The Mission and Values of The Pear

Image: one of many stage/audience configurations inside the The Pear Theatre.

Mission

Pear Theatre was founded in 2002 with a mission to offer theatre that challenges our community to see all aspects of our world fully, with intellectually stimulating, emotionally powerful, and professional productions. Our Seasons include classics, contemporary plays, short plays by local playwrights, and world premiere productions of new works. We are dedicated to engaging diverse voices in our programming and to fostering an inclusive environment in all aspects of our work as artists, staff, volunteers, and audience.

Values

Our Equity Statement

Pear Theatre places equity at the core of what we do. In order to fulfill our mission, we strive to share stories that represent the full spectrum of human experience. We consistently engage with our past and present missteps with regards to equity, and we commit to moving ourselves, our artists, our patrons, and our community toward a more equitable, just, and inclusive artistic world.

  • Pear Theatre policy promotes the fair treatment, access, opportunity, and advancement for all people.  We have published and posted guidelines in the Pear People Policy to ensure that all activities at the Pear are free of hazards, abuse, discrimination, harassment and bullying.

  • In 2020, we instituted hiring guidelines to engage 50% artists from diverse backgrounds (as defined as nonwhite, not cis-gender, queer) in the 2020/2021 Season, in the 2021/2022 Season, we increased those guidelines to 60%. We met both of these goals, and we are committed to hiring 60% of our artists from diverse backgrounds in perpetuity.

  • Our theatre is designed to be physically accessible to people with disabilities and we welcome their participation.

  • We are implementing outreach programs to identify and hire more artists, engage more students, and cultivate greater audiences from members of the BIPOC and LGBTQIA+ communities.

We recognize that we have not and will never achieve perfection but will work every day to get closer to a truly representative, safe, and equitable artistic environment.