Who’s Your Leader?

Our seventeenth installment features Dexter J. Singleton, with our host Courtney J. Boddie from the Teaching Artistry with Courtney J. Boddie Podcast, who endorses work that is accessible from the standpoints of the audience, artists and administration. This requires leadership where individuals are willing to listen before they act because a duty exists to provide braver spaces where community can authentically come together.  

Think about Black leadership, especially senior management positions, in the arts. Black executives exist, but nothing in comparison to our White counterparts. Even our own society favors the visuals of leaders who embody White, Hetrosexual, Cis-Male characteristics. However, these model leaders continually let down BIPOC. Singleton mentions, “We have white leaders who think and dream in white”, therefore their visions are obscured from seeing anything different. 

“Is this a Black theater now”, Singleton references an encounter with an audience member. 

These types of comments exist and are manifested when art goers see dynamic changes in programming. The fear that traditional (white) artistry will cease becomes a threat. However, producing work that accentuates marginalized individuals helps promote empathy and generate crucial conversations that have a positive effect on dismantling oppressive systems. 

These Predominantly White Institutions (PWIs) are being funded to “serve the community” but often neglecting many. This requires rethinking what engagement means. Instead of the notion “they will come”, it has to be a mutually beneficial relationship where the organization must be willing to go to them.

What might help, according to Singleton, is a futurist mindset where the priorities are about engaging people in thinking deeply about complex issues, imagining new possibilities, connecting signals into larger patterns, connecting the past with the present and the future and making better choices today. Combating racism requires blueprints that visualize an anti-racism world; a world that incorporates collective voice and multiple timelines. 

Join us next week when Courtney interviews Carin Ford and Lisa Dawn Cave:  

Ford, sound engineer, received her Bachelor of Arts degree in Speech and Theater from St. Olaf College in Northfield, MN.  Immediately after graduating, she moved to New York City and attended The Center for the Media Arts to study audio engineering and the Juilliard School to participate in an internship program for technical theater. 

Cave is a native New Yorker who was born in Brooklyn. She attended the H.S. of Performing Arts and then Graduated from SUNY Purchase with a BFA in Dance. Stage Management is Lisa’s second career. She started her studies as a dancer/singer and worked professionally in that role for 10 years. She then transitioned into stage management and has been working consistently for over 25 years. 

Dexter J. Singleton is from Detroit, MI. He is a director, producer, activist, and educator. He is currently the Founding Executive Artistic Director of Collective Consciousness Theatre (CCT), a multicultural theatre for social justice in New Haven, CT and the Director of New Play Development at TheatreSquared in Fayetteville, AR. Since 2007, Collective Consciousness Theatre has reached thousands of youth and adults with plays and workshops across the U.S. and Europe. They have produced the work of playwrights Dominique Morisseau, Idris Goodwin, Jackie Sibblies Drury, Katori Hall and many others. As a director, Dexter’s work has been seen at TheatreSquared, University of Michigan, University of Arkansas, The Flea Theatre (NYC), Long Wharf Theatre, Passage Theatre and others. Recent credits include Skeleton Crew, The Royale, Flint, Jesus Hopped The A Train, I Know Why The Caged Bird Sings, Among The Western Dinka, Black Book, Topdog/Underdog, and The Mountaintop. He is a member of the Artistic Ensemble at Long Wharf Theatre. Dexter is also an Assistant Professor of Performance at the University of Connecticut, Board Member for TYA/USA and Co-Chair for the TYA National Task Force for Equity, Diversity and Inclusion. He was recently awarded the 2019 Artistic Excellence Award from the State of Connecticut and Distinguished Director of a Play for Black Book from The Kennedy Center/American College Theatre Festival.   

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