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Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion

This content centers work that is being done—and where work still needs to be done—to make the theatre field more just, from how colleges are failing theatre students of color to racist practices in hiring directors to why expectations of unpaid labor lead to a homogenous workforce. Learn with panels on how to support the Black Lives Matter movement as an arts organization and ethics and equity when presenting dance and performance.

The Latest

Into Abolitionist Theatre: A Guidebook for Liberatory Theatre-making
Video
Into Abolitionist Theatre: A Guidebook for Liberatory Theatre-making
A virtual book launch event
Wednesday 1 May 2024
Meet Amleta
Video
Meet Amleta
Join us for a livestream discussion with Amleta founder, Monica Faggiani
Friday 3 May 2024
Building “New” Audiences
Essay
Building “New” Audiences
by Ravi Jain , Miriam Fernandes
10 April 2024
A headshot of the guest, Kyoung Park, against a space-designed background.
Peacemaking Theatre
Podcast

Peacemaking Theatre

With Kyoung Park of Kyoung's Pacific Beat

28 July 2021

Yura Sapi sits down with Kyoung H. Park of Kyoung’s Pacific Beat, a peacemaking theatre collective dedicated to working with artists, non-artists, and local communities to transform experiences of oppression into peace messages through public performance.

 
 
event poster for wingspace virtual salon on pay equity.
Pay Equity in the Theatre Industry
orange block with white letters w s.
Wingspace Theatrical Design
Video

Pay Equity in the Theatre Industry

How we can embrace our shared responsibility to hold institutions accountable and advocate where we have agency

Thursday 22 July 2021
United States

Wingspace Theatrical Design presented a Virtual Salon on Pay Equity in the Theatre Industry livestreaming on the global, commons-based, peer produced HowlRound TV network at howlround.tv on Thursday 22 July 2021 at 5 p.m. PDT (San Francisco, UTC -7) / 7 p.m. CDT (Chicago, UTC -5) / 8 p.m. EDT (New York, UTC -4).

A headshot of Michelle A. Banks against a galaxy backdrop with the logo for Building Our Own Tables to the left.
Creating a Platform for BIPOC, Deaf, and Hard-of-Hearing Artists
Podcast

Creating a Platform for BIPOC, Deaf, and Hard-of-Hearing Artists

With Michelle Banks of Visionaries of the Creative Arts

21 July 2021

Yura Sapi sits down with Black, Deaf artist Michelle Banks to talk about Visionaries of the Creative Arts, an organization Michelle co-founded, dedicated to responding to the critical needs of d/Deaf and hard-of-hearing artists who are Black, Indigenous, and people of color, in Washington, DC.

Lara Parmiani wearing a black top and holding out a banana in front her like a gun.
“You can’t do revolution on your own”: Lara Parmiani on the Migrant Woman Experience in British Theatre
Essay

“You can’t do revolution on your own”: Lara Parmiani on the Migrant Woman Experience in British Theatre

19 July 2021

verity healey sits down with Italy-born, UK-based theatremaker Lara Parmiani to talk about the migrant woman experience in Britain and its representation, or lack thereof, on British stages.

event poster for deafwoke with april jackson woodard
#DeafWoke with April Jackson-Woodard
Urban Jazz Dance Company logo.
Urban Jazz Dance Company
Video

#DeafWoke with April Jackson-Woodard

A virtual consciousness-raising online talk show, led by Black and Native American Deaf host Mr. Antoine Hunter PurpleFireCrow

Tuesday 13 July 2021
United States

Antoine Hunter presented #DeafWoke with April Jackson-Woodard livestreaming on the global, commons-based, peer produced HowlRound TV network at howlround.tv on Tuesday 13 July at 5 p.m. PDT (San Francisco, UTC -7) / 7 p.m. CDT (Chicago, UTC -5) / 8 p.m. EDT (New York, UTC -4).

event poster for deaf woke with June Alsobrook.
#DeafWoke with June Alsobrook
Urban Jazz Dance Company logo.
Urban Jazz Dance Company
Video

#DeafWoke with June Alsobrook

A virtual consciousness-raising online talk show, led by Black and Native American Deaf host Mr. Antoine Hunter PurpleFireCrow

Thursday 8 July 2021
United States

Antoine Hunter presented #DeafWoke with June Alsobrook livestreaming on the global, commons-based, peer produced HowlRound TV network at howlround.tv on Thursday 8 July at 4 p.m. PDT (San Francisco, UTC -7) / 6 p.m. CDT (Chicago, UTC -5) / 7 p.m. EDT (New York, UTC -4).

