Committee Members

Erica L. Sandvig is a Chicago-based Production Manager. She is currently the Director of Production at Victory Gardens Theater. She has previously served as the Assistant Director of Production at Chicago Shakespeare Theater and the Assistant Production Director at Lookingglass Theatre Company as was collaborations with other Chicago area institutions including Buffalo Theater Ensemble, Pivot Arts, and Remy Bumppo Theatre, among others. Erica is a member of The Michael Merritt Awards for Excellence in Design and Collaboration where she was the production chair for 5 years. She is a member of the Chicago Green Theater Alliance where she was the Production Committee Co-Chair for its first year. Erica lives (practically) next door to Midway airport with her husband, Ben Carcaello - Technical Director at the University of Chicago, their son, Odin, and his dog Bolt. When she’s not building legos with Odin or walking with Bolt, Erica can be found taking on culinary challenges with herbs and veggies from her garden.

I, Erica L. Sandvig, acknowledge that racism exists both consciously and unconsciously. I acknowledged that White supremacy and White privilege exist. I know that racism, White supremacy, and White privilege has and continues to cause harm. I recognize that I have within me stereotypes, biases, myths, and conditioning which leads to conscious and unconscious prejudices. I know that and howI have benefited from White supremacy and White privilege personally, economically, and professionally. I vow to continually work to be an actively anti-raciest member of my community and commit to the following:

● Seeking and actively participating in my continual anti-racism education.
● Hearing, seeing, and learning from my colleagues and fellow community members. Being open and receptive to their stories, truths, and experiences, and making room to allow for personal growth and change.
● Working to dismantle conscious and unconscious racism, racist practices, and racist behavior within myself, my department, institution, and personal life.
● Developing and implementing policies and practices that create an activley anti-racist cultuer in my work and perosnal life.

I acknowledge that I will make errors, mistakes, and missteps. I commit to owning these, apologizing for any harm they cause, do whatever I can to correct them and harm done, and do the work necessary to not repeat them. I understand that the work to be anti-racist is never done. I will not become comfortable or complacent by past efforts. I own that this statement is not enough and incomplete. I will continue to actively work to be anti-racist persoanlly and professionally now and through out my lifetime.

Alfredo (Fredo) Aguilar is excited to be working with the Chicago BIMPOC Theatre Practitioners List,, in order to help make the Chicago theatre scene, the more open and inclusive entity that it has always claimed to be. He has been a Production/Stage Manager for various theatre and production companies in the Chicagoland area including: Aesthetic Vizion, OPAC @ Oakton Community College, Yippee Productions, Actor’s Training Center, Skokie Theatre, Provision Theatre, Polarity Theatre Ensemble, Steep Theatre, Northwestern University Opera, Next Theatre, Johnny Stax Productions, Collaboraction and many more.

When not operating as a Non-Equity Freelance Production/Stage Manager, he is a freelance carpenter, electrician, deck manager, prop runner, fly rail operator, spot light operator, facilities manager and basically any other position within a theatre institution that will allow him to continue to Hussle enough for him to make his mortgage payment. He wants to thank his friends and family with an Extra Special Thank You to his better half Samantha Aguilar. Finally I want to give a giant shout out and thank you for all the love and support this past year in his new found Chicago theatre family within the Chicago BIMPOC Theatre Practitioners List! Support the Arts! Uplift the marginalized communities!

The only way to help change our community, in order to make it the all inclusive and supportive structure that it claims to be, is to do it from the inside. When I first became aware of the Chicago BIMPOC Theatre Practitioners List, I quickly got excited by what they were trying to do within the Chicago theatre community but what I did not see, was anyone that looked like me or that had a similar experience to mine, that would allow me to feel the support that I needed when looking for theatrical opportunities.

