Is Bunker Hill It’s Own Separate World?

As an actor with LAPD (Los Angeles Poverty Department), I’m extremely excited about our upcoming early April show at REDCAT inside the Walt Disney Concert Hall — I Fly! or How To Keep The Devil Down In The Hole. We’ve been working on this show for two years.

I Fly! is about Community-Generated Safety in Skid Row and implications elsewhere.

The mid-February issue of Downtown News profiled Spring Arts & Entertainment events and here is their description:

“The Skid Row collective led by John Malpede has been using the arts to explore issues of justice, humanity, and poverty for decades. It continues with I Fly! or How To Keep The Devil Down In The Hole. The three performances of this world premiere delve into the topic of public safety, which can mean vastly different things in Skid Row and REDCAT’s Bunker Hill neighborhood. Issues of policing and protest will be explored, and the ideas of sharing, second chances, inclusion, tolerance, and more will be analyzed, mused on and addressed through song and dance. Consider I Fly! the most Downtown specific performance of the season.”

Here is a part I’m chewing on: “…topic of public safety, which can mean vastly different things in Skid Row and REDCAT’s Bunker Hill…sharing, second chances, inclusion, tolerance…”

I’m sure that’s not supposed to mean Bunker Hill rejects sharing, second chances, inclusion, and tolerance . But what does it mean?

Does it mean REDCAT itself has a vastly different understanding of Public Safety than Skid Row? It so, they don’t mention it anywhere on their website.

So that leaves Bunker Hill having a vastly different understanding. At first glance that makes sense since Skid Row is a residential neighborhood and when you think of Bunker Hill, you think of massive skyscrapers loaded with 9 to 5 folks.

But if I live in Sherman Oaks, commute to my job in Bunker Hill, park in my secure underground parking lot, and eat lunch in the Food Court inside my massive skyscraper, why would I even be thinking about the meaning of Public Safety?

And does this mean Bunker Hill is different than the rest of Downtown? Does Bunker Hill have a vastly different understanding of Public Safety than Skid Row but the Arts District only has a somewhat different understanding of Public Safety than Skid Row? Does Bunker Hill need to be doing some Outreach to the rest of Downtown? Is Bunker Hill it’s own separate world?

But my favorite part of the Downtown News profile is the final sentence: “Consider I Fly! the most Downtown specific performance of the season.”

“Downtown specific” obviously includes the Historic Core.

While we are busy rehearsing for I Fly!, DTLA Strong is busy advocating for more Police Foot Patrols in specific sections of the Historic Core.

I hope folks from DTLA Strong will come to see I Fly! at REDCAT and not be concerned that Bunker Hill and Skid Row have vastly different understandings of Public Safety. The folks from Skid Row will make sure the folks from DTLA Strong feel safe during their time at REDCAT.