2021 Lycoming College Summer Magazine

CON L I T E R A T U R E . T H E A T R E . A R T Want to be featured here? Alumni are encouraged to share their recent works of literature, theatre, art, music, and film to be considered for future publication by contacting marketing@lycoming.edu . Nigel Semaj ’17 is a nonbinary New York City- based director, movement director, choreographer, and educator with multiple directing credits. They graduated in 2020 from the New School with an M.F.A. in directing. Semaj returned to Lycoming to direct and organize a project entitled “dismantled,” intended to facilitate and encourage societal change. This series of virtual staged readings and workshops provided an opportunity for the campus to continue its conversation about narratives of Black and brown people, equity, diversity, inclusion, and a path toward a collective liberation. The series’ title comes from Audre Lorde who said, “For the master’s tools will never dismantle the master’s house. They may allow us temporarily to beat him at his own game, but they will never enable us to bring about genuine change.” According to Semaj, Lorde asks the question: What does it mean when the tools of a racist patriarchy are used to FEBRUARY 20 - MARCH 13 DI MA N TL E D S A Reading/Workshop Series READINGS AND WORKSHOPS BY NIGEL SEMAJ Learn more about Semaj’s work at http://www.nigelsemaj.com / . examine the fruits of that same patriarchy? “It means that only the most narrow perimeters of change are possible and allowable,” Lorde answers. “Students are constantly told that they are the key to the change that is needed in the world, and yet they are only equipped with the tools of the master,” Semaj explained. “This series aimed to provide not only artists, but activists with the tools needed to dismantle the systems of oppression in their day-to-day lives, their workplaces, their academia, and more.” 44 LYCOMING COLLEGE 2021 SUMMER MAGAZINE