Dear ATDS colleagues,

I hope this finds you and your loved ones and communities safe and well, as we transition towards the fall.  

I write to you from Saratoga Springs, New York, the ancestral lands of Haudenosaunee,  Mohawk, Mohican, and Abenaki peoples. I acknowledge that I occupy these lands through the violence of colonialism and that these are unceded territories. (If you are interested in land acknowledgment and native territories in your region, a starter resource can be found here: https://native-land.ca.)

I write to update you with ATDS news from the summer, from ATHE, and from our Annual Membership and Business Meetings. We have much news to share, including:

• Actions in support of the ATDS statement of solidarity with Black Lives Matter
• Pay What You Can Membership Initiative
• The First Ever ATDS First Book Bootcamp
• ATDS 2020 Award Winners
• Spotlight on New Works Books (ATDS, LIA, BTA)
• ATHE 2020 News
• Working with the Latinx, Indigenous, and the Americas Focus Group to amplify Latinx and Indigenous histories
• Gender Inclusive Language—ATDS By-Laws
• ATDS Reports 2020
• ATDS Awards 2021
• ATDS Elections 2021

Before I move on to provide details of these projects and initiatives, I offer my profound gratitude to our members; our Award Committee chairs and members; our Conference Planner, David Bisaha; our Officers and Board Members; our journal editors, editorial committees, and presses; and our colleagues from Black Theatre Association, Black Theatre Network, and the Latinx, Indigenous, and the Americas Focus Group who continue to collaborate with, support, and lead us. 

A special thank you to Dorothy Chansky– immediate past president, board member, past editor of Theatre Annual, and Betty Jean Jones Award winner– who concludes her board membership this year.  Thank you, Dorothy, for your leadership and ever-present support; I look forward to working with you in ATDS in new ways in the coming year.

And now, NEWS!

Actions in support of our statement of solidarity with Black Lives Matter

In June, ATDS published a statement of solidarity with Black Lives Matter.  The statement is available on our website, and was accompanied by a feature highlighting recent books centered on Black theatre and performance.  ATDS recognizes that words are not enough; actions must be taken.

In June the ATDS Governing Body voted to support Black Theatre Association with a donation of $1000, to be used at BTA’s discretion.  ATDS also donated $500 to Black Theatre Network, and will donate $250 to BTN every year, from 2021 forward, in perpetuity.

At our Business Meeting in July, the Governing Body voted to earmark $1,000 to be used for compensating speakers and/or workshop leaders for two online events open to the membership. These events will focus on anti-racism in our professional fields. ATDS Board Members, Donatella Galella and Ariel Nereson, will coordinate these events with the support of ATDS Digital Media Secretary, Peter Wood.

Pay What You Can Membership Initiative

Recognizing that the financial crisis and COVID-19 has affected our entire field, and disproportionately affected BIPOC, international, and immigrant communities, as well as contingent faculty and graduate students, ATDS has approved a pay what you can membership fee initiative for the coming year:

“Even though our membership fees are among the lowest for a national organization of theatre scholars, we realize that, in many circumstances, even low prices might be out of the reach of some potential members. We are instituting a pay-what-you-can membership for anyone who needs to use it. While $10 is suggested, you may pay less than that cost if you need. Additionally, if you can afford to pay more for a membership, any money you pay above the regular membership fee will go to making up these lower membership revenues.”

The First Ever ATDS First Book Bootcamp

Thank you to Heather Nathans, Donatella Gallela, and Kirsten Pullen for successfully envisioning, organizing and implementing the first ever ATDS First Book Bootcamp!

Donatella, Kirsten, and Heather share with us:

“Thank you for the support from ATDS that made the FirstBook Bootcamp possible! We made progress on books, shared advice, connected authors with editors, and concluded with an important conversation about publishing and equity. We had such wonderful and truly heartwarming responses from participants who reported that the gathering surpassed their expectations, and left them feeling energized, inspired, and appreciated. Let’s once again celebrate our authors (Cindy Bates, Jessica Del Vecchio, Jason Fitzgerald, Chandra Hopkins, Jieun Lee, Shondrika Moss-Bouldin, Grace Overbeke, Jen Shook, Kristyl Tift, Bryan Vandevender, and Isaiah Wooden) and our mentors (Henry Bial, Tracy Davis, La Donna Forsgren, Donatella Galella, Michelle Granshaw, Kareem Khubchandan, Heather Nathans, Kirsten Pullen, and Naomi Stubbs). Booyah!”

ATDS 2020 Award Winner Celebration

Congratulations, again, to our ATDS 2020 Award Winners. At our membership meeting at ATHE, we were able to applaud and celebrate you—we will do so again in 2021 in person (pandemic willing) with our 2021 Award Winners. Thank you for the privilege of considering your work. And a *huge* thank you to committee chairs and members!

