New Immersive Performance Uses Theater To Influence Policy Making

A future where everyone has a home is the "nerdy and raucous vision" of "The Most Beautiful Home . . . Maybe," a timely new immersive performance led by Mark-N-Sparks (Los Angeles based artists and activists ashley sparks and Mark Valdez).

Working with national advocacy organizations and arts organizations in four cities as well as with support from major foundations, Mark-N-Sparks hope to use theater making techniques as a vehicle for influencing policy decisions concerning housing insecurity, a problem impacting millions of Americans.

"We have heard repeatedly that there is a lack of imagination in policy spaces," Valdez said. "The thinking gets smaller and smaller, while the housing crisis only get bigger and bigger. Solutions to our crisis will require the arts."

The process for creation of "The Most Beautiful Home . . . Maybe" is at once radically new and crucial to the project's success. The first step involves conducting a series of workshops with local and national audiences with topics ranging from "Housing as Healthcare" to "The Poetry of Data" to "Music and Financing." The workshop participants include relevant stakeholders in housing issues including policy makers, government workers, commercial and non-profit developers, activists, advocates and individuals experiencing housing insecurity. The workshop experience is geared to invite imagining and play for advocates, while the material gathered becomes the basis for the performance.

"The engagement process and the performance are intimately woven together," says co-creator ashley sparks. "By fusing story, imagination and policy discourse together, we're creating space for transformational change in how housing policy can be generated."

A digital version of "The Most Beautiful Home . . . Maybe," will perform June 9 and 10 and will be available for presenting by theaters or for use at virtual conferences. Through the 2021-2022 season, in person workshops and performances are scheduled at each of the four participating organizations: Mixed Blood Theatre in Minneapolis; Syracuse Stage in Syracuse, New York; THEARC Theater in Washington, D.C.; and the Japanese American Cultural and Community Center in Los Angeles.

Mark-N-Sparks is interested in developing "The Most Beautiful Home . . . Maybe" in other cities. Participating organizations need not be traditional theaters. Alternatives could be performances at conferences or gatherings of policy makers, planners and advocates. The show will be available for touring.

"Because the aim of the project is policy change, we know that we have to perform the show and host conversations outside of traditional spaces," Valdez explained. "The trajectory of the project is ultimately one of hope; to invite radical imagination into policy spaces so that we can take the necessary steps to remediate past practices, and build a beautiful future where everyone is housed."

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