Productivity and REAL updates!!

Bon sois, everyone! (It's not bon nuit til the fat lady sleeps...I think that allusion may have worked?)

I'm going to try to start updating this thing a little more frequently (Daily? Crossed fingers?) so you can ACTUALLY follow us in the making of our show, the LWC APP!! First thing you should know: we love abbreves. We make this obvious. ;)

Wonderfully productive rehearsal tonight. Things we learned: The APP Team LOVES to talk. Things we knew: The APP Team LOVES to talk. We have notebooks now, though (yay!), including small ones (even bigger yay from Dylan!), so it's all good because we gon' keep it and write it down, y'all! 

Things to look forward to: more exploration re: the NU administration and their quest for prestige and respect (from whom... US News and World Report?), play with the structure of NU student tour guides, and Jovie and Leah performing a lyrical dance number. Done.

We also hearkened back to a rehearsal last week when we talked about the differences in response between NU Stands for Haiti/Pakistan and the NU Living Wage Campaign. Is distance safe? Cathy suggested this:

NU STANDS RIGHT THE FUCK HERE.

We're rolling with that one. Have a great night, world! 

Love,

Alyssa, APP Director

"Going to Northwestern is like having a beautiful girlfriend that treats you like crap."

We found this on urbandictionary.com when we looked up "Northwestern" (why did we do that again?) - a real former NU student quoted in The Princeton Review. Eek! Thoughts?

If it's like that for some students, what about for the workers...?

- Alyssa, APP Director

We have QUESTIONS!!

Things we want to know, and are going to research:

- How has the pay progressed?
- Math - actual #s (Univ, students, per year, etc.)
- Workers' relationship to unions
- How many hours supposed to/do work a week
- Family size
- Transportation expense/method?
- Food expenses
- Previous/additional current jobs
- Where they live
- Pay diffs between head chefs, other workers, etc.
- Wage at this Starbucks vs. Other Starbucks
*** Community benefits, results
- Languages and what jobs as a result

Can you help us with any of them, or do you have any stories? Comment or email us at lwc.activist.perf@gmail.com!!

Over the last week (our first week of rehearsal!), the APP team has been exploring our own perceptions of and stories about campus workers, examining our own interactions with workers, (not to mention the physical structures that facilitate that - or don't), and exploring questions we have about the Living Wage Campaign itself.

Check out all the questions and ideas we threw up on the board at the end of the week:

THEMES in improv scenes and created images:

Barriers
Divide
Everyday life
Frustration on both sides
What's taken for granted?
Money issues
More than meets the eye - things we would never know
Behind the face-to-face
Assumptions
Cool with status quo
"Serves them right"?
"Don't need to be making..."
Image of confrontation

QUESTIONS we want to ask:


What's behind the barrier?
Why is there a barrier?
Should there be a barrier?
What's going too far? Us, campaign, etc.
What are you going to lose vs. What are they going to gain?

Is there a responsibility here?

Does SHE care about ME?

LET'S EXPLORE...

Math on stage???
NU Pakistan & NU Haiti -- What is the difference???
"One time tragic event vs. a continual systematic problem"
We can solve this!
Gift!  Okay, we're done now
"People were dying"
Workers in uniforms vs. own clothes????
People on the El with an NU Cuisine shirt
Students: why pay more vs. fuck it
What's that $10 worth to you?  Can we quantify it?
"You can't get shit for one dollar"
LWC fighting the freshman 15! =)
Are there things about this job that they enjoy?  Would they switch jobs if they had the chance?
Kids vs. Workers why do you go/work here?
Norris giving jobs to people fresh out of jail
Guy at Sbarro and college parties
Student workers in Norris vs. other workers
Visibility!!
NU students work on upper levels of Norris
Discomfort when entering "worker areas/times"
Elevators

Do you have comments or questions for us? Have YOUR say!

Love,

The APP Team

We have a CAST!!

Congratulations to the wonderful creation cast of 

The Living Wage Campaign

Activist Performance Project!!

Kate Villa!

Jovie Maize!

Dylan Pickus!

Johanna Middleton! 

Leah Martin!

Steven Monacelli! 

Andre Sguerra!

Claire Kennedy!

Cathy Muskett!

Thank you so much to everyone who auditioned. You all were wonderful and inspiring, and we hope that, if you weren't cast, you'll still work with us in other capacities. Email lwc.activist.perf@gmail.com with interest or questions!

Fight back! 

Ridiculous love,

Alyssa, Director & Kayleigh, SM

What we are... Now get involved!!

CALLING ALL ACTIVISTS 

and

ARTISTS OF ALL DISCIPLINES  

(Writers, Actors, Dancers, Poets, Singers, and anyone who likes to CREATE):

Care about NU's Living Wage Campaign? Wish you could get closer to our workers and their stories? Want to make NU a better, more discursive, more creative community? Interested in art for social change??

GET INVOLVED in the Living Wage Campaign's Fall Quarter

ACTIVIST PERFORMANCE PROJECT!!

What the heck is that, you ask?

>>The NU Living Wage Campaign ACTIVIST PERFORMANCE PROJECT (APP) is an attempt to provide a unique forum to examine the dynamics between NU workers, students, the administration, labor unions, etc. that the Living Wage Campaign is trying to bring to light.<<

1. There will be a TEAM.

Anyone who is interested in the potential for ART and DISCUSSION to turn into EFFECTIVE ACTION can help us out! You can be on our marketing, fundraising, business, or outreach teams - email lwc.activist.perf@gmail.com with Qs or to apply!

2. There will be a CAST of creators and performers.

Using the LWC's training and campaign principles, 6-8 ACTIVIST ARTISTS OF ALL KINDS will interact with campus workers, hear, tell and imagine stories, and CREATE A PERFORMANCE intended to engage the greater NU community in the LWC conversation, and to make these people and issues human.

Auditions/interviews for CAST will take place: Saturday, OCT 9 from 4-6pm and Sunday, OCT 10 from 12-2pm in the Evans Room in Norris. Sign up for a slot here! http://doodle.com/x5t5vpd6ixg4hknt 

Email director Alyssa at avramos@u.northwestern.edu with Qs!