The Misconception of "Woke" with Chris Sanders

"Statera Voices" is an op-ed series featured on the Statera Blog dedicated to reclaiming dominant cultural narratives as a means towards intersectional gender balance in the arts and beyond. "Statera Voices" is where we tell our stories, expand our histories, and celebrate each other.

Today's offering comes to us from Chris Sanders, an actor, arts educator, activist, and Statera Ambassador! They share with us some thoughts on what it means to be “woke” and inspire us all to stay awake. Enjoy!

Photo by Jordan Fraker.

BY CHRIS SANDERS

I feel as though there is a misconception about “woke” culture. That to be “woke” is to be inclusive, or liberal, or wise, or politically correct, or not a bigot.

To be “woke” is to have awoken from your earthly conditioning. As a child, likely as young as 3 to 5 years old, you had no worries of race, or class, or sex or orientation. You had no fear of murder or theft or sexual assault. You had no insecurities. You had only dreams, and hopes, and even when you felt pain, anger, or fear, you felt love. So much love. Over time your family conditions you to fit their mindset. Then your school conditions you to fit the local mindset. The media and history, that your family and school choose to expose you to, conditions part of your worldly mindset. And thus you become a product of your environment.

You grow to believe that your worth is based on the labels you are given. Your wealth makes you better or worse than others. Your education makes you better or worse than others. Your background/heritage makes your better or worse than others. Your orientation and/or gender makes you better or worse than others.

Then, hopefully, some drastic change happens that causes one to snap out of this mindset. You realize that all people are equal. ALL people are equal. All PEOPLE are equal. All people ARE equal. And all people are SACRED. Thus all people are worthy of Love.

Yes, even that kid from 3rd grade you never forgave for that thing that they did, that one time.

Yes, even that relative/friend/classmate from grade school, who you do not share political/social views with.

Yes, even you. Even though you no longer recognize who you are, how you got here, or what to do now. You, too, are worthy of love.

So! You have awoken to the fact that you have been conditioned to be a certain way... a way that may be very distant from what you imagined you’d be as a small child. So the question becomes: What do you do about it?

Because here is the thing about being “woke”: You are not waking up from a nap. You are waking up from a life-long coma. You are jarred (pushed, shoved, tossed off of a cliff face first) into a new reality. One you do not remember from before the coma and one you certainly do not recall from your coma dreams. Even after “waking up”, you realize that the bedding is old, and the sheets are dirty, and you’re covered in your own filth, and even the clothes you wore to bed don’t fit anymore. Your body suddenly doesn’t fit right. And your voice sounds off to you. So what now? Do you even call for help? Do you get out of bed and change? Or do you sit in the discomfort of your own stink, because it’s too much work to (and perhaps more comfortable NOT to) move?

When you “get woke” that’s just the first step. When you wake up, do you get up to exercise out old thoughts? Or are you still lying in bed with the same tired muscles?

Me? I’ve been waking up for years. And I’m tired of falling back to sleep.

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ABOUT CHRIS

Chris Sanders (they/them) teaches Theatre courses at UTD, in Richardson, TX. They are also a spokesperson for Susan G. Koman, and an Independent Consultant with Arbonne International. Their theatre credits include Frankenstein, A Christmas Carol [2016] (Dallas Theater Center), The Learned Ladies, Much Ado About Nothing, Timon of Athens (Shakespeare Theatre of New Jersey), Our Town (George Street Playhouse), Artist Descending the Staircase at Amphibian Stage Productions, Obama-olgy at Jubliee Theatre, Straight White Men (Second Thought Theatre), the World Premiere of The Monarch (Soul Rep and Echo Theatres), and Tony n' Tina's Wedding (Count Basie Theatre). Chris is also thrilled to have taken on the role of being the Head of Music Ministry with Activate Church. Activate is a place of Christian worship, geared towards entrepreneurs, based in Dallas, TX. Chris earned their BA in Theatre from Kean University and her MFA in Acting from Southern Methodist University. Chris Sanders is represented by the Mary Collins Agency, in Dallas, TX.

