THE INHEIRITANCE PROJECT LTD

The Inheritance Theater Project is a national arts organization that works with intersectional, intergenerational, and interfaith communities to build relationships across societal divides through collaborative theater projects inspired by shared cultural touchstones. Since its founding in 2015, the company has employed over 240 artists to engage over 12,000 people in 17 cities in the creation of original theater pieces. In FY 2024, we undertook four major projects. They are described below:Juneteenth Seder: Los AngelesIn LA, we completed our sixth project in our Exodus in America Series. Working with over two dozen community partners including the Skirball Center, the Motion Picture Television Fund, the CAA Foundation, KIPP Philosphers Academy in Watts, the Black Jewish Entertainment Alliance, LA Jewish Federation, LAUSD, Grand Arts High School, and the LA Board of Supervisors, we engaged over a 1500 Angelenos to create and perform an original community-devised performance/eating experience called Guess Whos Coming to the Juneteenth Seder.Water Series: HobokenHoboken floods. Often. And the impact of that flooding is disproportionally felt in lower income areas of the city. Our artist team began a project in the fall of 2024 to navigating the tensions around this issue, working with the City of Hoboken Depts of Constituency Services and Cultural Affairs, Fund for a Better Waterfront, Mile Square Theater, Hoboken High School, All Saints Episcopal Parish, and other community partners. The final performance will premiere in early summer 2025.Civic Series: ChicagoIn a project funded, in part, by a new grant from the National Endowment for the Arts, our team began working with siloed communities on the South and West Sides of Chicago to explore the First Amendment of the US Constitution and the relationship these communities have to each other and to the freedoms guaranteed by that sacred civic text. Were partnering with some incredible local organizations including the Mikva Challenge, the Simple Good, First Presbyterian Church, the Civic Actors Studio at the University of Chicago, Congregation Rodfei Zedek, and the Free Street Theater for a devised theater project that will culminate in September of 2025.NYC Salon SeriesThroughout 2024, thanks to a Signature Grant from the Covenant Foundation, ITP has been incubating our model of engaging with religion, tradition, and text through a tremendously exciting series of salons in NYC engaging Black, Jewish, and Black-Jewish artists, clergy and civic leaders. These salons have taken place in private homes, a soul food restaurant, an art gallery, and at St James Presbyterian Church in Harlem. We know our model has the potential for maturation, and we are iterating and honing our methodology with an eye towards implementation and training for artists and educators nationwide.