Dearest community,

The TONYC Team and I are thrilled to announce Theatre of the Oppressed NYC’s new Executive Director: Meggan Gomez!

Meggan is a theatre-maker, advocate and activist. Her work and career have been shaped by the power of Theatre of the Oppressed, which she first experienced 13 years ago. She comes to TONYC from her role as the Theater Conservatory Director at Working Classroom in Albuquerque, New Mexico, which uses the arts to resist systemic injustices and imagine a more equitable society. Meggan’s affiliations include Cornerstone Theater and The Hemispheric Institute of Performance and Politics. Meggan is also on the steering committee of the Latinx Theater Commons, where she helps lead national efforts to expand opportunities for Latinx playwrights and theater artists.

Watch a message from Meggan!

We’re so excited to have Meggan on board as we continue working towards our strategic vision: creative advocacy, leadership development and joker training, and legislative and forum theatre across the five boroughs, all from our permanent home-base in Times Square! Meggan will arrive in mid-November, and she and I will be working side-by-side till the end of 2018. After that, I’ll remain a spect-actor with TONYC, and I’ll be collaborating with other cities around the U.S. to scale Legislative Theatre-style processes.

Meggan’s arrival marks the culmination of a rewarding and challenging six-month process that demonstrated our commitment to collective action and sharing power. Our actors, jokers, staff and board members met so many incredible folks and re-connected with spect-actors; candidates reflected back that our hiring process has been rigorous, fun and invigorating!

In this process, as in all of TONYC’s work, we aim to challenge the idea that any one person can change the world, as we believe that everyone is an actor, in every sense of the word. Additionally, we know that change is good! TONYC, as an organization, has grown and changed constantly and consistently over these past eight years, applying our model of Forum Theatre both in our programs, and in our institutional practices. We have spent 8 years cultivating a powerful community of leaders, artists and activists — and we are so happy to welcome Meggan as part of that community.

Gratitude to each and every one of you for the many ways you have taken action alongside us, and the contributions you’ve made to this beautiful organization! The work is just beginning, and we look forward to taking action, onstage and off, with you for many more years. Remember, this is the opposite of goodbye.

3, 2, 1, action!
Katy Rubin, and the TONYC Team