TEXT ONLY | Symposium2019

We are devastated by the passing of Jeff Adachi, SF Public Defender and filmmaker who was to join us on this year's panel. We lost a defender of the marginalized, a great thinker, and passionate artist.

Our hearts go out to his family and friends.

Jeff Adachi (August 29, 1959 – February 22, 2019)

5th Annual Getting Played

Symposium on Equity in the Entertainment Industry and Awards

with Keynote by Lili Bernard

Saturday, March 2, 2019

Stanford University

10:00 a.m. - 12:30 p.m.

Black Community Services Center

418 Santa Teresa Street, Stanford

FREE and OPEN TO THE PUBLIC

Please contact ktarr[at]stanford[dot]edu with questions or for more information.

For transportation options, lodging, dining, campus maps, and readings, please visit our Resource Page.

ABOUT

Getting Played: who's playing you?! is a 2010 documentary about inequities in the entertainment industry and inspiration for this symposium. Not only are Industry workers subjected to rampant employment discrimination, entertainment media shapes who we are. Whether one compares the increased support of marriage equality to the number of LGBT characters on television, or the objectification of women in our society to the sexualization of female characters across all media, it is clear that the images we see every day - including those that are fictional - compel our thoughts and behaviors en masse. Join us as we engage a distinguished panel in a conversation including about solutions to the current inequities from casting to directing that shape what we see on the big and small screens. We will conclude our afternoon by honoring a select few courageous heroes who advance Industry equity in their everyday lives.

KEYNOTE

Lili Bernard is a Cuban-born, Los Angeles-based multimedia artist. Her work examines issues of sexism, racism, and trauma. She had a 2017 solo art exhibition "Antebellum Appropriations" at Museum of the African Diaspora.

Lili received her MFA from Otis College of Art and Design and did her undergraduate studies at Cornell University and City University of New York. She is a mother of six, a painter, actor, author, educator, occasional curator, longtime community organizer, and founder of BAILA: Black Artists in Los Angeles. A public-figure antirape activist and co-chair of #ERAnow, Lili influenced the abolishment of the statute of limitations on rape prosecution in California, alongside her #EndRapeSOL peers.

"I create narrative artwork that chronicles sexual, racial and domestic violence, in a collision of cruelty against compassion. Autobiographical anecdotes of childhood abuse, adult rape, and suicide attempts intertwine with sociocultural struggles of my Caribbean immigrant family and ancestors. Afro-Cuban religious iconography and history tether together survivorship stories of the past and present. The unconquerable nature of the human spirit reins over the impact of trauma." -- Lili Bernard

SCHEDULE

10:00 a.m. - 10:30 a.m. Networking and Continental Breakfast

10:30 a.m. - 11:00 a.m. Keynote ~ Lili Bernard

11:00 a.m. - 12:15 p.m. Panel Discussion and Audience Q&A

12:15 p.m. - 12:30 p.m. Awards

PANELISTS and HONOREES

Kathleen Tarr, Moderator

Kathleen Tarr is a University of California, Berkeley and Harvard Law School graduate, Lecturer at Stanford University in the Program in Writing and Rhetoric, Writing Specialist for Stanford's Public Policy Program, former Skadden Fellow (“legal Peace Corps”), and Series Editor for Cultural Weekly’s "Woman’s Work: Setting the Agenda for Gender Equity." During law school, Kathleen assisted in the authorship of Japan’s first university-level sexual harassment policy, and as a Skadden Fellow, she developed some of the U.S.’s first public interest outreach programs to disabled female military veterans. Kathleen has authored several publications including "Above and Beyond: Veterans Disabled by Military Service" (1997) which was cited by the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals, Theatre Bay Area's "White Paper on Achieving a Safe and Inclusive Bay Area Theatre-Making Environment" (2018), and "Bias and the Business of Show: Employment Discrimination in the 'Entertainment' Industry" which was touted by filmmaker, screenwriter, and activist Maria Giese as the most important document published on the issue of discriminatory hiring practices in Hollywood in 2016. "Bias and the Business of Show" evolved from Kathleen’s General Session presentation with special guests Amy Pietz and Edward James Olmos at the 2015 State Bar of California Annual Meeting and is companion to her annual Symposium on Equity in the Entertainment Industry and Awards at Stanford University. 2019 marks the fifth Getting Played symposium, named after Kathleen's documentary on (un)equal employment opportunities in the entertainment industry which received Honorable Mention in the 2010 International Black Women's Film Festival. Kathleen has produced two other films that were official selections in film festivals: her short animation "I Have All The Feelings" (2014 International Black Women's Film Festival) and her short sci-fi film "Early Aliens" (2015 ASTRONOMMO: Speculative Fiction on Film + Black Women). Overlapping these myriad careers, Kathleen’s acting credits encompass stage, film, commercials, television, and video games including "House M.D.", Sundance award winner "Dopamine", and "Sim City". She is also a Women’s American Football League draftee and 26 time indoor rowing world record holder.

