TYA, Baby, and Me: Supporting Parents as Artists and Administrators in TYA
How can we support TYA artists and leaders when they become parents? As the wider theatre field becomes more responsive to the needs of working parents, shouldn’t the TYA field be leading the charge given that our work is focused on young people? Join TYA/USA as we explore innovative models of programs that support artist parents across the theatre industry, and discuss the implications within the TYA sector.
Event Details
Date: Thursday, November 14, 2019
Time: 2:00-3:15pm Eastern
Cost: Free for Members / $20 for Non-Members
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Members Non-MembersIf you are not a member, complete the purchase path at the NON-MEMBERS link, and then register for the event.
Featured Speakers
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Roberta Pereira
Producing Director, The Playwrights Realm
ROBERTA PEREIRA is a Tony-nominated, Olivier Award-winning producer who has developed and produced plays, musicals, and event theatre on Broadway, Off-Broadway, regionally, in the West End, and on tour. She is currently the Producing Director of The Playwrights Realm, an Off-Broadway theater company devoted to supporting early-career playwrights, where she produced the world premiere of The Wolves by Sarah DeLappe, which was a finalist for the 2017 Pulitzer Prize for Drama. Previously, Roberta developed and produced shows such as Tony-nominated play Mothers and Sons by Terrence McNally, starring Tyne Daly; the Olivier award-winning revival of Stephen Sondheim’s Merrily We Roll Along, in the West End; and the Broadway premiere of Grace, starring Paul Rudd, Michael Shannon and Ed Asner. Roberta is the co-founder and Managing Editor of Dress Circle Publishing, which publishes theater-themed books, including Seth Rudetsky’s Seth’s Broadway Diaries and the bestselling series The Untold Stories of Broadway by Jennifer Ashley Tepper, which will chronicle the history of all the Broadway theaters.
Roberta is a guest lecturer at Yale School of Drama and is part of the National Arts Strategies’ Chief Executive Program. As a Latinx producer, has been a speaker on the topics of producing, parenting, and inclusion in the arts in multiple forums, including BroadwayCon, NYU/Tisch, Syracuse University, Juilliard, and Commercial Theatre Institute. She has served as a grant panelist for the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs and Alliance of Resident Theatres/New York. She was featured in Backstage’s “Broadway Future Power List”, American Theatre’s “Role Call –People to Watch”, and recently, Playbill, for her work as co-founder of the Artists’ Anti-Racism Coalition. Roberta is a graduate of Yale School of Drama’s Theater Management program and Wesleyan University. She is originally from Brazil and lives in New York City with her daughter.
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Rachel Spencer Hewitt
Founder, Parent Artist Advocacy League for the Performing Arts
RACHEL SPENCER HEWITT is the founder of Parent Artist Advocacy League for the Performing Arts. PAAL’s advocacy for creating supportive structures, work culture, and sustainable solutions for caregivers has been mentioned in numerous publications, including The New York Times, American Theatre Magazine, HowlRound Theatre Commons, and WAMU for NPR News in Washington D.C. In 2019, PAAL was selected as one of ten “Changemaker” organizations invited to take the stage and present at Disney Theatrical’s Women’s Day on Broadway in New York City. PAAL created the first all-discipline, all-gender National Childcare Grants that were distributed this year. She was one of the project leaders on the first-of-its-kind Radical Parent-Inclusion Project off-Broadway at The Playwrights Realm with Producer Roberta Pereira. Rachel has participated in national think tanks, on panels, and facilitated workshops on parenting in the arts at multiple gatherings, including the national TCG conferences, BroadwayCon, and StateraArts’ annual conference on gender equity in the arts. She is also an equity actor with an MFA in Acting from the Yale School of Drama whose work includes Broadway, off-Broadway, and regional theatres.
Parent Artist Advocacy League for the Performing Arts (PAAL) is a national resource hub, community, solutions generator, and advocacy organization for individuals and institutions to address the lack of support and silence surrounding caregiving in the performing arts. PAAL’s advocacy for creating supportive structures, work culture, and sustainable solutions for caregivers has been mentioned in numerous publications, including The New York Times, American Theatre Magazine, HowlRound Theatre Commons, and WAMU for NPR News in Washington D.C. PAAL created the first all-discipline, all-gender National Childcare Grants that were distributed this year. Through their National Handbook of Best Practices in pilot, PAAL Award list of family-friendly theatres, and developing PAAL HR-Health and PAAL-Ed programs, PAAL promotes best practices that abolish discriminatory practices and language – especially against pregnant women and mothers – by raising awareness, developing work culture protocol, addressing the childcare dilemma, promoting and creating pathways for caregivers to work toward parity, and providing resources for self-protection. PAAL initiates conversations across the country among TV, Film, and Theatre professionals, both employer and employed.