Core to the mission of Virginia Stage Company is service to our community. We tell stories and cultivate conversations, at the Wells Theatre and across Hampton Roads, live and online, that seek to bring our richly diverse yet often divided community together.

The collective grief, rage and passion expressed in the nationwide protests following the unjust killings of George Floyd, Breonna Taylor, Ahmaud Arbery, and so many others must be addressed. As storytellers who believe in the power of words, as theatre artists who believe in the transformative power of empathy and human connection, as citizens who are deeply invested in our community, it is our duty to act.

And it is our responsibility to listen. To own our part of the problem. To avoid the reactive rush to craft box-checking, generally unhelpful “answers.” The work that needs to be done to combat systemic racism requires a lifetime commitment. We are not going to solve this today. But we are going to take action today.

As we applaud the removal of the Confederate monument in downtown Norfolk as an immediate action in a much longer journey, so are we working on our steps to fight what is unquestionably an ongoing crisis facing our nation.

We are taking this moment, when the theatre is closed to the public due to COVID-19, to deeply reflect on our practices, our systems, and our place in the community. As we are working on how to safely re-open the theatre to the public, and will publicly communicate what we are doing to keep our staff, guest artists and patrons safe from the coronavirus, we are working on the steps we are taking to fight the virus that is structural racism, and lay those out with the same care and clarity as we talk about the hand sanitizing stations set up in the lobby.

Board of Trustees and staff anti-racism working groups have been formed and are meeting with the specific charge of developing actionable items for which we can be held accountable. There is an opportunity for this to be a watershed moment in American history. It is our commitment to take this opportunity and make real and lasting change.