Dear friends,

2021 has been such a year. Struggles are everywhere but so are people and organizations working to make things better. Each year on Giving Tuesday, Theater in Asylum looks back at all the organizations we’ve amplified throughout the year in our Cold Readings series. One organization we have continually returned to as we read our way through The Golden Collection is the National Black Theatre (NBT).

NBT’s mission is:

1. To produce transformational and dialogue-generative theatre that successfully shifts inaccuracies around African Americans' cultural identity by telling authentic, intersectional stories of Black life.
2. To use theatre as a means to educate, enrich, entertain, empower and inform national consciousness around the social issues impacting our communities.
3. To provide a courageous and supportive space for artists of the Black diaspora to hone their entrepreneurial spirit and articulate the complexity, beauty and artistic excellence intrinsic in how we experience the world through their craft—acting, directing, producing, creative placemaking, designing and/or playwriting.

This Giving Tuesday, we ask you to consider supporting the National Black Theatre and/or any of the organizations we have highlighted this year. Below, see a loosely-categorized list of heroes who are doing the urgent, necessary, good work of making our world more just.

Thank you so much. Please take care of yourselves and each other.

Peace, power, and love to you,
Paul, Katie, Kathryn, and Hilarie


Making and Spreading Art

• Broken Box Mime Theater (BKBX) is a contemporary physical theater company that tells original stories beyond language barrier. Set to rich lighting and a heart-thumping soundtrack, BKBX’s narratives range from realistic to metaphorical, heart-wrenching to hilarious, and cinematic to intimate, held together by a dedication to the empowered imagination and the collective artistic voice of our diverse company. Based in NYC and founded in 2011, BKBX is reimagining the medium for contemporary audiences, redefining mime through the lens of US-American theater.
• Irish Arts Center (IAC), founded in 1972 and based in Hell’s Kitchen, New York City, is a home for artists and audiences of all backgrounds who share a passion or appreciation for the evolving arts and culture of contemporary Ireland and Irish America. IAC presents, develops, and celebrates work from established and emerging artists and cultural practitioners, providing audiences with emotionally and intellectually engaging experiences in an environment of Irish hospitality. Steeped in grassroots traditions, IAC also provides community education programs and access to the arts for people of all ages and ethnic, racial, and socioeconomic backgrounds.
• Looking for Lilith (LFL) is an ensemble theatre company that creates productions and programming through re-examining history and questioning today from women’s perspectives, a practice that frequently uncovers unheard voices. LFL productions and programming serve adults, youth and children locally, nationally and internationally.
• The Negro Ensemble Company's mission is to provide African-American, African and Caribbean professional artists with an opportunity to learn, to work, to grow and to be nurtured in the performing arts. The overall mission of the NEC is to present live theatre performances by and about black people to a culturally diverse audience that is often under served by the theatrical community.
  
• Sound Thinking NYC empowers young people as they explore how to turn their passion for music into a possible profession in New York City's thriving music industry. Addressing gender equity and building leadership skills in the music industry is a core part of this summer program that includes hands-on activities in music production and field trips to venues and sound production studios.
• The Sugar Hill Children's Museum of Art & Storytelling in Sugar Hill (also known as Upper Harlem) in New York City. Their mission is to provide their culturally rich neighborhood with a space where children and their families grow and learn about Sugar Hill, and about the world at large, through intergenerational dialogue with artists, art and storytelling. Designed to nurture the curiosity and creative spirit of three- to eight-year-old children, Sugar Hill Children's Museum of Art & Storytelling provides opportunities to grow as both author and audience, as children engage with the work of accomplished artists and storytellers, and create and share their own.
• Together in Dance uses dance and musical theater to empower individuals to use their creativity and work collaboratively to connect to the world around them. Together in Dance builds community among students, families, educators, and other professionals who learn together so that the arts continue to be an integral part of their lives.