Unfortunately, it took until the arrival of Covid for me to get the time to find a supportive group like the Chicago BIMPOC Theatre Practitioners List. Although and again, once I looked into the Leadership of the theatre practitioners list, I found that it was an organization meant to help me but without anyone who looked like me or could say they had a similar experience of being a member of the BIPOC community within the Chicagoland area. Enter the amazing Maggie Fullilove-Nugent, who with 1 conversation explained to me that this organization and its dedicated team, are in fact an organization that will be on the forefront of providing opportunitites to not only the BIPOC artists of our city but will be there to assist the predominantly Whyte institutions in learning and expanding their own understanding of what it means to be a fully equitable institution. Hence why I have agreed to be a small part of the Chicago BIMPOC Theatre Practitioners List and why I will continue to be a part of as many conversations surrounding issues for not only the BIPOC community but additionally for those in the LGBTQ+, AAPI, Able Bodied, Hearing/Visually Impaired and other marginalized communities. All of this volunteer work is to make our theatre community/family the supportive structure we want it to be. I look forward to doing this work, having these conversations and being your ally.

Jason Lynch is a Chicago-based lighting designer for theatre, dance, opera, and other live performance art. Chicago credits include work with Chicago Children’s Theatre, Chicago Shakespeare Theater, Fleetwood-Jourdain Theatre, Goodman Theatre, Haven Theatre, Northlight Theatre, Piven Theatre Workshop, Red Theater Chicago, Shattered Globe Theatre, Something Marvelous, Steppenwolf Theatre Company, TimeLine Theatre Company, Victory Gardens Theater, Windy City Playhouse, among others. Regional credits include work with Alley Theatre, Dallas Theater Center, Denver Center for the Performing Arts, The Repertory Theatre of St. Louis, and Oregon Shakespeare Festival He was also the recipient of the 2019 Michael Maggio Emerging Designer Award which recognizes emerging theatrical designers within the Chicago area and is honored to have his recent work on an immersive 360° production of THE WILD PARTY at the Denver Center for the Performing Arts featured in American Theatre Magazine. Jason is a proud member of The Association of Lighting Designers and is represented by The Gersh Agency.

@jasonlynch.design // www.jasondlynch.com

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Jeremy Wilson has been working in Chicago theatre since 2006. Most recently, he was the Director of Production at the House Theatre of Chicago, where he served for 11 years. Currently, Jeremy is working as a project manager outside of the industry, cause pandemic.

We live in a culture of white supremacy, white body supremacy, and white privilege. It is a culture that is anti-black and anti-indiginous. This culture is omni-present in American civic life and professional industry, including the theatre industry of which I have been a part of for nearly 15 years.

I am a white, straight, cisgender man. I have benefited and continue to benefit from the privileges this culture confers upon me both professionally and personally. And I have both actively and passively participated in upholding this white supremacy culture.

As a leader in a senior position at my former company, I was complicit in supporting a foundational centered-ness on white storytelling and a clear absence of BIMPOC voices in leadership roles in our productions. I did not use my influence to actively address our known issues of lack of representation across all our artistic leadership positions.

Within my direct control, I never fully prioritized launching any type of EDI program for our designers and production crew; basically all production teams have been majority white. I did not have good feedback mechanisms in place for our guest BIPOC artists or production team. When we have had interns, they have historically been unpaid or paid through college credits only, which vastly favors the privileged.

These behaviors and many others like them cause direct harm to the BIMPOC members of the theatre community, whether by limiting opportunity, creating economic disadvantage, de-platforming BIMPOC voices, or perpetuating an overall culture of white supremacy.

To combat this culture, it is not enough to just be 'not racist'. I must be anti-racist in my beliefs and actions. That means actively working to dismantle the foundations of white supremacy culture in my personal and professional life, and to actively use my privilege to further those goals and uplift the BIMPOC community.

In practice, right now, that means actively seeking out and consuming anti-racist educational materials, giving the time and money I have available to causes that align with anti-racist goals, educating others within my family and social circle, and attempting to make a positive impact in my current job.

It also means holding myself accountable to these goals, and examining on a regular basis, both through self reflection or conversation with others engaged with this work, whether I am being active in pursuing these goals or am falling into old patterns of passivity.

Kelcie Beene has over ten years of experience as a freelance producer and production manager for theatre, special events, television and film. She joined the Court Theatre at the University of Chicago as the Associate Production Manager and Company Manager in 2019. Kelcie is also the Senior Production Manager for the 24 Hour Company in New York and has been a member of the company since 2008. She has produced and production managed The 24 Hour Plays and Musicals in a variety of locations that include Los Angeles, New York, San Francisco, London, Dublin, Germany, and Mexico. As a production manager, Kelcie helmed works for BAM Next Wave, The Play Company NYC, LifeLike Touring, and GLAMOUR. As a theatre producer, Kelcie has led over a dozen full-length productions in venues such as Cherry Lane Studio, Rattlestick Playwrights Theatre, Playwrights Horizons, Theatre Row, and Joe's Pub. Other producing credits include Associate/Segment Producer for the inaugural seasons of the MTV reality series 16 & Pregnant and site-specific events for Global Citizen and The BEAT Festival.

