Tag Archives: Know Theatre of Cincinnati

An Action Plan for Equitable Theatre 

CINCINNATI, OH – This is an extraordinary time to be a theatre artist. The entire theatre sector has spent the last three months soul-searching about how we can keep our art and our community whole while a global pandemic prevents us from performing our most basic function: bringing people together for the shared experience of live performance.

But the spectacular displays of civil disobedience and impassioned protest in the wake of the murders of George Floyd, Breonna Taylor, and Ahmaud Arbery have put these existential questions about the nature of live theatre into even clearer relief.

Because the truth is that the American theatre has done a poor job of bringing our whole community together for a very long time.

And that includes Know Theatre of Cincinnati.

Though many of us have proclaimed a commitment to diversity, we remain complicit in the establishment and maintenance of environments that do not value or foster Black voices. We have participated in racist structures and failed to recognize the voices in our own community that we should have been lifting up. We have prioritized efforts including gender parity and economic accessibility without giving the same energy or resources to anti-racist work.

It’s time to own that history, and take action.

Some of this work has already been going on behind the scenes – but solidarity cannot be silent, and it is important now to make plain the work we have quietly been undertaking, as well as the next steps we will take to make the Know a more expressly anti-racist organization.

The work already underway in support of an equitable Know Theatre includes:

• Ensuring our board of directors better represents the Cincinnati community at large, which has taken us from a 6-person board with only 16% representation of people of color to a 15 person board with 27% representation of people of color. Our goal is to continue thoughtful recruitment until we reach at least 40% representation of people of color.
• Forming a board-lead committee of staff, Diversity, Equity, & Inclusion professionals, and local artists, to define policies, review vendors to prioritize BIPOC-owned partnerships, and discover ways in which this artistic community can collectively liberate us all from the constraints of systemic racism and economic inequality.
• Our staff is instituting a system of education and anti-racist training to acknowledge and interrogate existing biases and lack of education around anti-blackness and white supremacy. This is an ongoing learning and unlearning process necessary for us to fully engage with anti-racist work as a company; and our work in this space will focus on harm reduction, harm prevention, and relationship repair.
• Sourcing funds specifically for hiring artists of color. This is a continuation of an effort we quietly undertook in the 2019-2020 season, with support of the David C. Herriman Foundation of the GCF, to enable us to bring visiting designers and directors of color to work with us, be paid competitively for their artistry, be offered housing to support their stay in Cincinnati, and give all of our artists the chance to work with rising artists they would otherwise not have had the chance to collaborate with.

It is clear that there is much, much more work to be done to ensure that members of our community who are Black, Indiginous, and People of Color (BIPOC) feel welcome and embraced as artists, as patrons, as board members, and as staff.

So as we launch into a new season, we commit to the following actions:

• Over 22 seasons, we have maintained an average of just under 20% of shows on our MainStage by BIPOC writers, which we recognize is simply not good enough. To reflect the fact 40% of the Cincinnati population identifies as black or African American, we pledge to produce an average of 40% plays by BIPOC writers on our MainStage, and work to maintain that level of representation in future seasons.
• We also pledge to not only cast BIPOC performers in BIPOC stories, but also seek to cast at least 50% of our roles across a season with artists of color. Our casting representation over the last 6 seasons has ranged from a high of 50% BIPOC actors to a low of 28% – we pledge to meet and maintain an average of 50% from now on.

• The low salaries of small nonprofit theatre reinforce racial and economic privilege in hiring – unless you have inherited wealth or alternate sources of income, job opportunities in companies including the Know have not been open to you. We will work to raise full-time staff salaries to at least $30,000 so that job postings become more welcoming and viable for BIPOC applicants.

• We will rewrite our artist and employee handbooks to ensure that we are no longer creating a hostile environment – intentionally or unintentionally – for BIPOC artists and staff members. We will use the guidance from the #dearwhiteamericantheatre petition and Stratford Festival’s #inthedressingroom conversations as starting points, as well as conversations with local artists who have come to us with concerns.
• We will be open to criticism and we will not meet criticism with defensiveness. In all things, we will strive to honor our history as the Know Theatre Tribe and a voice for inclusion and change in Cincinnati’s theatre community.

