Musings on mission, vision and what we do...

It occurred to me the other day that in running a theatre, where I serve as both the artistic director and the executive director, I answer to numerous masters: the balance sheet, the funders, the board of directors, the community and the audience. The last one can be the trickiest of all.

It struck me that most people never read or hear about my vision, which lives quietly in documents like the Long Range Plan.  Or they might wonder what the difference is, anyway, between a ‘mission’ (quite public) and a ‘vision’. The mission was determined even before I got here 15 years ago. It has been sharpened and reinvigorated during my tenure, but is basically the same. The vision is my personal aspiration for Passage.  It is what drives the mission under my guidance, and I have a staff of terrific, talented people who subscribe to it and share it, and a board who supports it.

So before I go further here is my vision statement:

Since 1996 I have been Producing Artistic Director of the Passage Theatre. I have always been passionate about finding new plays that will be both entertaining and at the same time challenging to a multicultural group of spectators. It is my dream of unifying our diverse community through the power of live storytelling. The stories we tell are personal, culturally specific stories or ones that are universal due to our shared humanity. We do this in a city that faces significant challenges from post-industrial America. I believe a broad and deep connection to our local urban community is essential now more than ever to our survival. Since its beginning in 1985, Passage cast and rehearsed its shows in NYC. However, we now hire locally whenever possible. It is my dream to have a community-based theatre company…one that trains and strengthens our craft together, rehearses and performs in Trenton and one to which the local community has access. I don’t care where people sleep at night, but the hub of our operations is in Trenton.

Let me add that as an actor I have almost always been part of an ensemble concurrently with my work in commercial and regional theatre. A theatre collective is where I learned my craft and formed my values as an artist. I believe the regionally – better yet, locally – based company model holds the key to a new, more viable theatre company – and, in our case, a more vibrant and viable community. Across the country people are returning to – and taking pride in – their own communities; people are shopping locally, growing locally and spending leisure time in their local communities. I see Passage Theatre being a spark towards that trend in Trenton.

Passage’s mission:

Passage Theatre's mission is to develop and produce stylistically adventurous new works for the theatre that entertain and challenge a diverse audience. Our core values result in our championing works that testify to the universal resilience of the human spirit; striving to create a highly supportive environment for our artists; raising the aspirations of Trenton's youth through our education mentoring program, The State Street Project; and contributing to the cultural and economic vitality of Trenton, a post-industrial city proudly emerging from years of decline.

I pray that both mission and vision are reflected in the work we bring to the stage: our mainstage productions; the State Street Project programs David does such an incredible job with and the local Playwrights Lab which David and Kacy have developed into a critical component of  the vision.  Please let us know what you think, and look for more on this topic in future posts.
June