I intend name and eradicate racist and oppressive practices that are embedded in the field of theatrical design and American theatre as a whole, paying particular attention to inflection points in which I have executive prerogative, and how dysconscious racism lives in my work.
I value the act of making proposals that transform and evolve in a dialectic of generous creativity and courageous honesty. I value a space where proposals are made and received without hierarchy, perfectionism, or judgement.
I value the complete humanity in myself and my collaborators. I value “unique dramaturgy”: the act of theatre-making through the lens of lived experience and identity.
There is simply no reason for all-white, all-male creative teams in the American theater.
If the work I’m invited to collaborate on doesn’t look like, sound like, and ultimately feel like our cultural experience in all of its multiplicity, diversity, and complexity, the project likely isn’t for me.
The collaborators I value hold each other accountable with love and generosity. The collaborators I value joyfully commit to anti-racist and anti-oppression work, practices, and policies to end racial inequities in our industry and culture. The collaborators I value recognize that theatre has been a predominantly white institution, dominated by white leadership, and that silence and neutrality are actions of complicity. The collaborators I value accept responsibility to make positive change.
Everything we do must take into account the legacy and continued impact of colonization. Whether it be on the stolen land we occupy to make our work, or embedded in the technologies, structures, and ways of thinking we use. I acknowledge this, and our shared responsibility in the theater to consider our roles in reconciliation, decolonization, and allyship.