Know Theatre began 22 years ago as the Know Theatre Tribe, a multicultural and nomadic arts collective committed to bringing the voices of diverse artists into Cincinnati communities.

As we launch into what already, due to the pandemic, will be an unprecedented season full of experimentation in how to deliver art in digital forms, we will no longer backburner the work that needs to be done to honor that history and take us toward an equitable, anti-racist theatre.

We will proclaim with both our work and our words that Black Lives Matter.

We welcome your thoughts and ideas about the theatre you want to see evolve across Cincinnati in this moment. We invite your stories and your criticisms. We look forward to building a theatre that better represents and celebrates all of our stories – not just the stories of a few.

Know Theatre is Cincinnati’s Theatrical Playground. The Know showcases unexpected voices, new works, and plays that embrace the inherent theatricality of the live experience. Know Theatre seeks to be a place where artists and audiences feel welcome to take artistic risks, creating work that is cutting edge and accessible.

Know Theatre’s work is made possible, in part, by the generosity of community contributions to the ArtsWave Campaign.

The Ohio Arts Council helps fund Know Theatre with state tax dollars to encourage economic growth, educational excellence, and cultural enrichment for all Ohioans.

Know Theatre is also supported by The Carol Ann & Ralph V. Haile, Jr./U.S. Bank Foundation, helping to change our communities for the better through collaboration and innovation, and the Greater Cincinnati Foundation, which provides a simple, powerful, and highly personal approach to giving.

Know Theatre is a member of Theatre Communications Group and an Associate Member of the National New Play Network.

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August 7 – September 20, 2020
You are cordially invited to an on-line performance.

The Know kicks off their upcoming twenty-third season, “We Can Rebuild It,” with FEAST., a bespoke-online production. 

You are cordially invited to break bread, virtually, with one of the seminal monsters of literature: Grendel’s Mother, from the Anglo-Saxon epic, Beowulf. Share in her hard won victories and shattering griefs. Turn your collective gaze upon the wreckage of the 21st century, and find what it takes to maybe build a better world.

And have a little treat. You deserve it.

FEAST. comes from playwright/actor/comedian Megan Gogerty, whom Cincinnati audiences may remember from her solo show Lady Macbeth and Her Pal, Megan, which nabbed the Audience Pick of the Fringe Award at the 2017 Cincinnati Fringe Festival. Although a version of FEAST. existed in the pre-pandemic era, Megan has retooled the script to be an explicitly made-for-digital product.

The Know’s Associate Artistic Director, Tamara Winters, who will direct the production, offered this thought on creating this exclusively digital product:

“First off, not to disrespect Zoom theatre, but this is not that. This is a story you’ll experience from the screen of your choice, but it’s not shoehorned into the medium. Megan’s script invites you in to a specially designed experience. You’re being invited into a space designed for you, by a character who has had millennia to stew and plot and plan and rage before she opens herself up to you, in this moment. Because she needs something from you. Because she has an ancient wrong to correct. Are you brave enough to accept the invitation?“

The role of Agathae will be played by local stage star Jennifer Joplin. Jennifer has lit up theatres all over the region, but Know audiences will remember her as Virginie, the woods-witch/taxidermist of The Man-Beast (2018), and as Terry, the hard-bitten mother of The Girl in the Red Corner (2019). Her autobiographical solo show, The MILF Also Rises, premiered at the 2019 Cincinnati Fringe Festival to critical acclaim and packed houses.

These online performances will begin at 8 PM on Wednesday through Saturday and 3 PM on Sunday matinees. To allow for any unexpected internet outages, dead batteries, or similar technological inconveniences audience members might potentially encounter, the footage will remain available to ticketholders for 24 hours after the beginning of the performance.

The Know has heard audiences say that they miss the interactive nature of live theatre. Although the Know isn’t quite ready to reopen its Jackson Street mainstage, the production team has devised a special at-home treat to keep that in-the-room magic alive. For a small upcharge, audiences can purchase a ticket that comes with a special “party favor” that will be delivered by mail. Agathae, as the evening’s hostess, will direct those audience members with the party favor on when and how to open the package as a part of the performance. To allow for shipping time, the Know requests that tickets that include the party favor be purchased at least one week ahead of the performance date.

