Our Commitment to Anti-Racism at Abingdon Theatre Company

To the We See You White American Theatre Organizers, our staff, our artists, and the wider Black, Indigenous, and People of Color (BIPOC) theatre community: 

In this time for change, Abingdon is recommitting to creating opportunities for all voices to be heard. We commit to listen. We acknowledge our own imperfection and therefore want to reaffirm our commitment to Equity, Diversity and Inclusion at our company. Abingdon has long maintained the mission to shed light on emerging artists and while we take pride in the work we have done thus far; we know that the steps we have made are not enough and that this work is never finished. We hope that we will be able to learn from this difficult time and continue to grow as a community to create a more diverse environment at Abingdon. We will actively seek out and build new relationships with both emerging and established BIPOC artists and continue to produce work that allows all voices to be heard.

We would like to thank the We See You White American Theatre Organizers, who in July released a series of demands to create “a truly sustainable, anti-racist theatrical ecosystem.” Their calls to action emphasized the urgency for true systemic change and made it clear that we must do what is necessary to be a fully anti-racist organization.

The pandemic, although devastating to our community, has given us time to pause, reflect and plan for a more equitable and inclusive future at Abingdon. We stand in solidarity with Black Lives Matter, we thank those who came before us, and we pledge to our staff, community and artists to do better.