Jeff Adachi, Panelist

Jeff Adachi has served as elected Public Defender of the City and County of San Francisco since March 2002 and has worked as a deputy public defender in San Francisco for 15 years. From 1998-2001, he served as the Chief Attorney of the office. He has tried over 150 jury trials, including numerous serious felony and homicide cases, and has handled over 3,000 criminal matters throughout his career. As the only elected Public Defender in the state of California, Mr. Adachi oversees an office of 104 lawyers and 90 support staff. The office represents more than 23,000 people each year who are charged with misdemeanor and felony offenses and is among a handful of public defender’s offices in the U.S. to provide deportation defense to detained immigrants. The San Francisco Public Defender’s Office offers a panoply of innovative programs to its clients, including Drug Court, Mental Health Court, Clean Slate expungement services, and a full-service juvenile division. The public defender’s community MAGIC programs address the root causes of juvenile crime in San Francisco’s underserved neighborhoods by linking families with educational, health and community services. Mr. Adachi has received numerous local, state and national awards, most recently the 2017 Youth Champion Award, the 2016 Society of Professional Journalist’s Public Official Award, the 2015 American Bar Association Hodson Award for Public Service, 2014 SPUR Good Government Award, and 2014 California Public Defender’s Association Program of the Year Award. He serves on the Board of Directors of Cal Humanities and the National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers. Mr. Adachi graduated from Hastings College of the Law in 1985 and received his undergraduate degree from U.C. Berkeley. As a filmmaker, he wrote, produced and directed The Slanted Screen, a 2006 documentary film about stereotypical depictions of Asian males in American cinema. He also directed the 2009 film You Don’t Know Jack: The Jack Soo Story and 2016 short film, America Needs a Racial Facial. His latest film, Defender, won Best Documentary at the Independent Television and Film Festival in October, 2017.

Brad Erickson, Panelist

Brad Erickson serves as executive director for Theatre Bay Area, one of the nation’s largest regional performing arts service organizations, with 300 theatre company members and 2,000 individual members. Since 2003, he has led the organization’s efforts to support, promote and advocate for the region’s vibrant theatre community. Under Erickson’s leadership, TBA has gained a national reputation for innovative programs and services and commissioning groundbreaking research for the field. Erickson serves as treasurer of Californians for the Arts and California Arts Advocates and as California State Captain for Americans for the Arts. In 2016 he received the Alene Valkanas Awards for Statewide Arts Advocacy from Americans for the Arts. Also a playwright, his plays have won several awards and have been produced in theatres from San Francisco to Indianapolis. Erickson’s play American Dream, el sueño del otro lado received its world premiere in 2014 at New Conservatory Theatre Center (NCTC) in San Francisco, playing to popular and critical success. His play, The War at Home, premiered in 2006 at New Conservatory Theatre Center and won “Best New Script” from the Bay Area Theatre Critics Circle. His play Woody & Me was named best new play in the 2000 Festival of Emerging American Theatre and later received a grant from the National Endowment for the Arts to support its world premiere in 2001 at the Phoenix Theatre in Indianapolis. Erickson received a BFA in Acting from the Goodman School of Drama (now The Theatre School) at DePaul University.

Regina Evans, Honoree

Regina Evans is the owner of Regina’s Door, that in addition to selling clothes offers financial support and “creative arts healing” to survivors of sex trafficking and provides a venue for Evans’s plays.

