Project Aims to Help Community Members Understand Opposing Perspectives

It’s no secret that in many ways, our country seems more polarized than ever. In communities, workplaces, and families, the pandemic — along with other politically-charged current events — has magnified the divisions.

Elle Morgan experienced this polarization within her own family.

“Last summer, I had two adult children in their 30s here. They have polar opposite points of view in every regard right now, and they wouldn’t even be in the same room. They couldn’t be around each other. … It was very upsetting and hard on the family,” she said.

In response, Morgan developed Project Changing Places as a way for Centre County community members to use theatre and communication techniques to better understand and accept the perspectives of people who think very differently than they do.

The 3 Dots Awesome Foundation awarded the project its September $1,000 grant. Now Morgan is looking for 10 local volunteers representing all perspectives to take part in what she hopes will be a fun and enlightening experience.

“What I’m looking for now is people who have any sense at all that they would like to improve the way they communicate with their friends, their family, their neighbors, their colleagues, at school board meetings, borough council meetings, any place where we show up,” she said. “Are we going to show up with a grudge, or with a vendetta, or with an agenda? Or are we going to be able to come into a space and actually hear what everyone has to say, and why they say it?”

Participants will be paired with a person who holds an opposing viewpoint, and will attend a twohour workshop once a week for five weeks. The workshops will be based on communications techniques Morgan has honed as an instructor of communications arts and sciences at Penn State, including the Social Penetration Theory of Intimacy; Marshall Rosenberg’s Nonviolent Communication technique; and Tara Brach’s RAIN (Recognize, Allow, Investigate, and Non-Attachment) technique for developing empathy and compassion for self and others.

Eventually, participants will interview their partners, delving deep into the reasons behind a strong belief they hold.

“You end up having some content from the other person’s life that you then write into a monologue, where you become that other person telling their story,” she explained.

She believes this approach helps people understand and develop empathy for people with an opposing view, in part because, “I have a background in theatre, and what I’ve learned in the creation of a character is that you cannot judge the character you’re going to play. You have to just accept.”

After five weeks, participants will deliver the monologues on stage at 3 Dots Downtown, 137 E. Beaver Ave., during a public presentation. Audience members may be asked to try some of the same exercises during the event, and Morgan is looking for performing artists to volunteer to take part in that final presentation as well.

Local filmmaker Kevin Pearson is documenting the entire process, with Lisa Nelson serving as production assistant. Morgan hopes to use the film as a teaching tool to help others become facilitators of this method, which she believes can be used regularly to help members of the community from all persuasions to both understand each other, and to be understood.

“Everybody has to create some kind of safe space to be heard and to be seen,” said Morgan. “Our only agenda is creating space to be heard and to listen. It’s not to change anybody’s mind.”

Morgan said interested participants will have the opportunity to learn more via a Zoom session before committing to the project, which she plans to kick off by the end of September. For details, email Morgan at [email protected].

This story appears in the Sept. 23-29 edition of the Centre County Gazette.