Why SETC is special
When I think about what makes SETC special, I keep coming back to the importance of gathering.
As theatre artists, we spend so much of our lives thinking about how to gather audiences. We think about what it means to bring people together in a room for something live and shared. But gathering artists matters too. We gather to rehearse, to learn, to audition, to teach, to hire, to collaborate, to share and to imagine what comes next. In a field that can so often feel scattered by geography and resources, places of meaningful gathering matter even more.
That is one of the reasons SETC matters.
Few organizations in the American theatre field stand so fully at the crossroads of training, practice, hiring, mentorship, and lifelong professional connection. SETC does. And it does so by creating spaces where people can come together with purpose.
Left: Beth Leavel sings at the Distinguished Career Award Keynote Address Right: A scene from Laundry and Bourbon presented at the Community Theatre Festival sponsored by Ludus
In Chattanooga, students arrived looking for a first opening. Educators and mentors came to guide the next generation. Professionals came to recruit, teach, and reconnect. Institutions came because SETC remains one of the rare places where so many parts of the theatre ecosystem still meet in one place.
We were reminded again that when theatre people gather, opportunity follows.
What I value most about SETC is that it is practical in the best sense of the word. It helps people build skills, find work, and form the relationships that shape careers. It helps artists, technicians, educators, and leaders see a path forward in a field that can often feel difficult to navigate. SETC does not simply celebrate theatre. It helps sustain it by connecting people to opportunity.
Left: A scene from The Crane Wife presented at The Secondary School Theatre Festival Center: Constituents Connecting at the Annual Mixer sponsored by Concord Theatricals Right: Ursula Robinson presented Annette Grevious with the Suzanne M. Davis Award
I believe deeply in that kind of work.
I believe the arts are empathy engines, expanding our capacity to understand one another. Theatre, especially, is rooted in collaboration, and collaboration begins by coming together. If we want a resilient field tomorrow, we must continue investing in the structures that help people enter the profession, grow within it, and remain in it over time.
This organization has strong roots and a remarkable legacy. Many people can trace a job, a mentor, a turning point, or a lasting professional relationship back to SETC. That is not accidental. It is what happens when a trusted organization creates the conditions for people to gather with intention.
Left: Excitement in the Exhibition Hall sponsored by Disney Live Entertainment Center: Workshop engagement was a point of excitement this year Right: Dance Call, just one part of the Audition process at convention
That is part of what excites me most about this role. I am honored to be part of an organization with such deep roots and such possibilities. If you care about the future of theatre, there is a place for you in this organization. I hope you will make a plan to gather with us in the coming year: audition, express interest in a leadership role, start planning a workshop proposal, or simply make plans now to be in the room with us in Lexington. Help us build what comes next and, together, shape a stronger, bolder theatre field.