15 NOV 2022 · This is it, right here, this is the final episode. And if you’re here right now, and you’ve been choosing to return to this work again and again, I want to say, thank you. Cuz If we want alternative means to responding to harm other than the systems on offer from the state, we are the ones who have to invest time, energy, labor into learning, healing, imagining, practicing, remembering, and organizing to get there. As Black feminist revolutionary writer June Jordan said, “we are the ones we have been waiting for.” Now is the time to generously bring forth our gifts and throw down for our collective liberation. So again, thank you for choosing to be here. Let’s dream forward. Episode transcript: https://bit.ly/TheRealWork-Episode-6 Sogorea Te’ Land Trust: https://sogoreate-landtrust.org/ Save the West Berkeley Shellmound: https://shellmound.org/ June Jordan: http://www.junejordan.com/ The Revolution Starts at Home: Confronting Intimate Violence Within Activist Communities, ed. Ching-In Chen, Jai Dulani, Leah Lakshmi Piepzna-Samarasinha: https://www.akpress.org/revolutionstartsathome.html Democracy Now!, “Remembering Grace Lee Boggs (1915-2015): ‘We Have to Change Ourselves in Order to Change the World’”: https://www.democracynow.org/2015/10/6/remembering_grace_lee_boggs_1915_2015 Kim Tran: https://www.kimtranphd.com/ Kyra Jones: https://www.kyrajones.me/ Adrienne Skye Roberts: http://therapywithadrienneskye.com/ Mia Mingus: https://www.soiltjp.org & https://leavingevidence.wordpress.com Bay Area Transformative Justice Collective: https://batjc.wordpress.com/ For additional resources, including this episode’s ASL video: https://www.weriseproduction.com/therealwork zAnda of DiaspoRADiCAL: @diaspo.radical on Instagram & https://soundcloud.com/diasporadical Connect with us at WeRiseProduction@ProtonMail.com, and follow us on Facebook & Instagram at @WeRiseProduction, & on Twitter at @WeRiseProducers. This project is supported by an Investing in Artists Grant from the Center for Cultural Innovation & the City of Oakland’s Cultural Funding Program, and was incubated with initial support from Cal Shakes.

31 OCT 2022 · Last episode, we focused on the accountability part of community accountability. We explored how changing our behavior to live accountably is lifelong work, is violence prevention, takes building skills until they become muscle memory. Fortunately for us, Mia gave us many opportunities to practice. In this episode, we learn from this practice – and – we focus on the community part of community accountability. Mia emphasized that transformative justice is not about intervening in or saving someone else’s community – TJ is responding to harm, violence, and abuse in our OWN communities. So as we built up fundamental TJ skills, she guided us to envision the changes we’d like to see in Bay Area theater. Episode transcript: https://bit.ly/TheRealWork-Episode-5 Sogorea Te’ Land Trust: https://sogoreate-landtrust.org/ Save the West Berkeley Shellmound: https://shellmound.org/ Story F.4. “Surviving and Doing Sexual Harm: A Story of Accountability and Healing” from Section 4.F: Taking Accountability in the Creative Interventions Toolkit: A Practical Guide to Stop Interpersonal Violence: https://www.creative-interventions.org/toolkit/ “What Is Accountability” panel recorded at Building Accountable Communities: A National Gathering on Transforming Harm on April 27, 2019 at Barnard College, NYC featuring Shannon Perez-Darby, Esteban Kelly, RJ Maccani, Mia Mingus, Sonya Shah, and Leah Todd, and moderated by Piper Anderson: https://bcrw.barnard.edu/videos/building-accountable-communities-what-is-accountability/ https://f2606a71-bda8-4907-8ea6-d848e7fd6671.usrfiles.com/ugd/f2606a_5869addf765749b99d63019969bf0ceb.pdf https://f2606a71-bda8-4907-8ea6-d848e7fd6671.usrfiles.com/ugd/f2606a_310f018b45de437bb24639f478166068.pdf BATJC Case Studies: https://batjc.wordpress.com/resources/case-studies/ Mia Mingus: https://www.soiltjp.org & https://leavingevidence.wordpress.com Bay Area Transformative Justice Collective: https://batjc.wordpress.com/ For additional resources, including this episode’s ASL video: https://www.weriseproduction.com/therealwork zAnda of DiaspoRADiCAL: @diaspo.radical on Instagram & https://soundcloud.com/diasporadical Connect with us at WeRiseProduction@ProtonMail.com, and follow us on Facebook & Instagram at @WeRiseProduction, & on Twitter at @WeRiseProducers. This project is supported by an Investing in Artists Grant from the Center for Cultural Innovation & the City of Oakland’s Cultural Funding Program, and was incubated with initial support from Cal Shakes.