When I moved to NYC in 2007 as a white woman and aspiring theatre producer, I wanted to be in the room with those of power. This meant siding myself with predominantly white men - and I adopted their models of how things were done to get into that room. Believing that there was not enough room at the top, I perpetuated cultures of urgency and environments of inhumane working conditions that prioritized profits/projects/processes over people. I participated in and conducted many unpaid internships, not recognizing that as a point of privilege and perpetuating the “pay your dues'' culture that keeps the gates closed to BIMPOC individuals who do not have access to the same resources. I believed that all of this was necessary for me to succeed. I was completely unaware that I (repeatedly) had little to no BIMPOC representation in the majority of creative teams and productions I was a part of. I will say here that causing any negative impact unintentionally does not make my actions - past, present or future - less harmful.

Over time that way of living and working didn’t make sense anymore. I burnt out. I thought that I wasn’t cut out for it. I stepped away from traditional theatre for three years. In 2019 I stepped back into theatre, this time in Chicago with the goal to learn new ways of working. A few months later, a pandemic hit. Then the murder of George Floyd.The racial reckoning. The gift that is the We See You White American Theatre demands. I now know that, with many of those models I had learned early on, I was perpetuating a racist system of oppression rooted in white supremacy and anti-Blackness. Even as I struggled, I recognize that I have still been complicit in and benefited from these systems, consciously and unconsciously. The system of oppression is built to prioritize rich white cis-gendered men. The farther away you get from those identities, the more oppressive the system.

I now know there is no neutral space between racism and anti-racism; we are either working towards racial justice or against it. Over the last year, I have jumped in with both feet; and my journey to reflect, reevaluate, reassess and relearn has been central. It is my life-long responsibility to educate and re-educate myself, to adjust my behaviors, to actively reject racist ideas and policies and to call-in others who identify as white to do the same. My education includes anti-racism work that BIMPOC folks have been doing for decades. This includes understanding the impacts of white body supremacy, practicing racial healing, decentering my whiteness, navigating tough conversations, elevating BIMPOC voices and learning to listen intently and with purpose. I am grateful to those BIMPOC folks who have laid the foundation.

I’m committed to calling in my theatre colleagues when I see the tenets of white supremacy culture being upheld. I’m committed to using whatever power I hold in whatever spaces I’m in to center BIMPOC voices, to lift up and contribute financially to BIMPOC organizations, vendors, and artists/practitioners. I’m slated to complete the NCCJ St. Louis Facilitrainer Certification Program by May 2021, which will help me to provide others with tools and support to understand the systems of oppression, the parts we play in them, and our individual roles in dismantling them. I’m committed to participating in at least two structured anti-racism discussions a week. I’m committed to participating in and leading efforts around my institution’s anti-racism strategy, the creation of our EDI committee and continued training and racial healing. My heart is open, my feet are ready.

MAGGIE FULLILOVE-NUGENT has been working as a production manager, designer and technician with Chicago Theatre companies, for almost two decades, including TimeLine Theatre, The Ruffians, The Neo-Futurists, Playmakers Laboratory Theatre, The Hypocrites, Akvavit Theatre, The Goodman Theatre and Porchlight Music Theatre. Before becoming the Production Manager at TimeLine Theatre in 2016, Maggie taught technical theatre at North Park University, where she was also a resident designer and the production manager for eleven years. In 2017, Maggie became an organizer of the Chicago Green Theatre Alliance, a group of artists that encourages, educates and motivates the performing arts community to adopt more environmentally-friendly practices throughout the industry. Maggie is a member of the National Production Manager’s Forum and the Midwest Production Manager’s Forum. Throughout her work with all the organizations above, she is focused on moving the Chicago Theatre Community towards safer, more sustainable and equitable practices. When not working with the theatre community she enjoys sipping wine on her porch, hosting parties and cuddling with her cat, Makita.

