Overview

Roots in My Throat is a theatre research project exploring Bouffon clowning through the lived perspective of a Black Deaf woman. In mentorship with Dean Bareham of Green Fools Theatre, Ebony R. Gooden is investigating the grotesque humour, satire, and physicality of Bouffon to begin creating a new character rooted in her experiences of exclusion, speech therapy, and survival.. It critiques systems of oppression such as racism, ableism, and audism by exposing their absurdities, while exploring survival, identity, and liberation through satire, embodied performance, and Deaf-led storytelling.

Themes

• Exclusion and liberation

• Intersectionality

• Grotesque beauty

• Black Deaf identity

• Survival through art

Languages

• American Sign Language (ASL)

• Spoken English