18 OCT 2022 · Greetings The Real Work listeners! After 6 years of groundwork, We Rise Production – the production team behind The Real Work – is celebrating how far we’ve come & asking you – our community – for support. Donate to our first ever fundraiser! Your contribution supports queer, femme, Black Indigenous and People Of Color-centered multimedia productions, and directly supports the completion of this series, as well as ASL videos & transcripts. We Rise collaborations, like The Real Work, uplift liberatory ideas & strategies and offer seedlings of possibilities & inspiration that will support us in the coming years – as we navigate climate emergencies, oppressive systems, & the ongoing effects of the pandemic – and as we seek ways to heal & take care of ourselves, our communities, and the coming generations. This is why we say our work is in service of "nourishing imaginations for our collective liberation." Listen to Cat & Nic – We Rise co-founders & co-conspirators – reflect on past collaborations, and get sneak peak sound bites of what’s to come! Donate now! Become a patron: https://www.patreon.com/werise Donate on PayPal: https://www.paypal.com/paypalme/weriseproduction Share our call for support with your community! https://www.weriseproduction.com/ Contact us at WeRiseProducers@gmail.com if you’d like to write a check - or - with questions or ideas.

3 OCT 2022 · As the cohort continued, we learned that building the capacity to practice transformative justice takes immense and consistent personal work. We’re talking the basics of being human, like self reflection, and how to communicate. These personal inquiries into how we live our values, and how we respond to our inevitable mistakes, were like portals into the heart of TJ. Into what it would take to support ourselves and others in living accountably every day for everything we do, and fail to do. Episode transcript: https://bit.ly/TheRealWork-Episode-4 Sogorea Te’ Land Trust: https://sogoreate-landtrust.org/ Save the West Berkeley Shellmound: https://shellmound.org/ Creative Interventions Toolkit: A Practical Guide to Stop Interpersonal Violence: https://www.creative-interventions.org/toolkit/ Aya de Leon, “Reconciling Rage and Compassion: The Unfolding #MeToo Moment for Junot Diaz”: https://transformharm.org/reconciling-rage-and-compassion-the-unfolding-metoo-moment-for-junot-diaz/ “Hollow Water,” directed by Bonnie Dickie: https://www.nfb.ca/film/hollow_water/ Mia Mingus, “The Four Parts of Accountability & How To Give A Genuine Apology“: https://leavingevidence.wordpress.com/2019/12/18/how-to-give-a-good-apology-part-1-the-four-parts-of-accountability/ Mia Mingus: https://www.soiltjp.org & https://leavingevidence.wordpress.com Bay Area Transformative Justice Collective: https://batjc.wordpress.com/ For additional resources, including this episode’s ASL video: https://www.weriseproduction.com/therealwork zAnda of DiaspoRADiCAL: @diaspo.radical on Instagram & https://soundcloud.com/diasporadical Connect with us at WeRiseProduction@ProtonMail.com, and follow us on Facebook & Instagram at @WeRiseProduction, & on Twitter at @WeRiseProducers. This project is supported by an Investing in Artists Grant from the Center for Cultural Innovation & the City of Oakland’s Cultural Funding Program, and was incubated with initial support from Cal Shakes.