Empowering People and Advocating for a Better World

• Advocates for Indigenous California Language Survival (AICLS) fosters the restoration and revival of indigenous California language so that they may be retained as a permanent part of the living cultures of native California.
• American Indian Community House (AICH) was founded in 1969, by Native American volunteers as a community-based organization, mandated to improve the status of Native Americans, and to foster inter-cultural understanding.
• Asian Americans Advancing Justice (AAJC) works to advance the human and civil rights of Asian Americans, and build and promote a fair and equitable society for all. AAJC is one of the nation's leading experts on issues of importance to the Asian American community including: affirmative action, anti-Asian violence prevention/race relations, census, immigrant rights, immigration, language access, television diversity and voting rights.
• The Audre Lorde Project (ALP) is a Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Two Spirit, Trans and Gender Non Conforming People of Color center for community organizing, focusing on the New York City area. Through mobilization, education and capacity-building, ALP works for community wellness and progressive social and economic justice. Committed to struggling across differences, they seek to responsibly reflect, represent and serve our various communities.
• Black Urban Growers (BUGS) is an organization committed to building networks and community support for growers in both urban and rural settings. Through education and advocacy around food and farm issues, BUGS nurtures collective Black leadership to ensure a seat at the table for Black people.
• The Coalition to Stop Gun Violence (CSGV) develops and advocates for evidence-based solutions to reduce gun injury and death in all its forms. CSGV is countering the gun lobby through cutting-edge policy development and aggressive advocacy. Their commitment to addressing gun violence in all its forms and advocating for at-risk individuals sets us apart.
• Color of Change (CoC) leads campaigns that build real power for Black communities. CoC challenges injustice, holds corporate and political leaders accountable, commissions game-changing research on systems of inequality, and advances solutions for racial justice that can transform our world.
• Communities United Against Police Brutality (CUAPB) is a Twin-Cities based organization that was created to deal with police brutality on an ongoing basis. CUAPB works on the day-to-day abuses as well as taking on the more extreme cases. Their overriding goal is to create a climate of resistance to abuse of authority by police organizations and to empower local people with a structure that can take on police brutality and actually bring it to an end. CUAPB provides support for survivors of police brutality and families of victims so they can reclaim their dignity and join the struggle to end police brutality.
• Communities United for Police Reform (CPR) is an unprecedented campaign to end discriminatory policing practices in New York, bringing together a movement of community members, lawyers, researchers and activists to work for change. CPR works with communities and on the streets, educating people about their rights; and in the courts and on the steps of City Hall and the state capitol, demanding change to the NYPD -- until these policies end.
• Fair Fight promotes fair elections around the country, encourages voter participation in elections, and educates voters about elections and their voting rights. Fair Fight Action brings awareness to the public on election reform, advocates for election reform at all levels, and engages in other voter education programs and communications.
• The Mars Generation (TMG) is an innovative nonprofit founded on the backbone of digital media to help inspire millions around the world to dream big and reach for their own stars. TMG also leverages digital media to excite and educate people about the importance of STEM and space to the future of humankind.
• United for Peace and Justice (UFPJ) has since 2003 worked to build a movement that raises local voices for peace and justice to a global level. UFPJ is working to support peaceful and diplomatic solutions to the crises in Syria and Yemen, end the occupations of Iraq, Afghanistan, and Palestine, promote nuclear disarmament, oppose the permanent war economy, redirect money from weapons and war to meet human needs, and make the peace movement a powerful ally with the movements for racial and environmental justice.
• Working Artists and the Greater Economy is a New York-based activist organization founded in 2008. Our mission is to establish sustainable economic relationships between artists and the institutions that contract our labor, and to introduce mechanisms for self-regulation into the art field that collectively bring about a more equitable distribution of its economy.

