New Line Theatre has created a new program called the New Line Cultural Partners, which will distribute free tickets to as many ethnic and racial community organizations as possible in the metro area, in an effort to increase the diversity in our audiences, on our stage, and on our board of directors. We think the best way -- the only way, really -- to serve our community is to work to make our casts, staff, and audiences better reflect the community in which we work, ethnically and racially. Read about our commitment to diversity.
New Line Theatre was created in 1991 to involve the people of the St. Louis region in the creation and exploration of provocative, alternative works of musical theatre -- daring, muscular, adult theatre about race, politics, sexuality, art, violence, religion, the media, and other contemporary issues. New Line Theatre is openly and proudly political in its work, addressing the most relevant contemporary issues in its shows. The New Liners believe in what actor Laurence Luckinbill once wrote: "Always over-estimate the public's intelligence. They will thank you for it." We believe live theatre is one of the most powerful tools in the world for social change, and we believe we have an obligation to use that tool to make the world a better place, to engage the people of our region in a discussion of the issues of our times. Many of our shows address adult issues and are not appropriate for children.
For each of our shows, New Line will offer participating organizations two free tickets for any of our Thursday night performances. All we ask is that each organization pass these on to people who will use them. To use the tickets, the organization just has to call us, tell us who will use the tickets, and we'll hold them at the box office. Our hope is to create a theatre-going habit among ethnic and racial communities in our area who may not ordinarily feel welcome at other theatres. We want to make a strong statement that we welcome people of diverse backgrounds and ethnicities, onstage, in the audience, and on our staff and board. We hope that those who use these free tickets will tell their friends about our shows, that they will come back show after show, and that some of them may decide to audition for us and work with us.
New Line has made some progress in the area of diversity. In the past six seasons, only two of our shows had all-white casts. But we need to do better. New Line Theatre is committed to working toward promoting diversity in all its forms and toward eliminating racism and other prejudices in our community and throughout the St. Louis metropolitan region. New Line is working with other arts and cultural organizations toward increasing diversity in our casting, in our audiences, in our staff, and on our board of directors. New Line is dedicated to breaking down the barriers around race -- our region's major problem -- and also ethnicity, religion, disability, gender, age, orientation, and other identity issues which tend to divide us.
To join the Cultural Partners program, email us.