Several half-naked actors with lacrosse sticks. One actor is front and center, wearing a red hat and white underwear, with his hands behind his head. The actresses on his sides are using lacrosse sticks to cover their chests.
The Island of Lost Chorus Boys: Professional Theatre’s Broken Promise to Accept Us in All Our Glorious Queerness
Essay

The Island of Lost Chorus Boys: Professional Theatre’s Broken Promise to Accept Us in All Our Glorious Queerness

8 July 2021

Kieron Cindric talks about how the theatre industry—and, in particular, musical theatre—has continually reinforced a narrow and harmful version of masculinity.

Creating New Mediums and Hustle Culture
Podcast

Creating New Mediums and Hustle Culture

With Parmida Ziaei of Seda Iranian Ensemble

7 July 2021

In this episode of Building Our Own Tables, host Yura Sapi discusses Seda Iranian Theatre Ensemble, the first Iranian theatre company in Seattle, with co-founder Parmida Ziaei.

A headshot of Maurice Parent against a galaxy background. The Building Our Own Tables logo is left of Parent.
Co-Productions and Rethinking Leadership
Podcast

Co-Productions and Rethinking Leadership

With Maurice Parent of the Front Porch Arts Collective

30 June 2021

In this episode of Building Our Own Tables, Yura Sapi talks about leadership in theatre with Black actor and educator Maurice Parent, a co-producer of the Collective.

A Black woman with her hair wrapped on the top of her head and her right hand up.
And It Feels Good
Essay

And It Feels Good

The Responsibility of Theatre, and the Imagining of a World Without Oppression

29 June 2021

Dane Figueroa Edidi muses on how imagination provides the power to conjure an equitable theatre.

event poster for deaf woke with dorothea tolliver.
#DeafWoke with Dorothea Tolliver
Urban Jazz Dance Company logo.
Urban Jazz Dance Company
Video

#DeafWoke with Dorothea Tolliver

A virtual consciousness-raising online talk show, led by Black and Native American Deaf host Mr. Antoine Hunter PurpleFireCrow

Thursday 24 June 2021
United States

Antoine Hunter presented #DeafWoke with Dorothea Tolliver livestreaming on the global, commons-based, peer produced HowlRound TV network at howlround.tv on Thursday 25 June at 4 p.m. PDT (San Francisco, UTC -7) / 6 p.m. CDT (Chicago, UTC -5) / 7 p.m. EDT (New York, UTC -4).

Community Organizations and Partnerships
Podcast

Community Organizations and Partnerships

With Samson Syharath and Dmae Lo Roberts of Theatre Diaspora

23 June 2021

In this episode of Building Our Own Tables, host Yura Sapi discusses Theatre Diaspora with co-founders Samson Syharath and Dmae Lo Roberts.

The silhouettes of a Black woman and a Black man in an embrace against a pink-purple ombre background.
Confessions of a Black Intimacy Director: Black Love and Human Rights
Essay

Confessions of a Black Intimacy Director: Black Love and Human Rights

7 June 2021

Dr. Ayshia Mackie-Stephenson believes that when it comes to intimacy directing, choreography can celebrate Black love as an act of racial and sexual justice.

Two shirtless men standing next to each other on a balcony from their bedroom.
The Future of Theatre and Performance Is Queer, but in Russia This Sounds Unimaginable
Essay

The Future of Theatre and Performance Is Queer, but in Russia This Sounds Unimaginable

1 June 2021

Viktor Vilisov talks about the realities of queer artists and art in Russia today.

A man inflating a mirror with curtains.
What Theatre Do We Want to Return To?
Essay

What Theatre Do We Want to Return To?

27 May 2021

Mike Lew and Rehana Lew Mirza sit down to discuss how COVID has forced a breakup between artists and theatres and what it will take to get back together again.

#DeafWoke with Noah David James III
Urban Jazz Dance Company logo.
Urban Jazz Dance Company
Video

#DeafWoke with Noah David James III

A virtual consciousness-raising online talk show, led by Black and Native American Deaf host Mr. Antoine Hunter PurpleFireCrow

Thursday 20 May 2021
United States

Antoine Hunter presented #DeafWoke with Noah David James III livestreaming on the global, commons-based, peer produced HowlRound TV network at howlround.tv on Thursday 20 May at 5 p.m. PDT (San Francisco, UTC -7) / 7 p.m. CDT (Chicago, UTC -5) / 8 p.m. EDT (New York, UTC -4).

event title text playwrights realm disability representation in storytelling.
Disability Representation in Storytelling
The Playwrights Realm
Video

Disability Representation in Storytelling

What does responsible representation look like in 2021?

