We are indebted to the writers of the We See You, White American Theater demands and all the artists of color who have spoken up over the past few months (and for far too many years) to address the systemic inequities that have been rooted in the American theater for too long. WSYWAT offers us a roadmap to becoming not just an effective antiracist organization, but one that better serves the entire community. We will be releasing more detailed plans in the coming weeks, but we want to share a few of the current efforts and actions that Red Tape Theatre is taking towards responding to this momentous initiative:
- We are engaging our leadership, staff, and ensemble in anti-racism and EDI training.
- We are developing action plans and policies for each of our organization’s departments, including our board, artistic leadership, production, literary, development, marketing, and audience services.
- We are re-evaluating our mission and core values to make sure our efforts going forward are proactive, continuous, and rooted in our company’s identity.
- We are re-evaluating the factors that have led to Red Tape Theatre consisting of primarily white staff and company membership, and how that can be rectified moving forward.
In addition to the above, Red Tape Theatre will continue to be guided by our commitment to the Free Theatre Movement, offering all our programming to the public free of charge. Doing so has enabled us to engage with more diverse and inclusive stories, artists and audiences. However, our work towards becoming a more equitable, diverse, and inclusive theatrical organization is an expansive process that we are excited about continuing. We’ll have a lot more news in the coming weeks and we’re excited to move in a direction that makes the Chicago storefront theater community a more equitable and welcoming environment for all.