A-lan Holt, Panelist

A-lan Holt is the Interim Executive Director at the Institute for Diversity in the Arts at Stanford University. There she trains undergraduates in the areas of diversity and culture; arts leadership and social justice. She is a mother and practicing artist whose work includes theater, poetry, experience, and film. She is a 2018 Sundance Fellow, a 2018 SF Film Screenwriting Fellow, and a frequent contributor on-air at KQED Arts.

Jeffrey Lo, Panelist

Jeffrey Lo is a Filipino-American playwright and director based in the Bay Area. He is the recipient of the 2014 Leigh Weimers Emerging Arist Award, the 2012 Emerging Artist Laureate by Arts Council Silicon Valley and Theatre Bay Area Director's TITAN Award. His plays have been produced and workshopped at The BindleStiff Studio, City Lights Theatre Company and Custom Made Theatre Company. His play Writing Fragments Home was a finalist for the Bay Area Playwright's Conference and a semi-finalist for the O'Neill Playwright's Conference. Recent directing credits include The Santaland Diaries at TheatreWorks Silicon Valley, Peter and the Starcatcher at Hillbarn Theatre, The Crucible, Yellow Face and Dead Man's Cell Phone at Los Altos Stage Company, Uncle Vanya at the Pear Theatre (BATCC award for Best Production)Eurydice at Palo Alto Players (TBA Awards finalist for Best Direction) and The Drunken City at Renegade Theatre Experiment. Jeffrey has also worked with the Oregon Shakespeare Festival, San Jose Repertory and is a company member of Ferocious Lotus Theatre Company and SF Playground. He is the Casting Director at TheatreWorks Silicon Valley, a graduate of the Multicultural Arts Leadership Institute and a proud alumnus of the UC Irvine Drama Department.

Kimberly Mohne Hill, Honoree

Kimberly Mohne Hill received her MFA in Acting from the American Conservatory Theater (A.C.T.) Currently an Associate Professor of Acting, Voice & Speech, and Dialects at Santa Clara University, Hill continues to direct and dialect coach throughout the Bay Area. Recent Directing credits include: Asst. Directing A Thousand Splendid Suns at ACT/Theatre Calgary with Carey Perloff, When the Rain Stops Falling at the Dragon Theater, Venus in Fur at San Jose Stage Company, In the Next Room (or, the vibrator play) at CityLights Theater, The Other Place at Dragon and The Cripple of Inishmaan at SCU. Hill’s recent Dialect Coaching credits include: Around the World in 80 Days, Outside Mullingar, and Constellations for TheatreWorks, Peter and the Starcatcher and The Elephant Man at Hillbarn, Shirley Valentine at Center Rep of Walnut Creek and Sweeney Todd at San Jose Stage, among others. Additionally, she has published three books for Young Actors on the subject of dialects: Monologues in Dialect for Young Actors, Vol. I & II and Scenes in Dialect for Young Actors. Along with colleague, Aldo Billingslea, Hill is also involved in speaker’s training for exonerees and their families in conjunction with the Northern California Innocence Project. This work focuses on providing voice, speech and storytelling skills training for participants who have the opportunity to share their stories with a wide audience in hopes of affecting change in the criminal justice system and post-incarceration support for the recently exonerated.

Shirley Smallwood, Panelist and Honoree

Born and raised in Berkeley, CA., Shirley A. Smallwood started out training and performing classical music both vocals and violin from elementary through high school. Her bother gave her Ella Fitzgerald and Sarah Vaughn albums as birthday gifts and she instantly got hooked. Smallwood co-founded, along with Edris Cooper-Anifowoshe and the late great Lester Jones, Black Artists Contemporary Cultural Experience (BACCE) was born out the Sugar Shack Performance Gallery & Cultural Center, a groundbreaking artist run Black Art space in San Francisco’s so-called Lower Haight. She recently won a collective award from the 9th Annual Independent Series Award for best comedey ensemble for the “The Rich and the Ruthless”, directed by Victoria Rowell (Diagnosis Murder, The Young and the Restless), currently on the UMC.tv website. Played a thousand year Kracken, and a 100 year old sailor in “Life on the Ocean Wave” at the Exit Theatre and serveral local voicover commercials. Wrote and sang the Italian aria for the independent <lm "Zoli's Brain", produced and directed by Ti@any Schwalain. "Zoli's Brain" premiered at the 1994 Cannes Film Festival. She co-stared as Brenda in "She's Got Next", produced and directed b Tricia C. Valencia of Flaca Films. She was featured in the "Kymora Curve Control Jeans" informational that ran nationwide. Smallwood selected and performed all the music for Mike and Je@ Nishimura's play "Avenues". She co-starred in two productions at the New Conservatory Theater, "The Last Session" as Tryshia the Diva and the legendary Bricktop in "Red, Hot, and Cole". She played Sister Mary Hubert in Dan Groggins' "Messhuga Nuns" at the Paci<ca Repertory Theater in Carmel, CA. She played the Courtesan for Marin Shakespeare Theater's adaptation of "Comedy of Errors" and was the understudy (Beartrice) for "The House that Would Not Stand" at the Berkeley Repertory Theatre. Smallwood returned to college at the age of 42 and received her BA in Music from Holy Names College.