19 SEP 2022 · Our facilitator, Mia Mingus, used the metaphor of a fist to explain how, unlike our current severely punitive carceral system, TJ creates conditions that support folks to step up and take accountability when they’ve caused harm. In this episode, we explore how these systems have shaped us, and ask, how else can we respond to violence, harm, & abuse? Episode transcript:https://bit.ly/TheRealWork-Episode-3 Sogorea Te’ Land Trust: https://sogoreate-landtrust.org/ Save the West Berkeley Shellmound: https://shellmound.org/ Mariame Kaba - https://transformharm.org/ & http://mariamekaba.com/ Readings & Media compiled by the Bay Area Transformative Justice Collective: https://batjc.wordpress.com/resources/readings-media/ Transformative Justice Resources, compiled by Cory Lira of Critical Resistance Portland: https://docs.google.com/document/d/11D8HSm4q4LIMH_T8b3W8oFIZxMgvPYkUh0WhC5XlgCU/edit Mia Mingus: https://www.soiltjp.org & https://leavingevidence.wordpress.com Bay Area Transformative Justice Collective: https://batjc.wordpress.com/ For additional resources, including this episode’s ASL video: https://www.weriseproduction.com/therealwork zAnda of DiaspoRADiCAL: @diaspo.radical on Instagram & https://soundcloud.com/diasporadical Connect with us at WeRiseProduction@ProtonMail.com, and follow us on Facebook & Instagram at @WeRiseProduction, & on Twitter at @WeRiseProducers. This project is supported by an Investing in Artists Grant from the Center for Cultural Innovation & the City of Oakland’s Cultural Funding Program, and was incubated with initial support from Cal Shakes.

5 SEP 2022 · On episode one, we got up to speed about the conditions that brought theater makers in the Bay Area to organize around TJ. This episode is dedicated to unpacking, at its core, what is TJ? Episode transcript: https://bit.ly/TheRealWork-Episode-2 Sogorea Te’ Land Trust: https://sogoreate-landtrust.org/ Save the West Berkeley Shellmound: https://shellmound.org/ BATJC Pods & Pod Mapping Worksheet Instructions: https://batjc.wordpress.com/resources/pods-and-pod-mapping-worksheet/ BATJC Pod Mapping Worksheet: https://batjc.files.wordpress.com/2016/06/batjc-pod-mapping-2016-updated.pdf EdSource, “At this Oakland high school, restorative justice goes far beyond discipline”: https://edsource.org/2022/at-this-oakland-high-school-restorative-justice-goes-far-beyond-discipline/673453 Restorative Justice for Oakland Youth/RJOY: https://rjoyoakland.org/ Mia Mingus: https://www.soiltjp.org & https://leavingevidence.wordpress.com Bay Area Transformative Justice Collective: https://batjc.wordpress.com/ Democracy Now!, “Remembering Grace Lee Boggs (1915-2015): ‘We Have to Change Ourselves in Order to Change the World’”: https://www.democracynow.org/2015/10/6/remembering_grace_lee_boggs_1915_2015 For additional resources, including this episode’s ASL video: https://www.weriseproduction.com/therealwork zAnda of DiaspoRADiCAL: @diaspo.radical on Instagram & https://soundcloud.com/diasporadical Connect with us at WeRiseProduction@ProtonMail.com, and follow us on Facebook & Instagram at @WeRiseProduction, & on Twitter at @WeRiseProducers. This project is supported by an Investing in Artists Grant from the Center for Cultural Innovation & the City of Oakland’s Cultural Funding Program, and was incubated with initial support from Cal Shakes.

