Public Engagement
Cecilia Rubino's public engagement work focuses on fostering critical conversations, intergenerational projects, and forging community through theater, film, literature, and public dialogue.
The Climate Museum: Braving a New World: Audio Theater & The Climate Crisis
CATCHING THE EAR(TH) – CLIMATE MUSEUM EVENT 2024
Rubino collaboratively produced & directed the event at The Climate Museum, 105 Wooster Street. ‘Every artform can open us up to our own ability to take meaningful action on the climate crisis. The New School and the Climate Museum are delighted to present a program examining and presenting audio theater dedicated to this end. Storytelling holds great power across human cultures, and so does the oral tradition. The increasing variety and availability of contemporary audio culture, including podcasts and audiobooks, has generated renewed interest in audio theater--not widely heard since the radio dramas of the early twentieth century. This event shared work from artists focused on climate justice who are redefining ‘sound art’ forms.’ The panel was moderated by Cecilia Rubino & Sarah Montague (New School) and included Darian Dauchan (Poet/Musician), Chantal Bilodeau (Arts & Climate Initiative), Lanxing Fu (Superhero Club/Big Green Theater), Ben Williams (Elevator Repair Service).
Book Talk Event THEATER OF THE OPPRESSED AND ITS TIMES by Julian Boal
Rubino interviewed Julian Boal about his seminal new work Theatre of the Oppressed and Its Times at New School’s Wollman Hall.
“Political theatre, like any kind of political action, can only be judged in relation to the political moment in which it tries to intervene. Theatre of the Oppressed (TO) was created to fight against dictatorship and an extremely centralized conception of politics. How does it function now, in a time of social media and so-called participatory democracies? Providing an in-depth account of the political and cultural context in which TO emerged, this book asks: How do contemporary understandings of concepts like oppression, representation, participation, and emancipation shape TO today? Highlighting the pitfalls of reducing oppression to one-to-one relationships, the book proposes a version of Forum Theatre dramaturgy that portrays oppression as a defining structure of societies. The author also shares specific examples of movements and other organizations that use Theatre of the Oppressed to construct themselves. Theatre of the Oppressed and Its Times is an essential text for practitioners and scholars of TO, applied theatre practitioners, students, and anyone interested in how theatre can concretely assist in the transformation of the world.
Real People, Real Lives, Real Theater:
Celebrating 30 Years of Ping Chong & Company’s UNDESIRABLE ELEMENTS
Rubino collaboratively organized and produced the two-day symposium Real People, Real Lives, Real Theater: Celebrating 30 Years of Ping Chong and Company’s Undesirable Elements, with Lang Theater & New School for Drama colleagues.
Also led a panel entitled: ‘Testimony, Dialogue, Community: Documentary Raising Up Voices’
Panel featured Raquel Almazan, Aizzah Fatima, Kayhan Irani, and Sara Zatz (Associate Director, Ping Chong and Company) with Cecilia Rubino (Moderator)
ALL OF A SUDDEN: SEKOU @ 75 : Celebrating the Legacy of Sekou Sundiata
Rubino produced and directed performance event celebrating the Legacy of Sekou Sundiata. Poet, griot, musician, jazz thinker, and arts activist, Sekou taught at Lang College at the New School for 20 years and inspired generations of artists & students. The event featured film excerpts from his seminal works including Bring on The Reparations, Blessing of the Boats, and the 51st (dream) State and shared readings of selected poems and writings. Performers included Craig Harris, Liza Jessie Peterson, Carl Hancock Rux, David Thompson, Brian Lewis, Frantz Jerome and Aisha Jordon. The Auditorium at 66 W 12, The New School.
Practicing the Environment: A Climate of Change & Eco-Theater
For The New School Platform Course: Practicing the Environment: Rubino interviewed Jem Pickard who founder of the Superhero Clubhouse, a homebase for theatrical experimentation around climate and environmental justice.
Dorot Center/NYC: Generations Helping Generations: Lecture Series
‘Shakespeare in Performance in New York City’: Zoom lectures including: ‘Shakespeare & Civil War New York’; ‘Shakespeare & the History of Public Theater Performances’. (2022) ‘Shakespeare’s Sonnets: Aspects of Desire’. (2020) ‘Shakespeare: Beyond the Politics of the Moment: Richard II & III’. (2019)
Shakespeare 400 Conference: University of Milan, Italy. (Università degli Studi di Milano)
Selections from the documentary, Remembering Shakespeare screened at the Shakespeare400 Conference, and a presentation on ”Shakespeare & Memory,”
https://riviste.unimi.it/index.php/AMonline/article/view/9196/8701
Grace Church Sunday Forum: Lecture on ‘Shakespeare, Memory and the Sacred.’
The New York Public Library at Jefferson Market Library: Lecture Series. Shakespeare & Memory
Rubino gave a series of two-hour lectures on Shakespeare: ‘Shakespeare in Action’; ‘Shakespeare & Love’; ‘Shakespeare & Memory’ and ‘Shakespeare & Forgiveness’.
Arts Advocacy & Youth in The System
The New School, September 2016
Rubino co-produced a two-day symposium, which was part of the Civic Liberal Arts course co-taught with Brian Lewis. She co-curated and co-moderated with Rasu Jilani THINKING OUT LOUD @ New School’s Tishman Auditorium. The event featured artists and activists who work in a variety of disciplines with youth caught in the criminal justice system and featured playwright and advocate, Liza Jessie Peterson; Film Director, Writer and Founder of IMPACT Theater of Harlem, Jamal Joseph who shared selections from his book Panther Baby and screened scenes from his film 'Chapter and Verse'; and the legendary poet Abiodun Oweloye.
Days of Art and Ideas and Thinking Out Loud
The New School, 2014
In conjunction with the Civic Liberal Arts course ‘Radical Citizenship, Art Making and the ‘Research to Performance’ Methods of Sekou Sundiata, Cecilia Rubino and Brian Lewis co-produced with MAPP International three public events at The New School called ‘The Days of Art & Ideas’ including TheWeDaPeople’s Cabaret and curated ‘Thinking Out Loud’ which brought the artists Yadira De La Riva, Marc Wolf and Liza Jessie Peterson to the New School’s University Center.
The America Project Methodology Remixed
The New School, 2013
A Symposium for Educators, Artists & Students: Cecilia Rubino and Brian Lewis co-produced symposium at The New School as part of ‘BLINK YOUR EYES', a six-month retrospective of the work of the poet, educator and activist, Sekou Sundiata.
INTERSECTIONS: Ensembles & Universities
The New School, 2014
Co-produced with the New School for Drama an international conference at The New School on Ensemble Theater Practice. Chaired a panel called ‘All Theater is Physical Theater’ and presented on the work of Hong Kong director, Tang Shu-wing.
