Our commitments
Pursuing Equity & Justice
Our mission has and continues to be to use exquisite theatrical experiences to inspire compassion and forge emotional bonds across socio-economic and racial barriers.
It has been our theory of change that in building a true community across difference, such a community implicitly challenges the oppressive aspects of our societal structures and allows us to be responsible to one another as full human beings.
This has been the guiding force behind both our attempt to create excellent art that inspires a sense of recognition across difference and, through theatre making, build a home together amongst those that society consciously and unconsciously segregates.
However, the inherent and ongoing challenge is that attempting to instill a revolution within a system means we ultimately remain, at least partially, compromised by the limitations of the system itself. This is true both within the non-profit sector and within the larger systemic influences of the nation at large. It is this ongoing wrestling with what is, what should be and how we can stay afloat while attempting to enact change, which has and continues to be the core challenge that we can and will improve upon.
In our country, many institutions and individuals perpetuate white supremacy culture, racism, and colonialism (knowingly and unknowingly) and benefit from its existence. The Oakland Theater Project is no exception and we must take rigorous action to examine our practices and identify ways we can improve and better support BIPOC artists and communities.
The Bay Area’s Living Document necessarily creates a sense of discomfort among the gatekeepers in our industry, including us. And, yet, embracing discomfort is a central part of why we believe in theatre.
Theatre artists reveal publicly what most of us know to be true privately in order for us all to feel less alone. However, in order to achieve this heroic feat of vulnerability theatre artists must feel safe enough within the process, within a space and amongst one’s collaborators in order to publicly reveal and expose the dangerous depths of oneself.
What the Living Document and larger nationwide call exposes is the profound perversion that has occurred and continues to be perpetuated in our field - our BIPOC colleagues experience disproportionately unsafe and harmful spaces while being asked to accomplish disproportionately emotionally dangerous and exposing feats for disproportionately low pay and lack of opportunities.
One reason why addressing this inequity is necessary within our field is that it speaks to the more pervasive crises facing our country. Whether or not we are able as a nation to repair the harm and build the trust necessary to create an equitable and healing home in this country together across difference will determine our collective future. The theatre has a role to play in this work.
It should also be acknowledged that because of the pandemic, our staff is currently furloughed and is volunteering their time in helping to craft this initial statement. However, in the coming days we are going to embark in a full process that involves artists, staff and board members and we will compensate our team for their time. We will look carefully at each item in the Living Document and will examine and determine the action steps needed to either maintain or improve our work in each area as we strive to create an equitable, just, and anti-racist organization. In the meantime, here is an overview of where we think we are:
Things we are excited to do, but will take some time to complete
Fundraising to increase our budget to provide critical additional supports to our artists and staff, including:
o mental health services
o cultural consultants
o affinity spaces for artists
o externally facilitated anti-bias and anti-racist trainings to all staff
Things we were planning on doing and can accomplish in 2020
Refine code of conduct and zero-tolerance for harassment and discrimination policies
Clarify and improve pathways for individuals to pursue when they want to give feedback, make a complaint, or mediate a dispute and provide multiple options for anonymity and support for the reporter
Strengthening an artistic mentorship program for our Company Members that offer career pathways for advancement
Improve our information sharing. On top of our 990s being available to the public, we are excited to create our Guide Star profile where we can better share the financial information and demographic information that builds trust and accountability.
Acknowledge our theater sits on stolen land and our organization has benefited from a previous name that appropriated Southern African cultures. Contribute to the Shuumi Land Tax and generate an Indigenous Land Acknowledgement Statement
Things we were already doing and can continue to improve upon
BIPOC Representation - We are proud that the majority of our creative team, board of directors, and staff are BIPOC. And we are continuing to think thoughtfully and challenge ourselves to seek out more ways to deepen and expand our lens of diversity and inclusion and who is part of our team
Producing – Since our founding, every year our season has been composed of a majority of stories from BIPOC, queer, trans, women of color, and/or disabled playwrights in season programming. And we are continuing to explore how to increase this majority.
Commissioning – Since our founding, every year our season has been composed of a majority of stories from BIPOC, queer, trans, women of color, and/or disabled playwrights in season programming, and we are excited to continue commissioning more and more works from BIPOC artists.
We will continue to strengthen equitable pay structures, including our shift in 2020 to treating artists as staff (rather than independent contractors) and paying all artists a living wage in 2021
Accessibility – We believe in a spirit of radical inclusivity and will continue to offer our shows at pay-what-you-can pricing to ensure that no one is turned away for lack of funds and that all feel welcomed in our space, as well as continue to examine ways in which our theatre can become more accessible overall.
As theatre wrestles with the legacy of unrepaired American trauma, we also wrestle with forging an American theatre that is responsive to the core crises of America at large. In doing this work it is possible to forge an American Theatre that positions itself as necessary to the health and well being of our community, a space where our blind spots are burned away because of the recognition of one another and a space where we can begin to find a home together across differences.
But, just as a home is broken without everyone present being included, such a community cannot exist without the well-being of those who build, keep and make such a home across difference possible: BIPOC theatre artists and administrators.
With this in mind, it is our belief that creating such a home is the serious work, the joyful work, the redemptive work, the healing work and as this work falls squarely upon us as leaders of a relatively small organization, this is the work we solemnly and excitedly embrace to strive to live up to as we continue to learn and improve. And, as we have made mistakes we have much to learn and to improve upon.
As we continue to evaluate and re-evaluate our efforts, especially in light of the Living Document and the larger industry-wide reckoning, we also recognize that striving to right the wrongs within the severity of the situation is the joyful and necessary labor of a lifetime and is never finished.
We are grateful for the colleagues who bravely did the work, took the risks and shared painful experiences so that as an industry we may realize a more just and equitable world – and we are sincere in our efforts so that such brave work will not be necessary in the future.
We will be holding one another and ourselves responsible as we help manifest transformation for our industry and artists.
Michael Moran, Executive Director & Co-Artistic Director
William Hodgson, Co-Artistic Director
Lisa Ramirez, Associate Artistic Director
Colin Mandlin, Managing Director
Dawn L. Troupe, Co-Director of Education