Betty Jean Jones Award:  Dr. Brenda Murphy

John  W. Frick Book Award: Dr. Julie Burelle

Vera Mowry Roberts Award: Dr. Maya Cantu

Faculty Travel/Research Award: Dr. Dan Venning

Contingent Faculty Travel/Research Award:  Dr. Danielle Rosvally

Publication Subvention Award: Dr. Dani Snyder-Young

Graduate Student Travel/Research Award: Alexis Riley

Emerging Scholars Award: Steven D. Cullen

Spotlight on New Works Books (ATDS, LIA, BTA)

I had the absolute pleasure of chairing the ATDS-LIA-BTA Spotlight on New Works Panel at ATHE this year. These four inspiring works will soon be featured on our website. I invite you to buy them for your personal libraries. You might also think about inviting your institutional libraries to purchase them as a package:  “These four new works were featured at our field’s national conference, and were selected by the American Theatre and Drama Society; the Latinx, Indigenous and the Americas Focus Group; and Black Theatre Association.”

Encounters on Contested Lands: Indigenous Performances of Sovereignty and Nationhood in Quebec, by Julie Burelle, published by Northwestern University Press, 2019.

Nuyorican Feminist Performance: From the Café to Hip Hop Theater, by Patricia Herrera, published by University of Michigan Press, 2020.

Provocative Eloquence: Theater, Violence, and Antislavery Speech in the Antebellum U.S., by Laura Mielke, published by University of Michigan Press, 2019.

Tarell Alvin McCraney, Theatre, Performance and Collaboration, edited by Sharrell D. Luckett, David Román, and Isaiah Matthew Wooden, published by Northwestern University Press, 2020

ATHE 2020 News

Thank you, again, to Dave Bisaha, our 2020 conference planner.  What a year to be a conference planner.  Dave, you have been grace itself; thank you for your good humor, formidable administrative acumen, and joyful collegiality.

And, a hearty welcome to Bess Rowen, our 2021 conference planner! Bess and I worked together on an ASTR anniversary storyboard a number of years ago and I am thrilled (for all of us!) to work with her in this ATDS capacity.

Amplifying Latinx, Indigenous and Americas histories, in collaboration with LIA

Recognizing that our statement of solidarity holds that the fight for Black life and against anti-Black racism, is intersectional with justice for BIPOC, immigrant and international communities, ATDS will commit $1000 ($500 over the next two years) to working with the Latinx, Indigenous, and the Americas Focus Group  to amplify Indigenous and Latinx histories and perspectives at the next two ATHE conferences.

Gender Inclusive Language—ATDS By-Laws

Thank you to Laura MacDonald and Fonzie Geary for their work editing our by-law language to be gender-inclusive. These changes will be brought to the Governing Body for ratification this fall.

ATDS Reports 2020

Many reports from 2020 will soon be available to access via our website. Check in this fall to read all the updates, from all corners of the organization.

ATDS 2021 Awards

Be on the lookout for our next round of award submissions this fall and spring. We have many awards to support your work—please submit!

ATDS Elections 2021

Thank you to our 2019 and 2020 Nominations Committee members: Megan Sanborn Jones (Chair), Susan Kattwinkel, Stuart Hecht, Andy Gibb, Ginny Anderson, and Heather Nathans.

Welcome to Donatella Gallela, our new Nominations Committee Chair, and to our new committee and continuing committee members, Andy Gibb, Heather Nathans, and Ariel Nereson. 

Donatella writes:

“In December, we will invite nominations for new ATDS representatives. The positions open in 2021 are: Vice President, Secretary, Treasurer/Ass’t Secretary, International Secretary, Graduate Rep, and 3 Board Members. We aim to lift up more BIPOC members, so we especially welcome BIPOC self-nominations and nominations of BIPOC scholar-artist-educators. The nominations committee includes Heather Nathans, Ariel Nereson, and Andy Gibb. Thanks again to Megan Sanborn Jones who led the previous iteration of the committee and left helpful blueprints.”

Getting Involved in ATDS

I hope you find these updates exciting, supportive, and inspiring.  None of this work is possible without our members. 

I invite you to renew your membership, join for the first time, or commit to a lifetime membership. You can also sponsor a membership for a colleague, graduate student, or friend; email membership@atds.org to do that.

We would love to hear from you. Please drop me, our officers, or our Board Members an email.  Tell us what you think of the work we are doing, and let us know how you would like to get involved.

Yours,
Lisa Jackson-Schebetta, MFA, PhD
President, American Theatre and Drama Society