I began my journey of understanding the presence of racism in the world when I was a kid, but remained at the beginning of that journey for a very long time. Today I acknowledge the presence of racism, systemic racism, white supremacy culture and white privilege. I have been an oppressor. I have upheld these systems. I have been a witness and complacent by-stander.

Systemic racism is embedded in all systems in this country. It has caused harm and purposefully unincluded many people from the benefits of our society. I acknowledge that the systems in place have benefited me and affected my decision process in ways that do not include everyone, and have specifically excluded the global majority.

I acknowledge that racism is a combination of racial prejudice and misuse of power. I have always held power in my life and I have always been privileged. Although I have been thankful for both of these identities, I have only begun to reflect on how I have misused power and privilege to harm others, as well as embodied racial bias that I have learned over my lifetime.

I have upheld several parts of white supremacy culture including perfectionism, sense of urgency, defensiveness and only one right way. I have manifested these values in my professional life while making hiring decisions, creating budgets and schedules and in general communication. I have upheld these values while educating many people looking to me for guidance.

During the pandemic, I decided to disrupt my own status quo and begin to hold myself accountable, both personally and professionally. I am taking note and reflecting on daily happenings; noticing my regular choices, asking myself how I came to that moment and trying to make another choice that embodies equity and inclusion. I promise to never stop asking questions about my choices. I will not fear hard conversations with friends, family and colleagues. I promise to practice being an ally; an ally who does not take focus, but lifts up voices that are not my own and have not been heard for too long.

I am disrupting the status quo of my industry. I acknowledge that there are many changes that need to be made to the performing arts industry. These changes are long overdue. The impact of white supremacy and systemic racism cannot be ignored. We need to talk about the harm that has been done, in order for the industry to become a welcome, safe and sustainable place for everyone. I am trying to affect change by participating in and uplifting these conversations. Currently, I have several weekly meetings with different groups of Administrators and Practitioners. I make, take and share space in these meetings. Being present at these gatherings has helped me stay accountable to my own work and choices I make for the industry. Listening to the voices at these meetings has helped give me the language and speaking power to affect change at my own organization.

The journey I am on will never end. I know that I will stumble, but promise to find resilience in the fall. I am grateful to so many people for helping me acknowledge these systems and make the promises to dismantle them. I recognize it was not their job to help me, but I am ever thankful and will do my best to lift up their voices.

Nikolaj Sorensen (he/him/his) is the Production Manager for Collaboraction Theatre Company and the Director of Production for Hearing In Color. He believes the work of anti-racism is never finished, and looks forward to new opportunities for growth in the pursuit of justice.

As a mixed person, I am constantly engaged with my own conflicting dualities. Genetically, I am half white and half Chinese, but mentally, emotionally, and spiritually, there have never been such clean lines. I’ve been using the term “Schrodinger’s white person” recently - an attempt to describe my constantly shifting relationship to whiteness and external perceptions thereof. I look Asian and I’ve intentionally tried to claim more of that identity for myself as I’ve aged, but my name reads as white and I’ve had access to whiteness and white privilege for most of my life. This privilege is inextricably bound to the class privilege of my upbringing and has shielded me from many of the worst parts of our society. I occupy the position of both oppressor and oppressed, and feel that this duality cannot be resolved, only embraced for what it is.

On the other side of the equation, the model-minority myth is as insidious as ever. I’ve always been a solid student and generally affable person, so it’s easy to fall into those tropes and to lean on them in adverse circumstances. Most of the incidents I look back on as my biggest failures are the moments when I stayed silent to ease my own way rather than standing up and making a scene. Making a scene is scary! There’s a reason I prefer working behind them! But I know that model-minority stereotypes and the implicit expectations of silence they carry both limit me and flatten the complexity of my experience. They do not protect me from the fear that I will be attacked on the street for my Asian features, and they are too often used as a cudgel to oppress other BIMPOC folks who have faced this fear far longer and far more acutely than I have. As I grow older and (hopefully) wiser, I’m learning to become louder, less apologetic, more strident in my opposition to oppression. To paraphrase Mariame Kaba: this is about power, not affect. Going along to get along only hurts us in the long run – silence gives implicit permission to our oppressors to continue.