Danielle Stagger, Panelist

Danielle Stagger is a senior at Stanford majoring in Theater and Performance Studies. On campus, she's been involved in an array of student groups – as BLACKstage’s current Vice President, Ram’s Head’s Committee Chair on Diversity and Representation, and a board member for Ram's Head and Wit*: a gender inclusive theater company respectively. She also co-founded the student organization Black Entertainment at Stanford (BEAST) in hopes of creating a space for creatives on campus to collaborate, exchange work, and cultivate authentic professional relationships in the Art and Entertainment space. She’s previously completed internships with Writer/Producer Tom Lynch, the Television Academy of Arts and Sciences, and the current series team at VH1/MTV. Her true passion lies in creating stories for both stage and screen, and she plans to pursue a career as a playwright and television writer after graduation.

Valerie Weak, Honoree

Valerie Weak is an Equity actor and theater educator whose San Francisco Bay Area theater credits include CenterREP, Word for Word, Shotgun Players and the San Francisco Shakespeare Festival. On-camera, she was ‘Mrs. Miller’ in season 2 of 13 Reasons Why on Netflix, and has also worked in indie film, industrials and voiceover. She has taught and/or directed student work at American Conservatory Theatre, California Shakespeare Theatre and Word for Word’s Youth Arts program. She is the founder of the Counting Actors Project, a monthly report on gender representation in SF Bay Area theater, and served on Theatre Bay Area’s Gender Parity committee. In spring 2015, Valerie published Not Even, a study of gender parity in Bay Area theaters. She is a Theatre Bay Area TITAN winner and has trained at Skidmore College with Anne Bogart and the SITI Company, and also holds a BA in Theatre Arts from UCLA. www.valerieweak.com

Cameron Woods, Honoree

Cameron Woods is a junior at Stanford University studying African and African American Studies and enjoys taking screenwriting classes. In the future he hopes to tell powerful, entertaining stories that reflect the experiences of those typically left out of society’s canons. When he isn’t in class he enjoys performing with his improv group, the Stanford Improvisers and making online shorts with his friends.

P. Jay Sidney, Posthumous Honoree

[SOURCE: NPR] P. Jay Sidney is a long-forgotten actor and advocate who pushed against the whiteness of network television for decades. Born in 1915 in Norfolk, Virginia, Sidney worked alongside Lena Horne in stage plays and lent his voice to a radio series. With the onset of television, he found more work — and more barriers. A newspaper clipping from the 1950s calls Sidney "the 'single exception' to the exclusion of black dramatic actors." Sidney took issue with all this. He wrote letters and pushed for black viewers to boycott the industry, often using language very similar to today's conversations about diversity in television. "By not including Negroes in at least approximately the numbers and the roles in which they occur in American life, television and radio programs that purport to give a true picture of American life malign and misrepresent Negro citizens as a whole," he wrote in the Amsterdam News. He testified in front of the House of Representatives in 1962, in the thick of the civil rights movement, demanding an end to widespread discrimination in his industry. "For most white people," Sidney said, "Negroes are not actors, or doctors, or lawyers — not really — but are rather, all members of a secret lodge, domiciled in Harlem or some other Colored Town— all knowing each other and all experts on one another."

5th Anniversary

GETTING PLAYED

SYMPOSIUM