Monthly Newsletters
Sometimes our team makes contributions toward our monthly newsletters when we have something we want to share with you, our beloved NYC theatre community. To receive monthly newsletters that include events, submission opportunity, and links to events and resources within the community, please subscribe via the link below.
April 2024
Contributed by Jazmyn.
How do you stay "On" when you're feeling weighed down?
First, let me name that this is all coming from a very privileged perspective. I have the luxury of worrying about arts management, buying a house, completing certification courses, balancing a new full time job and being a mother to a healthy baby, when there are people all over the world who are--in a very literal way--fighting for their lives. Nevertheless, what I am about to speak to is still real for me, and I'm thinking there's folks who may be able to relate to the core of what I'm speaking to even if our circumstances are different.
I started thinking up and imagining Step1 as a theater where artists could do whatever art they wanted without feeling limited to arbitrary rules of the "right" way to do theatre, where folks have autonomy to decide how they want to be represented on stage rather than accepting that they, and people who look like them, will continue to accept misrepresentation and disrespect because that's just "how it is." Over time, my good friend & co-founder Janelle and our team clarified our mission, vision and values to focus on uplifting NYC playwrights who come from communities experiencing marginalization. Though it gets tough with limited capacity and resources, we really want to do right by our artists and collaborate in ways aligned with our values. The truth that sits alongside this is, we are spread thin by competing obligations. Work, education, being caregivers, providers, and taking care of our medical and mental health needs. (Dare I add things like rest, play, and leisure?) I can't speak for my team, but I know I've felt some guilt over how much time I've been able (or more accurately, haven't been able) to commit to my leadership role for the mission and the artists I believe so deeply in.
I don't have the answers, but I know what helps me: leaning on support systems--family, friends, colleagues, loved ones, medical & mental health professionals; community; carving space out (even if it's just a little) for rest, creating and imagining; giving grace to others and accepting grace when it is extended to you; gratitude for being able to engage with art in a meaningful way. If you're overwhelmed, you are not alone. We may have our own unique circumstances, but what we have in common is our finding healing in art and finding community with others doing the same. May we return to grace whenever we feel weighed down, take a deep breath, and take it all one day at a time.
March 2024
Contributed by Janelle.
“Do you have, like, ten minutes for a call?”
Is the voice note I got from Jazmyn. Now, like good stereotypical millennials, our usual contact place is Facebook messenger, so that means that something is up.
We talk about how she got out of an Indie Theaters Dismantling Supremacy meeting and how the discussion became entirely about Palestine. The discussion was about how theatre organizations have not spoken up about the genocide, and how that made her feel things about how we have not been public about it as Step1.
I was honest about how I hadn’t even considered that. We were both publicly posting against the genocide, and I was just beginning to come back after having my baby. I was too busy relating to the issue as a new mom of a preemie child. I was in recovery from my c-section as I learned about women having them without anesthetic. I watched my little one grow and saw the tiny bodies wrapped in cloth, families hugging them as they laid them to rest. I held him close. I was so thankful for my safety and his, and I knew nothing separated us from them other than sheer luck of our birthplace. I make bottles and I think of them, I watch his chest rise and fall in his sleep and I think of them.
The grief is overwhelming, but does not excuse silence or inaction. We haven't made a statement yet not because we were afraid of being accused of hate, or we wanted to preserve our funders, or the fear of pissing our board off. We haven't made a statement because the issue felt too personal, too close to home, but bringing that to our institutions is essential to make change. Action is important when faced with such extreme oppression.
It is scary to be a human who wants to do something in the face of a system and structure that feels far away. It can feel like you can’t do anything to be useful. This is on purpose. If we feel like an individual alone these big issues are insurmountable, but as a community, anything can happen. I encourage you to bear witness. I encourage you to be public about your feelings. I encourage you to learn more and not let the old chestnuts of ‘i am not informed enough” or ‘the situation is complicated’ stop you from engaging in conversations. I encourage you to contact your representatives and tell them how you feel. All of that matters. You absolutely can create change.