BLACK LIVES MATTER

Theatre is a space of shared imagination. A space where stories allow us to relive and reexamine our past, and envision bold new futures. Theatre allows us the opportunity to step outside the boundaries of our own lived experience to gain greater understanding of our shared humanity -- to build compassion, empathy, and solidarity. 

We cannot stay silent as black lives are endangered by police violence, and as the virus of white supremacy continues to infect this country. We honor the lives and memory of those who have most recently fallen and speak the names of Ahmaud Arbery, Breonna Taylor, and George Floyd. 

As cultural institutions, theatres hold great power in whose stories are told, how they are told, by whom and for whom. We’re committed to telling relevant stories that speak to our whole community in the present moment, and the story of this moment includes white supremacy and its threat to black lives. Even as our stages are dark, it is core to Aurora’s mission and our commitment to the principles of equity, diversity, and inclusion to elevate black stories, empower black artists, and ensure that our black audience members are safe and welcome in our spaces. We have a responsibility to say unequivocally that black lives matter, and to keep doing the work of building a more just world.

With this responsibility in mind, we invite our community to educate themselves on white supremacy, racial violence, and systemic racism, and to support organizations locally and nationally that support black communities and causes. 


April 20, 2021

We at Aurora Theatre Company state once again that Black lives matter, and that police violence against Black and brown bodies cannot be allowed to continue. 
Even with a guilty verdict, the trial of Derek Chauvin for the murder of George Floyd is the latest reminder that we live in a culture that remains mired in white supremacy and structural racism. 
We support efforts to increase law enforcement accountability, such as HR 1280, the George Floyd Justice in Policing Act of 2021, as well as efforts to defund the police in favor of unarmed civil servants, as with Berkeley’s reduction of the police budget to create a Department of Transportation to handle routine traffic violations. 
But reforming and defunding the police are not enough. As a nation, we have to reckon with the ongoing legacy of white supremacy and structural racism, recognizing that it affects every aspect of our society and actively committing to positive change. This is a project both individual and collective, both internal (recognizing our own implicit biases) and external (changing our practices and policies). Aurora Theatre Company is committed to doing our part, to addressing the ways in which we have contributed to white supremacy culture, and we invite our community to join us in standing in solidarity with the fight for a more just world.
Visit auroratheatre.org/advocacy to learn more about those commitments.

 

Resources

ORGANIZATIONS TO SUPPORT



TO READ

Articles:

 

Books:

 

TO WATCH AND LISTEN

Podcasts:

Movies and TV:

  • 13th (Ava DuVernay) — Netflix
  • Dear White People (Justin Simien) — Netflix
  • Fruitvale Station (Ryan Coogler) — Available to rent
  • I Am Not Your Negro (James Baldwin doc) — Available to rent or on Kanopy
  • If Beale Street Could Talk (Barry Jenkins) — Hulu
  • Just Mercy (Destin Daniel Cretton) — Available to rent
  • See You Yesterday (Stefon Bristol) — Netflix
  • Selma (Ava DuVernay) — Available to rent
  • The Black Panthers: Vanguard of the Revolution — Available to rent
  • When They See Us (Ava DuVernay) — Netflix