DirectorsLabChicago

DirectorsLabChicago stands in support with those who rightfully call out White American Theater for systemic racism in our industry. We have, as an organization and individuals, sustained white supremacy in our words and actions. We need to do better. We share this to lift up the voices of BIPOC (Black, Indigenous, and People of Color) artists and administrators in our field, and to hold ourselves accountable for our past and future actions.

We See You W.A.T.

DirectorsLabChicago condemns the murders of George Floyd, Breonna Taylor, Ahmaud Arbery, Tony McDade, and countless other victims of police brutality. We stand in solidarity with the Black Lives Matter movement, and with those across the country and throughout the world raising their voices in protest.

As a mostly white institution, DirectorsLabChicago commits to doing the work of educating ourselves and our non-black colleagues, and of leveraging the platform we have to speak up. Though DirectorsLabChicago welcomes artists from around the world, we as an institution and our Lab cohorts have failed to accurately reflect the true racial diversity of this country. We as a steering committee commit to reevaluating the practices that have maintained this imbalance for over a decade. In the coming weeks, we commit to establishing actionable goals for our organization to better serve our community of directors and theatremakers, as well as the Chicago and global communities in which we are based.

Below are resources for anti-racism self-education that our committee has assembled as well as places to focus donations and volunteer efforts. We will continue to share resources moving forward. If you have a resource you would like to contribute, please email [email protected]

With love and action,
The DirectorsLabChicago Steering Committee

"Human beings are story factories"

It was such a dream to have had Jessica Thebus lead our very first Directing Masterclass of 2020! Many thanks to all of our directors who participated, and of course to our partners in these Masterclasses, Haven Chicago and Stage Directors and Choreographers Society.

Don't want to miss out on the next one? Make sure to head to our website and join our special Masterclass 2020 Mailing list!
https://www.directorslabchicago.com/events/2020masterclasses