Dear Friend,

Welcome to the second leg of our second co-production, Pipeline, by Dominique Morisseau. While The Crucible was running for the first time in New York, WAM and The Nora were in the Berkshires creating Pipeline with a powerful team of artists and activists.

The Nora and WAM had been looking for a project to partner on since I first came to New England in 2014. As a sister company with a focus on gender equity, I’ve enjoyed many WAM productions and in the fall of 2018 we found the right play at the right time. 

Partnership and collaboration are in our DNA here at Central Square Theater, starting with the first conversations between The Nora and URT back in 2005. Partnership permeates the work we do and grows stronger with each Central Conversation we create, as we intersect the stories on our stages with stories in the community. 

This desire to work together stems in no small part by our current times. Yes, we share resources, but more crucially we share dialogue: why is this play important to us? What are the engaging conversations that stem from it? How can our respective audiences meet and converse? How might their perspective shift? How can we listen better? How can we contribute? 

As an arts organization who stands behind our credo “Art Is Our Activism” we embrace intersectional feminism and understand that to address one piece of systemic discrimination means we have to address them all, including our own privileged dynamics around race, access, and power. We are so grateful to have an artistic team, led by Director Dawn M. Simmons and Assistant Director Lia Russell-Self, that is openhearted and honest as two primarily white female led organizations figured out how to authentically present this work.

We’ve had other help as well and are so pleased that Gwendolyn VanSant and her organization BRIDGE (MulticulturalBridge.org) has followed the production from the Berkshires to Cambridge. BRIDGE is minority- and women-run, and has a deep-rooted history in advancing racial justice and equity by promoting cultural competence, positive psychology, and mutual understanding and acceptance. Gwendolyn, along with our other powerful speakers in Central Conversations will be joining us for several performances. Please check our website for dates and details.

How are you extending your collaborations? How can we help? Let CST and our partners be a resource and inspiration.

Lee Mikeska Gardner

Artistic Director, The Nora