Thursday 20 May 2021
United States

The Playwrights Realm presented Disability Representation in Storytelling livestreaming on the global, commons-based, peer produced HowlRound TV network at howlround.tv on Thursday 20 May 2021 at 3 p.m. PDT (San Francisco, UTC -7) / 5 p.m. CDT (Chicago, UTC -5) / 6 p.m. EDT (New York, UTC -4).

the four panelists.
Through A Black Woman’s Lens
orange circle with T C G text
TCG
Video

Through A Black Woman’s Lens

A Look at the Disparities in Hollywood & Theater for Black Women—Tonya Pinkins

Thursday 20 May 2021
United States

Theatre Communications Group presented Through A Black Woman’s Lens—A Look at the Disparities in Hollywood & Theater for Black Women—Tonya Pinkins livestreaming on the global, commons-based, peer produced HowlRound TV network at howlround.tv on Thursday 20 May 2021 at 2 p.m. PDT (San Francisco, UTC -7) / 4 p.m. CDT (Chicago, UTC -5) / 5 p.m. EDT (New York, UTC -4).

event poster for the our theatre ecology.
Our Theater Ecology
orange circle with T C G text
TCG
Video

Our Theater Ecology

TCG's 2021 National Conference Online

Thursday 13 May to Friday 21 May 2021
United States

Theatre Communications Group presented their 2021 National Conference: Our Theatre Ecology livestreaming on the global, commons-based, peer-produced HowlRound TV network at howlround.tv from Thursday 13 May to Friday 21 May 2021.

headshots of francis phiri, antoine hunter, and event info.
#DeafWoke with Francis Phiri
Urban Jazz Dance Company logo.
Urban Jazz Dance Company
Video

#DeafWoke with Francis Phiri

A virtual consciousness-raising online talk show, led by Black and Native American Deaf host Mr. Antoine Hunter PurpleFireCrow

Thursday 6 May 2021
United States

Antoine Hunter presented #DeafWoke with Francis Phiri livestreaming on the global, commons-based, peer produced HowlRound TV network at howlround.tv on Thursday 6 May at 4 p.m. PDT (San Francisco, UTC -7) / 6 p.m. CDT (Chicago, UTC -5) / 7 p.m. EDT (New York, UTC -4).

six performers on a stage with watery blue silks
Learning from the Leaders
Essay

Learning from the Leaders

Deaf Theatre Innovations in the Time of COVID-19

3 May 2021

Luane Davis Haggerty shares successes, learnings, and innovations from the Deaf theatre community over the past year of pandemic performance.

An Image of four panels. The first has a waste basket and crumbled paper in it it. The second have children looking at a stage with their backs to us. The third is a person in a green shirt with long black hair sitting at a desk in and office talking to a person who has their back to us. The fourth panel has a podium with a slot, and various rectangles and circles surrounding it.
Creating Theatre for Our Future, Together
Essay

Creating Theatre for Our Future, Together

29 April 2021

Mary Kathryn Nagle predicts four main ways the American theatre will devise a future where theatrical storytelling does not directly contribute to white supremacy.

outline of head with text neurodiversity matters conference.
Conversations from the Neurodiversity Matters Conference 2021
Spectrum Theatre Ensemble logo.
Spectrum Theatre Ensemble
Video

Conversations from the Neurodiversity Matters Conference 2021

Featuring experts and artists from around the country discussing important neurodivergent issues

Friday 16 April and Saturday 17 April 2021
United States

Spectrum Theatre Ensemble presented conversations from their Neurodiversity Matters Conference 2021 livestreaming on the global, commons-based, peer produced HowlRound TV network at howlround.tv on Friday 16 April and Saturday 17 April 2021.

purple border around black text economic transperency in commercial theater.
Economic Transparency in the Commercial Theatre
Producer Hub
Video

Economic Transparency in the Commercial Theatre

Let’s talk about how we talk about money

Thursday 15 April 2021
United States

Producer Hub presented the conversation Economic Transparency in the Commercial Theatre with their series Producing Ethically in 2021 livestreaming on the global, commons-based, peer-produced HowlRound TV network at howlround.tv on Thursday 15 April 2021 at 5 p.m. PDT (San Francisco, UTC -7) / 7 p.m. CDT (Chicago, UTC -5) / 8 p.m. EDT (New York, UTC -4).

actors on stage looking at a newspaper.
Introducing a New Ongoing Virtual Series: Healing Over Hate
CAATA
Generic Ensemble Company
Perseverance
Theatre
Video

Introducing a New Ongoing Virtual Series: Healing Over Hate

Responding to the Rise of Anti-Asian Violence

Monday 12 April 2021
United States

Consortium of Asian American Theaters and Artists (CAATA) introduced a new ongoing virtual series: Healing Over Hate: Responding to the Rise of Anti-Asian Violence livestreaming on the global, commons-based, peer-produced HowlRound TV network at howlround.tv on Monday 12 April 2021 at 1 p.m. HDT (Honolulu, UTC -9), 3 p.m. AKDT (Juneau, UTC -8), 4 p.m. PDT (San Francisco, UTC -7), 5 p.m. MDT (Denver, UTC -6), 6 p.m. CDT (Chicago, UTC -5), 7 p.m. EDT (New York, UTC -4).