Equity, Diversity, Inclusion

We See You. We Hear You. We Will do Better.

(Tuesday, June 2, 2020) There are cries in our community that we have ignored and there are injustices every day that we have not challenged. We are horrified by the violence against Black America and move forward with renewed dedication to fighting systemic racism and white supremacy. This challenges us not only as artists, but also as humans. While we have always encouraged conversations and social justice to occur within the four walls in which we operate, we have been lacking in getting these conversations to penetrate our community any further than our front door. This must and will change. Please hold us accountable as we make this commitment to match our words and our work on stage, with action. On behalf of the entire Staff and Board of ATC, we support our Black community in their revolution and proclaim loudly that BLACK LIVES MATTER.

(Wednesday, July 15, 2020) Executive Director, Chip Decker emailed our artists, past and present, about our commitment to becoming an actively anti-racist organization. Read the statement here.

Some of Our Commitments Include:

Review the ATC Mission Statement through the lens of Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion (EDI)
Rebuild complicit programming habits that favor white cis voices as the “norm” in order to create space for Black, Indigenous, and People of Color (BIPOC) voices and stories as we move forward.
Dedicate ourselves to color conscious casting that supports employing more BIPOC throughout our season, from backstage to front of house.
Cultivate partnerships and reexamine our purchase patterns to reflect our support of Black, Latinx, and minority owned businesses.
Create criteria to encourage submissions from BIPOC playwrights and stories through our nuVoices New Play Festival.
Engaging all staff and board in Anti-Racism and EDI training.
Provide educational support and comparative resources for ATC’s Cultural Equity Committee, which was formed in 2019 to address equity, diversity, and inclusion.
Diversify board and staff by actively seeking BIPOC to join our team.
Be willing to be uncomfortable by listening more and learning from our mistakes.
Develop a set of core values to ensure these commitments are demonstrated in our daily business practices.

Photo by John Merrick / Artwork by Dammit Wesley, Dakotah Aiyanna, Zacc Mclean & Ty Adams w/ Najo Al-Ali, Abel Jackson, Garrison Gist, Owl & Arko, Kyle Mosher w/ Zachery Peele, Franklin Kernes w/ Lo’Vonia Parks, Kiana Mui, Marcus Kiser & Jason Woodberry, Georgie Nakima, Matthew Clayburn, Frankie Zombie, CHD:WCK!, John Hairston Jr., Dari Calamari

Resources for Continued Discussion

EDUCATE: Articles and Videos

SUPPORT: Black Charlotte Artists

SUPPORT: Eat, Drink, and Buy in Charlotte

WATCH: Movies/TV Shows

13th
Dear White People
King in the Wilderness
Loving
Moonlight
The Black Panthers: Vanguard of the Revolution
The Black Power Mixtape 1967-1975
The Death and Life of Marsha P. Johnson
The Hate U Give
Reconstruction: America After the Civil War
Rest In Power: The Trayvon Martin Story
Teach Us All
The Murder of Fred Hampton
Time: The Kalief Browder Story
When They See Us
Whose Streets?

LISTEN: Podcasts

1619 (New York Times)
About Race
Black History Year
Code Switch
Come Through
Momentum: A Race Forward Podcast
The Nod
Pod For The Cause (from The Leadership Conference on Civil & Human Rights)
Pod Save the People (Crooked Media)
Seeing White
The United States of Anxiety

READ: Contemporary Plays

An Octoroon
by Branden Jacobs-Jenkins
Between Riverside and Crazy
by Stephen Adly Guirgis
BLKS
by Aziza Barnes
Choir Boy
by Tarell Alvin McCraney
Fairview
by Jackie Sibblies Drury
Pass Over
by Antoinette Nwandu
Pipeline
by Dominique Morisseau
School Girls; Or, The African Mean Girls Play
by Jocelyn Bioh
Skeleton Crew
by Dominique Morisseau
Slave Play
by Jeremy O. Harris
Straight White Men
by Young Jean Lee
Sweat
by Lynn Nottage
The Niceties
by Eleanor Burgess
Underground Railroad Game
Created by Jennifer Kidwell and Scott R. Sheppard with Lightning Rod Special

