Elm Shakespeare Company is
Committed to Anti-racism
A Statement by the Board of Directors
Producing Artistic Director
August 2020
Elm Shakespeare Company is committed to making unbiased choices and promoting anti-racism in all aspects of the life of the company; we will continually examine our culture, policies, and practices to ensure that these do not put People of Color at a disadvantage; we will think deeply and critically about how the company’s mission, values, and actions can best contribute to creating an equal society.
We affirm unequivocally that the lives, work, emotions, and perspectives of Black, Indigenous, and People of Color (BIPOC) matter. We unequivocally denounce racism in all its forms, including “systemic racism”: the ways in which history, culture, public policy, institutional practices, and individuals’ personal beliefs interact to the advantage of White people, while at the same time placing People of Color at a disadvantage. We recognize that, regardless of good intentions, the board of directors, staff, and organization as a whole, as participants in our society, have benefited from structural racism, even as the company’s mission is to “enrich the lives of people from widely diverse backgrounds.”
Twenty-five years ago, Elm Shakespeare Company was founded on principles of access, inclusion, and community engagement, and the promise of experiencing our shared humanity through great free open-air theater. We continue working to strengthen the already vibrant artistic and educational landscape of Greater New Haven, through world-class productions coupled with rigorous and joyous education programs that enrich our diverse community. On stage and in our teaching staff, we reflect the racial makeup of our community. In addition, BIPOC students represent 60% of our students.
In 2020–21, twenty-five years later, we remain committed to our mission, and commit to the following actions:
Expanding our understanding of systemic racism as a company, assessing the organization’s practices and policies, and implementing change based on what we learn.
Building upon current practices of on-stage racial parity, by expanding the diversity of our design, stage management, administrative, and technical staff.
Deepening our engagement with BIPOC actors by engaging a BIPOC casting associate.
Fostering a more collaborative, welcoming, and creative artistic environment by integrating antiracism training for all performance and production staff into the rehearsal process and creating an anonymous feedback mechanism.
Providing year-round antiracism training for staff with opportunities for discussion and calls for organizational improvement.
Acknowledging at our performances that indigenous peoples and nations, including Mohegan, Mashantucket Pequot, Eastern Pequot, Schaghticoke, Golden Hill Paugussett, Niantic, and the Quinnipiac and other Algonquian speaking peoples, have stewarded through generations the lands and waterways of what is now the state of Connecticut. We will gratefully honor their stewardship of this land, and seek to better understand our place within its history.
Finally, we recognize that important questions are being asked about if and how the plays of Shakespeare can still serve audiences, including our own in the Greater New Haven region. We believe strongly that they can. We are excited to invite participants to join an exploration of how race and racism interact with Shakespeare’s plays and current performance practices, and how performing Shakespeare can serve a diverse artistic company and audience. Find out more here!
Elm Shakespeare exists to inspire, educate, and entertain the diverse members of the Greater New Haven community. We are listening to the many voices in our midst calling for justice and the creation of a truly equal society. We are committed—as board and staff members, artists and theatre lovers, as citizens and human beings—to growing and learning: “bringing people together through Shakespeare to celebrate our shared humanity and build community.”