MICHAEL AWUSIE was born in Amarillo, Texas, grew up in Harlem, New York, and then moved to Brooklyn two weeks before he came to Vassar. His mother is a New Yorker, and his father is from Ghana, which has given him a different perspective on the African-American experience, a perspective he has used at Vassar to bridge gaps and create alliances between the various communities of color on campus. As the program intern at the A.L.A.N.A. (African-American/Black, Latino, Asian/Asian-American, and Native American) Center, president of the A.S.U. (African Students Union), and a member of Unbound (political theater group), his goal is to broaden the Vassar experience to include the perspectives of all these constituencies.
You're a political science major. Was that your plan when you arrived as a freshman?
No, I was thinking I would be a drama major, because I grew up doing community theater, and I went to a performing arts high school. Freshman year, I took an introductory political science course in American politics with Luke Harris. That's what really lit the flame for political science. And then September 11 happened at the beginning of my sophomore year. I realized, like everyone else, that this is a big world, a big international community, and the reasons behind 9/11 weren't so obvious. I wanted to find a way to explore that.
Tell me about the American politics course with Professor Luke Harris.
Prior to taking his course, I hadn't ever really taken a course that spoke of the American story in such an inclusive way. His American story wasn't the Eurocentric story I had learned in high school. It was such a multifaceted, all-encompassing story, the story of so many different ethnicities, races, and religions--and it included me! It was the first time that I felt I was included in American history, And it showed me how politics shape the way we look at race, ethnicity, religion, and difference.
Is there a place where politics and theater meet?
Definitely. From the beginning of my career at Vassar, I have been involved with Unbound which is a political theater group that puts on plays that speak to issues on campus that are sometimes overlooked. We put on plays that address race issues, or disability issues, and then we have a talk-back session, where the audience gets to engage in dialogue with the actors, cast, crew, and director, and sometimes even the writer, since a lot of our plays are original pieces.
Can you give an example of an Unbound project?
I'm working on a project right now that started out as a conversation at a conference with the Black Radical Congress. One of the Vassar students at the conference was a non-Black student. And because she was sensitive to issues that are relevant to Black people, she was deemed "Black" by some of the conference organizers. So we had an interesting conversation about the meaning of "Black." Is it strictly a political designation? Is it biological? Or is it something in between? We came back from this conference, and we loosely transcribed the conversation and proposed it to Unbound as a directing project. So that's in the works.
So Unbound is a venue where you can bring your personal experiences into a political arena?
You have to! That's one of the mission statements of Unbound, “make your personal political.” That's what I think, too. You have to give something of yourself to make it real. You can't have a serious dialogue without putting yourself out there, for better or for worse.
So it sounds like your approach to performance has changed.
When I came in, I was strictly into being an actor and pursuing a career in the arts. But now that I've studied political science, I'm constantly thinking about how the performance is going to work on the consciousness of the audience. Will it change, or at least broaden their points of view? Will it get them to consider things they haven't thought of before? That's the result of my educational experience here.
What were you like when you arrived as a freshman, and how has that changed?
I was an introvert and really self-conscious when it came to thinking aloud and sharing my opinions. But here you have to. You establish close relationships with professors who are always pushing you to expand your thinking. And the only way to do that is to share your thought process and defend your beliefs without being afraid of falling flat on your face. I've acquired the ability to stand front and center and share my beliefs...to be prepared to listen to others' beliefs…and to modify my own beliefs if they're not well founded.