READ: Non-Fiction

The New Jim Crow: Mass Incarceration in the Age of Colorblindness
by Michelle Alexander
White Rage: The Unspoken Truth of Our Racial Divide
by Carol Anderson_
The N Word: Who Can Say It, Who Shouldn’t, and Why
by Jabari Asim
The Fire Next Time
by James Baldwin
The Next American Revolution: Sustainable Activism for the Twenty-First Century
by Grace Lee Boggs
Racism Without Racists
by Eduardo Bonilla-Silva
Black Feminist Thought: Knowledge, Consciousness, and the Politics of Empowerment
by Patricia Hill Collins
Eloquent Rage: A Black Feminist Discovers Her Superpower
by Dr. Brittany Cooper
Open Season: Legalized Genocide of Colored People
by Ben Crump
Women, Race, & Class
by Angela Y. Davis
Tears We Cannot Stop: A Sermon to White America
by Michael Eric Dyson
Biased: Uncovering the Hidden Prejudice That Shapes What We See, Think, and Do
by Jennifer L. Eberhardt
Why I’m No Longer Talking to White People About Race
by Reni Eddo-Lodge
For White Folks Who Teach in the Hood… and the Rest of Y’all Too: Reality Pedagogy and Urban Education
by Christopher Emdin
From Slavery To Freedom: A History of African-Americans
by John Hope Franklin
Nobody: Casualties of America’s War on the Vulnerable, from Ferguson to Flint and Beyond
by Marc Lamont Hill
Ain’t I a Woman: Black Women and Feminism
by bell hooks
Killing Rage: Ending Racism
by bell hooks
The Black and the Blue: A Cop Reveals the Crimes, Racism, and Injustice in America’s Law Enforcement
by Matthew Horace and Ron Harris
This Book Is Anti-Racist: 20 Lessons on How to Wake Up, Take Action, and Do The Work
by Tiffany Jewell and Aurelia Durand
Hood Feminism: Notes From The Women That The Movement Forgot
by Mikki Kendall
How to Be an Antiracist
by Dr. Ibram X. Kendi
Stamped from the Beginning: The Definitive History of Racist Ideas in America
By Dr. Ibram X. Kendi
Queer and Trans Artists of Color: Stories of Some of Our Lives
By Nia King
Sister Outsider: Essays and Speeches
By Audre Lorde
They Can’t Kill Us All: Ferguson, Baltimore, And A New Era In America’s Racial Justice Movement
by Wesley Lowery
This Bridge Called My Back: Writings by Radical Women of Color
by Cherríe Moraga
Pushout: The Criminalization of Black Girls in Schools
by Monique W. Morris
The Construction of Whiteness: An Interdisciplinary Analysis of Race Formation and the Meaning of a White Identity
Edited by Stephen Middleton, David R. Roediger, and Donald M. Shaffer
Playing in the Dark: Whiteness and the Literary Imagination
By Toni Morrison
The Condemnation of Blackness: Race, Crime, and the Making of Modern Urban America
by Khalid Gibran Muhammad
So You Want to Talk About Race
by Ijeoma Oluo
The History of White People
By Nell Irvin Painter
Blackballed: The Black Vote and US Democracy
by Darryl Pinckney
Fatal Invention: How Science, Politics, and Big Business Re-Create Race in the 21st Century
by Dorothy Roberts
Me and White Supremacy
by Layla F. Saad
Black on Both Sides: A Racial History of Trans Identity
By C. Riley Snorton
Why Are All the Black Kids Sitting Together in the Cafeteria?: And Other Conversations About Race
By Beverly Daniel Tatum

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