EARLY IN MY TENURE AS ARTISTIC DIRECTOR OF PLAYWRIGHTS HORIZONS, I attended a leadership retreat in which one of the speakers shared the idea that “Community is where we come to give of ourselves.” In the last fifty years or so, the community of the American theater has prospered most when it has embodied that generosity of spirit. Having spent my entire professional career at a writer’s theater, I am convinced that no one group has given more to this broad community than our working playwrights. The American theater has grown and prospered from their collective work, work that disrupts consensus, celebrates individuality, elevates self-reflection, and spreads laughter. But many career playwrights feel excluded from the theaters they have helped to build. They continue to grow as artists and might be writing the most nuanced, mature plays of their careers, but can’t even get them read. They deserve better.

These are heady times in the American theater. We have been called to accelerate the rate at which we diversify our work. We are called to question business as usual in our producing practices. We hold up radical inclusivity as a core value. But we must also reject the otherization and marginalization of our elders. Our writers are excited to see the theater transforming in this way. It feels like a dream come true. Yet at the same time, many are also bewildered that right at this high point so many feel jettisoned. So our group suggests a different model, embodied by a different image. For us, THE TENT feels right. It feels like a metaphor for an American Theater that is generous, democratic, celebratory and can-do. Now is not the time to shut doors but to open wide the tent. We have so much to learn from each other and give to each other. Let wisdom and joy prevail!