SUPPORT THE FLED'S 2023 SEASON

OUR MISSION

The Fled is an artist Collective providing a radically equitable, anti-racist, anti-oppressive platform for theater artists — to build community, expand their artistry, and make theatre that is actively engaged in our collective liberation and the dismantling of colonialist practices and white ideals. With artists at the helm, particularly our global-majority and historically marginalized artists, we lead our community with curiosity, empathy, and celebration.

By prioritizing accessibility and the decolonization of art, we aim to create space for new audiences and innovate the way we organize and make theatre. Our marginalized and underrepresented artists must steer the ship – beginning with our Black artists, as well as our Indigenous, AAPI, Latinx, MENA, Queer, Trans, Gender-nonconforming, Intersex, Disabled, and the multitude of intersecting experiences and aesthetics therein. A space is only safe for all when it is safe for its most vulnerable members. We choose to share power and resources equitably and abundantly, and in doing so actively practice the values we espouse.

When we celebrate, serve, and lead our community with joy, we are Revolutionary.

WHAT WE HAVE DONE SO FAR

This past year has been jam-packed for the Fled Collective. Currently, the Fled is made up of 76 artists, 11 of which are elected to serve on our leadership circle.

Over the course of five weekends of performances thus far in 2022, SERIALS, compensated 101 collective and guest artists.

We have also collaborated with other companies; creating pay-what-you-can masterclasses for our collective in conjunction with Encompass Collective, The 24 Hour Plays, with whom we created a fundraiser of virtual monologue performances, and the oldest LGBTQ+ theater company TOSOS (The Other Side of Silence), with whom we co-produced a reading as part of their Chesley/Chambers Playwriting Series.

All in all, for our 2022 season, we produced a workshop production, five masterclasses, and held six new play readings.

WHAT WE ARE PLANNING TO DO: OUR 2023 SEASON

For 2023, our collective is moving forward with two community engagement programs, two workshop productions, our late-night playwriting competition SERIALS, and a community building program Fled Workouts. We want to support our mission by uplifting the voices of historically marginalized artists. Both of our upcoming workshop productions are led by BIPOC-majority casts and creative teams. 

WORKSHOP PRODUCTIONS

STEPKIDS by Tyrone L. Robinson is a one-act hip hop musical that tells the story of a group of seemingly unconnected students finding common ground in the most unlikely of places – the tryouts for their school’s competitive step dance team; Dolores Avery Pereira is producing.

SWAY by SMJ is a biting, sexy, horror satire that interrogates the similarities between religious cults and modern influencer culture. Daniella Caggiano will direct.

INDUSTRY AND COMMUNITY JUSTICE

Season Two of RADIO FLED is a series of live community conversations with theater professionals and listeners who “call in,” discussing various topics around building an equitable theater industry. Recent guests include Emmy Award-winning actress Erin Cherry, The Producing Artistic Director of the New Federal Theatre Elizabeth Van Dyke, Chris Byers, Dylan Guerra, and more. It will continue to be hosted by Briar Robin Pollock and Dolores Avery Pereira.

FLED (RE)ACTS are variety nights conceived by Jon Jon Johnson that mobilize our artistic community. Usually when big news happens in the world, it takes a while for it to show up in our art. This is a way to engage both our collective and our community by creating art that reacts immediately to world events. It allows us to hold discussions with our audiences afterwards to create healing spaces and work through them.

HOW CAN YOU HELP?

As a fledgling theater collective, growing our funding in order to best support our artists and community is both our biggest challenge and most crucial goal. In the past year, we have learned to scale our projects and budget based on the needs of our community and the resources we have available. Your donation will help us ensure that the resources that will be given to all of the artists involved are equitable and abundant.

SUPPORT THE FLED COLLECTIVE

By putting this campaign out there, we are manifesting for ourselves a theater company that can uphold our mission and our values. In a time like today, we believe that a theatre should bring strength and power to the community of artists within it. Yet we’ve found ourselves unified and strong in spite of – not because of – the institutional theatre. The American theatre failed us, refused us seats at their table, so we are building a new one and you are welcome to have a seat.

We are currently fundraising towards paying our artists as part of our Pillar of Equity: “We Value People Over Profits.” The equitable pay of our artistic collective and the amplification of BIPOC and LGBTQ+ voices in programming and leadership are cornerstones of our identity.

The care and respect of our community is at the center of our values, and we want to invite you to join The Flock— a group of fabulous patrons supporting the Fled’s future towards creating radically equitable, democratic theater. When we celebrate, serve, and lead our community with joy, we are Revolutionary. And we urge you to join our revolution.