RISE Series E2: Lin-Manuel Miranda (RISE Theatre)
The Women & Theatre RISE Series presents mini-interviews conducted at the Inaugural RISE Summit with network partners of RISE Theatre, all of which are organizations working to increase equity in the theatre industry. In this episode, Hayley and Amy talk with RISE Theatre co-founder Lin-Manuel Miranda. Scroll down for episode notes and transcript!
Episode Notes
Hosts: Hayley Goldenberg and Amy Andrews
Guest: Lin-Manuel Miranda, RISE Theatre
Music: Chloe Geller
Listen to all published episodes of the Women & Theatre RISE Series here.
Many thanks to RISE Theatre, Maestra Music, Playbill, and all the amazing organizations working to increase equity in theatre!
Episode Resources:
About RISE Theatre:
RISE (Representation, Inclusion, & Support for Employment) Theatre seeks to build a more equitable and inclusive theatre industry by centralizing DEIA tools and resources through a network of partners and a national personnel directory that focuses on folks from underrepresented backgrounds, including but not limited to people of color, women, trans, nonbinary, deaf, and disabled theatre professionals.
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Episode Transcript
(Music)
Hayley: Hello, beautiful people, and welcome to the Women & Theatre RISE Series! We’re your hosts, Hayley Goldenberg…
Amy: …and Amy Andrews! On this series, we share mini-interviews conducted at the Inaugural RISE Summit with network partner organizations of RISE Theatre.
Hayley: We’re thrilled to uplift these amazing organizations that are working to make the theatre industry a more equitable space.
Amy: Today, we’re excited to share our interview with Lin-Manuel Miranda, co-founder of RISE Theatre.
(Music)
Hayley: Hello, beautiful people! We are here at the Women & Theatre Podcast booth at the RISE Summit with Lin-Manuel Miranda. Lin, thanks so much for being here with us today.
Lin: Thank you for having me!
Amy: So RISE Theatre is a partnership between Maestra Music and the Miranda Family Fund. Lin, could you tell us a bit about RISE and what you hope it will do for the theatre industry?
Lin: Sure. You know, RISE came out of several conversations in terms of how to diversify theatre - not just onstage, but backstage and everywhere. Every place where theatre meets employment, quite honestly. I was really inspired by seeing Ava DuVernay’s ARRAY database in Hollywood, where she basically - the way she put it was like: I want to take away the lie that - “Oh, I looked for a person of color to fill this role, but they don’t exist.” And we wanted to create a database of proof that it does exist. And I thought she did that really brilliantly, with buy-in from the studios, you know, the people who actually hire people for films.
When we looked around our landscape, Georgia Stitt had already been serving that need.
Hayley: Yes, shout out to Maestra!
Amy: We love Maestra.
Lin: With Maestra, which is such an incredible and user-friendly - you know, it’s an amazing database, we’ve hired from there. And so we talked about - how can we take the mission statement of Maestra and expand it? And just, you know, really create our version of robbing people of that excuse and connecting really talented artists with employers from all across the spectrum.
Hayley: Fabulous. Lin, can you please share what you think the biggest challenge is that’s facing the theatre industry today?
Lin: I mean, it’s - it’s funny you’re talking to me at the Performing Arts Library, because I’ve just seen some old documents where people are fighting about royalties and how expensive theatre is.
Hayley: Yup.
Lin: You know, ‘twas ever thus. Theatre’s even more expensive, it’s - access is always an issue. And you know, I think when it comes to access to employment, one of the things I learned really quickly when I was just in casts of shows was you ask, “Who are the PAs here? Who are the people who are working for free?” And they’re the people who can afford to work for free. And so that alone is an economic barrier to most of the workforce.
So, you know, one of the things we do with the Miranda Family Fellows is we create paid fellowships - we take away that barrier for folks who are absolutely qualified to be in these rehearsal rooms but just don’t have the luxury of being able to, you know, work for nothing.
Expanding access - both in the audience and in regards to employment - are really big issues. And you know, RISE is not the solution. It’s just one facet of a way we can connect really talented technicians and artists to the jobs that they should be doing. But you know, it’s continuing to look at diversity as something that makes theatre better. It makes it more exciting. It gives us more stories onstage, it gives more life experience to everyone in the room working on the show. And buy-in from the folks who hire that that is a plus, that is a bonus. That the more your rehearsal room looks like the world, the more exciting the thing is you’re going to get to make. It’s really a mindshift.
Hayley: Absolutely!
Amy: Yeah, we literally couldn’t agree more. Fantastic, thank you, Lin. Could you tell us what is one step listeners can take to make the industry a more equitable space?
Lin: Well, because I am here and I want to - and we’re talking specifically about RISE - you know, if you work in this field - whether you’re a lighting designer, whether you want to get into stage management, whether you have experience regionally - sign up for RISE! Make a profile. I got a profile on there. You can look me up. I write, and I act…
Hayley: These are the hats that I wear!
Lin: Yeah, literally! That’s your job - go onto RISE, say, “These are the hats that I wear.” And it is our - you know, our own little tiny LinkedIn that we hope really gets people connected to work. And also helps people find community with each other.
Hayley/Amy: Absolutely!
Hayley: Lin, thank you so much for being here with us. We really appreciate your time.
Lin: Thank you, thank you.
Amy: Yes, and thank you all for listening to our Women & Theatre conversation with Lin-Manuel Miranda!
(Music)
Amy: Women & Theatre is a proud network partner of RISE Theatre.
Hayley: Thank you so much to RISE, Maestra, Playbill, and RISE Program Manager Victoria Detres for collaborating with us on this series. Thank you for listening to the Women & Theatre Podcast. We’re your hosts, Hayley Goldenberg…
Amy: …and Amy Andrews! If you like what you heard, subscribe and give us a 5-star review wherever you listen.
Hayley: You can also follow us on social @womenandtheatreproject to make sure you never miss an episode.
Amy: The music for this show was written by talented Women & Theatre community member Chloe Geller.
Hayley: Thanks again for listening, everyone. See you next time!
Amy: Bye!
