ZACH’s Values and a Promise for the Future

Before this past year, if I had been asked the question, “What is twenty twenty?”, my response would have been that 20/20 is perfect vision, and clarity comes from standing at a little distance from the object I’m focusing on. Annually when I see my eye doctor, he prescribes corrective measures to get me to that optimal target, and as long as I wear my new lenses, I am back at 20/20. And when I don’t, things are pretty blurry. This feels like an apt metaphor for the role that 2020 played for ZACH Theatre, as well as for many of our colleagues, as the layoffs and downsizing of our theatres created intense reflection and an opportunity for us to perform a thorough check-up on the organization; to see where we are at, and to begin work on rectifying areas that have been too near-sighted, where our vision has perhaps become lazy and needs exercise, and spots that have become cloudy over time, and will require more intensive strategies to correct. 2020, for all of its many challenges, initiated a diagnosis of the American theatre, and now we are engaged in the work of responding to it, with active steps for a healthy future.

A decade ago we were in the final construction phase of ZACH’s Topfer Stage, as I was celebrating my 20th Anniversary with the theatre. ZACH Trustees gifted me the privilege of writing anything I wanted on the steps that lead audiences to the entrance of the Topfer. After months of drafts, I wrote ten lines of prose entitled Stage Directions, a play on the directions that a playwright writes throughout their script for the actors, director and design team to follow as they make choices and bring the play to life in the rehearsal studio and on stage in a fully-realized production. I created a set of aspirational directions for how we collectively as a rapidly growing city, as a deeply participatory community, as families in changing neighborhoods, and as individuals who chose Austin, might enter to view and participate in the experience we are creating on stage – plays and musicals selected to illuminate the lives of everyone who calls Austin home. 

In light of this important window of opportunity to look toward what comes next, revisiting ZACH’s core value touchstones, as expressed in the words embedded into our steps, is the platform from which to expand ZACH’s equity, diversity and inclusion to create the most welcoming cultural experience we can envision.

DREAM TO SEE ANEW 

Onstage we have the opportunity to create a world that we have not yet been successful in creating in our day-to-day life. The Greeks believed that theatre, by showing characters experiencing catharsis – extreme changes in emotion that create a purging of feelings would lead to a purification of one’s soul and that the result would be renewal and restoration of the person. We commit to stories that carry the tools for change, and it is more incumbent than ever that we expand the stories we tell and who gets to tell them.         

IGNITE AN IMAGINATIVE JOURNEY

Whether the seats are filled by a school audience seeing a play for the very first time or a seasoned cultural aficionado, our job is to light the fuse to a story that launches their imagination. The journey is never the same even though there are universal truths present for all of us; who guides the voyage requires greater diversity moving forward. Worlds we didn’t know existed, or were possible, will come from artists of varied backgrounds having ownership of telling their stories.  The opportunity to learn will expand our hearts and minds in the process.

CREATE THEATRE THAT SINGS YOUR SOUL

The old Christian hymn “How Great Thou Art?” has a line that says “…then sings my soul.” As a kid this always perplexed me, how does your soul sing? Now, I value this idea at the highest realization of personal catharsis – whether it is Aretha, or Leonard Cohen, or Jessye Norman, or Patti LuPone or Andrea Bocelli – they exhibit for us the pathway. We often say about a performance we are knocked out by that “they poured their heart out on stage”. Everyone deserves this opportunity and should have equal access to this experience as a creator of art and as an audience for the art.

IMAGINE A COMPASSIONATE COMMUNITY

What if we created a Central Texas community defined first and foremost by our compassion? What would it take to get there? What would that feel like fully-realized? The number one thing I hear people say today is there is a lack of empathy. Our mission is to produce stories that allow us to walk in someone’s else’s shoes, so we can see the world and its challenges, the hidden inequalities and barriers, and the victories from another perspective. If you occupy a position of privilege, theatre helps us empathize with the historically marginalized, opening an arena to make inclusion more limitless.

INSPIRE AN INCLUSIVE DIALOGUE

ZACH is committed to diversity and to providing opportunities for all artists to participate fully in each step of the artistic process. Diverse voices are essential to create theatre that speaks to the complexity of our world. Theatre is a place where all liberties are possible for all people; for the dialogue to truly be inclusive, it means that ZACH’s staff, Trustees, donors, volunteers and audience must also grow in diversity. The support of ZACH’s new works initiative brings more varied voices to the creative table. There is substantial work to be done, and this is work that will always be ongoing.

SPARK A LEAP OF LOVE

We often talk about taking a leap of faith, and I am interested in those leaps we make motivated by love. Actions we take aligned with our passions are usually the most fulfilling because we give it our all, and are motivated by the generosity of our heart. Whether it is a veteran actor on our stage who has devoted their life to it, a student in our pre-professional class who eats, breathes and sleeps it, or a Trustee who gives their time, talent and treasure to it, the tie that binds them to the art form is a love for it. We want to foster this enthusiasm, become an instigator of love, building bridges between hearts.

BELIEVE DREAMS COME TRUE

The realization of the Topfer Theatre was a long-held dream for our community, and it heads a long list of dreams coming to fruition at ZACH. Actors who make their Broadway and West End debut after performing at ZACH, students from our academy going on to collegiate success and the start of a professional career, world-renowned playwrights like Terrence McNally, Anna Deavere Smith and Suzan Lori-Parks who choose to come to work with our exceptional production teams to develop their new plays are among our dream highlights. These successes have a tremendous amount of hard work behind them and don’t happen magically. We encourage dreaming.

LIFT YOUR VOICE

This is inspired by James Weldon Johnson’s song “Lift Every Voice and Sing” which was performed for the first time by 500 Black school children in celebration of Abraham Lincoln’s birthday and is commonly referred to as the Black National Anthem. It is a call to action to use YOUR voice, among many, to be heard, to create positive change. We celebrate the self-actualization and empowerment that comes from sharing your unique voice. Equity for us means that all representative voices have the opportunity to be expressed and heard.

LOOK TO THE LIGHT  

We gather together in our theatre for a communal experience, looking toward the light. The illumination creates a beacon through the darkness and offers a pathway to hope. Poet Amanda Gorman concluded her poem The Hill We Climb at the Biden Presidential Inauguration with the lines: 

The new dawn blooms as we free it

For there is always light,

if only we’re brave enough to see it

if only we’re brave enough to be it

Transparency throughout ZACH’s equity, diversity and inclusion initiative will be imperative as we shine a light on the areas which need our attention, improvement and transformation. We commit ourselves to the challenging and inspiring work ahead to be a light.