Meet the Statera Conference Team

You’ve been waiting all year and now Statera’s National Conference is only one week away! StateraCon is a place for collective healing and creative coalition building. This national gathering is focused on intersectional gender balance and our goal is to take positive action to bring women, gender-fluid, and non-binary artists and arts leaders into full and equal participation in the American Theatre. We still have open spots and late registration will remain open until we sell out.

We’re excited to introduce you to the people behind the scenes at StateraConIV.

Statera National Conference Chairs

First and foremost, we’d like to thank conference co-chairs Tracy Liz Miller (above left) and Jennifer Tuttle (above right) for their incredible work to make StateraCon a success.

We’d also like to thank our team of ambassador volunteers from City College of New York: Ashleigh Daley-Small, Emily Burstyn, Molly Wolff, Cassandre Nordgren, Alyssa Valdez, Grace Nevitt, Sam Walsh, Josie Harding, and Chamallie Singh. We’d also like to thank CCNY Departmental Administrator Tara Nachtigall.

CULTURE SHIFT AGENCY

Thank you to Marla Teyolia (above left) and Kavitha Rao (above right) of Culture Shift Agency, who are working side-by-side with Statera leadership to bring you a meaningful conference experience framed by moments of community ritual and collective healing. They are also facilitating a curated pre-convening hosted by StateraArts on Friday for arts leaders and change makers. Please visit the Culture Shift website to learn more about their practice and work.

Statera Team

We’re thrilled this year to have so many Statera Team members joining us at conference - each contributing in their own way as program directors, speakers, contributors, facilitators, and boots on the ground! Thank you (from top left to bottom right) National Mentorship Co-Directors Erika Haaland and Minita Gandhi, Statera Membership Director Vanessa Ballam, Operations Assistant Evangeline Stott, and Statera Ambassadors Chris Sanders, Vanessa DeSilvio, Kate St. Pierre, and Tiffany Denise Hobbs. And a huge thank you to Social Media Director Erika Vetter Fontana for her beautiful work coordinating PR for StateraConIV.

Statera Leadership

Thank you to our Executive Director Melinda Pfundstein, Development Coordinator Sabrina Cofield, and Operations Director Sarah Greenman for their leadership and vision.

Statera Advisory Board

Thank you to our incredible Advisory Board, (from left to right) Nancy Slitz, Marti Gobel, Sam White, Martha Richards, and Shelly Gaza for their support and guidance as we expand our impact and bring Statera’s National Conference to New York City.

Conference Partners

StateraCon cannot happen without the generous support and collaboration of our partners. Thank you to the Tecovas Foundation whose mission is to support systemic social change by ensuring change agents have access to the tools they need to scale, collaborate, and build capacity. Thank you to City College of New York Department of Theatre & Speech (CCNY) for hosting us on your beautiful campus. And thank you to the Parent Artist Advocacy League (PAAL) for your partnership in developing family access initiatives that support the Statera community.

Learn more about conference >>>

See the full speaker line-up >>>

View the conference schedule >>>

Register for conference >>>

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Statera Welcomes New Team Members

Thanks to our incredible community, 2018 was the most expansive and exciting year Statera has ever had. We fostered the national expansion of Statera Mentorship with the launch of 12 new regional chapters (and more coming). We hosted our third National Conference in Milwaukee, with touchstone addresses from theatre and film luminaries like Hana Sharif, Simeilia Hodge-Dallaway, Gail Barringer, and Nataki Garrett. We launched our free resource directory, which houses a treasure-trove of valuable information for emerging and established artists alike. And this January, Statera launched Statera Membership - a community for anyone interested in advancing their art careers through the lens of intersectional gender-parity. If it sounds like we’re tooting our own horn, we are! Its an exciting time and we owe it all to you! Thank you for supporting our mission.

We also want you to be the first to know that the Statera Team expanded in January. Please join us in welcoming our newest StateraArts team members!

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Vanessa DeSilvio

VANESSA DESILVIO (She/Her/Hers)

Vanessa DeSilvio joins StateraArts as part of our Ambassador team. She is a Dallas-based stage, commercial, and television actor and voice over artist. She speaks fluent Spanish as she was raised in a Venezuelan household and strongly identifies with being Latinx. She holds an MFA in Acting from Southern Methodist University, and has taught introduction to acting and speech and diction classes at SMU, University of North Texas, and KD Conservatory.

