NEPA Gives & Catharsis

Today, we planned to share with great excitement that we are participating in #NEPAGives—a one-day, online giving extravaganza that’s all about giving back to the community—this Friday, June 5th. Although we do intend to move ahead with our planned fundraising, we strongly feel we cannot ignore the pain being felt across our country.

In Ancient Greece, theatre’s primary function was to provide a platform to express opinion and catharsis for the community. This core function has been a constant as theatre has evolved the past 2,600 years. Whether we realize it or not, we go to live theatre performances to experience empathy: for the characters in the play and with fellow audience members. We learn, heal, laugh, and empathize on an electrically human level; it’s what makes the experience different from tv and film. It is catharsis and compassion, listening and understanding together as one. It can affect political and societal change. And it’s important, now more than ever, that we write about and share our experiences with one another in this way. That we come together and feel together.

Our mission has been based in education, bringing life to classical works most might assume boring (Shakespeare, Moliere), underproduced titles that are award winning and have important messages but not necessarily mainstream (The Sunset Limited, Next Fall), and, most importantly, original work that give voice to emerging writers to talk about critical issues (Drowning Ophelia, The Pallbearers). We are so proud to have this mission, are dedicated to carrying it forward, and hope to do as much good as we can—as a theatre and as individuals—to support equality in our community.

We’re a small company but we can still make an impact by firmly standing in solidarity against racism, violence, and injustice. And while we strongly hope you will support us in NEPAGives come Friday, we hope that you can find it in your hearts to also support any one of these great organizations in the meantime:

www.aclu.org
www.naacpldf.org 
fairfight.com 
bailproject.org
peaceandjusticecenter.com / Peace and Justice Centerblackscranton.org
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We’ll pick back up tomorrow, but for today: educate, reflect, speak up, and support.