Daily Inspiration: Meet Tara Wolfe

Today we’d like to introduce you to Tara Wolfe. 

Hi Tara, thanks for joining us today. We’d love for you to start by introducing yourself.
After experiencing discrimination and exploitation within the performing arts industry, I believed that there was a better way to produce outstanding theater. Sebastian Wolfe and I founded Kinship Theater in 2016 as a company devoted to the safety and enrichment of artists through consent-based practices, accessibility, and respect. Our ultimate goal is to foster kindness within both our theater and our community through Acts of Kindness and charitable work. Today, Kinship is motivated by four core beliefs: 1) Everyone should have access to meaningful theater regardless of their background or financial situation. 2) Artists are a valuable part of the community who deserve a safe space to grow and create their best work. 3) Even one person is a worthy audience. 4) Theater has the power to change lives, shape communities, and better the world. 

I’m sure you wouldn’t say it’s been obstacle-free, but so far would you say the journey has been a fairly smooth road?
We have had to contend with venues not honoring agreements, artists not abiding by harassment policies, exploitation by larger arts organizations, and the closing of many precious independent arts spaces. The shrinking of available resources has been hard, and the pandemic has hit all creatives right in the gut. 

Thanks for sharing that. So, maybe next you can tell us a bit more about your work?
We specialize in biographical theater and improv comedy. 

As a company, we like to focus on socially relevant work, and when we can’t find something that speaks to this specific moment in time, we create it ourselves. The stories we tell are often directly pulled from people in our community. For instance, You Know Me was our production that told six true stories of reproductive choice, all to benefit the ACLU. Each monologue came from a real person who offered her experience to be told on stage. The show was incredibly powerful, and a lot of that is because it wasn’t some fictional story. told for dramatic effect. It was real, the people were real, and I had the incredible privilege of seeing them after the show and witnessing how having their story told had transformed them. To have the trust of these people to tell their story the right way was amazing, we felt so lucky. 

With improv, that art form has been a part of me since I was a kid. I have almost twenty years of experience at this point. Our style is mid-form, and we always keep it family-friendly, which honestly just creates, better, smarter improv. It is such a big part of Kinship because it is this fun, immediate way to create comedy that also fosters such lovely, sustained bonds between artists. My improv teammates are some of the best people I know, and they’re there for me through thick and thin–someone even went grocery shopping for me when I had COVID! Our improv team does a lot of good for our community, too; we raise money every year for sexual assault survivors, volunteer at events like Walk MS, and perform at charity events. Improv will always be a part of Kinship because it is has so much value artistically and interpersonally, and honestly with the way the world is, these days we ALL need to laugh more. 

So maybe we end on discussing what matters most to you and why?
Consent matters the most to me. Theater has a dark history of abuse and exploitation, and a lot of that comes down to the hierarchy of the staff and the positions of power that some take advantage of. I value body autonomy and boundaries over everything because aside from that being the right thing to do, it allows artists to make better art. Yes, people can create when they are scared or pushed to their limits, but I personally think they can go even farther when they have trust and respect. So, in my world, you don’t touch someone without explicit permission, you refer to them how they tell you to, you respect professional boundaries to maintain their ability to consent at all times, and you never assume that something is okay, even if you are the “boss.” Everyone feels safe, supported, and respected at all times, and in return, we make better art and have a better time doing it. 

Contact Info:

• Email: kinshiptheater@gmail.com
• Website: www.kinshiptheater.com
• Instagram: @kinshiptheater
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/KinshipTheater/
• Other: @thirdkindimprov

Image Credits:
Tara Wolfe