Summer 2021 Update
To our ticket subscribers, donors, audience members, and supporters,
First, we want to thank you for supporting Rachel Lynett Theatre Company. We’re incredibly proud of the work we were able to produce and the artists we were able to support. We strongly believe in theatre that is, from inception, diverse, equitable, inclusive, and accessible and we’ve worked hard to make those driving ideals a reality.
That said, 2021 has been a particularly challenging year. We have promised that we will not do a show if we cannot pay everyone. Due to job, life, and home base changes, all three RLTC staff members are not in a position to devote 100% of our time to fundraising, which is what our new company needs and deserves. As a staff, we agreed the best possible course of action would be to hit pause on programming until things stabilize. We would rather go dark for the moment.
Our hope is to be back up and running by fall 2022. If there’s anything I’ve learned from the pandemic, it’s that, even with the best intentions, our plans don’t always work out. We want to thank you again for supporting us this far and hope we can see you next fall.
Thank you,
Rachel Lynett
Artistic Director, Rachel Lynett Theatre Company
Mission Statement
Our mission to radically work against the ways in which the institution of theatre has prioritized and centered cisnormative whiteness by producing plays that center queerness and characters of color, creating more opportunities onstage and off for communities marginalized by “traditional” structures. We will do this by producing the plays of Rachel Lynett and plays by queer and/or women of color playwrights that are in conversation with Rachel Lynett’s work and in line with our mission to decolonize American theatre.
We are committed to the following:
- Producing three plays by Rachel Lynett every season
- Producing one play by a queer playwright of color whose work is in conversation with Rachel Lynett’s work
- Paying all staff an equitable wage, meaning everyone gets paid the same no matter what their role
- Seeking out and maintaining a board of directors who are artists and who identify as WOC and/or queer
- Producing plays with POC and/or queer casts
- Engaging with our audience via talkbacks after each performance
A Note from Rachel Lynett, Artistic Director
I’ve wanted to do this for a while for selfish reasons and for reasons directly tied to our current moment.
Selfishly, I write about 10 plays a year. I usually have multiple plays being workshopped at once and it often feels like theatre is about two years behind me. And waiting can be taxing. I wanted to create a way I could workshop my plays with an audience while also prioritizing casting QPOC.
As for this moment, I have found myself filled with anger. I’ve watched theater companies release statements on “diversity” and black lives matter, knowing they have an all white staff/leadership, knowing they program plays by all white writers, knowing they have no intention of following through and stepping up to the challenge of being better. I wanted to find a way to hire artists who most often ignored: queer and womxn of color artists. Black Lives Matter isn’t just a sentiment I plan on posting the website; it’s deeply rooted in my identity and the plays I write. The mission reflects that. Every artistic choice made will be priorize centering equity and inclusion.
Theatre, for the foreseeable future, will be digital. I want to use this moment and produce a digital season while writing bylaws, forming a board, raising funds to be ready to go full force by July 2021.
I’m tired of having to choose between my identities. I am black as f*ck, Latinx as f*ck, and queer as f*ck. I’m all of these things and more, simultaneously, all the time. This company is the same. I named this company after me as a challenge to never compromise , to never make an artist feel they have to choose which version of themselves they get to be, and to make this company just as brazen and fearless as I am.
News
Rachel Lynett Wins the 2021 Yale Drama Series Prize
Congratulations to Artistic Director Rachel Lynett!
Learn more about this honor, the playwright, and the play in this Variety.com exclusive.
Mailing List
If you would like to sign up for our general newsletter, please click here. We will never sell or share your information — you will receive breaking news, show info, and special offers.