ArtsEmerson

Meg Taintor shares insight on creating opportunities for college students to interact with professional theatremakers.

The twenty-first century American theater is a communal experience where artists and audiences are bound in an existence which deems them equal parts subject, spectator and benefactor. Moving beyond traditions of privilege, subscriptions, access and pricing; the contemporary American Theater emerges as a necessary cultural commodity of storytelling. At ArtsEmerson: The World On Stage, we are fully aware of this paradigm shift and we welcome it, seeing it as the bedrock for our audience development goals.

Boston’s neighborhoods, some of whose origins can be traced to the 1630s, have been home to myriad political and cultural shifts over the centuries—a concept that blew my California-raised mind. It was somewhat intimidating to move to a city with such a wonderful and complex past and getting charged with the task of creating spaces for conversation across the various communities.

In this installation, Alan Dupont interviews David Dower about his work with ArtsEmerson.