Statera Ambassadors are artist-activists with big ideas! They are Statera's creative brain trust. You will find our Ambassadors authoring posts on the Statera Blog, presenting at StateraCon, engaging as regional Mentorship Coordinators, and consulting on the development of Statera programming.

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TRACY LIZ MILLER (She/Her/Hers)

Tracy Liz Miller has joined the Statera team as Co-Chair of our National Conference in NYC. Tracy is the Co-founding Producing Artistic Director of The Bridge Initiative: Women in Theatre, previously Associate Producer Vermont Shakespeare Company. Tracy is proud to be teaching the next generation of theatre artists as Director of the Theatre Arts at Chandler-Gilbert Community College in Chandler, Arizona. This past summer, Tracy was a recipient of a professional development grant from the Arizona Commission on the Arts along with an Emerging Director Scholarship from the Celebration Barn in Maine to attend their 11-day Devising Intensive. BFA Musical Theatre Performance Western Michigan University, MFA Acting Alabama Shakespeare Festival / U of A.

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Chris Sanders

CHRIS SANDERS (She/Her/They/Them)

We’re thrilled that Chris has joined StateraArts as an Ambassador. Chris is a singer, actor, educator, entrepreneur and teaches Theatre courses at UTD, in Richardson, TX. They are also a spokesperson for Susan G. Koman, and an Independent Consultant with Arbonne International.

Chris is also thrilled to have taken on the role of being the Head of Music Ministry with Activate Church. Activate is a place of Christian worship, geared towards entrepreneurs, based in Dallas, TX. Chris earned their BA in Theatre from Kean University and her MFA in Acting from Southern Methodist University.

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NANCY SLITZ (She/Her/Hers)

Last month, Statera also welcomed Nancy Slitz as Chair of the StateraArts Advisory Board. Nancy has been a long-time supporter of the organization and has attended Statera’s conferences as both a presenter and a participant. Other board members include Sam White, Martha Richards, and Marti Gobel.

Nancy most recently served as Chairman of the Board of Governors of the Utah Shakespeare Festival. Her career began in education, but quickly expanded to positions with IBM, Hammer Art Galleries in New York, and an executive search company where she placed lawyers in many of the prestigious Manhattan law firms. She helmed her own executive search firm, Slitz Search and has years of business experience and has been certified as a CPC: Professional Corporate/Small Business Coach. Nancy specializes in working with arts organizations.  We are honored that Nancy is joining Statera as Chair of the Advisory Board.

Nancy Slitz, Chair of the StateraArts Advisory Board

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EVANGELINE STOTT (She/Her/Hers)

Evangeline Stott is joining Statera as an Operations Assistant and is also working on SWAN Day coordination. Evangeline is an actor, painter, musician, and community builder. She obtained her BFA in Classical Acting from Southern Utah University and completed an acting fellowship with the Utah Shakespeare Festival.

An Arizona desert rat with an East Coast heart, Evangeline moved to NYC after college where she has immersed herself in the devised theatre community while performing in productions at Columbia University and August Corps.

Her paintings are both a direct expression of her lust for life and an exploration of empathy. They have been showcased and sold in Utah, Nevada, and New York.

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JENNIFER TUTTLE (She/Her/Hers)

Jennifer Tuttle is working with StateraArts as the National Conference Co-Chair and liaison with City College of New York (CCNY) where StateraConIV will be hosted.

Jennifer is a theatre artist and educator. As a director, her recent projects include: Immigration Stories for Culture Project’s Women Center Stage, An Incident at Peniel at Crossways Theatre, Much Ado Para Nada at Shakespeare in Detroit, and Macbeth at the City College of New York.

As an assistant professor at CCNY she teaches Acting, Directing, and Voice. She received her MFA in Theatre/Acting from the Hilberry Theatre at Wayne State University, and her Certification as a Teacher of the Michael Chekhov Technique from the Great Lakes Michael Chekhov Consortium, where she is an Associate Teacher. Jennifer has been a professional actor and director for over 20 years and is a proud member of Actors’ Equity.

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