A Note From Harold Steward

To my beloved community,

My time at The Theater Offensive (TTO) has resulted in meaningful and significant opportunities to grow, develop, discover and live out my values. When I arrived in Boston in summer 2017 I was greeted with a warm reception by the passionate individuals within TTO and around New England. It's been my great pleasure to work with you to advance our humanity and our field. 

You have guided me in my efforts at TTO. I could not have done any of it alone. Current and former TTO board, staff, youth, artists, and supporters have been by my side and a driving force. It has been my honor to serve TTO and this community and I am forever grateful for those who have uplifted and challenged me along the way.

From the beginning of my tenure at TTO, I’ve asked us all, collectively, to think about positive and regenerative ways to grow and sustain our work. As we explored ideas of Queer Regeneration, it became increasingly clear that the TTO ecosystem is one of permeability and flexibility - one that encourages everyone within its orbit to continuously grow into themselves and to grow in relation to each other, rather than being bound by fixed categories. TTO youth become resident artists; artists become staff; staff become stakeholders and partners; audience members become board members and all of us have maintained some connection to each other. This flexibility and acceptance of change speaks to a living, growing, and thriving community.

Although my position as executive director and cultural strategist is changing, I look forward to remaining a member of the TTO family alongside you all. As executive leadership shifts, the TTO community will continue to drive our organization. Staff, board, artists, supporters, and audience members have the vision and skill to lead TTO into the next phase of its evolution - one that honors the deep history we were built on while celebrating the future we are imagining together.

Many of you are familiar with TTO’s On QTPOC Liberatory Aesthetics, our documentation of the queer aesthetics that define and underpin our work as well as the process by which we articulated and developed these aesthetics in collaboration with cultural and community partners. As I consider my time at TTO and the legacy of working with all of you in this capacity, I am reminded of the aesthetic that defines “Lineage and Time Travel: The Beautiful Collision”

This is how the spell works. We remember who we come from. We honor the maps they forged for us through their magic, grief, revolts, triumph, and joy. In their name, we conjure our own magic for ourselves, for each other, and for the ones that will come after. We are the portal and we are the destination. We are the prophets and we are the destiny. This is our birthright.

As queer people and queer artists, we claim our history, present, and future and define them on our own terms. We forge connections across time and space that defy linearity and rigidity in order to envision ourselves and our communities, building a world where we belong. 

It has been an honor to be in this work of art-making, community-forging, and future-building with you for the past six years. Now, we step into our next chapter together - in different relationships but with the same commitment to liberation, cultural abundance, and a queer future where we can all thrive.

With love and a heart full of gratitude,

Harold Steward