When I Think of Home

 Stories from Albuquerque’s Westside

Wednesday, February 26, 2025
4-6PM
Taylor Ranch Community Center
4900 Kachina St NW, Albuquerque, NM 87120
FREE. Dinner Served.
All are invited to attend.

RESERVE YOUR SPOT

Honoring Our Elders

This show will center the stories and voices of seniors living on Albuquerque’s NW side.

High Desert Playback listens to your real-life stories and plays them back on the spot using theater, music, spoken word, and ritual.

In partnership with the City of Albuquerque’s Planning and Arts + Culture Departments, we invite residents of ABQ’s West Mesa and Northwest Mesa* communities to come together to share stories about:

  • What you like best (or least) about your neighborhood

  • Times when you felt you belonged

  • Your hopes and dreams for the future

Enjoy food, connect with your community and celebrate that your story is a work of art.

FAQs

  • Playback Theatre is an interactive form of improvisational theatre in which audience members tell stories from their lives and watch them enacted on the spot. Created in 1975, Playback Theatre is now used in over 70 countries around the world to help build bridges across differences and to honor the human condition. High Desert Playback is the first and only professional playback theatre in New Mexico.

  • Playback Theatre is a participatory art form, this is true. Folks share moments and stories from their lives and we play it back on the spot. However, playback theatre is also a consensual art form. You never have to tell a story if you don’t want to. Ever.

    When you’re at a High Desert Playback show, there are 3 ways to participate:

    • A Witness - You come in. You find your seat. You watch and listen to the stories being told and enacted. Hopefully you will also laugh and cry and allow the stories of the strangers around you to become part of your story too.

    • A Teller From Your Seat - At the beginning of the show, we warm you up to playback by asking you to share feelings and short stories right from your seat. It’s a low-pressure way to share what’s on your mind in the moment.

    • A Teller On Stage - Finally, we may ask for volunteers to join us on stage, sit in what we call “the teller’s chair,” and share a longer story. If you choose to participate in this way, you will be seated next to Allison or Lynn who act as our “Conductors.” Their job is to guide you through it the whole way. Imagine sharing a story over coffee or a glass of wine with a good friend. Except with other folks watching.  

    No matter how you choose to participate in a High Desert Playback show, you are 100% valuable to the experience.

  • The City of Albuquerque’s Long Range Planning Team is responsible for assessing how well existing policies, regulations, and City programs are working to meet their goals, maximize opportunities, and address community concerns. It does this by working with local stakeholders to gather data, inventory assets, and create an action plan for each of the 12 Community Planning Areas (CPAs). The assessment process helps figure out what each CPA needs and how to get there. 

    In its current work in the West Mesa and Northwest Mesa CPAs, the Long Range Planning Department and the City of Albuquerque Department of Arts + Culture have come together to articulate the role that art and cultural strategy play in engaging community voice in the CPA assessment process as well as the overall quality of life for residents. The Department of Arts + Culture contracted High Desert Playback to use playback theatre as a way of learning more about the folks living in the West and Northwest Mesa communities. 

    This pilot project culminates in March 2025 with a report that will be shared with the public.

  • Although our outreach and communications will be focused in the Westside neighborhoods, anyone is welcome to attend.

  • Yes! In this show, our conductors will prioritize hearing stories from seniors (ages approximately 55+). However, folks of all ages are welcome to attend and participate.

*The West Mesa and Northwest Mesa areas together span from the I-40 (on the South) to the border of Rio Rancho (on the North) and from the Rio Grande (on the East) to the western city limits.

What Folks Are Saying

  • "I had never heard of Playback Theater before and so wasn't really sure what I was getting into. In my life I associated acting with ungrounded white people who over did everything to show how much they were committed to the art. I didn't feel that way here at all. The space felt grounded and well held. Allison and Lynn are incredible facilitators. The dedication of their work to Art, Ritual and Social Justice are things I can get behind.”

  • "An expressive use of empathy as a tool for story-retelling and trauma first aid; I would recommend this workshop to everyone regardless of background."

  • "This is such a fun, intimate, collaborative, & inclusive workshop. It was my first time doing playback and I’m hooked!"

  • "These workshops are the gift that keeps on giving! Every time I come I learn new things and connect more deeply to this ritual, practice and the people there."

  • "Learning Playback has reawakened something in me that has brought so much joy to my life. It’s much greater than just the workshops themselves- it’s reminded me how to play, while being vulnerable. So so grateful!"

  • "Lynn and Allison are kind, supportive and masterful facilitators who hold you sweetly through the process of learning something new. Playback Theatre is infused with joy, humor, and deep heart care."

  • "Engaging in creative play with my peers, just for pleasure's sake, feels deeply nourishing. Especially after three years of limited human to human connection. Allison and Lynn and all the attendees created such a safe place to let loose and have fun!"

  • "The more I come to these workshops, the more I want to keep coming! The joy, vulnerability, curiosity, care and love that is co-created is something very special. I'm so grateful to be part of it."