Weaving Democracy

From October through December 2024, I was an inaugural Maker in Residence at the North Boulder Library branch’s Studio 24 maker space along with my dear friend, Steven Frost. Together, we hosted a series or workshops and drop-in community weaving sessions to create a series of weavings we called Coding Democracy.

We started with the text from three plays written by three different Colorado-based playwrights as part of Local Theater Company’s We the People: The Democracy Cycle. These plays were based on community conversations held in Boulder, Denver, and Gunnison, and performed in each community in the summer of 2024. With their permission, we read through each play and selected 12 themes that recurred, and color coded the text. We did the same with community responses to the question, “What does democracy mean to you?” This code then informed what colors were woven, in the order they appear in the scripts.

At each workshop & weaving session, patrons to the library were invited to weave together, thus the community conversations became not only plays performed in these communities, but also a physical record woven by the people, for the people. The initial weaving is on display at the Boulder Public Library until March 31, 2025, and will then be part of the library’s permanent collection.

We are so grateful to have collaborated with Local Theater Company. Many thanks to the Boulder Public Library, the Boulder Library Foundation, all the amazing MakerSpace and library staff, community members, and everyone else who has supported, participated or shown interest in this work!

Local Theater Company info:
We The People: The Democracy Cycle

Parallel Lines by Nick Malakow

Intersectionality by Kenya Mahogany Fashaw

The Heavy Work That Will Make Everything Lighter by Steven Cole Hughes

Commissioned by Local Theater Company in collaboration with Curious Theatre Company and Gunnison Valley Theater Festival. more information at localtheaterco.org 

The Democracy Cycle is a project led by Local Theater Company in partnership with Gunnison Valley Theatre Festival and Curious Theatre Company.We gathered community members in three areas—Boulder, Denver, and Gunnison—for civil dialogue on topics related to democracy and what it means to form a society. Each Story Circle, as they were called, included a playwright who listened to the conversation, and synthesized that material into a short play. The three plays were presented as a cohesive evening of theater in each of the communities in August 2024.

Local Theater Company is based in Boulder and discovers develops and produces new plays.learn more at localtheaterco.org