Even as I hold this understanding, I struggle with knowing when to use my voice and when to sit back and amplify others. The conflicting dualities start to creep in, and I worry that I’m too white or too uninformed, and so stay silent when it would be better to speak out and allow myself to be corrected when necessary. I am working on this, but sometimes it’s hard to believe that I can be the person I once needed. I admit to being afraid of external accountability for my own self-awareness and anti-racism. It’s not that I think that I won’t measure up – more that I feel like there’s no way to possibly do so when considering the scope of the problem. I don’t think anything I can do individually will ever be enough. But I intend to make a good faith effort, and in that spirit I commit to the following actions over the next year:

Reading the Prison Abolition Syllabus (likely at a somewhat slower pace than prescribed). The abolition of policing, capital punishment, and the Prison Industrial Complex writ large is essential to our collective liberation and is a cause I believe in deeply, and I wish to better educate myself in this regard.

Continuing my work with Collaboraction Theatre, Hearing in Color, and the Chicago BIMPOC Theatre Practitioners List: three anti-racist organizations working to celebrate, support, and employ the diversely talented artists of this city.

Engaging with local mutual aid networks in order to better know and serve my community through the remainder of the COVID-19 pandemic and beyond, and to identify more ways in which I can leverage my privilege to help my neighbors.

Samantha (she/her) is a Manhattan-born, rural-PA raised Mixed / Puerto Rican Web Developer & Designer based in Chicago. Samantha worked in theater throughout the U.S. for a decade- working in Chicago from September 2014 through February 2021 as a freelance Production Manager and most recently, Operations Director at The Edge Theater. I've now pivoted into Web Design & Dev, but still feel deeply passionate about advocating equity in the theatre industry.

I started this reflection by writing some guiding questions and ideas:
- What does it mean to be mixed in the USA?
- What does it mean to be white, but not quite?
- What would this statement look like if it were easy?
- It’s okay to feel anxious, uncomfortable, and even confused - this can be messy - I’m still learning and untangling.
- I will not run away from the discomfort that as a light-skinned person, I have white privilege, and I will not let that get in the way of me exploring how - I have been complicit in a racist, white supremacist system that actively harms Black, Indigenous, AAPI, and other POCs.

I have been complicit in systemic racism and the harm it causes. I’ve made jokes based on stereotypes about other POCs, impersonating other POCs based on racist tropes, and have not consistently stood up for people being verbally harmed in front of me, usually because I wanted to keep the peace and not put a spotlight on my own non-whiteness. I’m sure there are many moments that I forgot but those harmed haven’t where I have harmed others and I will continue to work to unlearn those behaviors. I have hidden the fact that I’m mixed and tried to actively pass as white in many situations. As someone who has been in the position to hire, I started my career asking for and seeking credentials that actively harm Black, Indigenous, and other people of color. I asked for unnecessary degrees instead of relevant experience or a willingness to learn the skills I was seeking for a particular role. I asked for people to take low or no wages not considering that that meant I was excluding so many capable BIMPOC practitioners. I didn’t seek out POCs to hire; I would take recommendations from predominantly white colleagues and hire the folks from that pool who seemed like the best candidates - whatever that means based on my racist ideas that meant that I wasn’t even considering POCs in many open positions. It wasn’t until later in my career that I realized the very real, material harm those decisions caused and decided to correct those practices although there is still a long way for me to go.

The theater industry is rife with white supremacy that actively harms Black, Indigenous, AAPI, and other POCs. The industry is set up for white, middle-class and above folks to succeed with the low wages and unfair treatment that although harms everyone, particularly harms those in historically marginalized communities who have been intentionally held back financially for generations because of practices like red-lining, enslavement, and even experimentation. Predominantly White Institutions (PWIs) consistently ignore and worse, raise up and support, those who are racist and uphold white supremacist ideas. These institutions ignore the stolen Native lives, labor, and land that has made their theater possible and they ignore the stolen Black labor and lives that have made their theaters possible.

My anti-racism, anti-prejudice, and anti-self-prejudice journey is far from over. I am still identifying blind spots and unlearning ideas steeped in white supremacist ideology. I am still learning the importance of shutting my mouth and opening my ears.