Providing Aid to People in Immediate Need

• Broadway Cares/Equity Fights AIDS helps men, women and children across the country and across the street receive lifesaving medications, health care, nutritious meals, counseling and emergency financial assistance. They are one of the nation’s leading industry-based, nonprofit AIDS fundraising and grant-making organizations. By drawing upon the talents, resources and generosity of the American theatre community, since 1988 Broadway Cares/Equity Fights AIDS has raised more than $300 million for essential services for people with HIV/AIDS and other critical illnesses in all 50 states, Puerto Rico and Washington DC.
• COPE is a nonprofit grief and healing organization dedicated to helping parents and families living with the loss of a child.
• Fund Texas Choice (FTC) is a non-profit organization that pays for Texans’ travel to abortion clinics. FTC was formed in response to the passage of Texas House Bill 2, which closed nearly 75% of over 40 Texan clinics in 2013 and 2014. The closures were primarily in rural and low-income areas of the state, necessitating cost-prohibitive, time-wasting, and geographically-difficult travel for groups already facing financial obstacles to abortion. Fund Texas Choice helps Texans equitably access abortion through safe, confidential, and comprehensive travel services and practical support.
• Heart of Dinner (HoD) exists to combat food insecurity and isolation within NYC’s elderly East Asian American community. HoD does this by delivering care packages of hot lunches and fresh produce every Wednesday, lovingly paired with a handwritten and illustrated letter in their native language to bring warmth and comfort.
• National Alliance on Mental Illness (NAMI) is the nation’s largest grassroots mental health organization dedicated to building better lives for the millions of Americans affected by mental illness. NAMI works in communities to raise awareness and provide support and education that was not previously available to those in need. NAMI provides advocacy, education, support and public awareness so that all individuals and families affected by mental illness can build better lives.
• The Palestine Red Crescent Society (PRCS), officially founded in December 1968, caters to the health and welfare of Palestinians in the West Bank, Gaza, and refugee camps in surrounding countries. With more than 4,000 employees and 20,000 volunteers, the group provides Emergency Medical Services (EMS) in times of conflict, as well as preventative, curative and rehabilitative health care. PRCS is a non-government organization that adheres to the principles of the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent.

Thank you!

Dear friends,

2020 was a year full of difficulty and loss, but also urgently-needed work and reflection. As a nation we impeached a president, witnessed and worked for an Uprising for Black Lives, elected a new president, hunkered down in unprecedented isolation, and lost far too many to a horrible virus. 2020 was so much.

As we eagerly approach 2021, we are thrilled and honored to announce Theater in Asylum’s plans for 2021. We reach to next year with hope, and as live theater becomes safe again, we plan to:

• Create and present The Debates 2021, centered on NYC’s upcoming elections*
• Produce Andy Boyd’s play Occupy Prescott*
• Continue offering weekly Cold Readings online, with more guest facilitators
• Give our platform to other artists to try out new work via a cabaret*
  

* We are planning our two productions and one cabaret to have multiple presentation options. Outdoors? Online? We are keeping safety top-of-mind, with multiple contingency plans and flexibility as the health situation in NYC changes.

If you are in a position to donate, we humbly ask for your support of Theater in Asylum’s 2021 Season. We are so grateful for all that’s been made possible these past 10 years, and we look ahead to 2021 with eagerness and hope.

Since 2015, Theater in Asylum has gathered friends to read and discuss great plays once a month. As the pandemic sent us into our homes, we moved these gatherings online and began holding them weekly. Wednesday nights have become a cherished place not only for play reading but for processing these wild times. We plan to continue weekly readings online until it’s safe to gather in person again, and invite more guest facilitators to bring new plays and new ideas to the group.

The Debates 2021 will be our fourth iteration of The Debates. This year we turn to New York City’s Democratic primaries and the conversation over what we want our city to be. New Yorkers will soon elect a new mayor, comptroller, and many city council members.

We believe everyone should understand their electoral power, and we know theater is a potent tool to elucidate that power. As in past years, we’ll host a slew of events including watch parties, political analysis meetings, and finally, an original play about the election. We want not only to get out the vote, but also to empower the voter to engage in the electoral process with understanding and confidence. With our unique blend of mimicry, abstraction, and earnest curiosity, we seek to illuminate the candidates, the issues, and ourselves.

Nearly ten years ago, activists gathered in lower Manhattan to peacefully occupy Zuccotti Park and to declare opposition to an economic system clearly inadequate for the majority of Americans, the 99%. Occupy Wall Street galvanized people around the world and inspired hundreds of activist occupations, big and small, united in a call to radically rethink the economic order.

Playwright Andy Boyd hones in on Prescott, Arizona to follow five Occupiers in their efforts to change their town and the world. They broadly agree that the one percent is too powerful, but agreement breaks down as they search for specifics. Reaching consensus on what a better world looks like—and how to get there—is frequently frustrating and rarely glamorous. Never easy, but urgently necessary. On the 10th anniversary of the rallying cry heard round the world, we are thrilled to produce the prescient and hopeful play: Occupy Prescott.

