtain goes up, as we’re putting the final pieces together, we text them a message that says we’re ready. They’re coming outside within ten seconds, so we need the music ready for when they get out the door. The first thing they hear is the music and see the rainbow curtain.”

At that point, the show is on. “I have a speaker with a microphone now, so I go, ‘How are you today? Thank you so much for being in your own driveway, I know you traveled a long distance to be here,’” Livigne explained.

Photo via Driveway Drag Show/Facebook

Having their own traveling driveway drag show has proved to be much different from the bar scene and nightlife the queens are so used to. Livigne notices a lot of differences when working with the public out of her usual element. 

“That moment of meeting all of the people [at the bar] — you can go from not really feeling it and in a bad mood, but if you go out and you hit the stage, people are just hyping you up,” she said. But for driveway drag shows, “all that goes out the window. You don’t really have any ‘feeding-off’ moments. You have to really go off your gut. You have to keep telling yourself, ‘You’re doing great, they’re loving this performance.’ If you see them smiling, then everything’s fine.”

Livigne also notes the really great things she has seen since doing the driveway shows. “There’s been some really, really great moments that I would have never had if I didn’t go to people’s homes,” she said. “Now I have the opportunity to have a full conversation with them. I think it’s more rewarding to do driveway shows than bar shows. I have patrons I would have never had, I met people I never would have met.”

Changing from the typical drag show routine in bars and nightclubs has posed some challenges, and drag queens must adapt their routines to keep people safe. While a normal show in a bar might include taking tips from patrons’ hands, the queens must exclude that kind of interaction from their performances.

“We can’t take tips and goof around like we do sometimes,” Livigne said. “So you have to think on your feet a little bit more, be more theatrical.”

While Triple X Divas has changed their routine exponentially to cater to those wanting a show in their driveway, that’s far from the only thing the drag community is doing to change and adapt in uncertain times.

“[Drag queens] are really having to push themselves to just be cooler, more unique and interesting. They’re adding elements to their craft and just constantly adapting,” Livigne said. “We have some entertainers who are making music videos. Some girls started a Patreon and are putting out videos monthly. I did the ‘Drag Queen Story Corner’ on YouTube, so children had something to get into. People are having the opportunity to get to know us as people. We’re getting a lot more interactive with our social media.”

Photo via Driveway Drag Show/Facebook

Although the pandemic has truly been a nightmare for everyone, Livigne has seen some positive impacts from the driveway drag shows that might not have been possible otherwise.

“I think the best things have been from the parents of children,” she said. “I met this family out in Mechanicsville, they have a transgender daughter that transititioned in the third grade. When we pull up, she was so decked out and her eyes were so big. She had a fun lipstick on, and a wig on — she was so freaking ready for the show. That little girl made me realize how strong and powerful I am. Her parents sent me a text message that said ‘thank you’ afterwards. Those little text messages are the ones that have the most impact.”

So far, Livigne has booked 118 homes, and the action isn’t slowing down yet. For the drag queens involved, the community support they’ve received has had a very positive aspect. And if they keep getting bookings, Livigne will keep doing shows, regardless of how hot the weather gets.

“I don’t care if it’s 87 degrees and I’m sweating. I want to go give them a great show.”

Top Photo via Driveway Drag Show/Facebook

Silent/Music Revival Goes Viral

|

Topics: , , , , , , ,

In the time of COVID-19, Silent/Music Revival are bringing their unique combination of local music and silent film into the digital realm.

Silent/Music Revival has been a staple in the Richmond music and film community since 2006, but like so many things in the age of the quarantine and the COVID-19 pandemic, this long-running live event has had to adjust to the times. This year, the experimental project has transformed itself into a virtual event that can be enjoyed by fans from the comfort of their homes, both across the Richmond metro area and, for the first time, in other parts of the state and country.

Silent/Music Revival is the creative project of Jameson Price, a musician and silent film buff from Richmond. The event combines silent films with improvisational live performances by local musicians and bands. It is a unique artistic collaboration that acts as an adhesive between the separate art forms of film and music.

