Our Mission
Theatre KAPOW explores the truths of human experience through the passion and electricity of live theatre performed to the highest standards of excellence. tKAPOW produces the best dramatic works from across ages and cultures to inspire and challenge both artists and audience.
Our Values
tKAPOW places a tremendous amount of emphasis on the process of developing works of theater. A purposefully designed and focused work development period is key to ensuring the highest quality of theatrical product. Joining the ensemble of a tKAPOW production requires commitment to a 6-week work development period that will include collaborative discussions about production design, concept, and source material; physical and vocal training sessions; involvement in a peer support and feedback system; exploration of character and analysis of text; discovery and expression of relationships; generation of movement sequences and an understanding of stage picture; and other practices. It is expected that all members of the ensemble will work on their own time outside of scheduled ensemble meetings to get off book quickly, to experiment with emotional and psychological exploration and physical expression, and to arrive at ensemble meetings with a personal plan for work and play.
tKAPOW's work is based primarily on N’dakinna (En-DA-kin-ah), which is the traditional ancestral homeland of the Abenaki, Pennacook and Wabanaki Peoples past and present. We acknowledge and honor with gratitude the land and waterways and the alnobak (people) who have stewarded N’dakinna throughout the generations. This moment calls us to commit to continuing to learn how to be better stewards of the land we inhabit as well.
We do this to pay respect to the Abenaki, Pennacook and Wabanaki Peoples and their elders past, present, and emerging. We hope to inspire greater curiosity among non-Native peoples about the land on which they live, to halt the erasure of Indigenous history, and to encourage support of Indigenous communities both locally and globally
We encourage you to learn more about the Indigenous communities where you are currently. You can visit https://native-land.ca/.
We pledge to be held publicly accountable in cultivating an anti-racist, equitable space for learning and creating. We will actively hold ourselves accountable if and when we are not doing our part to stand up against structural racism. We will promote a positive space for all, regardless of race, sexuality, gender expression, or ability. We will listen in order to understand, not to defend or deflect.
We recognize that, in addition to actively attending to this work in the rehearsal studio/theatre, the work also requires a long-term commitment to identifying and addressing racism, as well as ableism, genderism, sexism, other forms of discrimination. We understand that this entails making necessary policy changes, building equitable and inclusive workplaces, and remaining accountable. We pledge to insist that this creative space must actively pursue the work of anti-racism and equity.
We pledge to lean into difficult conversations with individuals and institutions in the industry who have not made these commitments or who are failing to live up to them.
We pledge to examine and dismantle our own learned biases. We will sit in the discomfort this brings, and will not let this discomfort render us silent or derail the necessary work.
We pledge to use our social, cultural, and financial capital to amplify institutions and productions led by people of color, and to call out those that do not involve this leadership.
Thank you for holding us accountable and joining us in this effort to foster an anti-racist, inclusive theatrical community that creates opportunities for all artists and audiences.
This pledge was adapted from the Tectonic Theater Project and inspired by the Broadway Advocacy Coalition pledge made in June of 2020 in response to the #BwayforBLM movement.
tKAPOW is a proud member of
