Where we started

In March of 2020 as the world was entering into an unprecedented lock-down due to the Covid-19 pandemic, I found myself sitting along the side of a busy road because my car had broken down. I was out of a job, I was going through a divorce, I was coming out of the closet at 39 years old and the world of arts education and performance (my chosen field) was quickly falling off a cliff. I was depressed and scared and didn’t know where to turn. Fortunately for me, I was also surrounded by love. All of the right people were looking me in the eye and reminding me that when we can look past our own fear and into the eyes of our youth, we can find exactly where we are supposed to be. I am a teacher and mentor in all parts of my being. When I lost my classroom that year, it felt as though I had lost a limb. I had to figure out how to reattach it. Rebuilding my classroom in whatever form I could, became my new focus. The first class at Acting 101 With HeatherK kicked off on May 4th of 2020 because starting a theatre company in the midst of a global lock down suddenly seemed like a great idea. 

And then June came…

If you were a person in any form of leadership in the Arts in June of 2020, as the streets of Portland and other cities raged against the death of George Floyd and you didn’t hear the cries of our BIPOC brothers and sisters- then you must have been plugging your ears. I chose not to. I knew that the mission of our organization couldn’t just be about producing another children’s theatre show. There was a bigger mission to fulfill. Too many children had been turned away from programs or simply couldn’t afford access to this work. This was and is unacceptable to me on every level. No child should ever be turned away from the opportunity to learn this craft due to the color of their skin, their parents’ financial struggle or because of the neighborhood they happen to live in. My mission began to evolve away from my need for the classroom and shifted toward Investigation, Communication, and Elevation. The question became, how do I pass the mic and make space for those we have overlooked or ignored? In June of 2020, Downstage Center Productions was born and the work began to change. We started with a fundraiser that aimed to give scholarships for any child who was interested in being a part of our Midsummer Adventure Theatre Camp. Most of the world was closed but we found a way to hold an outdoor, masked, socially distant educational experience for the youth of Vancouver Washington. It was one of the most important moments of my career and it made me hungry for other ways I could serve our kids.

I have been making theater most of my life but some of the most powerful moments I have witnessed on the stage were moments that belong to children. I believe in what arts education can give our world. I believe in what can happen when you give a child a spot in the light, a place to elevate their voice and the tools to understand the stories of those they may have overlooked. Learning how to read a text and break it down can unlock doors for children we can only begin to imagine. Teaching a child what it means to truly listen and what it means to truly be heard can change a life. We give our kids the tools to move through the world with confidence and courage when we teach them that their voice matters. There is a place in this world for all kinds of theatre but I believe in making theatre that gives all of our children a place, Downstage Center. I hope you’ll join us there.

-Heather Lundy Kahl