Rachel Spencer Hewitt, who co-wrote this issue’s story on radical parent support in theatre, is a Yale School of Drama graduate whose theatre credits include Broadway, Off-Broadway, and regional theatre. A mother of two, she thanks her own Brazilian mother for always believing that “todas crianças são artistas,” that it’s never too early to cultivate a passion for craft, history, and culture. Spencer Hewitt, founder of Parent Artist Advocacy League for Performing Arts + Media, describes the group’s initiatives. “From the Radical Parent-Inclusion project with the Playwrights Realm to creating the first national all-discipline childcare grants to partnering with national conferences for family support and more,” Spencer Hewitt says, “we work to develop solutions that are inclusive, compassionate, and sustainable for both institutions and individuals.”
Roberta Pereira, the Brazilian-born producing director of Off-Broadway’s the Playwrights Realm, says she took on her most challenging role when she became a solo mom to Bianca in 2017. “The Realm is centered around the belief that art is better when more people can participate, but parents and caretakers are usually left out of most conversations about equity and inclusion,” says Pereira, co-author of the feature on radical caregiver support. “By sharing process, challenges, and results in the article about our Radical Parent-Inclusion project, I hope its effects will be exponentially magnified all over the country so our industry can become a better model of the kind of inclusive world to which we aspire to live in.”
