The mission of The Longwood Players is to foster personal and artistic growth among its participants while simultaneously enriching the cultural community through the art form of musical and theatrical productions.

The Longwood Players enhances the Greater Boston community in two distinct ways:

1. Community Development. Our company builds a sense of community by providing a place where individuals from all walks of life can join together in creating art. Everyone is welcomed to participate in The Longwood Players, onstage or off, and we value diversity with regards to such factors as age, race/ethnicity, religion, and sexual orientation.

2. Cultural Enrichment. The entire community is enriched culturally by the opportunity to attend high quality, affordable theatrical productions. We strive to maintain reasonable ticket prices such that individuals of all income levels are able to enjoy our productions. In addition, individuals may attend free of charge by helping out with the production in some capacity, such as serving as an usher. In this way, income is not a barrier to enjoyment of our productions.

We strive to produce meaningful works of theatre. The Longwood Players is not wed to a specific genre of theatre, as there are many wonderful dramatic and musical works that span time, culture, and oeuvre. Rather, we strive to produce theatre that is artistically interesting, intellectually stimulating, and socially compelling, and these are our guiding principles when selecting each theatre season.
 

The Longwood Players’ Commitment to Racial and Ethnic Equity
July 14, 2020

At its best, theatre can be a medium not just for understanding the human condition, but for shining a light on injustice. Yet throughout history, the theatre profession has often perpetuated the injustice of racial and ethnic discrimination. Actors, directors, designers, technicians, and playwrights of color still struggle to be heard within the theatre community, onstage and off, and have been denied equal access to the opportunities available to white theatre professionals.

We at the Longwood Players recognize that we can, and must, do better than we have done in the past. We stand with the Black Lives Matter movement and with the protesters fighting to dismantle the systemic racism that still plagues our society. 

But statements of support and vague commitments to improve are not sufficient. That is why we are committing to take several concrete actions to better support theatre artists of color and to significantly improve the inclusiveness of our company, our casts, our productions, and our audience:

• Strive to involve theatre artists of color in all future Longwood Players productions
• Produce multiple productions over the next three years that focus on people of color and/or are written or directed by people of color    
• Increase the diversity of our Board of Directors
• Implement community outreach programs designed to engage more people from typically under-represented populations, with a particular focus on our own majority-Latinx community of Chelsea, Massachusetts

It is imperative that The Longwood Players be a place where professionals of color feel safe, welcome, and integral to the success of our storytelling.  Black Lives Matter.  Black Artists Matter. And amplifying the voices of under-represented artists must be a top priority of every theatre company, including ours.