RISE Series E1: Victoria Detres (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 Program Manager Victoria Detres. Scroll down for episode notes and transcript!
Episode Notes
Hosts: Hayley Goldenberg and Amy Andrews
Guest: Victoria Detres, 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 Victoria Detres, RISE Theatre Program Manager.
(Music)
Hayley: Hello, beautiful people! We are here at the Women & Theatre Podcast booth at the RISE Summit with Victoria Detres, the RISE Theatre Program Manager. Victoria, how are you?
Victoria: I’m great! How are you?
Hayley: Good, thank you! Could you please share your pronouns and tell us a little bit about RISE?
Victoria: Yeah! My pronouns are she/her. And RISE is a program of Maestra Music, and it first was created in June of 2023. We launched with the official RISE Theatre Directory, which is basically LinkedIn for the industry, serving everyone but actors. But designed with amplification in mind, so that we’re representing and amplifying artists who are underrepresented, like women, people of color, trans, non-binary, deaf, and disabled. It was a project built by Lin-Manuel Miranda, the Miranda Family Fund, and Maestra Music in collaboration.
So this is our first year and our first-ever Summit!
Hayley: Yes, congratulations!
Amy: Yes!
Victoria: Thank you! Thank you, thank you. It’s kind of crazy we’re here, I’m totally dissociating, but…
(Laughter)
Hayley: I relate.
Victoria: That’s called healthy coping mechanisms, right? But yeah, so we’re here. Part of the work we do is that we wanted to really amplify existing work. Because part of our ethos is that we have to move to an abundance mindset. If we want to survive in this industry, we have to amplify and uplift each other, because scarcity mindset has controlled the industry for too long, where we feel at odds and we’re in competition.
So we have network partners who are awesome orgs - including Women & Theatre - who are just moving the needle forward in terms of equity. And that can live in various different lanes, so whether it’s serving female and non-binary artists or serving disabled artists, we really just want to make a pathway for the industry. So if you’re interested in the work, here’s where we recommend you go.
Amy: Fantastic! Can you tell us a bit about the Inaugural RISE Summit and what’s happening here today?
Victoria: Oh my god, so much!
Hayley: Many, many things, listeners.
Victoria: Basically - I do check-ins quarterly with all of our partners, and there was a throughline about the need to connect and wanting to meet one another. So I thought about what this could look like. I didn’t want it to be just another happy hour, I wanted to have a moment where it’s really intentional community building, and - how can we form coalition in a room together? So that’s how the Summit was birthed.
I pitched this idea to Playbill over a year ago. I was like, “Hey, I just have a thought, kind of. Are you interested?” And they were like, “Uh, we’ll get back to you in a year.” And I was like, “Cool, cool.” And then they did come back in a year and they wanted to know more. And then we partnered, and they are our official media sponsor. And then from there, it’s been a crazy few months trying to plan it.
But really, it’s just a day to convene, meet one another, and really figure out what conversations need to be centralized. We have a theme of Belonging: Past and Present, because I think all the work we do actually stems from the lack of belonging that we all have felt in our own way in this industry. So this felt like a really strong place to start as the inaugural theme.
So yeah, it’s just a day of convening, with really dope panels and conversations, and then we’ll have a private happy hour for our network partners as a thank you for being here, thank you for supporting. And we hope to continue doing this every year.
Hayley: Fabulous. Vic, can you tell our listeners about one of the biggest problems that you see happening in the theatre industry right now?
Victoria: I think it is going back to what I said earlier. I think scarcity mindset. So many of us want to be seen and heard and recognized, and sometimes we can feel so siloed in a way that forces us to move from a scarcity mindset of “Oh, I have to be the first one to get there… Oh, I want to be the first one, I want my name on this…” …that we actually put ourselves at odds, and sometimes we forget that we - almost all the time - have the same end goal and dreams.
Hayley: Totally.
Victoria: We silo ourselves, and sometimes it feels so isolating in this industry that we forget we have resources with one another. And if we can lean more into care and commitment to care, we’re better off in the industry.
Amy: Love that! Yeah. Vic, can you tell us what is one small thing that listeners can do to help make the theatre industry a more equitable space?
Victoria: Check out the work of our network partners.
Hayley/Amy: Yeah! (laughter)
Victoria: It’s so easy, we have a whole page. We have it organized by the services that are offered too, so if you’re just like, “Hey, I’m just looking for event space,” that’s a category. I think that’s a small thing you can do. And also, tell people about the RISE Theatre Directory. I think everyone thinks about “capital” in terms of finances, but capital is in communication, it’s sharing knowledge. So really, if you can just share the word about RISE, that means the world.
Hayley: Amazing. Vic, could you please share where folks can find you and more information about RISE on the interwebs?
Victoria: RISETheatre.org. Theatre with an “-re”.
Hayley: Yay!
Amy: Fantastic! Thank you so much, Vic.
Victoria: Thank you!
Amy: And thank you all for listening to our conversation with Victoria Detres from RISE Theatre!
(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!