23 AUG 2022 · How did The Real Work come to be? What were the conditions that set the stage (pun intended) for theater workers to come together to study & practice transformative justice? Let's find out... Episode transcript: https://bit.ly/TheRealWork-EP1 Sogorea Te’ Land Trust: https://sogoreate-landtrust.org/ Save the West Berkeley Shellmound: https://shellmound.org/ Anti Police-Terror Project: https://www.antipoliceterrorproject.org/ The Village in Oakland #feedthepeople @villageoakland: https://www.facebook.com/TheVillageInOakland Alliance of Californians for Community Empowerment: https://www.acceaction.org/ East Bay Permanent Real Estate Cooperative: https://ebprec.org/ Washington Post, “Chicago theaters said ‘Not in Our House’ to sexual abuse and harassment”: ​​https://www.washingtonpost.com/entertainment/theater_dance/chicago-theaters-say-not-in-our-house-to-sexual-abuse/2017/12/14/e2db9c30-e014-11e7-8679-a9728984779c_story.html Howlround, “What Playwrights Can Learn from Intimacy Directors: A Conversation with Gaby Labotka“: https://howlround.com/what-playwrights-can-learn-intimacy-directors Coalition of Black Women Professional Theatre Makers in the Bay Area, California: https://blackwomenbayareatheatre.wordpress.com/ The New York Times, “Long Wharf Theater Leader is Accused of Sexual Harassment”: https://www.nytimes.com/2018/01/22/theater/gordon-edelstein-long-wharf-theater-sexual-misconduct.html Kim Tran: https://www.kimtranphd.com/ Kyra Jones: https://www.kyrajones.me/ Adrienne Skye Roberts: http://therapywithadrienneskye.com/ Resources for Addressing Sexual Harassment & Violence (compiled for It’s Time: Bay Area Town Hall on Sexual Harassment in Our Theatre Community): https://www.theatrebayarea.org/general/custom.asp?page=itstimeresources Mia Mingus: https://www.soiltjp.org & https://leavingevidence.wordpress.com Bay Area Transformative Justice Collective: https://batjc.wordpress.com/ For additional resources, including this episode’s ASL video: https://www.weriseproduction.com/therealwork zAnda of DiaspoRADiCAL: @diaspo.radical on Instagram & https://soundcloud.com/diasporadical Connect with us at WeRiseProduction@ProtonMail.com, and follow us on Facebook & Instagram at @WeRiseProduction, & on Twitter at @WeRiseProducers. This project is supported by an Investing in Artists Grant from the Center for Cultural Innovation & the City of Oakland’s Cultural Funding Program, and was incubated with initial support from Cal Shakes.

15 AUG 2022 · We are proud to present The Real Work: a podcast about theater culture & transformative justice! This collaboration has been in the works since 2018, and we are thrilled to share it with you now. Join us for our free online premiere of this series with a community dialogue August 22nd 7PM-9PM PST. Register at the link below. Let’s gather, witness episode 1, and dialogue about how transformative justice — a paradigm of community accountability and intervention in harm, violence, and abuse — can strengthen our art-making and activist spaces. Episode transcript: https://bit.ly/TheRealWork-Pilot-Episode Register for the 8.22.22 online premiere: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/online-premiere-of-the-real-work-podcast-with-asl-interpretation-registration-389740062017 The Real Work is a 6-episode audio miniseries exploring transformative justice as a tool for preventing, addressing, and healing harm in Bay Area theater and beyond. Over the course of one year, nearly thirty local theater makers gathered monthly to learn together about transformative justice, under the facilitation of Mia Mingus, co-founder of the Bay Area Transformative Justice Collective. This podcast series documents our learnings with an aim to share out and grow our collective capacity to practice transformative justice, especially in our arts and activist spaces. True to its name, The Real Work reveals the seemingly mundane relational practices we can engage with one another to build cultures of safety and thriving within our communities. From communication skills, giving and receiving feedback, and learning how to make good apologies, to understanding roots of harm, TJ illuminates patterns of violence and abuse and offers dynamic ways of taking accountability to fundamentally shift them. The Real Work: A Podcast About Theater Culture & Transformative Justice is created & hosted by Tierra Allen, in partnership with We Rise Production. Sogorea Te’ Land Trust: https://sogoreate-landtrust.org/ Save the West Berkeley Shellmound: https://shellmound.org/ Mia Mingus: https://www.soiltjp.org & https://leavingevidence.wordpress.com Bay Area Transformative Justice Collective: https://batjc.wordpress.com/ For additional resources, including this episode’s ASL video: https://www.weriseproduction.com/therealwork zAnda of DiaspoRADiCAL: @diaspo.radical on Instagram & https://soundcloud.com/diasporadical Connect with us at WeRiseProduction@ProtonMail.com, and follow us on Facebook & Instagram at @WeRiseProduction, & on Twitter at @WeRiseProducers. This project is supported by an Investing in Artists Grant from the Center for Cultural Innovation & the City of Oakland’s Cultural Funding Program, and was incubated with initial support from Cal Shakes.