Join us Thursday, March 12 immediately following the performance for a post show conversation with Harvey Young.
Dr. Harvey Young became the Dean of the College of Fine Arts at Boston University in January, 2018. His research on the performance and experience of race has been widely published in academic journals and profiled in major newspapers and magazines. As a commentator on popular culture, he has appeared on CNN, 20/20, and Good Morning America as well as within the pages of the New York Times, the Washington Post, the Wall Street Journal, Vanity Fair and People. He has published seven books, including Embodying Black Experience, winner of “Book of the Year” awards from the National Communication Association and the American Society for Theatre Research and, most recently, Black Theater is Black Life: An Oral History of Chicago Theater (coauthored with Mecca Zabriskie). Dean Young is the immediate past President of the Associatioan for Theatre in Higher Education and has served on the boards of numerous arts and educational organizations, including Boston Youth Symphony Orchestra and the Yale Club of Chicago. A former Harvard and Stanford faculty fellow, Dr. Young graduated with honors from Yale and holds a Ph.D. from Cornell.
Betsy Bard served many years as Social Worker and Manager of the Cambridge Rindge and Latin School on-site Day Care Center. To expand her passion for social justice and theater, Betsy worked with Anna Deavere Smith in 2000 as the audience coordinator at her Institute on the Arts and Civic Dialogue at Harvard University. This experience inspired her to start her own documentary theater project with youth using Deavere Smith’s methodology to investigate issues of concern. Launched at Cambridge Rindge and Latin School in 2003, The Theater Project premiered its first production based on recorded interviews investigating “the achievement gap”. Through The Theater Project, Betsy Bard directed and produced five plays with support from the City of Cambridge, Harvard University, and Cambridge Community Foundation. In 2010, Betsy joined the Youth Underground (YU) team, bringing her experience and passion for authentic investigative theater that provokes civic dialogue and action beyond the stage. YU is a socio-economically, culturally, and ethnically diverse youth Ensemble serving ages 13-25, with stipend-eligible opportunities to create theater together and in tandem with community-based organizations, and showcase their work across Greater Boston. YU is the only Greater Boston youth theater program that focuses on creating devised work that shines a light on social justice issues of concern from/for young people, and moderates companion community dialogues about each issue raised in the thematic plays. As Lead Teaching Artist and Playwright, Betsy has created eight YU investigative theater plays, including Money Matters, You Can Tell at Lunch, Crossing Borders, Six Years Online, Find Out What it Means to Me,Don’t Knock Opportunity, and Circle Up! Currently, Betsy is working on the multi-year Act Up and Vote!, a new play that shares stories from voters and activists in underrepresented communities; addresses questions about elected official representation; and examines voting access across communities. Betsy extended her leadership as an Educator, Artist, and Activist by joining the Central Square Theater Board of Directors in 2011.