Post-“Jazz Parade for Democracy” Interview with Isabelle McMahon, Production Coordinator (11/18/2025)
Dan Doernberg: It's Tuesday, November 18th. I'm here with Isabel McMahon, who was the production coordinator of the Jazz Parade for Democracy that happened in Charlottesville on the downtown mall on November 1st of 2025. It's now been a couple weeks. So, Isabel, you've had some time to process everything that happened that day and your thoughts since then, and I'll just leave it open-ended at that.
Isabelle: I'm still feeling a little bit exhilarated by the emotion that came out of the parade. I try to reflect on why it was such a success, because to be honest, the success was beyond my own expectation. And I think there are several things that came into play. One of the thing is that while I'm not an expert in performance art by any stretch of imagination…I actually have no experience… I did have some experience organizing research project in Africa, which actually ended up being a useful skill set. And I use that to plan.
[1:16] And also, I made sure that every group that worked with us had clear responsibilities. And I let them have those responsibilities and go on with it. And my most important job was just to coordinate and that make sure everyone knew when to play their part. So I think by giving people their responsibility. They became more creative on how to come up with something that would be meaningful. They also knew very well what was the general framework and scenario and what we had planned for this event: what was the logic, what was our goals, what were our objective. So that really helped. And that came out very well.
[2:12] What was very interesting too is that each group didn't necessarily know what the other ones would be doing. It was basically only two of us who knew the entire scope and all the detail of these events. So for some members, they were also surprised to see the other part as they didn't know what the choreography would be, or they didn't know what the acting part would be, or they didn't know what the music could be. So in that sense, I think it was very interesting to watch.
[2:44] Dan: Let me jump in just for people who maybe haven't read the article yet or just seeing this on social media. In terms of the success, we had like 750 people there and over 100 people involved in your production: 45 musicians and 30 actors and 30 singers from two different choirs. So when you're talking about the groups, you're talking about John D’earth and the musicians and the two choirs, and the actors…
Isabelle: And the person who worked on the choreography [Ed.-- Susan McCulley] and got the people to practice.
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Choreographer Susan McCulley (at right in orange vest) with drum major Emily Little and Lady Liberty Sage Bradburn. (Photo by Rebecca George Photography, used with permission.) |
Exuberant joy at the Jazz Parade. (Photo by Rebecca George Photography, used with permission)
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[3:20] Isabelle: But the success for me is really beyond the number of people; it's also the joy that people had being in it And we had actors, singers, etc. But we had a lot of followers [Ed. —spectators]. And by the end of the parade, you could not differentiate between the people who were actors and the followers who got into the parade and participated in an active manner. And that was not a given. We didn't know whether they would just feel like, “OK, I'm part of this now.” But it did work out; in French, you say “The mayonnaise took.”
[3:59] Dan: Yeah, people were just exuberant and just thought it was fun and cool that, you know, we pulled it off. You and Nancy…Nancy was the creative director, the woman who wrote the script…And when Isabel said two people knew everything, it was her and Nancy. It was a great event.
Nancy DeWitt with Isabelle McMahon post-event (photo by Dan Doernberg, used with permission)
Most of the article that is going to appear in “The Grassroots Connector (you wrote the skeleton of that) was a recipe for how other groups, people in other cities could do something similar, creative and not to be afraid of it. But you didn't put much of yourself in that article. How did you come to work with Indivisible, and what's your backstory?
[4:39] Isabelle: So I'm French, I came to the US about 20 years ago and became a citizen about 10 years ago. And I worked in international development and I was part of the people that lost their job because of the Trump regime. So that probably fueled my desire to be part of the people who would make sure that he does not stay in power and that we get back to what America used to be. So for me, as a non-American citizen originally, I choose to become an American citizen. So I'm not American by... by birth. It's really a choice. And I choose this country for the value for which it stands. And putting those values…[Ed--Isabelle chokes up a bit]… sorry… at risk is just making me think, “What am I doing here?” So yeah, it matters.
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Emily Little in USA costume waving the flag (Photo by Rebecca George Photography, used with permission) |
Tombstones made by Isabelle (Photo by Rebecca George Photography, used with permission)
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[5:43] Dan: Yeah, I've never heard you say that before… I'm choking up a little bit, too…
You've said in other situations, as someone who chose America, you're feeling the pressure to stand up and be brave, and not to step back and let someone else do it, or hope that it just passes on its own.
[6:10] Isabelle: Yeah, I really think it's important for us to be out there and not to show any type of fear. Because when you start showing that you're afraid, they're winning. If you start, you know, wearing masks because you don't want to be seen….blurring faces [Ed—in photos]. Those acts to me are showing some level of fear that you don't want to have. What's going to make us strong is the numbers; if we are all out there, we are protecting each other by the numbers.
[6:36] Dan: I've told people before that my father and all my uncles served in the military during World War II. And I feel like I'm more patriotic now than I've ever been. All this bad stuff under Trump and the whole MAGA movement has just made me more in-touch and more thoughtful about American values and sacrifices that other generations have made. …it's been an interesting few years.
Is there anything else you want to share with people, how other people in other cities might want to do something like this, or people in Charlottesville understand what went into this?
[7:18] Isabelle: Yeah, I just really want people to not be afraid of doing it. They might be very successful or not as successful, but you can do all kinds of performance art that are going to bring more meaning. because people will remember, they'll have the image in their head. If you have a strong image, you might get people’s attention and they'll remember… the power of the image and of performance art to show what you think and your values.
[7:55] Dan: And also a way of reaching other people; some people are not tuned in politically particularly, and you say “We're going to have a protest rally,” and that may not mean so much to them; but when they’re just on the [Ed—Charlottesville] Downtown Mall and a 40-piece brass band comes and people are holding signs… tombstones in our case, about what the issues are that we care about… that reaches people in an emotional way, and maybe reaches a different group of people as well.
[8:26] Isabelle: Yeah, I agree.
Dan: Well, it was a huge success. You and Nancy, I don't know between the two of you, hundreds of hours, easy?
Isabelle: Oh, yeah.
[8:45] Dan: One of the people, [in] one of the other videos, said this will be one of the things that she's proudest of when she's on her deathbed looking back. It resonated so strongly. Thank you for all the heart that you put into it.
Isabelle: Thank you.
Dan: Okay, take it easy. I'm signing off.
Isabelle: Okay, bye.
Postscript: In addition to doing all the coordination and logistics, Isabelle created all the tombstones and signs herself. Here are a few of her photos:
All the tombstones, with Isabelle’s dog Nugget (photo by Isabelle McMahon, used with permission)
Coffin for Lady Liberty (photo by Isabelle McMahon, used with permission)
Coloring in the stenciled protest signs (photo by Isabelle McMahon, used with permission)
“RIP UVA Autonomy?: Never” tombstone (photo by Isabelle McMahon, used with permission)
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