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Our Mission 

 

The Playwrights Realm is devoted to supporting early-career playwrights along the journey of playwriting, helping them hone their craft, fully realize their vision, and build meaningful artistic careers, by providing comprehensive services that include dramaturgical and production support as well as generous stipends and other discretionary funds.

Banner Photo: Wolf 359’s Block Association Project (Credit: Daniel J. Vasquez Productions).

 
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Our Beliefs

  • We believe in playwrights, and that bringing the freshest, bravest voices to the stage is what keeps theater alive.

  • We believe in nurturing them from the early stages of their careers, by providing flexible support tailored to playwrights' needs when they lack financial stability or an artistic platform.

  • We believe in artistic innovation, in playwrights who take risks and defy convention, who would rather fail big than be too tame (learn more about our aesthetic).

  • We believe the best art can arise anywhere and speak to us all, and we’re committed to breaking any institutional barriers that prevent it from happening.

 
 
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Anna Moench’s Mothers opening night party (Credit: Daniel J. Vasquez Productions)

 

Our Values 

Since 2017, we have made a public commitment to be an equitable, inclusive, anti-racist, and anti-oppressive organization. We want to reflect the full spectrum of humanity through the artists we support, the stories we tell, the staff and Board of the company, and the audiences we reach.

Many individuals in our community face practical barriers, oppressive experiences and systemic power imbalances; since The Playwrights Realm is a reflection of the society in which we live, these issues inevitably exist within our organization as well. We are committed to continuous self-examination, as well as openness to all feedback (be it internal or external), to identify and correct any oppressive practices and truly live up to our values.

If you have suggestions, questions, or comments, please let us know at info@playwrightsrealm.org.

 
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Our Approach

Building on our ongoing work, and further galvanized by the We See You White American Theatre movement, we’ll periodically conduct a full internal review of best practices and next steps in our ongoing commitment to being an anti-oppressive, anti-racist organization. After each review, we’ll update a public document which will:

 
 
 
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Identify key goals, and supporting actions
already in place

 
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Commit to continuing
and future actions
in support of these goals

 
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Share data in order
to track our progress

 

Our Progress

 

Since 2020, we’ve conducted periodical company-wide reviews analyzing our entire plan and updating our progress. To be transparent, we want to highlight achievements, but also areas in which we fell short, and recommit to these goals and other future commitments as well. Here are some highlights from the updated 2023 document:

Future Commitments

  • Try out different models for utilizing understudies; 

  • Develop specific intervention protocols for any racist interactions with the public;

  • Investigate access issues at the company and implement changes to the physical space to reduce barriers;

  • Have anti-racism training at each first rehearsal, led by a trained facilitator.

Challenges (goals we hoped to achieve since the last update, but fell short)

  • Do a comprehensive review of our Employee Handbook and other policies to ensure they reflect our Values;

  • Seek out new BIPOC Board members and other members that represent these values;

  • Generate Realm policy around the use of ableist language, including giving staff resources on how to eliminate the use of such language;

  • Expand outreach to the Disabled community to understand more about their needs.

Achievements

  • Provide 401k option (and employee contribution) to full-time employees; 

  • Bring in a data consultant to help us consider our data acquisition practices;

  • Incorporate accessibility tools into our website;

  • Create a protocol for all departments to share pronouns, access needs, and Land Acknowledgments at meetings;

  • Change board giving policy from a specific dollar value to a meaningful financial gift to make board service feasible for more people;

  • Counter the suppression of Native voices by working to include them in our cohorts;

  • Provide voluntary anti-racism training to board members at board meetings.

Previous versions: 2022, 2020

 
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Our Initiatives

We are committed to practicing what we preach.
Check out some of values-centric initiatives!

 
 
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Radical Parent-Inclusion Project

Our initiative confronts the challenges of working parents in the performing arts and aims to model the kind of world in which we aspire to live in.

 
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A Ticket for Every Budget

We believe art is better when everyone can participate - which is why we offer three tiers of ticket prices for every full production, and free tickets to all other programming!

 

 

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