Statement of Action, Intention, and Commitment
10/27/2021
In the wake of the protests following the murder of George Flloyd, amidst a pandemic and national shutdown, theatre companies across the country vowed to listen, to learn, to center Black voices, and to take hard looks at their their diversity, equity, and inclusion practices.
It has been almost a year and a half since that initial wave of statements. The work isn’t done. As live and in person performance begins to come back, it is essential that we recognize that this work must be more than a promise; that we commit to a long road of asking questions, making changes, learning, and acting upon that learning.
We want to share with you some of the work that’s happening behind the scenes at Bechdel and where our current conversations are taking us.
We identified the following as practices we have in place and the way those practices have evolved:
Over the past year, we committed to:
These are the Big Picture Questions we’re currently discussing as a board and staff:
Possibilities and plans we are currently discussing:
As a small non-profit run by folks outside of their full time jobs, other overall questions remain Who, How, and When.
We are working to continue these conversations, consider our resources, and develop a multi-year plan.
If you’re reading this and have thoughts, ideas, and questions, we’d welcome your input.
10/27/2021
In the wake of the protests following the murder of George Flloyd, amidst a pandemic and national shutdown, theatre companies across the country vowed to listen, to learn, to center Black voices, and to take hard looks at their their diversity, equity, and inclusion practices.
It has been almost a year and a half since that initial wave of statements. The work isn’t done. As live and in person performance begins to come back, it is essential that we recognize that this work must be more than a promise; that we commit to a long road of asking questions, making changes, learning, and acting upon that learning.
We want to share with you some of the work that’s happening behind the scenes at Bechdel and where our current conversations are taking us.
We identified the following as practices we have in place and the way those practices have evolved:
- We founded the company with the aim to interrogate gender tropes and representation.
- We have asked playwrights to consider when and why a character is specified as ‘male’ if gender is not relevant to the plot. Is there a reason? Why specify? What would happen if the character weren’t male?
- We have worked to expand these conversations to examine gender as a binary in general.
- While we began with the aim of creating a platform for roles that portrayed women as full, three dimensional people, we are working to prioritize more intersectional roles, and to include conversations of intersectionality in our community discussions
- We began our work with efforts to be intentional in our casting:
- We have always worked to debunk the assumption that no description = white.
- At the same time, we are working to be cognizant about the power dynamics, nuance, and additional dynamics race and gender combinations bring to a script.
- In our dramaturgical feedback, we ask questions about those dynamics when playwrights make notes that the cast can be ‘any gender/race.’
- We have definitely learned from mistakes here ourselves - when our casting has created a dynamic that does not serve the play.
- In our casting and our conversations we are working towards how we can decentralize whiteness critically and intentionally
- With the success of our Overnight Writing Challenge, we added specific themes, with the aim of highlighting stories and playwrights we wanted more of. These themes have included:
- Plays written and performed by queer, non-binary, non-conforming, and trans folk.
- Writers of color writing for women of color.
- Non-pandering plays for young people.
Over the past year, we committed to:
- Expanding our board with members of our existing community
- Adding a residency program
- Re-examining and re-writing our mission and values
These are the Big Picture Questions we’re currently discussing as a board and staff:
- Who are we centering? How does this centering manifest?
- How and where are we conflating populations in the interest of diversity?
- Where are we giving back to the communities we want to serve?
- What does giving back look like? Where are our opportunities to do so?
- What audiences can we reach beyond who we’re currently reaching?
- How can we better create a community where we can have open and honest conversations where we’re willing to be uncomfortable?
- What does our work mean for male playwrights? For white playwrights? What does playwright responsibility look like?
Possibilities and plans we are currently discussing:
- Hosting community discussions and workshops around these questions
- Using our platform (website, social media, etc.) to recognize and promote artists and companies
- Creating Community Agreements and re-thinking/re-structuring our community discussions
As a small non-profit run by folks outside of their full time jobs, other overall questions remain Who, How, and When.
We are working to continue these conversations, consider our resources, and develop a multi-year plan.
If you’re reading this and have thoughts, ideas, and questions, we’d welcome your input.