Ginger Lazarus

Like most writers, I have a lot of jobs. And like many of my peers, I get to write on a wide variety of subjects—and in the process interact with people doing really cool stuff that I might not have known about otherwise.

I recently took the helm as editor of Pass It On!, the semiannual journal of the Children’s Music Network, and just released the Fall 2018 issue. CMN is, I’m glad to say, in the midst of doing some hard work on social justice, specifically looking at problems of inclusion and exclusion in the organization and the demographics of the membership. To that end, they invited Dr. Tawnya Pettiford-Wates to give the keynote at the annual conference. I got pretty excited when I realized that Dr. T is not only a brilliant scholar and activist, but also a theater-maker and founder of the Conciliation Project, whose mission is “to promote, through active and challenging dramatic work, open and honest dialogue about racism and oppression in America in order to repair its damaging legacy.” I have not seen TCP’s work yet, but I interviewed Dr. T for the journal in order to find out all about it. She blew me away:

Healing From the Past, Creating the Future: An Interview With Dr. Tawnya Pettiford-Wates

Explore the latest issue of PIO! if you would like to join me in exploring music, folk traditions, education, and powerful work related to social justice and inclusion.

I know the title says I shouldn’t, but I must confess I left my trace on Leave No Trace, the critically acclaimed new feature from Academy Award–nominated writer/director Debra Granik. Before production, Debra retained my services to develop the story and hone the dialogue in the script. I’m very honored by her faith in me and very proud of the finished film–it’s beautiful, intimate, and haunting. Go see it now!

I’ve had the honor and privilege to work with Central Square Theater’s Youth Underground summer ensemble over the past few weeks. The topic chosen for this year was IMMIGRATION, and we interviewed a lot of people who had a few things to say about it. The resulting play, Here and There, will be read this Wednesday, August 9, at CST. Please join us if you can.

Youth Underground’s Here and There (staged reading)