A Conversation with Nicole Brewer: The Antiracist Theatre

ABOUT THE BOOK

A how-to guide for theatermakers who want freedom from white supremacy in their creative practices

The Antiracist Theatre offers readers the tools and foundational philosophy to create their own antiracist theatre ethos and delve into its three core principles: harm reduction, harm prevention, and relationship repair.

Nicole Brewer, faculty at the David Geffen School of Drama at Yale and the originator of the Antiracist Theatre model, guides readers through self-reflection exercises designed to strengthen awareness of their own position, power, and privilege and uproot their racist practices. Brewer provides definitions of oft-used, but rarely defined terms like “accountability,” “racism,” and “abuse.” She welcomes BIPOC readers and lovingly and playfully calls in white theatermakers as she outlines methods to interrupt patterns of abuse.

All who believe the way forward for theatre is antiracist and anti-oppressive are welcome. We each have a role to play. Join us in liberating the stage, the classroom, and the performing arts.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Nicole Brewer is a theater director whose work has been seen at theaters such as Long Wharf Theatre, Baltimore Center Stage, and Folger Theatre. She is an educator with more than 18 years of teaching experience. Brewer is notably known as the originator of the internationally recognized Antiracist Theatre (ART) model. A leading voice in the movement to transform theater culture through accountability, care, and liberation-centered practices, Brewer serves as acting faculty at the David Geffen School of Drama at Yale.

In her debut book, The Antiracist Theatre, Nicole Brewer invites readers to consider the cost of business as usual and reclaim their power to challenge and shift extractive, exclusionary, and exploitative processes. Brewer creates space for readers to reimagine how creative spaces can function in healthier, more humane, and accountable ways. The book offers practical tools for building healthier creative environments where everyone can thrive.

For more than sixteen years, Brewer has developed and facilitated anti-racist and anti-oppressive training methodologies that challenge harmful industry norms and reimagine what collaborative artistic processes can be. Her work has been featured at conferences and institutions across the United States, Canada, and the UK, including workshops with Shakespeare’s Globe and the University of Cambridge.

A dynamic speaker known for blending rigor, humor, honesty, and deep compassion, Brewer has taught at Howard University, her alma mater, the National Theater Institute, and the Duke Ellington School of the Arts, among others.

About the Facilitators

Mica Cole, a Chicago native raised on the South Side, has been an arts administrator, producer and changemaker for nearly two decades. She is the Executive Director of TimeLine Theatre, a non-profit theater company that presents stories inspired by history that connect with today’s social and political issues. As a consultant with artEquity, she has co-led its BIPOC Surviving Predominantly White Institutions Series and the BIPOC Leadership Circle—both aimed at providing resources and mentorship to leaders of color.

Mica served eight seasons as the Repertory Producer at the Oregon Shakespeare Festival, playing a key role in guiding the company’s equity, diversity, and inclusion initiatives, many of which now serve as foundational organizational models for institutions around the world. Mica has produced more than 80 shows, including a dozen transfers and national co-productions of new plays with theatres such as American Repertory, Seattle Repertory, South Coast Rep, Arena Stage, Portland Center Stage, and Berkeley Repertory. Mica has served on the advisory committee for the Latinx Theatre Commons and is a founding member of the Black Theatre Commons.

Instagram: @micacole33

Miranda Gonzalez, born and raised in the city of Chicago, is a writer, director, producer, facilitator, and organizational strategist with a Bachelor of Science from DePaul University, and has co-created curricula addressing anti-blackness in the Latiné community. Currently the Producing Artistic Director for UrbanTheater Company (UTC) in Chicago, she has curated and led numerous interdisciplinary projects that blend theater, music, dance, and oral history to tell the stories of Chicago’s history that mirror her identity and lived experience.  Also a collective member of Culture Change Lab, she helps support arts organizations, funders, and lobbyists in reimagining collective structures through operational management. Concurrently, she serves on the National Latinx Theater Initiative Steering Committee advocating for the advancement of Latinx artists and organizations, influencing policy.  In 2020 she was invited to record a TEDx talk  “The Fear of Decolonization”. With a deeply rooted history in ensemble practice, she was a founding member of Teatro Luna and has produced, devised and developed plays since 2000. Selected to participate in Disney’s Live Entertainment 2024 Creative Intensive, Miranda was able to collaboratively present new storytelling concepts world-wide. Her play Back In The Day: an Immersive 80’s House Music Dancesical had its World Premier at UrbanTheater Company.  Her most recent critically acclaimed play Mascogos, commissioned by the  Los Angeles Latino Theater Company’s Imaginistas, discussing the history of the underground railroad to Mexico, had it’s world premiere in October 2025. The summer of 2025 she was a playwright in residence at the University of Chicago’s Reva & David Logan Center for the Arts, where she began developing her current play Fina (fee-nah) a time-bending afro-peruvian musical. Directing, writing, and script development credits include; Evolution of a Sonero by Flaco Navaja, Remote Learning Curve by Albany Park Theater Ensemble, Thank You for Coming. Take Care by Stacey Rose at Court Theatre, Ashes of Light by Marco Antonio Rodriguez, La Gringa by Carmen Rivera; Teatro Luna Productions S-E-X-Oh!, Lunaticas, Crossed, GL 2010, The North/South Plays a workshop at DCASE; F.O.P and Crime Scene Chicago with Collaboraction; and Melissa DuPrey’s Sushi-Frito at Free Street Theater. She is also an Executive Producer for the web series 50 Blind Dates with Melissa DuPrey and has written for web series Ruby’s World Yo created by Marilyn Camacho. Recipient of the Diane Rodriguez Teatrista Award, Leaders for a New Chicago Award,  3Arts Award ,  International Centre for Women Playwrights 50/50 Award. Visit https://linktr.ee/chiblaxican to learn more! 

Alexis Green (she/her) is a theatre artist, producer, and community connector in Chicago (but still tied to her desert girl roots of Phoenix, Arizona). She is an alumnus of Arizona State University, where she received her BA in Theatre Arts with a minor in Communication. Alexis also holds an MFA in Acting from Brown University/Trinity Rep.

Alexis has performed and directed at theatres all around the country, including Next Act Theatre, Raven Theatre, Bread Loaf School of English, Portland Stage, The Feast (formerly The Williams Project), The Black Theatre Troupe, and UNC Chapel Hill.

Alongside performing, Alexis served for five years as the Director of Programs for artEquity, where, as part of the leadership team until 2025, she provided guidance and supervision for artEquity’s national programs centering antiracism and resources for Black, Indigenous, and People of Color in the arts and culture sector, and also managed artEquity’s consulting relationships.

Alexis is also the Founder and Director of (X) Collective, a group of theatre artists in Chicago whose mission is to be in conversation and collaboration with our communities through service, reciprocal relationship-building, and community experiences.