When I saw the title of Alley Wilde’s latest multimedia creation, The Axe: a long line of broken white people (Thu/11 and Sat/13 as part of Counterpulse’s Groundwork Festival), I was simultaneously and intensely intrigued and suspicious. As the bi-racial daughter of a Chinese immigrant, I have an intricate and complex relationship with many white people. I decided that it was all the more reason to take a deep dive into this show.

In a nearly-empty Café La Bohème in the Mission district, Wilde and I sat across from each other and engaged in a revelatory conversation about The Axe. Wilde is, according to the performance’s press release, “a white, not-disabled, queer, non-binary person with access to male privilege and U.S. citizenship” who uses they/them pronouns.

“For myself, as a person

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