Time Has Chosen Us
Out of Hand Theater’s Vaccine Confidence Program, Time Has Chosen Us, is a community engagement program that is inspired by the message from the late Congressman John Lewis that “we may not have chosen the time, but the time has chosen us”. It is our time to come together against the pandemic. Time Has Chosen Us brought together artists, doctors and a public health evaluation team to create a cinematic narrative and educational film developed from one-on-one interviews and insights from community focus groups around concerns and barriers that citizens of Southwest and North Central Georgia, and parts of East Alabama, faced when accessing the COVID vaccine.
These areas were chosen because of their low vaccination rates within the community, and because they contained a majority population of African-American citizens. This reflected Out of Hand's mission of combining theater and film with information and conversation to advance social justice and anti-racism. Many of the community members in this area, notably within Albany, GA, were vilified by the press and metropolitan areas for the outbreaks that occurred early in the pandemic in March of 2020. We felt that these individuals' situations and experiences were not heard or met with the necessary support to meet their needs as it pertained to public health.
This led to the creation of the narrative film, “Comfort”, written by Amina S. McIntyre, directed by Thomas Brazzle and starring Rob Cleveland (Tyler Perry's Meet the Browns, Drumline) and Cynthia D. Barker (Tyler Perry's House of Payne, The Game). Comfort follows a middle-class school teacher who faces her own insecurities and her family’s individual challenges when bringing them all together for their first annual gathering since the start of the pandemic. This story reflected the differing viewpoints, fears and concerns that many people have experienced in dealing with COVID. The film was followed by an educational video that dispelled myths about the COVID-19 vaccines and provided accurate, relevant, and human-centered information about COVID-19. To supplement the films, a team led by Marcel Foster, founder of Performance Hypothesis, created materials to enhance the program. Take away cards were designed by Brianna Smith, and an electronic survey, designed by Dania Hussain and Brianna Smith, was created to direct individuals to resources and relevant information about COVID-19 vaccination. Daima MacHang’u served as the event coordinator helping create engaging community activities in partnership with local community leaders in parts of Southwest and North Central Georgia.
Events had vaccines on hand provided by CORE (Community Organized Relief Effort) in collaboration with the Georgia Department of Public Health. Talk backs were also held at each event with a public health official. The goal was to help break the barriers between these communities and public health organizations, while also dispelling the myths that are common around COVID-19 vaccines. Through three events we reached close to a 100 in person individuals and over 400 individuals online virtually. At each event many participants wanted to coordinate future events and ways to share the film in their communities, give take away cards to family members, and speak one on one with the public health officials present at our events. We connected to doctors, community leaders in areas we hadn't been before and in turn gained future funding from the Georgia Department of Public Health to do more events for the next two years throughout the entire state.
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