A major part of the Know Theatre’s mission has been its Welcome Wednesday performances, which offer discounted and free tickets every Wednesday of a show’s run. The Know is very pleased to continue to offer Welcome Wednesday programming for this online performance. Wednesday tickets are available for advance purchase for $5, with the possible add-on of the party favor. All remaining tickets for the Wednesday performances will be available for free beginning at 7 PM the day of the performance, just like regular Welcome Wednesdays at the Know. (Please be aware that due to the necessary shipping time, the party favor is not available to purchase with the free Welcome Wednesday tickets.)

FEAST. is an uncompromisingly brash reflection on devotion, grief, and the communal responsibility to stoke the fires of revolution. It’s a bold mash-up of a classical story with bracing modernity, painting a world where mythology comes crashing into pop culture.

If your blood calls out to build a better world in the names of those you love, you’ll love FEAST., running August 7 to September 20, online from the Know Theatre. 

Tickets are available now at knowtheatre.com

CAST

• Jennifer Joplin* as Agathae
  *Member of Actors’ Equity Association appearing under a Guest Artist contract 

PRODUCTION TEAM

• Director: Tamara Winters
• Scenic and Lighting Designer: Andrew J. Hungerford
• Costume Designer: Noelle Wedig-Johnston
• Props Designer: Kayla Williams
• Stage Manager: Meghan Winter
• Technical Director: Henry Bateman

CALENDAR LISTING

Production:               FEAST. by Megan Gogerty

When:                        8:00 PM August 7, 8, 12, 13, 14, 15, 19, 20, 21, 22, 26, 27, 28, 29, September 2, 3, 4, 5, 9, 10, 11, 12, 16, 17, 18, 19.

3 PM August 16, 23, 30, September 6, 13, 20.

Where:                       Online streaming.

Tickets:

• $20 regular price tickets (no “party favor”)
• $30 regular ticket plus party favor
• $35 “Living Wage” ticket supporting working artists in Cincinnati, party favor included
• $15 rush tickets, beginning one hour before performance when available.
• FREE tickets are available on Wednesdays one hour before the performance as part of the Know’s Welcome Wednesday experience.
• Advance tickets to Welcome Wednesday are $5, or $15 with the party favor.

FEAST. is made possible through the support of its Production Sponsor, the Morse and Betty Johnson Foundation. 

Know Theatre is Cincinnati’s Theatrical Playground. The Know showcases unexpected voices, new works, and plays that embrace the inherent theatricality of the live experience. Know Theatre seeks to be a place where artists and audiences feel welcome to take artistic risks, creating work that is cutting edge and accessible. 

Know Theatre’s work is made possible, in part, by the generosity of community contributions to the ArtsWave Campaign.  

The Ohio Arts Council helps fund Know Theatre with state tax dollars to encourage economic growth, educational excellence, and cultural enrichment for all Ohioans. 

Know Theatre is also supported by The Carol Ann & Ralph V. Haile, Jr./U.S. Bank Foundation, helping to change our communities for the better through collaboration and innovation, and the Greater Cincinnati Foundation, which provides a simple, powerful, and highly personal approach to giving. 

 Know Theatre is a member of Theatre Communications Group and an Associate Member of the National New Play Network.

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Know is giving you two different ways to experience this bespoke online production.

Option one: just a ticket, no frills, that gets you access to the performance date of your choice.

Option two: you can purchase a ticket with a … let’s call it “a special party favor” that we’ll ship to the address you enter when you purchase your ticket. It will add a special interactive element to your evening with your hostess (she’ll tell you when and how to open it up).

To keep our Welcome Wednesday spirit alive, we’re still offering discounted tickets (both with and without the party favor add-on) for the Wednesday performance dates, and we’ll also have a very limited number of free Welcome Wednesday tickets, available one hour before Wednesday performances, just like always. (Due to the tight timing of the free Welcome Wednesday tickets, we are not able to offer the party favor option on the free tickets.)

Performances begin at 8 PM on the performance date, and the footage will be available to you for the following 24 hours, in case of sudden internet outages or similar inconveniences.

If you missed last week’s cast announcement of FEAST., you can check it out here.

Click here to purchase tickets.