INTRODUCING THE GILDER/COIGNEY INTERNATIONAL THEATRE FORUM
The Gilder/Coigney International Theatre Forum launched in March 2025.
What is the forum?
The Gilder-Coigney International Theatre Forum offers a unique opportunity to join with carefully vetted professional colleagues from across the globe to participate in creative dialogue and collaboration with endless possibilities. Freedom to select partners and develop projects is a positive aspect of a self-managed network. Shared practices, audience development, fundraising strategies are there to explore. Partnerships with other theatre companies expand opportunities and open up new possibilities. The forum will also serve as a library for articles, publications and videos. We welcome your participation.
Mission Statement
Our mission is to engage international theatre women and their allies in networking and activism by facilitating conversation and artistic collaboration on a global basis. We aim to investigate a common language around diversity, inclusion, and cultural and religious pluralism as it applies across cultures, breaking down outmoded assumptions, and fostering an open dialogue to enact positive change. Unlike other international endeavors, the GC Forum is designed to initiate and facilitate artist-to-artist communication, connection and collaboration.
background
New Perspectives Theatre Company has been a co-producer for the League of Professional Theatre Women's triennial Gilder/Coigney International Theatre Award Program since 2014. We began performing at the Festa Alternativo in 2015 in Bogotá, Colombia as a result of connections made through this program, and have returned every other year since then (virtually or in-person).
After the 2020 GCITA program and with the advent of Zoom, we sought to maintain connections with the women who had been nominated and find ongoing ways to network and collaborate. Many of our international affiliates live and work in oppressed and suppressed regions, and we realized that we were not hearing their authentic stories from State and corporate media. We created Theatre From The Streets in response to that reality. We are now significantly expanding this work.
remembering rosamond gilder and martha coigney
Rosamond Gilder and Martha Coigney were each unique in their ability to create a means for theatre professionals to exchange information free of government pressures. Rosamond created a paradigm in the International Theatre Institute that was seamlessly built on by Martha. They individually and collectively created platforms for International exchange and engagement, using the performing arts for mutual understanding and peace. It is in their honor that the Gilder-Coigney International Theatre Forum was conceived with fervent hope that in this ever more turbulent world, performing artists will play a crucial role in securing a world full of collaboration and support and free of conflict.
The GC International Theatre Forum is under the leadership of Joan Firestone, a legendary force in theatre, art and politics for over 50 years; Linda Chapman, former Associate Artistic Director of the NY Theatre Workshop (retired); Melody Brooks, Artistic Director of NPTC, and Malini Singh McDonald, Executive Director of Theatre Beyond Broadway. Shreya Ambatti is Program Manager, Penelope Deen and Ashley Hajimirsadeghi are Associate Program Managers.