SEASON 35 | FEBRUARY 2023
i see you. you’re seen.
FEBRUARY 25 - MARCH 11, 2023
Written and Performed by Oktavea LaToi
Directed by Simone Raquel Alexander
“Hey little black girl, feeling invisible and all so visceral. Staring up at the heavens, as vast as your potential. i see you. you’re seen.”
Told through the lens of a former little black girl, i see you. you’re seen. is a solo work composed of a collection of poetry and vignettes that investigates what it means to “see and be seen, to see and be forgotten” through the lens of healing, Blackness, and self-reflection, while also challenging others who “look the other way”. What does it mean to be hyper-visible AND also invisible?
"Don’t you see us?"
A fusion of art, poetry, music, and movement, this choreopoem explores the interlocking oppressions of Black women, while also illuminating love and relationships, family and ritual. Oktavea LaToi brings on the Revolution, inviting us to bask in beauty and acknowledge our own sacredness. There’s a galaxy inside of you, too. This memoir is in equal parts a love story, war cry, conjuring, and family photo album.
"Can you see us now?"
"How ‘bout now?"
This 2023 premiere is the culmination of several years of development. Created over the pandemic and workshopped in August 2021 through April 2022 at The VORTEX Oktavea LaToi and Simone Raquel Alexander shaped the bones of the show and explored design elements.
TEAM
Written and performed by Oktavea LaToi. Directed by Simone Raquel Alexander. Assistant Director, Valerie Johnson. Stage Manager, Cortney DeAngelo. Assistant Stage Managers, Catherine Kenner and Joi Green. Scenic Design by Maggie Armendariz. Costume Design by Paris Hermosillo. Lighting Design by J Mwaki. Sound Design by Johann Solo. Cinematography by Jeremy Rashad Brown. Video Design by Jackson Cobb. Original music by The Foxtones, Johann Solo, and Edward Traví. Choreography by Kitty McSparkles.
Production Manager, Katie Hamilton. Box Office Manager/Keeper of the Butterfly Garden, Alex Cogburn. Managing Director, Melissa Vogt. Producing Artistic Director, Bonnie Cullum.
ABOUT
Oktavea LaToi is a writer and performer based in Central Texas. She holds a dual degree in Theatre and Dance with a concentration in Performance, and African and African Diaspora Studies with a focus in critical race, gender, and sexuality studies from the University of Texas at Austin. She won B. Iden Payne Awards for Outstanding Lead Actress and Outstanding Small Cast for Annie Jump and the Library of Heaven (The VORTEX). Other credits include Rap Unzel (The VORTEX), A Midsummer Night's Dream (Austin Shakespeare), The Odyssey (The VORTEX) good friday (New Manifest Theatre) SEVEN (Trinity Street Players), black girl love (GenEnCo/VORTEX), WHITE (Permanent Record Productions), Performance Park (The VORTEX), and TWENTYEIGHT (Gale Theatre).
Simone Raquel Alexander (she/her) is a freelance artist, arts administrator, and arts advocate. She serves as Producing Artistic Director and Founder of New Manifest Theatre Company, Development Director of Ground Floor Theatre, and Visitor Relations Manager at The Contemporary Austin Museum. Simone's artistic vision is dedicated to sharing the art of the people of today through storytelling from a diversity of uniquely specific voices, styles and perspectives in contemporary theatre.
i see you. you’re seen. is funded and supported by VORTEX Repertory Company, Six Square Austin’s Black Cultural District, a District grant from the Texas Commission on the Arts, and the National Endowment for the Arts.