An update to our community:
Our original Festival Artistic Director job posting contained a new name for our annual Boiler Room Series new works festival that was chosen to be more inclusive. Shortly after posting, we were made aware by individuals on social media that the term “Women+” is considered offensive, exclusionary, and otherizing — which was the opposite of its intention.
In response, we removed the job posting and we began internal discussions about evolving the festival’s branding. We universally agreed that a festival re-brand was critically necessary, in an effort to build a more inclusive and welcoming festival. We wholeheartedly apologize for using a term that is hurtful to some in the very community this festival was designed to serve.
We also accept and apologize for the internal failures in communication that resulted in a disordered response and, ultimately, hurt feelings among both community members and Keegan staff and associates. We will continue to investigate our practices and challenge ourselves to improve.
At present, the festival and the Festival Artistic Director position are on hold while we continue internal discussions about the future of that event. Plans remain underway for the 5th anniversary season of the Boiler Room Series, and we will be posting more about those opportunities and events in coming months.
The Boiler Room Series was founded to celebrate and provide opportunities for new voices in theater. It has been a labor of love for not only those directly involved in its execution, but all those at Keegan who support it from programmatic, marketing, strategic planning, and fundraising perspectives. We celebrate the many gifts that the Boiler Room Series has given the community in the last four years, most notably the introduction of an extraordinary lineup of local and emerging playwrights, directors, actors, and theater artists.
We again apologize for all who were hurt by the initial job posting and our subsequent handling of this sensitive matter. We will never stop seeking areas of growth and improvement, as a company and as individuals. We will continue to strive to be active participants in our community, and to foster a community of artists who build each other up, who seek out and promote the truth, and who celebrate all that it means to be human.
– Keegan Theatre Staff and Board