| PlayPenn's Artistic Director and Associate resign over "expectations racial and cultural competence" | |
| Last Edit: Delvino 11:47 am EDT 07/20/20 | |
| Posted by: Delvino 11:45 am EDT 07/20/20 | |
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| Statement from the PlayPenn Board of Directors July 20, 2020 "Yesterday, after discussions with the PlayPenn Board of Directors, Paul Meshejian resigned his position as Artistic Director, and Michele Volansky was terminated as Associate Artistic Director. Paul’s and Michele’s contributions to PlayPenn cannot be overstated. Paul founded the organization in 2004, and Michele became involved with it in 2006. As a result of their collective efforts, PlayPenn has become the artist-driven institution it is today, supporting risk taking, boundary-pushing work from artists of all races, religions, gender identities, ethnicities, sexual orientations, and disabilities. However, as a result of recent allegations of wrongdoing that members of our community have made against the organization, the PlayPenn Board of Directors decided that it was in the best interests of PlayPenn for Paul and Michele to leave their positions. We will continue our investigation into those recent allegations. We have heard from members of the artistic community that PlayPenn was not meeting community members’ expectations for racial and cultural competence. We are beginning the process of building a PlayPenn that better reflects and incorporates the diverse minds, bodies, and souls of the communities we serve. Starting with COVID-19, these past few months have been the most difficult of PlayPenn’s 16-year existence. There is no question that the coming weeks and months will bring with them a challenging but necessary period of change for our organization. With the continued support of our staff, our artists, our donors, and the artistic community at large, PlayPenn will emerge from this period a stronger organization dedicated to the development of new plays and playwrights." --------------------------------- This is significant. PlayPenn is second only to the O'Neill Center in new play development. |
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