To continue my anti-racism education, I am actively:
- De-centering myself in conversations about race so I may listen without trying to relate
- Follow and sit with articles, email newsletters, and social media content from Indigenous, Black, AAPI, and other POC creators and organizations
- Challenging my current beliefs and values by sitting with and observing the discomfort that bubbles to the surface when someone shares info/experiences that I have not personally experienced and that I instinctively meet with disbelief
- Work on trusting the stories that are shared with me and that I seek out
Reading, discussing, and journaling about documents that force me to question everything around me like Tema Okun’s “White Supremacy Culture”
- Reading and learning about implicit biases
- Challenging myself with critical race theory
- No longer remaining silent in moments where people say or do things that directly harm those in historically marginalized communities
- Donating to BIMPOC causes as I am able
- Working with For the Group to make hiring practices in Chicago (and beyond) equitable and inclusive
- Recognizing and remembering that the way forward MUST be intersectional and continue to unlearn practices that harm LGBTQIA+ folks whether they’re BIMPOC or not

I will continue to surround myself with those who hold me accountable and will call me in when they see that I have more work to do.

This statement was hard to write until I asked myself “What would this statement look like if it were easy?” and then the words flowed freely. The scariest part is sharing something that feels so personal with colleagues whose opinions I value highly and with total strangers who will read this without the context of knowing me, BUT putting yourself out there is part of the work. Please do not hesitate to reach out to me personally about my statement: www.samanthadzirko.com

Sarah Burnham ( she/her/hers) is a Chicago-based Production Manager currently working for Lookingglass Theatre Company. Previous production management credits include work with: Peninsula Players, American Blues Theatre, Strawdog Theatre Company and Old Jews Telling Jokes. Sarah has also worked as a Props Designer for companies such as Northlight Theatre Company, TimeLine Theatre Company and Lookingglass Theatre Company, and Steep Theatre Company. She holds a BFA from the University of Oklahoma with an emphasis in acting and scenic design. She is a proud mom to two humans, two dogs, one cat and too many plants.

I recognize that racism encompasses social, institutional and systemic powers and is pervasive in our ever day lives. I know that I have been implicitly and explicitly involved in racism and the harm and trauma that it has caused. Intent does not supersede impact, and I need to examine the real intended and unintended impact of my actions. I will use my privilege to make change and call out racism when it occurs. I will admit when I have done harm. I will listen. I will do the work to understand when someone calls me in/calls me out. I commit to continually learning, failing and getting up to try again. The work is never done.

URIEL GÓMEZ (Costume Designer) is a Chicago based costume designer/stylist that has been working in the industry for over a decade. He is an 3Arts Make A Wave Award Recipient; Jeff Nominated designer, an ALTA Award Recipient, and is an Artistic Associate with Teatro Vista. Chicago: Boys in the Band (Windy City Playhouse); Head Over Heels (Kokandy Productions); The Madres (ALTA Award), The Wolf At The End Of The Block, Parachute Men (Teatro Vista); Small World, Punk! (The New Colony); De Troya, The River Bride (Halcyon Theatre); Mike Pence Sex Dream, Refrigerator, Dontrell Who Kissed the Sea (First Floor Theatre). For more information & designs please visit ugomez.com Instagram : @gomezandco

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Veronica (She/Her) is among the theatre practitioners who made a pivot in 2020; she is currently pursuing a masters in Leadership for Creative Enterprises at Northwestern University. Veronica hopes to return to stage managing someday, but her current focus is forging a more equitable theatre industry.

As a Latina, I have faced discrimination and microaggressions in my personal and professional life. I have been overlooked for positions of power and have been underrepresented both onstage and off.

But I am both colonized and colonizer.

I have been complicit in upholding racist systems rooted in white supremacy and have been focused on succeeding within those systems. I have failed to look beyond my own aspirations to see who is being left behind or harmed. I have been the “safe” choice for diversity and have failed to amplify the voices of other marginalized people.

Moving forward, I commit to being anti-racist in my personal and professional life.

I am shifting my career focus to aid local theatres in examining their practices and commit to anti-racism. I am working with For the Group to create opportunities for practitioners of color with institutions committed to anti-racism. I will work with an EDI consultant to examine and dismantle my own internal biases.