Price introduces a performance at Gallery 5. Photo via Silent/Music Revival/Facebook

The event started in Price’s home more than 15 years ago as a spontaneous passion project, and has grown into a Richmond arts institution. “I got a small projector and started doing that event in my living room,” Price said. “My friends were like, ‘This is really cool – you should do it publicly.'”

Silent/Music Revival has partnered with The James River Film Society (JRFS) for several years now, which has allowed Price access to vintage equipment such as reel-to-reel projectors and an archive of silent-era movies from the late 19th and early 20th centuries. This partnership has also led to Price becoming the vice president of the JRFS.

Today, there are at least two Silent/Music Revival screenings a year — and often more. “The event has enough rhythm now that I’ve been able to always do a Halloween and a holiday one,” Price said.

This year, though, Silent/Music Revival is going virtual with an online series they’re calling “Silent/Music Revival Goes Viral.” The season will include five episodes, broadcasting every Sunday beginning this past weekend and continuing through June 21. Each episode will feature a different film, along with RVA artists Swamp Tree, Ohbliv, Kenneka Cook, and Miramar will contribute soundtracks. Richmond’s own Dave Watkins contributed the soundtrack to the first edition of the series on May 17, which featured Jean Vigo’s A Propos De Nice, a 1930 French film documenting life in the Mediterranean seaside city of Nice, France.

Dave Watkins, Kenneka Cook, and Ohbliv are all Silent/Music Revival alumni, while Swamp Tree and Miramar are first-timers to the event. “In this season I wanted to bring back people who had already done the event, and have some repeats… to feel like we are both taking this experiment together,” Price said.

Traditionally, the artists performing at a Silent/Music Revival event can’t see the film they’re improvising a soundtrack for, and that remains true in the virtual format. For Silent/Music Revival Goes Viral, artists will perform live from their homes or practice spaces while Price projects the film from his home. The bands are encouraged to be playful, improvise, and create unique sonic moments in their set, while also working from material that their fans will recognize. The film is therefore chosen to fit and accompany the style of the musicians.

The end result is a symbiotic relationship between the film and the music, serving to recontextualize the film and allow for reinterpretation of the songs. For this season, rather than focusing on the films in the event’s promotion, Price has decided to focus on promoting the music; while the schedule of artists has already been released in full, each film will be announced to the public only a week prior to the coming episode.

The virtual broadcast format is a first for both Silent/Music Revival and James River Film Society, but both are up to the challenge of creating a new virtual version of this beloved Richmond event. “Being an experimental film event means you have to be willing to experiment,” said Price. “This is definitely an experiment. There could be glitches, weird sync-ups, etc.”

The first-ever virtual Silent/Music Revival on Sunday, May 17th, began with a short intro film used to test the broadcast and make sure everything was in working order. The intro film was an abstract and ethereal composition of textures and colors. Little white lights buzzed and beamed across the screen like stars or ufos filmed in a dark and empty sky. Dave Watkins’ ambient guitar music provided the perfect atmosphere to envelope the images and hypnotize the viewer. 

As the music picked up with a driving rhythm of drums and bass, it created a feeling of frantic wonder, like running through an open field on a beautiful spring day. Words flashed in bright colors. Then the word “END” appeared on the screen, and all went black… but that was just the intro. There was still a full feature film to come.

In a strange time of social distance and isolation, creators and artists are being forced to connect in new ways. Silent/Music Revival’s new season is a testament to the Price and James River Film Society’s dedication to connecting, entertaining, and inspiring Richmond through film and music. Their willingness to experiment and adapt in the face of adversity only emphasizes their passion for this art form that much more. We may need the arts more now than ever before; it is thanks to people like Price and events like Silent/Music Revival that we’re able to get through with a much-needed dose of joy, wonder, and awe.

New installments of Silent/Music Revival Goes Viral take place every Sunday night at 9 PM for the next four weeks; the final installment is on June 21. Tune in to the live broadcast from the James River Film Society’s Instagram page, or catch their rebroadcast on their Facebook the following day to have your own Silent/Music Revival experience and see what all the buzz is about.

Top Image: from A Propos De Nice, Jean Vigo, 1930