Williamstown Theatre Festival and Black Theatre United have teamed up to create a training program for early career Black, Indigenous, and non-white Theater makers. Participants will be provided room and board at WTF for the summer along with a $2,500 stipend. Applications for the Early Career BIPOC Theatre-Makers Program are currently open.
“When our own industry broke open with stories of abuse, pain, marginalization, access denied, subjugation and more, constantly visited upon Black, Indigenous, and People of Color bodies, the path forward became clear: artists in all aspects of the industry had to act,” said Allyson Tucker-Mitchell, founding member of BTU, in a statement. “With this collaboration, BTU strives to create an inclusive program that will allow BIPOC artists to emphatically state, ‘We are here. We will be seen. We will not be denied.’ ”
The new Early Career BIPOC Theatre-Makers Program will accept at least 10 fellows who will be in residence during WTF’s 2021 summer season (which will follow COVID-19 safety protocols). They will work alongside theater professionals, while also participating in seminars, panels, and structured mentorship with founding members of BTU. Applicants must be enrolled in an educational institution. The application deadline is Feb. 19.
The program is partially supported by the Tiger Baron Foundation.
Inspired by the We See You, White American Theatre list of demands, WTF has restructured its summer training programs, which usually runs alongside its summer producing season. In the future, the theater promises more structured learning as well as substantive work experience. While WTF will continue to take applications for internships and fellowship programs, it’s suspending its summer acting apprenticeship program for 2021.
“The only viable way forward for this institution and for all American theatrical institutions is to discard programs and systems that oppress people and to rebuild with care for a future that unites and elevates Black people, Indigenous people, and People of Color,” said WTF’s Artistic Director Mandy Greenfield in a statement. “We have a lot of work to do, ahead. The Williamstown Theatre Festival board and staff, as well as the professional artists who consider the Festival an artistic home, are humbled by the extraordinary work of BTU, and we are grateful for their partnership, leadership, trust, and candor as we find our way forward, together.”
BTU was founded in summer 2020 by a group of theater professionals as protests around racial injustice were underway around the country. Since their founding, they have worked with Fair Count, founded by Stacey Abrams, and on the “Make Your Vote Count” campaign with Americans for the Arts Action Fund.