Will Bishop (he/him/his) is Chicago Children’s Theatre’s Director of Production, where he has overseen the creation of over 20 shows. Additionally, he has designed scenery, props, costumes and/or puppets for Frederick (with Michael Shannon), Doll Face Has a Party! (with Brian Selznick), The Very Hungry Caterpillar Show, The World Inside Me (Chicago, Miami, and New Victory Theatre, NYC), X Marks the Spot! (Chicago and Sarasota FL), My Wonderful Birthday Suit, Red Kite Green Mountain (Flynn Center, Burlington VT) and numerous collaborations with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra. He is the director and a co-creator of The Beatrix Potter Holiday Tea Party, which has played as CCT's holiday tradition for the past four years, has toured to dozens of schools and libraries around Chicago, recently played in the Ninth Annual China Children's Theatre Festival, in Beijing and Jinan, and has now been adapted into a hybrid film/live drive-in movie experience. He and his partner are the co-creators of The Wonder Wagon, a utility trailer converted into a mobile puppet theatre which tours Chicago Park District Day Camps across the city each summer. When not making theatre or puppetry, he's a TTRPG GM, an avid vegan cook and baker, and spends too much time with his chihuahua, Fawkes.

As an upper-middle-class able-bodied cisgender White man living in a systemically racist, sexist, ableist, classist, capitalist society, I acknowledge that I have, both consciously and unconsciously, benefitted from my overwhelming privilege in every facet of my life. I have chosen a career as a theatre artist - itself a huge privilege - and my industry has been built upon a foundation of racism and White supremacy from the beginning, and little has changed.

Specifically, the foundational texts of my theatrical education were openly racist- I remember a sequence in “An Actor Prepares” where Stanislavski tried to embody Othello as particularly disgusting. This is how I was taught to make theatre, and I took in the lessons of these texts. For the early part of my career, I idolized and modeled my work on that of auteur directors and designers - who were almost all White men with extremely paternalistic, appropriative, and abusive creative processes. I couldn’t see the value in artists, art, and processes that weren’t deeply steeped in White supremacist culture.

Furthermore, because of my privilege, I have been consistently appointed to positions of power within my work, where I get to serve as a “gatekeeper” for many others across the industry. I have often used this power to perpetrate these same oppressive systems - not just in who I hired (mostly White people with similar backgrounds as me) and how I hired them (in processes that put too much value in education and already being in the “inner circle” to get the job), but also in the creative culture I fostered, which valued the contributions of bombastic “auteur” individuals over collective decision-making. Because of this, I have too often consolidated power in the hands of those who already have too much, specifically excluding people of color from jobs ranging from directors to technicians. Too often have I told stories that further reinforce the exclusionary, White supremacist underpinnings of American capitalist society, or told stories that essentialize or appropriate the experiences, cultures and communities of people of color - specifically harmful when I think of my work in children’s theatre and the type of narratives I’ve exposed developing minds to. I acknowledge that these actions have caused real, concrete harm to collaborators of color, to potential collaborators of color, and to audiences of color.

More recently, I have struggled with whether I should quit my job to create an opportunity for someone who has worked harder, and who has been given less by White supremacist systems, step into this position of power. I am still not sure whether I should do this. I acknowledge that I’m, in part, paralyzed by fear, by my love of comfort, the easy reward of a regular paycheck, by my desire to hold onto the power I have been given by systems designed to give people like me power. But another part of me has come to understand that stepping aside without building structures to ensure the safety and support of those who come after me would itself be a harmful action. So I have decided to use the power and position, unfairly accorded to me, to take concrete action to dismantle the systems of racism and White supremacy- and the intersectional evils that travel alongside it.

I commit to hiring BIMPOC theatremakers for at least 50% of positions I have control over hiring, and to request that producers do the same in any productions I work on where I don’t have hiring power. I commit to platforming stories made by and for communities of color. I commit to use my skillset to help tell these stories where I can, and to work towards being aware enough to step away from conversations where my inherent power and privilege may unintentionally impose limitations on my collaborators. I commit to speak truth to those with more power than I - to never let anyone ignore or overlook or forget the systemic injustice that underpins our work. I commit to listening to, trusting, and following the lead of my colleagues of color. I commit to continue my active anti-racist education, to continuing to discuss anti-racism with work colleagues, friends, and family. I acknowledge I will fail - and fail often- and I commit to learn from each of my failures. This is a process without an end - and I commit to this unending process even as I commit to the belief that one day we will live in a more just world. I will do the work every day to get us closer to this.