WaterTower Theatre apologizes to those who were hurt by the cast announcement of THE CURIOUS INCIDENT OF THE DOG IN THE NIGHT-TIME.
We hear you. We are truly sorry for the harm we caused.
Our goal was to “reflect the diversity of modern-day London.” Because of the show’s story and message, our aim was also to employ a neurodiverse cast. We succeeded in our latter goal, but failed to portray any BIPOC representation per our casting notice.
WaterTower is putting the additional measures in place, not limited to our casting process, to improve our efforts in reaching out to our BIPOC communities. We acknowledge that our system, and even our industry is broken. While we are doing the work to create safe spaces for people of color, we recognize that one of many barriers include colleagues within the BIPOC community not feeling comfortable coming into auditions where they have not traditionally been invited or welcomed. Less than 5% of the auditionees for THE CURIOUS INCIDENT OF THE DOG IN THE NIGHT-TIME were from BIPOC communities. Although we attempted to solicit additional auditions through our network and partners after not having the turnout for which we'd hoped, we still fell short.
This instance has uncovered a deep issue. WaterTower Theatre has not built enough bridges into BIPOC communities. We have more work to do.
We are changing our processes for future productions and casting decisions. While the abilities of this cast should not be put into question, WTT audition policies and procedures will improve.
We celebrate what is both common and unique about people, and by listening, we are made wiser, more inclusive, and can harness our collective power to make our community better.
Thank you for your voices and concerns. We deeply value the input of our community.
In our continued efforts to be a “theatre that builds community,” WaterTower is taking immediate actions toward creating change within our organization:
- Community Student-Based Partnership Initiative: Beginning with the cast of THE CURIOUS INCIDENT OF THE DOG IN THE NIGHT-TIME, WaterTower Theatre is launching an initiative that extends the opportunity for storytelling into communities of color. WTT casts will collaborate with students within the theatre and educational community in predominantly BIPOC neighborhoods across the city. WTT actors will be invited into classrooms to perform a scene, and then will invite students to learn and perform that same scene in front of their classmates. This is our opportunity to re-imagine the stories we tell on the stage, beginning with the next generations of storytellers. Our goal is to establish long-term relationships with several partners over the next year and to invite our cast members in upcoming productions to participate in this ongoing work.
- Community Conversation with Denise Lee: On Monday, July 12, Producing Artistic Director, Shane Peterman, will participate in a community conversation panel alongside other arts leaders with Dallas-based actress and advocate, Denise Lee, about the future of the arts community in DFW.
- Live Streamed WTT Community Forum: Thanks to you, our community, we have learned so much. We acknowledge that there is more work to be done, and we are ready to talk about the future of our theater, our community, and our industry. In addition to our conversation with Denise Lee, on Sunday, July 18, Producing Artistic Director, Shane Peterman and Associate Producer, Elizabeth Kensek will host an interactive live streamed discussion about the future of Equity, Diversity and Inclusion at WaterTower Theatre.
WaterTower Theatre will announce additional action items by July 31, 2021. We will continue to work with members of the BIPOC community to ensure that the action items put in place will hold the theatre accountable for future productions and casting decisions to welcome people of different diversities into the theatre.
The Board and Staff of WaterTower Theatre stand with the BIPOC community and are committed to initiating swift change.
WaterTower Theatre has made some strides in equity and inclusion over the past year, beginning with changes in our leadership. The October 2020 class of WTT Board Members are all female and our most diverse class ever. Our hope is for this to be the beginning of a successive and long-lasting change within our theatre and the theatre industry as a whole.
Keep up with our progress at https://bit.ly/WTTEquityAndInc...