We’re planning to host another cabaret, sharing our platform with artists in our community to workshop their new work. We will also continue to revise our mission statement and our company’s inner workings, as well as participating in anti-racism trainings through the League of Independent Theater.

We have big plans for 2021. If you are able, we would so appreciate your help in funding our next season. Thank you for your time, your support, and your love. We wish you and yours safety, good health, and a bright new year.

Thank you, thank you, thank you,
Paul, Katie, Kathryn, and Hilarie
Theater in Asylum

Dear Friends,
When we first saw Heidi Schreck's What the Constitution Means to Me at New York Theatre Workshop, we were floored. The piece is searing and soaring, a call to arms and a calling in. This (mostly) one-woman play looks at the US Constitution and notes who's left out of it. It's a wonderful piece and we hope you will join us to watch and discuss it.

Anyone who has been to our Cold Readings will recognize the format, but we'll meet on Wednesday, October 28 (just days before the election!) at 7pm for introductions and to hear some background on the play from our facilitators. Then we'll all push play at the same time on the Amazon stream**, and finally gather again for a discussion when the stream is over. The evening should conclude around 10pm.

See you there!

Peace, power, and love to you,
Paul Bedard, Katie Palmer, Kathryn Appleton, and Hilarie Spangler



**Note**
Theater in Asylum is committed to financial accessibility. If you do not have access to an Amazon Prime account, please do not let this stop you from joining us. Please reach out to us and we help you figure something out to watch the play.

By Paul Bedard

Learn more about our 10 year commemoration here

Early in 2015, while preparing to apply to be a Drama League Directing Fellow, I was devouring scripts and trying to come up with brilliant production ideas to include in my application. Daunted by the amount of reading and the often-dispiriting notion of having brilliant ideas alone, some friends and I began meeting to read and discuss plays together. This was in the basement of the indoor kids playground where I worked at the time, and the casual gathering quickly grew into one of Theater in Asylum’s most successful and enduring programs.

Six years and 90 plays later, the Cold Reading series remains one of my favorite things. For those who have never been, we gather with no preparation to read and then discuss a play. For years, Katie or I facilitated each Cold Reading, but about a year ago we started commissioning guest facilitators, which opened up the curation of plays and has been so wonderful. This year our playwrights Gethsemane Herron-Coward and Willie Johnson, playwright and director Ran Xia, and actors Kara Hankard, Jonas Cohen, and Manuela Sosa all facilitated. Our Community Engagement Manager Hilarie Spangler has also been facilitating. We’ve assembled quite the team to pick plays and run readings!

Looking back on all the plays we’ve read, however, some interesting trends emerge. The two eras we’ve read from the most are the 1990s and the 1930s. After the United States, the country whose plays we’ve read the most is Germany, followed by the UK. Our most repeated playwrights are Bertolt Brecht and Caryl Churchill. The oldest plays we read are by Hrotsvit of Gandersheim, who lived from 935-1001. The newest plays we’ve read are from this year, written in quarantine by dozens of playwrights, commissioned by the Play at Home series.

When New York went into quarantine earlier this year, we shifted our monthly in-person gatherings to weekly online gatherings. Our community grew both in number and geographical reach, with people outside of New York newly able to participate. We now regularly have readers from multiple states, countries, and even continents. The discussions have also grown. While we nearly always discuss questions like, “What stood out?” and “What challenges would arise in producing this today?”, the pandemic, the uprising for Black lives, and the upcoming election have brought tremendous urgency to the issues of societal responsibility, equity, representation, power, and protest. These have supercharged our discussions recently and brought necessary lenses to work new and old.

Looking ahead, we’ll reach our 100th Cold Reading this December and I couldn’t be more proud and grateful. Cold Readings began as a place to share an overwhelming stack of plays to read for an application (which succeeded, by the way), but has since grown to something so much more valuable. I cherish my Wednesday nights and look forward to the plays, the completely unprepared performances, and the thrilling discussions with friends.

Cheers, Dionysus!