Marty Pottenger

Homeland Security was a performance created in 2004 from the diverse cultural communities in Portland, Maine and artist Marty Pottenger.

Pottenger is a performance artist and director who has extensive experience in community based art practices. In Engaging Performance: Theatre As Call And Response, Jan Cohen-Cruz documents the development of Homeland Security and the methods of Pottenger in its creation.

In 2004, with the enforcement of the American Patriot Act, raids were performed through Portland, Maine with intentions to uncover terrorist activity much to the subjugation of the ethnically marginalized communities in Maine.

In response to this, Pottenger took an approach of "first voice" performance.

"The notion of 'first voice' contrasts with much radical theatre of the 1960s and early 1970s, which , while a viable form of political activism frequently entailed middle-class actors speaking for the poor and oppressed. In contrast, Pottenger and other grassroots artists incorporate storytelling to facilitate a process whereby people with stakes in the topic respond publicly for themselves." (Cohen-Cruz 68)

As exemplified in the video link above, what was presented were the "real" people of Maine, telling their stories directly to the community, to each other, and broadcast to anyone who can now find them on youtube or elsewhere.

My immediate question is how does this change or redefine these people who are now "actors" in their own story. In some ways, this literal transplanting of people and their lives onto a stage provides a genuine telling of experiences. The beauty of this performance is that the actors (beyond needing to make sure that they are hear/understood) don't need to "act." They instinctively understand the back story, and have the lived experiences to impact their physicality on stage.

The challenge is navigating through their experiences (especially traumatic ones) to facilitate an expression of work that has positive results as opposed to damaging ones. This speaks to questions of risk and disclosure.

Many of the participants in HLS experienced first hand the experiences of the raids, much like my earlier post about Urban Theatre, it changes the context of the performance when your actors and audience members were all present for the real events that inspire the performance.

In this case- the risk comes when the oppressed feel the acute surveillance of the government. To then publicly, on video, and online show this resistance... some might argue that it risks incurring further retribution from the government.

On a completely personal aside, I would suggest that the US, even Canada present themselves as the lands of the free and liberal, but in reality this is not the case. The only difference is that in many other countries, the government does not hide their extreme censorship. And the connection I make here is that many immigrants (the majority of the people raided in HLS) come from countries where they left for this very reason.

Cohen-Cruz later cites Dwight Conquergood in his assertion that "marginalized people need spaces for 'public discussion' of vital issues central to their communities... Self representation frequently contrasts with mainstream images, such as those of dangerous aliens propagated by the Border Patrol raids." (Cohen-Cruz 74)

Beyond the risk and dangers, which I unfortunately feel that I've perhaps dwelled too much on these last few posts, I need to highlight the power and empowerment of these performances.

Cohen-Cruz later recounts her own experience witnessing the performance. She is able to recount the performers and their deeply personal stories. One community member shared how her father was the first African-American to serve in the State of Maine, and even after being in Maine for 9 generations, she still did not feel like a "Mainer." (Cohen-Cruz 78) The power of this testimony is that it voices out loud a need in the community. For those who care, it means that they were not doing enough to build community, and this went beyond the acts of the Border Raids. In some ways, the Raids provided an opportunity to openly discuss some of these cultural differences and challenges facing the greater community.

In my work, I think this is the ultimate goal- to take calculated risks that push and challenge all of the artists (including myself) to an end where we produce work that encourages questions in a healthy way. What does healthy mean? It means one where people are able to feel safe in their vulnerability, and be able to voice questions and concerns without fear of retribution or recourse because they are asked from a place of sincere yearning to improve and not destroy.

I read this reading over a year ago, and it didn't make sense to me then. It's finally starting to make some sense to me now. I think I'm beginning to understand who I am, and what these labels of Queer, Asian, Male represent to me and how I can act as a conduit for other voices to be heard. Firstly, I have to use my voice- correction- I WANT to use my voice and story to start that conversation. This is not meant to be all hugs and butterflies, or a lovein of my work. I sincerely mean that I need to better understand what and why I want to share, so that I can accomplish this and not (instead) drag my family, friends, and people in my life down a path of exhibitionistic/voyeuristic work that doesn't earn the ability to change for the better.



Cohen-Cruz, Jan. "Self Representing: Testimonial Performance" Engaging Performance: Theatre As Call and Response. Routledge, New York. 2010. pp. 68-81.